Ruffled Obsession...

I really like ruffles.  I haven't always had this obsession.  It started last winter when I had a new baby and didn't get out much.  I spent some time surfing the net while we nursed discovered the wonderful world of ruffles.  I ruffled most anything by running a basting stitch down the middle of a strip of fabric and pulling one thread to gather.  I pulled shirts from Breadwinner's closet that he didn't favor and refashioned them for myself.  I cut up old t'shirts and made skirts for the girls.  My penchant for storing outgrown clothing boxed up in the basement was once again rewarded.  I fabric "shopped" without leaving the house.  

This didn't go unnoticed by Breadwinner and for Christmas this year I was gifted with a ruffling foot for my sewing machine.   I had seen them only in pictures and they look very intimidating to use.  Since I don't know anyone personally that uses this foot I checked on youtube and sure enough there was a video teaching me how to use my new toy.

For my first attempts I wanted the optimal opportunity to practice ruffling so I made 3 tier skirts for the girls.  I made 4...in one morning!   I was hooked.  Lately I have been making dresses using premade shirts and just adding skirts.  I scored some cute shirts at Target for $1 last fall before I had my ruffler foot and new they would be useful to refashion.

My 3 year old sees me sewing, looks down at her newest dress, and tells me she doesn't like it anymore and needs a new one.  She will probably end up spoiled as I oblige her, but she reminds me of my mom in her enjoyment of new fashions so I suppose she won't end up all bad.  

Here is one way I use my ruffler foot.

 


I chose 2 fabrics to complement this shirt. In all honesty, the three year old picked out the fabric on our last trip to JoAnn Fabric store.  She is in a dark pink stage.  She categorizes all colors into darks and lights lately.  I cut the width of the fabric twice the width of the shirt bottom.  The length of the top tier is 5'' and the second is 7'', which makes them 5"x44'', and 7''x44''.

I serged the narrow ends of the strips together-

-and then created the hem before I sewed the tiers together.  Usually hems are added after the garment is completed.  This is because the fabric may stretch during construction and then your hem would be uneven.  I don't worry about this for kids everyday wear.  I am not a perfectionist and figure kids move around so much no one will ever know anyway.

I made this picture big so you can hopefully see the ruffler foot and how it works.  You can use it with 1 or 2 fabrics at a time.  So you can either ruffle a fabric or ruffle it while you sew it to another fabric that remains straight.  The top fabric (the bottom tier) is basically pleated while it is sewn right sides together to the top tier which remains unpleated.

There are 3 settings on the foot.  You can gather every 0, 6th, or 12th stitch.  Length of stitch also effects the size of the gather.  I set it at 6 as my fabric was twice as wide as the shirt I was attaching it to.  I put pins each quarter of the way around the fabrics so I could make sure they were matching up as I sewed.  When they weren't coming together just right I lengthened or shortened my stitch length accordingly to change the size of the gathers.  This is why I sew instead of do woodworking.  You can't just "fudge it" with wood.  Wood is not as forgiving...

Here is the skirt before it is attached to the shirt.



  If you want a empire waist dress cut off the shirt just under the armpits.  This dress has a drop waist so I only trimmed off the bottom hem of the shirt.  Next add a 2 or 3'' strip of iron on interfacing to the shirt bottom.  This is so the knit fabric holds its shape when being sewn to the quilter's cotton tiers.

 

Sew the skirt to the shirt using the ruffler foot.  Again, mark each quarter all the way around on both pieces so they match up evenly. 

To clean everything up on the inside of the dress and make the seam stronger I serge the seams. 

 

I don't know why I don't have a picture of my little princess in her new gown.  Just know that it goes perfectly with the "dark pink" ruffled sweater Mama gave her for her birthday...

The Little Red Couch...

We love hand-me-downs.  My boys have been clothed almost exclusively by the generosity and goodness from others who have passed what they have on to us.  We missed out on this with the girls as there didn't seem to be anyone who matched up with their growth.  It is great to be able to "shop" in the boys' closet when on a Saturday evening they are picking out their Sunday finery only to find that their pants are suddenly 3'' too short!    

