All posts by Becky

Sewing

Sewing For Patsy–Flannel P.J.’s–November 2020

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The fall sewing project to replenish Patsy’s wardrobe continues. I made a nightgown and some shorts from a large piece of flannel I had on hand. In the past, I’ve purchased flannel from JoAnn’s flannel sales, sometimes on the day after Thanksgiving, for low prices and this piece was in my stash.

The nightgown was made from Butterick 5723. The shorts were from Simplicity 2819. These were both patterns I’ve had for a long time. The shorts were made because I had just enough fabric left over and I figured she could always pair them with a t-shirt and wear them to bed, or wear them under the nightgown.

I thought the nightgown was going to be shorter, so I lengthened it. It’s not short! In fact, it reaches between her knees and ankles after I made it longer. So, the shorts will likely not be needed under it after all.

Two things I do on shorts and pants: 1) I add a small piece or ribbon or bias tape to the center back casing. This shows the child at a glance which side is the back, like a tag would. 2) I stretch and sew a line through the center of the casing after I’ve inserted the elastic and made sure it fits the wearer. That keeps the elastic from rolling and twisting inside the casing over time.

If you try this, I’ve found that the elastic needs to be shorter than the actual waist measurement. It seems that the elastic stretches out when I sew that line through it. I usually go around her with the elastic, then take away 3-4 inches and insert that much into the casing. I then have her try the shorts/pants on and make any adjustments needed, sew the hole closed, then do the stretch and stitch down the center of the casing.

On the nightgown, I made a couple of alterations. First, I cut the top according to the pattern, but then gradually widened the sides, starting from under the arms, and by the time I was to the bottom of the skirt edge, added 2-3 inches. That actually added 8-12 inches of width over the hips. She likes her night things loose. I added about 5-6 inches to the length of View C, but left off the ruffle. I also tacked a ribbon bow to the center front so she could easily tell which side is the front. It’s difficult with this style to tell in a hurry.

I also left the sleeves free to flutter at the lower edges, rather than inserting a casing and elastic there. She doesn’t like the elastic on her arms, so I never put it in there for her nighties. Instead, I just narrow-hemmed the edges.

Saving Money

Thriving In My Thrifty Week–November 1, 2020

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I tried out a new pizza crust recipe this week, and topped it with some cherry tomatoes. I did tweak it to make it gluten free. I want to try again and make a few more changes, but this was pretty good. When frost was threatened, I picked the green cherry tomatoes and put them in a 9×13 pan in the garage. They are slowly ripening up and we are eating them as soon as they do.

Rob has been finding some ripe larger tomatoes in his stash in the shed. They are wrapped with tissue paper, and ripening slowly.

We still have some things growing in the garden that are not frost sensitive. We’ve had boc choi in stir-fry. The “Quick Start” cabbage has made heads. They are small heads, but just right for us. I’ve picked several and there are still more out there. We had broccoli a few times this week, too, in various stir-fries. I made a beef-broccoli one for dinner one evening that was delicious. The celery isn’t doing well–it’s too dry, I think. The winter lettuce is growing and there’s kale, which is very hardy. The spinach is so tiny that I doubt I’ll get any before spring.

We’ve done well this week at eating up all the leftovers. We ate a lot of salad and used most of the lettuce I picked before it frosted.

I’ve had to water the veggies with watering cans, it’s been so dry! That’s very unusual for our part of Oregon this time of year.

Rob went ahead and tilled the empty part of the garden one more time, since it was dry enough, after I pulled up the last few dead tomato and zucchini bushes. It will help the weeds be more manageable in the spring. He also tilled in some grass clippings while he was at it.

We went for several walks. One day, when we were keeping Michaela and Jake, we went down to Waterfront Park in downtown Salem and all took a nice walk. The weather has been amazing!

The wood project continues. Rob went up to the forest several times again this week, and the piles continue to grow.

