Thanksgiving Baking--and memories

My thoughts are filled with my mother today.  I spent the afternoon making “her” rolls, “her” date nut bread (one of her favorite foods) and “her” banana bread.  These recipes came from church cookbooks through the years, though the banana bread was in her recipe box in a little wire-bound tablet, it had a brown cover and a beaver on the front.  I remember her telling me it came from an old church cookbook but she didn’t have a copy of it, just her handwritten version in a notebook.

I even used her little pans, they are smaller loaf pans.  I never could find any in stores in this size so I made sure I got them when we cleaned out her kitchen things.  They’re basic ecko brand, kind of beat up, but you can tell they are old because they say “U.S.A.” on them.  She had them as long as I can remember, and that is almost 50 years a long time!  You get two loaves from a recipe when you bake in these pans, rather than one big loaf.  You can give one away--or keep it in the freezer for later.  They look so cute on little bread trays on the Thanksgiving table.

I think of mom often in November, it was six years ago that she was very ill over Thanksgiving, and she went to be with Jesus just one week later.   I still miss her every day.

But this post isn’t meant to be about sadness and death, but the wonderful memories I have of her, and of her good food.  It is me making the same good food for my family to enjoy.  It is about how just a simple dime-store pan can be a treasure.

Earth Day(ish)

It is Earth Day week--or something like that!

I'm into being a good steward of the planet. I think we should take care of where we live, but I don't get crazy about it. I already do a lot of things that I now read on sites telling me how to be "green". In my family it was called being poor thrifty!

I did a fun swap as part of my Ravelry online knitting group. We went to our "stash" of yarn or other creative supplies, found things we probably weren't going to use, and boxed them up and mailed them to our assigned swap partner. I love these swaps in our group, usually we make something, but this was a fun opportunity to clean out and possibly get some cool stuff!

The other thing we were to send in our package was a reusable shopping bag. I kept forgetting to buy one. I really was hoping to remember to pick up one at my local grocery store that was a "Pittsburgh Steelers" bag (love my Steelers!) I don't even know if they have them at this time, and after forgetting three times when I was there I gave up on that plan. The only other place I was shopping was my local Walmart, and it is a smaller store, so they only had blue boring bags.

I happened upon a cool bag on the craftsy blog, and thought it was the perfect easy design for my purposes.

Here is the link to their directions: http://www.craftsy.com/blog/2013/04/how-to-sew-a-purse/

I looked at the piles of bins of fabric, and wondered where to begin searching for some of my sturdier fabrics. Somewhere I have a pile of samples of home dec fabric, but it might be NEXT Earth Day before I locate them, if I look for about eight hours a day. Then I remembered some worn out jeans my son offered me. He has a roommate who is an Environmental Science major, so he's greener than he used to be! (and he's a poor student)

I cut the legs open on the inside seam to make the pieces of fabric for the bag body, using the dimensions of the purse on the blog. I cut one of the back pockets off, and trimmed away the pants fabric, the pocket had some holes in it, so I cut that fabric into a size to fit inside the back of the pocket, and ironed it on with some heat and bond (that I found with only minimal searching--yay!)

For the handles, I cut the waistband away just below the seam, then cut it in half (he has about a 31" waist, I liked that length in half for these handles) and used it just like that. The ends were thick where the button and the buttonhole were, so I turned the wheel of my sewing machine by hand in those spots. I lined it with some coordinating cotton quilt fabric I had, but I think a recycled shirt, especially plaid, would have been cool too, I'll remember that when we clean out the closets next time!

I sewed the bag using the instructions on the Craftsy Blog, the only thing I did differently was I sewed it with a 3/8" seam allowance, and then stitched it again in the space between that stitching and the edge. I wanted it to be extra sturdy if it is filled with heavy items.

Unfortunately I didn't know I was going to post about this, I was just "playing" so I didn't take in-progress photos. I just liked the finished bag so much I thought I'd share it with you.

I think I would like to make another and keep it this time!

New Resolve!

I have been avoiding my blog. I wanted to start one for so long, but doing it is much harder than dreaming about it. I thought about it today while reading some of my favorite blogs, and while scrubbing my head in the shower. Somehow the act of washing my hair must make my brain get stimulated. I do some of my deepest thinking in the shower.