We don't stop at hand-me-down clothes around here.  For our first 10 years of marriage all of our furniture was second hand all having been refinished and reupholstered.  There is something about taking something that someone else doesn't want or need anymore and giving it a new life.  The little red couch came out of a grandparent's basement and was in great condition when we got it.  It folds out so little visiting friends have often used it for nap time.  The kids also like to fold each other up in it and sit on each other hot dog with bun style, as they haul the couch from room to room and up and down the stairs. When the babies are around 1 year of age they seem especially fond of the couch as it is just their size.  For these reasons and more I was disappointed when it started to rip out.  In a fit of wanting to throw away everything that was laying around, which happens about every other week, I almost carried the couch to the burn pile.  Breadwinner suggested maybe I should recover it.  After he endured my snarling he reminded me how much the kids actually use the couch and that I would be better served taking out my need to relegate to the burn pile other offending objects.  I have to take a minute to say that burning excess articles is wound tightly in the recesses of my double helix.  My dad was a notorious burner.  Ask Mom sometime about the piano.  I would tell you about the bedstead that matches my chest of drawers and dresser, but I might start crying again...

So, I set the couch aside and began to consider what material worthy of taking the place of the parading pachyderms.  Still feeling a bit snitty, I didn't want to use just any old fabric.  This is another area in which we have been blessed.  When the fabric stashes of others grow out of control they pass on the love.  I was not enamored with anything in the cupboard enough to put the energy into using it as a replacement.  Then we were the recipients of some used blackout curtains.

My sis-in-law thought maybe I would like to have them for the boys' room.  I too thought this would be grand.  They are a delicious chocolate brown that is rather suede-like.  The only problem was there were 2 curtains and 3 windows.  Even this didn't bother me too much, and the boys wouldn't care if we hung the laundry to dry on their curtain rods in lieu of window coverings.  Fortunately for me I hadn't gotten around to swapping out the existing curtains when I decided the thing to do would be to use the curtains to recover the couch.  Turns out blackout material is a dream to sew.  Hope you don't mind, Missy.  Believe me they are well loved in their new life!  

We checked online and found that the cost to replace this little gem was way more than that which we were willing to part.  The price of the foam alone would make you cringe!

I removed the original fabric to use as a template.  Only take off as much as you are ready to work with.  I do things in sections or I can't remember what gets sewn on where.  Digital photography can be a lifesaver if you have to stop and restart later so you can remember how things are supposed to look.

Here is the back and bottom cushion that flips out.  It is hard to see even though I used red thread because it was what was in the machine, but I swapped out the zippers for Velcro on the back.

The completed cushion on the couch.  Yeah, it fits!

I only took off one arm rest at a time.  Here we are just checking to see that they fit .

This was a tricky spot for me. ( Someday when I don't have to stop to escort my royal subjects to the restroom or break up the occasional insurrection I may wonder why everything used to take so much thought...)  A small rectangle of fabric sewn onto a straight side just right.  I only took off one side to use as a pattern so I could reference how to sew it back together.

I stuffed this "sausage casing" 3 or 4 times before I was finally done.  I used the original bottom piece of fabric which had a full length zipper.  When recovering never throw things out or cut them up until you are positive you will not have to use them.  It is a good idea to have a dedicated garbage bag that is discarded after you have a finished product.  That way you only have to dig through one bag rather than the whole dumpster...

The final step was to cut slits to pull through the plastic buttons that hold the cover in place.  Pliers are a reupholster's best friend!

This couch actually seats 7 when we are reading in the boys' room...

One Thing I Never Thought I'd Hear...

"These melt in your mouth!"
This exclamation from Breadwinner upon devouring tacos made from fresh ground wheat berries. Tortillas are not something I would ever compare to melting in the mouth, but apparently these do just that.  This is high praise indeed as Breadwinner is not one to shy away from telling me just exactly what he thinks of the nourishment I place before him.  It has taken almost 15 years, but I am getting over it.  My dad always ate anything Mom gave him, so it was strange to hear an opinion on the food served at first.  But to be fair a bowl of cereal or nachos with cheese in the microwave was all Dad was ever inspired to make us in our childhood.  Breadwinner bought an electric smoker last summer when he decided he enjoyed smoked meats.  On our 10th anniversary he made me an intimate supper for two complete with a chipotle compound butter for my steak and cheesecake for dessert.  So I have learned to accept his culinary critique.

