Happy Friday!

Happy Friday everyone!

Yesterday I took the kids to lunch with hubby and then we went and had some kid centered fun. When we returned home, something didn't look right in the yard.  Look close at the center of the picture, there is water  coming up out of the ground.

A few hours later they yard looked like this.

This morning I woke up to see this out the window and it was loud.

I got my McGuiver skills on and snuck a picture in of the 'union job' going on. (you know where there are a lot of workers and only a couple of the doing any work)

So I figured it was a good day to start a new project.

Here is a sneak peak.

I also got a message from one of my friends telling me that she was pregnant. That really made my day because they have been trying for over 2 years.  I'm so excited for them and I get to make a baby quilt in the next few months.

I hope everyone is able to stay cool today.  We are forecasted to reach 107 today (41.6 C) Yesterday we hit 106, the hottest since 1937 is what the news said.

Have a great weekend and stay safe.
Debbe

WIP Wednesday

I never got to cleaning my sewing mess up yesterday, but I did clean most of the house, except the said sewing space.  I even made the kids pick up their rooms.  So now that the rest of the house is in order, maybe today I will get the sewing space straightened out.

It is WIP Wednesday, and since I didn't clean my space yesterday, that means I didn't pull out all my WIP's.   I have been working on the hexi's again recently, especially while the kids are playing outside.

This has gone to...

...this 3 'rows' have been stitched together so far.

And here are the fruits of my labors.

I need a way to figure out how many hexi's to put in a row so I can figure out how big this thing is going to be. Right now if I lay them all together, It is about 32 inches long by 21 inches wide. 

Have a great day everyone. Happy Sewing!

Test Kitchen Tuesday

Welcome to Test Kitchen Tuesday. 

Since yesterday was my baby's birthday, I made her a rainbow cake. 

To make the rainbow cake I used my spring form pan, you can do cup cakes, a bundt cake, or layers.

I used 1 white cake mix made to package directions, then divided up my batter, added food coloring and made my layers in my pan.   You have to be careful when spreading your layers so you don't swirl them and get gross looking colors.

 I also made the birthday girl a shirt with her age on it.  She absolutely LOVED it and well those flip flops too.

 And finally my MESS, Amy at Amy's Creative side wanted to see some messy sewing areas I think so she didn't feel so bad about hers.   This is the majority of my mess.  I hope to get it mostly under control today. Usually I get inspired by something mid clean-up and the getting it under control never happens.  But first I must reclaim my kitchen after yesterdays baking extravaganza.

Four years ago..

We welcomed a precious little girl into our lives.

She has turned into quite the little diva.

Who didn't like the green hand me down bike from her brother, so today her bike has had a slight makeover.  Thank you to my friend who gave me the idea to wrap it in duck tape.

Notice the training wheels, hubby was so proud of those.


Saturday, we went to an air show, had this family photo taken, not the greatest photo but we don't have many of these.  The flag in the back ground is very unique because it only has 48 stars on it.  We noticed that on the hot walk back to the car when my phone was dead so I didn't get a picture of that.

There was a full circle double rainbow around the sun, I could only get part of it with my phone.  I really needed some fancy glasses for this but I made it quick.

 The girl was quite excited over a pink airplane we found at one of the vendors.  She has played with it non-stop for 2 days now.

Well I have been informed by the said birthday girl that I need to make her a heart shaped rainbow cake.  I hope what I have in mind works,  I have seen it done on Pinterest on several occasions, so I guess I better get to baking.  Have a great day everyone.

Debbe

What I finished Friday

It has been a while since I have had any finished projects to share.  No quilts, but I think I will be getting to work on one soon. I guess I finished the middle dress last week but oh well, sharing cuteness never gets old.