While he cuts wood, I’ve been sewing and doing school with Patsy. There should be more projects to show in a few days. When her school is done, she goes with him. She enjoys getting out of the house! I’m not sure how much more he’s going to cut, but I’m loving the fact that he’s got so much piled up already.

Sewing

Sewing For Patsy–October 2020–A cotton blouse–A Friday Project At Last!

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I finished up this cotton top on Friday. It was much easier than the last top I made.

I used Simplicity 8949. I was unable to buy this pattern in her size, so I simply cut everything a little bit larger. It was simple enough and it worked great.

The sleeves looked fuller on the picture for View B. I guess they were fuller than A, but if I do this one again, I’ll cut them even larger as she had hoped for ruffly, fluttery sleeves. I added some lace to the sleeves, though, and she was happy with that.

The alterations I made to the pattern were: I enlarged it. I added lace. I did a little top stitching and then tack stitching to the center front V-part. I did this so it would lay flat and hopefully not rip out as she pulled it off and on. I also put a small zipper in the back as those work for her better than things like loop and button closures. I lengthened it slightly.

I think it will be cool and comfortable when she’s warm, and layer easiy when she’s not. A long time ago, I liked to post projects on Fridays. This qualifies, since I finished it up on Friday! It really wasn’t very hard, folks. I just have been super busy this week, so that’s why it took all week. Hopefully, on Saturday, I will get a longer chunk of sewing time in on the next project.

This top was very economical to sew because I had the fabric on hand for years, and it might even have been some Lovana left behind when she moved out. Even better, the pieces of this pattern fit on the piece of fabric and there was none left over! Since I still have quite a bit of fabric on hand, I’ve been trying to use some of it and have been having trouble matching patterns with the lengths or styles of fabric I have. I got the pattern at JoAnn’s for $1.99, recently. Thread was in my thread bin from projects in the past. The zipper was a loose one in my zipper bin, so it was either torn from another garment at some point, from a yard sale, or given to me over the years. People are very generous when they know you sew and Rob also looks for notions and lace at garage sales and often gets handfuls for very low prices.

It was easy enough that I would make it again in another color. I will, however, wait until I see if she really likes it enough to wear it a lot. It’s all about comfort around here, so we shall see:)

Saving Money

Thriving In My Thrifty Week–October 25, 2020

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Rob spent 3 days this past week sawing wood in the forest.

Some of the logs were quite big, so he needed to split them with a splitting maul after he cut them into stove-length pieces.

He loaded the back of the van as full as he could each time and I helped him haul it to the woodshed at the back of our place and we stacked it. Overall, he figures he got more than 1/3 cord each time, bringing our new woodpile to over a cord so far. We stacked this along a fence in the back and he covered it with tarps. What is inside the woodshed, and already dry, will be for now, and this will be for later. He likes to be at least a year ahead on his wood supply, and this is the first year for a long time that he can work on meeting his goal.

Patsy went a couple of times and even learned how hard it is to split wood with a splitting maul. She got a few pieces split, but happily left most of that to her dad:)

Frost was predicted. I picked the entire row of lettuce, washed it, and served many salads this week. I still have some “Arctic Blend” winter lettuce planted. I’ve never grown it before, and I’m very interested to see how it holds up as the weather turns colder. I picked the first of the fall cabbage and we ate half of it already. There are several more out there. I also got a few more cherry tomatoes and a few more zucchini and tromboncini zucchini. Then, I picked the green cherry tomatoes and laid them in a 9 x 13 pan in the garage to see if they would ripen.

I bought groceries this week and sent Rob to Costco for vitamins while they were still on sale. This week, I focused on a few items for recipes I found in magazines that sounded good. These recipes use things I have on hand, minus one or two small items, which I bought. I also got sale items that worked into my menu. My favorite item was a bag of mandarin oranges for only $1.49 for 3 pounds. They are a real treat around here and that’s an amazing price. We could only have 1 bag, but enjoyed them. They were especially handy as Rob and Patsy packed several lunches. My aunt also found potatoes for a good price and picked 10 pounds up for me.