I painted one of my cabinet doors with chalkboard paint to post the weekly menu.  This cuts down on the questions from the peanut gallery concerning what they will be shoving down their gullets next.  Roast chicken was what was planned for tonight.  Breadwinner picked up three at the grocer for me today.  We both thought they were completely thawed.  They weren't.  At 5:00 I went to plan "B".  We don't usually eat until 6:30 or even later, so that wasn't an issue.  What was is that I have a bad cold and have preferred that we simply skip eating and go to bed early instead.  The only one I could interest in this idea was the baby.  The problem with trying to eat as little processed or convenience food as possible is that it takes so much time to get it ready to meet your lips.  Definitely a drawback when you just want to get supper done.  I was reading a cookbook lately where the author proclaimed no food should take longer to prepare than it does to eat!  Really?

Anyway, since we couldn't have Tuesday's meal, chicken soup, until we've had the chicken to begin with we skipped to Thursday night's enchilada.  I really shouldn't be whining as the chicken for the enchilada was in the freezer having been grilled previously.  I just had to make the tortillas, sauce, and ranch dressing.  We like to put iceberg lettuce and ranch dressing over the top of our enchilada.

I wanted to share the recipe that we use to make tortillas as I have had a few requests and I remembered to take some photos tonight to illustrate my explanation.  Strange I had time to take pictures isn't it?!  Priorities...

• Whole Wheat Tortillas
• 
  
• 5 cups fresh ground whole wheat berries
• 1/2 cup shortening (I use Crisco for all my baking.  I used to use store brand, but its water content is high and effects outcomes.  The best deal I have found is at Sam's Club)
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 cups boiling water
• 
  

1. In a large bowl, stir together the whole wheat flour, and salt. Rub in the shortening by hand until the mixture is the texture of oatmeal. Make a well in the center, and pour in the boiling water. Mix with a fork until all of the water is evenly incorporated. Sprinkle with a bit of additional flour, and knead until the dough does not stick to your fingers. The dough should be smooth.
2. Make balls the size of golf balls, about 2 ounces each. Place them on a tray, and cover with a cloth. Let stand for at least 1 hour, or up to 8 hours.
3. Heat a griddle or large frying pan over high heat. The griddle really needs to be smoking hot.  It takes some practice to time the cooking.  Sometimes the tortillas will bubble and sometimes they won't.  I don't feel you can rely on the bubbles to turn the tortillas.  Don't overcook!  They should still be very pliable.   Tortillas can be refrigerated or frozen.
4. Makes 24 tortillas.

Breadwinner got me this press to encourage me to make more tortillas!  It helps to ensure they are pretty uniform.

The pressed dough is about 6'' in diameter.

It is then rolled to between 7" and 8".

My oldest Sous Chef specializes in cooking the tortillas.  We have a huge electric griddle we crank to high heat.   

This is a sub par photo. You can't see the enchilada.  You can, however, see the ranch dressing.  Here is the recipe.

Thanks to my friend Kate for gifting me with The Pioneer Woman Cookbook.  Great recipes and even better illustrations.    

Ranch Dressing

1/4 tsp kosher salt (I use sea salt)

1 clove garlic chopped(I press it through my garlic press)

1 cup mayo

1/2 cup sour cream (I use plain yogurt because I always have that and seldom have sour cream.)

1/4 cup milk or buttermilk (I omit this or it is too runny due to using yogurt)

1/2 tsp white vinegar (I use cider vinegar)

1/2 tsp worchestershire sauce

1/4 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp black pepper (I use less or my family whines about the heat)

1/8 tsp cayenne (I omit this too.  Anything measured in 1/8 of a tsp seems superfluous to me)

1 Tbsp chives (I only use this when it is in season in my garden)

2 Tbsp dill

1/4 cup parsley

-Sprinkle salt over garlic and mash with a fork.  Add everything else.  Taste and add other herbs you like.  As you can see I alter the recipe to suit.  You should do the same!  I use this for veggie dip and in wrap sandwiches as well as for dressing.  