I have an admission to make. I am a fraud. My profile picture is from a couple years ago after I went to Weight Watchers, then went on a mission trip and got a parasite and lost more weight. I'm a little fatter than the profile picture. Now you know.

My sewing room pictures are also sort of "faked". I mean that's what the space looks like......sorta. That's the way it looks in my head, with me ignoring piles that are not organized. I posted one of my pictures on Facebook and everyone commented about how organized it looks. I felt like a liar because BEHIND the shelves was a horrible mess. Right now it is organized, my version of organized. I have a lot of stuff, it can only be so organized. I am happy with it, and still working on the organized side. Whew, got that off my chest!

And this blog is not only about my basement and fabric. The name of my blog was the best I could do. I'm just horrible at naming things, especially if I think someone is going to make a decisions based on it. This blog is going to be not only about my basement full of fabric, but about whatever else I'm making and doing and will probably have more pictures of my cats or dog, it's just inevitable. My kids complain when I take their picture, and frankly, they don't have that "awwwww" cuteness that babies, toddlers and pets have. (I don't think they will read this, shhhhh, don't tell them I said that).

My last big confession is that I am not as peppy and nice as my blog was sounding. I am nice, or I WANT to be, but I'm not always as nice as I should be. I've been trying to get my family to call me "wonder wench" (an old term I learned describes someone who is a sweetheart) but it is just not sticking. I want to make this sound more like my own voice, because when I read other people's blogs that I love, I think I know them. I want to be the nice me, but me.

So here we go again, with me resolving to do this better.

And soon I will post pictures of what you couldn't see in my other sewing room pictures, as soon a I find the stinkin' things!

Oh, I was so excited to begin blogging....then it was time for Christmas. All my good intentions went out the window!

I have new things to share, but the basement is SO FAR from where it should be. In fact, I think it is actually worse than the picture I posted before. Now I have unpacked a ton of boxes partially, I need to see all the stuff I have so I can decide what needs to be in my creative space, and what needs to be out of my line of sight. And there is probably some stuff that also needs tossed, but that is just not happening at this time!

I hope you'll check back often, I think this is going to start coming together soon. Well, I sure hope so!

This is my faux-organized space. Don't let the neatness fool you!

A Basement Full of Fabric

No this isn’t a new season of “Hoarders”. This is my basement full of fabric. When we got the moving quote of $10,000 for the amount of “stuff” we had, I knew I needed to clean out--and take some of it in a UHaul. Half of that truck was filled with my fabric, yarn, sewing books and magazines, in addition to other things that I have probably forgotten since I boxed it up in April can’t survive without!

It has been like this since moving here in July....in my defense I didn’t fully move here until the end of September. I know, now it is nearly the end of November and I still haven’t dealt with it. First I have to move it all (or a majority) of it out of this area, set things up and then unpack and move it back.

I have BIG plans for this area, since it is a portion of my basement, I hope to make “walls” with my bookshelves. I had some white ones, and I bought some new black ones. With the white walls and grey floors, I was thinking of a black and white theme....and some pink of course!

I found a great zebra rug that I was thinking I might splurge on, but instead I found some black/white/grey berber area rugs that seemed more sensible, and will look much better when one of my three cats throws up on it (and did I mention these rugs were cheap?--like me!!!).

Oh, I have so many great ideas and plans! I hope to share with you all the “during”, and that it will keep me motivated to get it pretty.

Welcome!

Hello! Welcome to my blog, I’m excited you are here to join me! I have been reading other blogs (thank you Pinterest for making me addicted!) for a couple years now. As I read them, I think how much I’d have loved to be able to blog when I was a stay-home mom with little boys. Then I realized I would still like giving the blogging world a try.

I will be learning about how to do this as I go. I tried reading ahead, but I am too lazy to learn in advance a much more “hands-on” kind of girl.

I hope to share my projects, quilting, knitting, painting--not the artist stuff, I mean with a spray can!--decorating, and whatever I think up. I hope you’ll enjoy them, or maybe you’ll just come look at them anyway. My family is also glad that I’ll have someone else to share with so they don’t have to feign interest over my projects!

I’m going to practice a little here, adding a picture of Ashley, who loves to keep me company while I quilt as well as “test-nap” anything I make!

Ashley--A Delicate Flower!

Blessings!

Amber