We also used quite a few home-preserved items. After weeks of filling jars, it’s nice to sit back and just empty some:).

I cooked a salmon filet one night. A while back, we found them, frozen, for $2.50 for 12 ounces, at Grocery Outlet, and got several because it was such a great price. Even with Lovana eating dinner with us that night, there was plenty for us all when lots of veggies were added. It was a delicious change.

I’ve been sorting, cleaning, and organizing small areas when I get a few minutes. I haven’t got very far, but a few areas look better and I found a few old projects that need to be worked on. I’ve been sewing for Patsy whenever I get a half hour or more. Some days I didn’t get any time, but most days I can squeeze out that much at least, and am able to make progress on my latest project….making her several clothing items to get her wardrobe in good shape for fall and winter.

Sewing

Sewing For Patsy–October 20–A silky, Flowery top

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Last weekend when we got this fabric, I had no idea of how difficult it would be to sew. One week later, here’s the top:). Whew!

She chose McCall’s 7325, view A. I decided not to put the lace on the bottom edge.

The fabric she chose is very sheer, so she needs to put a camisole under it. Knowing that helped me when I was sewing the slit in the neckline. It ended up a little deeper (well, quite a bit deeper) than it was intended to when the stitching got accidentally cut and then the fabric started fraying. You have to clip to the stitching or it won’t turn well. But, I took one tiny clip too far….easy to do. Well….with several sewing sessions, none of which were very long due to frustration and intense concentration, it’s now sewed, reinforced, and top stitched to make sure it won’t tear out!

One view had some cording for a tie. The other views had no tie at all. She didn’t need the tie for modesty, as she will be wearing a cami, but

I sewed my own tie, then inserted it because I questioned whether she would be feeling like her neckline was too wide and might even have trouble keeping the top straight if it kept slipping to one side, as tops sometimes do.

She loves it. That’s what matters. She said she felt like an angel with wings:).

We bought some cotton fabric to make another top from the same pattern. We decided together that we would change patterns. I don’t think the amount of fabric in this top would allow the thicker cotton to drape well. As hard as it was, this fabric was the right choice for this style. It’s done now, and I have some easier projects for this week:).

Saving Money

Thriving In My Thrifty Week–October 19, 2020

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This week, Rob cooked the last turkey from the deep freezers. We want to make sure we have room for the new turkeys that we usually buy in November, and hope will be on sale this year, as usual. Even if the sales aren’t as wonderful as they are sometimes, frozen turkey does not improve with age, so it’s nice to make sure we are using things up before they get freezer-burned.

We’ve been making our own lunchmeat for quite some time now. I simply slice turkey or chicken or other meat if we have it, up into very thin slices and freeze little cartons of the slices. That lunchmeat is much lower in salt, in most cases, and much less expensive than buying packages. We will still buy some on occasion, such as when we go camping and don’t have any cooked up, but most of the time, we make our own. We don’t like it thickly sliced, and the answer to that problem is to have Rob sharpen the knives extremely sharp and I can slice the meat thinly that way.

I froze several packages of turkey bits for use in soups and casseroles and to sprinkle on salads. I boiled bones twice and made lots of broth. I froze some, and used some for soup.

Our fall/winter broccoli made some heads!

I was also super surprised to pick another bundle of zucchini. The bushes are usually dead by this time of year. One night, we had stir-fry with garden zucchini and kale, and other veggies from the fridge. We are eating the last picking of tomatoes I got before pulling the bushes, and the green ones Rob wrapped in tissue paper are starting to ripen, so we are eating those. We ate lettuce all week from the garden, and I can see that there are some more plants that will produce. I even was surprised with an handful of strawberries!

We filled the yard debris bin again. There is so much clipping, trimming and weeding to do, and we like to fill it with the bulkier things like sticks or noxious weeds each week if we can.