Okay, it was worth the effort...

The Ladies of the Roost Begin to Lay...

We had our first egg last week.  Those on chicken chores have been diligently checking daily for the blessed occasion.  Golf balls were placed in the nesting boxes in anticipation last month.  We kind of expected that the cluckers would start laying earlier in the month.  Better late than never, and the kids are spending a lot more time outdoors.  The drawback is that they come in covered in chicken excess as they have been hovering over the hens as they perform their duty.  I am sure the novelty will wear off, but for now it is fun to hold a warm brown or green egg straight from the chicken.

First Fruits- no we didn't put it in the offering plate last Sunday...

If you are looking for a great visual of how chickens make eggs from an internal prospective get your hands on a copy of  the program on chickens from the series "The Magic Schoolbus".  Ms. Frizzle and the gang take a journey on the bus through the reproductive system of a chicken.  This is my favorite episode!

Beware the Ides of March!

I never really understood Shakespeare's take on this until I had my fourth baby.  He turned 5 on March 15.  Must be something special about the ides of March as we also have birthdays on the ides of  February, June, and August.  The ides of March is a whole different character.

Last year he declared he wanted a Richard Scarry birthday party.  He dressed himself as Lowly the Worm complete with tying his legs together so he hopped all day because, "You know Lowly only has one foot!"  This year he wanted a monkey birthday.  The afternoon of the 14th I decided he needed another costume.  Here is what I came up with.  Ends up he can use it to be a mouse as well...

1. Get a hooded sweatshirt.  This is a hand me down- Thanks, Gwen.

2. You will need some material for ears and furish material for the middle of the ears and stomach patch. This hood happened to be lined.  I stitched around the hood opening and cut in to the lining material to feed a piece of elastic through so the hood would stay on.  This is also a great trick to use on toddler hoods so they stay over their little ears in the spring winds.

3. Sew two half circles right sides together and then sew on a piece of the furry material.  Sew the ears to the hood.  I sewed them right sides together and then top stitched the front side.  I think this helps them stick out better.  

4.  I don't have a picture of cutting an oval of the furry material and sewing it over the writing on the front of the sweatshirt.  I used a suede backed fur.  I considered minky as well.  Either is good as you don't have to turn any edges under.

5. Here is the tail.  I used a piece of quilt batting and tried to make it roundish.  I sewed it on the back of the sweatshirt at the base and about an inch down so it was one there well.  Tails take a lot of abuse.  This one ended up being drug through the mud all day. 

 You may want to measure so your tail isn't too long.

Have you ever seen a monkey welding a wooden table??

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I am a little Irish through my paternal grandmother.  It is always fun to be Irish on St. Patrick's Day.  In grade school I always made sure to wear green so I wouldn't get pinched.  Not that many people had the guts to pinch me.  There weren't many kids bigger than I.  Comes in handy on days like St. Patrick's.  Imagine my surprise when I learned that St. Patrick had nothing to do with shamrocks and leprechauns!  


In all truth the man known as St. Patrick was born in Britain to wealthy parents near the end of the fourth century.  At the age of 16 he was taken captive by Irish raiders.  For 6 years he was held in captivity working as a shepherd at which time he became a Christian.  He escaped back to Britain only to feel God's call to return to Ireland as a missionary.  Patrick's great success in converting Ireland from a pagan to Christian land and the legends that developed around his work have helped to ensure we celebrate him on the day of his death, March 17th.  


I have visited Ireland and have first hand insight into why it is associated with the color green. It is all green.  Lots of green.  Green as far as you can see, until it turns to blue on the horizon.  That suits me just fine.  My favorite color is green.  I like all shades of green, although lime is a particular fancy of mine.  So decorations for St. Patrick day are right in my wheelhouse.  Here is what my second littlest helper and I put together last week.  I got the idea here icandyhandmade.blogspot.com, but I changed it a bit.  I didn't really like the sentiment of "Luck", but it seemed green so I went with it and added "blessing" to salve my ruffled feelings.  Also, I needed a longer board to hold all my blessings!

We went to the shop and found some scrap wood.
We painted the wood green-blue let it dry then painted  it green.
After the second coat was dry we sanded the boards to make them look
worn a bit and to show the two colors.  