My kids have been annoyingly begging to go to the pool. So yesterday, we made a trip out and I got them some swimming aids since neither of them know how to swim.  Now I feel obligated to take them to the pool and teach them to swim.  The almost 4 year old can get around pretty well as long as she has something to hold her up. The 6 year old, well he is like a rock and needs a lot of help, so hopefully I can remember and the kids listen to the basics of how to swim.  I'm cheap and really don't want to pay $50/kid for swimming lessons.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Debbe

WIP Wednesday

Yesterday, I was looking for a new toddler dress pattern and came across The Ribbon Retreat Blog and the tutorial for this adorable dress.

fabric color is way off here, the one below is almost spot on.

 I am going to add an apron to this one.

same spot, same lighting totally different outcome.

It took me less than 2 hours to sew the original dress.

Test Kitchen Tuesday

I had some stew meat in the freezer that I needed to use up before it became freezer burnt, and when it is hot out I sure don't want a hot bowl of stew or soup.

I wanted beef stroganoff, but I'm married to Mr. Picky and he won't eat anything with cream cheese, sour cream, or mushrooms in.  I've tried to sneak them in, he can taste them, so I made my own concoction.

Poor-man's beef and noodles.

2 Pounds sew meat (it comes all cut up so bonus)
1 package of beefy onion soup
1/2 cup water
2 teaspoons all purpose flour
noodles of your choice cooked to your preference or package directions.

In your crock pot combine the first 3 ingredients and let cook on high for 6-8 hours low 10-12.  The meat will melt in your mouth.

If you want to only make half of the recipe you can measure out 2 Tablespoons of the onion soup and mix with 1 pound of meat.  Keep the amount of water the same.

You can serve the meat over your noodles or you can dump your cooked noodles into the crock pot and mix them up.

Weekend Travels, and some sewing

over the weekend we made a quick trip to Milwaukee, WI to see the Indy car race at the Milwaukee Mile.  

The above picture was taken from atop the Ferris wheel

My daredevil loved the ferris wheel, (looking back to say hi to her dad and brother) while her brother not so much.  He said it was too high.  I'm glad it was just a small one.

Big brother looking down and dad trying to decide what to take a picture of.

I took my box of Hexi's with me and got a few sewed together.  I wish I would have started on them sooner, but I was playing words with friends on my phone and when you have 6 games going and your opponents are actually wasting time playing almost as soon as you play time gets away from you.

I have to be domestic and do some house work today, hopefully I will get some sewing in later today, it is miserably hot out so I will be avoiding taking the kids outside today if I can.   Have a great day everyone!

Progress

I did finish up they little dress yesterday. I added some ric rac around the bottom and I think it turned out great.  I have a few things I would do differently next time, but I do love it.

I got the bloomers cut out and started sewing them together.  I was a bit tired and distracted when I was working on them and well, this is what happens, oops.

Yesterday I took the kids to 'Touch a Truck' day, which is a local thing for us where the parks department brings in emergency vehicles, dump trucks, semi's, cement trucks, bucket trucks etc. Where kids can climb on, touch and explore  the trucks they see on the road everyday.


I was looking at the pictures and felt my daughters expression was priceless for being in the back of a police car while holding her flower.

 I think the fire truck was a hit, he never smiles and I got a couple for the camera.

I think the jacket was a little big.

Big smile this time.

They loved watching the lifeline helicopter land.

That is just a few pictures from our day.  My son said it was a great surprise, the girl was happy to get to go to Arby's for lunch.  My kids would rather eat there than McDonald's, I think I got lucky with my kids and where they like to eat.

WIP Wednesday

 

Hi everyone! If your visiting from Lee's WIP Wednesday, Welcome my my corner of the world.

I think I have finally gotten my kids on schedule, In fact I have even gotten a little sewing done.  I haven't finished anything but I have made a few seams.

 I really hate to admit (but I will) that this dress has taken me almost 3 weeks to complete.  Normally a little dress like this I can whip out in 2-3 days.  One day if I have absolutely no interruptions.   The dress still needs hemmed, but I have it pressed up so all I have to do is sit down and sew the hem in.  All the hand stitching of the bodice lining has been stitched down so it nearly complete.

I haven't started the bloomers for it yet.

I hope the next dress doesn't take me so long.