I found a font I liked and printed my phrase  from the computer.  Next I used a carbon sheet from Breadwinner's  old chemistry lab book and traced it onto the board and painted the words white.
 To seal the whole bit I modge podged it with matte finish.
I collected all the green ribbons we had and decorated the little boards.
I then hot glued mini clothes pins to them as well and stapled ribbon loops to the back of the little boards and screwed hooks on the big board from which to hang them.  

Lucky me, more green decorations for my home.  You can bet your soda bread this isn't coming down the 18th of March!  

How I Bind My Quilts...Sometimes...

I was chatting on the phone with my friend who lives 9 hours away the other day about what projects we had going.  She mentioned she was teaching her girls how to sew and was stumped on how to bind some little quilts.  It just so happened that I needed to bind the quilt I had just made for my newest nephew.  He is my 19th niece/nephew and the first to be born in my birth month!  I can tell already he is going to be above average!  Congratulations to Andrew and Amanda on being blessed with Titus Timothy.  Kristine, here is how I did it.  Bear in mind I am not a perfectionist and yours will look much better...

I made the binding using a bias tape maker.  I bought it at Jo-Ann Fabric with my 40% off coupon.  It set me back all of $3.50.  I have two sizes.  One for making bias tape for apparel and one for binding quilts. 

1. Open out the bias tape and sew along the fold line to the back of the quilt.  Notice I am using a walking foot on my sewing machine.  It feeds the top and bottom fabrics through at the same speed to eliminats puckers.  I LOVE this foot!!

2. Fold bias tape around to the front.  

3. Topstitch the bias tape on the front of the quilt.  I like to use a wavy stitch.
It camoflauges any mistakes and adds interest.

Notice- On the bottom the topstitching is not perfect.  If you want perfect you have to sew the bias tape on the top of the quilt first, fold it over to the bottom and hand stitch.  I'm okay with not perfect.  I like to spend that extra time I save sitting on the couch eating bon-bons. 

I like to back my baby quilts with minky as of late.  This is blue minky dot.  I spread Titus' quilt on the floor to photograph and wanted to be able to see the minky on the back so I folded over the edge.  I snapped this photo as fast as I could before my littlest assistant folded the edge back to make everything smooth.  It must have upset his poor little delicate sensitivities!  

The Swine Take Flight-Why I let a dog in the house...

Duke and Turk

Let me begin by saying that I'm not a pet person.  I grew up on a farm and animals were for business.  We always had dogs, but many last long.  Most made the mistake of making a hobby of following Dad on the loader tractor.  Too often they ended their life journey under the wheels of said farm implement.  But they had a good life while it lasted.  They had the run of the farm as they weren't penned or tethered, and they were well fed.  So while they were well cared for I didn't get overly emotional when they were no longer there.

Breadwinner also grew up on a farm but in a family much more attached to dogs.  We had been married perhaps 6 years when we got our first dogs together.  I suggested that maybe he should own 50 acres before acquiring a dog.  We moved onto our 14 acres 4 days after having our second baby and brought home 2 Great Dane pups 3 months later.  I am pretty sure he caught me at a time when my ability to display rational thought was hindered.  One thing about large dogs that for me is a positive that others may consider negative is their 8 year average life span.  I figured if I didn't like them they wouldn't be around too long and that would be that.

Duke was 7 when we had to put him to sleep due to bone cancer.  His sister Daisy is now 9 and doesn't appear as if she is long for this world.  We got Duke (the second) two years ago.  My brothers have a male and female Mastiff.  They are Duke's (2nd) parents.  Sam asked if we wanted Duke as he was his favorite puppy of that litter and he wanted to be able to come visit him from time to time.  We considered that Daisy needed a friend, which is the same reason we had purchased two Great Danes to begin with, and she also needed to train a new dog for the place before she died.  Three days after we got Duke two of his litter mates perished in a machine shed fire.  In retrospect we decided we had probably saved his life and perhaps he should have been named Phoenix instead, but we were used to "Duke" so it stuck.