I hope to get the hem in the dress and maybe the bloomers cut out before I take the kids to 'Touch a Truck' at the local rec center.  

I wish everyone a wonderful and productive day. If you are in need of some inspiration I encourage you to head over and visit Lee's blog and check out all the works in progress.

Debbe

Test Kitchen Tuesday

Since strawberries are in season I thought I would post another tasty recipe that you can use strawberries in.

A long time ago I came across a recipe on Pinterest where you use a can of fruit or pie filling and mix with and angel food cake mix and bake.  I finally gave it a try a couple of weeks ago.  It was AMAZING!!! Of course me being me, I didn't follow the instructions.   The only link I could find to the recipe was on Jo and Sue's blog so I'm giving them credit.

I am going to write the recipe as I prepared it.

Angel Food Dessert

20 ounces crushed strawberries w/juice, 2 Tablespoons sugar
1 angel food cake mix

In a large mixing bowl combine your fruit and cake mix.

Mix well, it will get very fluffy in your bowl.

Spread cake batter into an ungreased 9"x13" baking dish (if you mess up and grease your dish it will be ok mine turned out just fine when I did it :) )

before baking

Bake at 350F for 20-30 min. or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.  Mine took all of the 30 min maybe more.

I don't know why, but I didn't take a picture of the finished cake.  It will sink in the middle as it cools, don't worry that is normal and it still tastes amazing.

You can use any kind of canned fruit you like just make sure you use the liquid with it too. I can't wait to try it with cherries.  YUM!

Test Kitchen Tuesday

When I was a LOT younger, 8 or 9, I would ride my bike to 'Opal's house'  Opal, was in her 70's and she lived by herself on a farm.  I love to visit her and play with the cats in the barn.  Opal on occasion would give me a small box of homemade strawberry jam to take home with me.  I guess you could say she spoiled me because I cannot stand store bought jam, so for today's Test Kitchen Tuesday I'm going to show you how easy it is to make your own home made strawberry jam. It is really easy I promise!

You will need:
30 minutes of free time

2 Pints (approximately 1 pound) Fresh Strawberries
4 cups white sugar (Reducing Sugar or using sugar substitutes will result in set failures)
1 box of Sure Jell
a Potato masher
5 1 cup freezer containers washed and dried

Remove the stems from your berries and wash the berries to remove any excess dirt.  

Place half of your berries in a bowl and mash with the potato masher.  Remove the first set of mashed berries and add the rest of the berries and repeat.  Make sure you have 2 cups of mashed berries and juice.  If you have too much your jam will not set properly.

Add your 4 cups of sugar to the strawberry's.  (Reducing Sugar or using sugar substitutes will result in set failures)  Mix well and allow to sit for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In a sauce pan combine 3/4 cup water and your package of sure jell. Bring to a boil and let boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. The sure jell will be slightly lumpy until the water starts getting hot.

Stir Pectin mixture into sugar mixture until sugar is dissolved and no longer grainy, about 3 minutes. ( a few sugar crystals may remain)

Pour into prepared containers, leaving 1/2" space at the top for expansion during freezing.  Let stand at room temperature for 24 hours until set.

 

Personal note of experience: if you do not let the jam sit at room temp for 24 hours the top will be firm but the bottom will be like strawberry syrup.  It is still good though.
Refrigerate for 3 weeks, otherwise store in the freezer for up to 1 year.  I have had the jam in my fridge for over 3 weeks with no changes or ill effects, or discoloration.

I get a lot of shocked faces when I say I make my own jam, but now you can see how easy it is to do.  I have enough jam for close to a year and it cost less than $4. It could be more or less depending on the area you live in.

Sorry

I'm sorry I haven't been around much. The constant screaming matches, bickering, and screeching between the kids have me at the end of my rope.  Hopefully we will get on a good schedule soon and I can get back to my craftiness.

On the positive side, I tried a new recipe yesterday, and it turned out wonderful! I will be sharing it in the next couple of weeks for Test Kitchen Tuesday, But I have next weeks ready to go.

See you all soon,
Debbe