Turk in his snow cage

On New Years Day 2011 Olive and Loki  had another batch of pups.  The 6th of March Turk came to live with us.  He appeared to be happy and content in his new home.  The dogs share half of the chicken house with "the ladies of the roost".  We keep a heat lamp in there for Daisy, so Turk was warm.  We put his food under a low board so the older dogs couldn't chow on his puppy food.  He wasn't lonely as he seemed happy following his big brother around the yard learning the ropes.  His one mistake, which may yet prove fatal, is that he didn't learn his place in the order soon enough.  Last Thursday I threw some ham scraps out for the dogs and Turk thought he could share in the snack.  Duke caught Turk's head in a snap and he now has an infection.

I have now been ministering to the poor little fellow for almost a week.  He has been living in the house this whole time.  One friend was aghast that I of all people would allow a dog in the house.  As she put it, "You don't even want to let the dirty kids in!"  I even put him in the 3 girls' room at night so he isn't alone.

I told Breadwinner that caring for this puppy was almost more than I can take.  Turk seemed to be healing and then took a turn for the worse.  Yesterday we started him on some penicillin and we've been watering him with a syringe.  He is so pitiful and I feel so responsible and concerned for this soulless creature placed in my care.  Does that seem strange when I so recently lost my dad?  Maybe you are wondering why I am at peace about that and hung up on a pup I've known for a week?  For the sake of full disclosure, I was stumped a little about that myself which led me to review the matter.



My Dad was ready to die.  He was yearning to meet his Savior as his earthly body betrayed him. {2 Corinthians 5: 1-8}.  He was at peace with passing from this world into a better one.  When my dad, who died of lung cancer, breathed his last breath there was no gasping.  He was gently ushered into eternity with a whispered exhale.  He didn't give up, he peacefully gave himself over to an eternity with God.

Too Good To Be True...

When you have 8 people in your family you can almost always find some reason to celebrate.  Around here we have a hard time celebrating without sugar.  Sometimes we even think up reasons to celebrate because we want sugar.  Don't bother preaching to me about the evil of sugar, I already know of its dastardliness.  But I have an easy time justifying its usage.  I just mix in some freshly ground wheat and call it an accoutrement to my complex carbohydrate!

This is what we are celebrating today.  Max has had this front tooth hanging on for awhile.  Last night his dad gave him tonight before supper as the deadline when it should no longer be attached to his gum line.  On Sunday his dad also told him under no circumstance was he to show his tooth to others at church.  He did pretty well as the only person he gave a glimpse was his cousin who sits in the row behind us.  I don't believe he realized since he was sitting in the front row and had to turn around that the congregation on the whole was privy to this show and tell.  So I suppose it won't be so much of a deal that I post a picture here.  I've never seen anything like this...

The advantageous part of the celebration is that the Spokesman came today in the mail.  I'm pretty sure we are Farm Bureau members just to receive the Spokesman.  And if the man in your life is like mine, you only get it for the classifieds.  -Although, to brag a bit Breadwinner has found his adorable mug in a picture attached to an article or two therein.-  But as the chief cook of the house I usually glance at the Farm Family Favorites which sometimes offers up an enticing recipe.  Today I came across 5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake.  When I mentioned the recipe at the dinner table from the girls came a chorus of gleeful baking anticipatory celebration.  Just the thing!  Some sugar to celebrate a missing tooth.  Rather ironic wouldn't you say...

5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake

4 TBSP flour

4 TBSP sugar

2 TBSP cocoa

1 egg

3 TBSP milk

3 TBSP oil

3 TBSP chocolate chips

splash of vanilla

1 large coffee mug

Add dry ingredients to mug and mix well. (We mixed in another bowl and divided the mixture between two thoroughly greased mugs) Add the egg and mix thoroughly.  Pour in the milk and oil and mix.  Add chocolate chips and vanilla mix well. (We added the chocolate chips directly into the mugs after pouring in mix)  Put mug in microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts.  The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed.  Allow to cool and tip onto a plate.

The kids claim the cakes spectacular!  I can't really say for sure.  I made a cherry pie for supper last night after checking on my trees in the orchard yesterday.  As much as I enjoy chocolate cake, cherry pie trumps it any day!  Let me know how they are.  I'm off to take diapers off the line and prune my cherry trees...