This was a week to re-stock the freezers with baked items, so I made applesauce muffins and Patsy made cupcakes. I have several items to make this week, if I get to it. Having frozen baked items helps me tremendously on busy days, and I want to fill up my supply again.

My grocery list was small this week, so I just had Rob grab some sale and bulk items for me, along with the few things I needed. I had him grab another 25 pound bag of sugar, as I used so much up in canning. It’s nice to have those weeks where I can stock the bulk supply in the pantry, using my regular weekly grocery budget money. One of those items I also stocked was Progresso soup for 99c/can. The clam chowder is gluten-free and we like it a lot, so he got 12 cans for the pantry shelves for that amazing price. I’m pretty sure 11 made it to the pantry shelves…….:)

Sewing

Sewing A Cape–October 2020

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Patsy wanted a cape. She gets cold in the mornings, and thought it would be fun to snuggle in a “wearable blanket.” So, we finally braved JoAnn’s and she chose this fleece. They were having a sale for $2.99/yard, a wonderful price in my opinion. I got 3 yards, which was a little more than was actually needed. I used McCall’s 7202, view B.

McCall’s patterns were on sale for $1.99 and I got a handful. I have not been able to get any new patterns for a while, mostly because I have not been to the store during any sales, and, in truth, haven’t been going at all. Although I have quite a bit of fabric, and quite a few patterns, I have been frustrated with the fact that the patterns I have either aren’t in Patsy’s size, or don’t fit the size of the fabric pieces I have on hand. I’m hoping I now have some patterns that will work with some pieces I have on hand. I’m hoping to go get some Simplicity ones when they go on sale.

The pattern called for snaps to close the front of the cape. I bought a package of the large snaps called for, and they were $5. For snaps. So, I decided to experiment with some buttons I had on hand to see if they would work. I interfaced the front, and did not have trouble putting buttonholes into the fleece. I do find that these large buttonholes on the fleece are showing a tendency to stretch out already, and I didn’t even cut them as big as I would have on 100% cotton fabric. So we shall see how that works out.

The other change I made was omitting the line of sewing on the sides that would make sleeve-like openings in the cape. She wanted it to just flow.

For around $11 Patsy has a new cape. I told her to wear it and wear it and to not save it for “good.” I figure this one is an experiment, and the price was right! If it wears out quickly, or the buttonholes don’t hold up, I’ll make another one and use the snaps. It took a little longer than I thought it would, mostly because of the buttons and buttonholes and the fact I had not made this pattern before. It would be much quicker another time.

Now that the garden is finished except for the fall and winter veggies, I’m hoping to devote quite a bit of time to sewing. Patsy needs several new things. We went ahead and purchased a few items and I plan to sew a few, and her wardrobe should be back in great condition.

camping, Gluten free

Thriving In My Thrifty Week–October 13, 2020

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We slipped away this week for a few days and went camping.

We went to South Beach State Park, at Newport. The weather ranged from nice, warm and relatively sunny to stormy, windy and rainy. It was extreme and very changeable! One stormy day, we took a short drive south on Hwy. 101 and saw lots of beaches that would be fun to explore on a nicer day than that one.

Rob and Patsy spent several afternoons down on the sand, collecting rocks. Even on days that were rainy and windy, they enjoyed their time down there. I stayed back at the camper and read several books, sewed, and slept. I had downloaded several books from the library app to read, and took a couple of actual books, too. At the last minute before we left, I grabbed some fabric and my sewing machine and during the trip, I worked on putting together a quilt top with fabric I’ve had for a long time. I also used several pieces I received in kits at a shop hop I went to a year ago. I had decided I didn’t want to make those particular blocks, but didn’t want to waste the fabric. I’ve got a ways to go, but I have a plan now, and am making progress.

I took several long walks with them, went for a drive, and we took Patsy to the candy/ice cream store one time.

Camping is super fun and economical for us. We used our park pass to pay for the campsite. We took food for all our meals, and I packed a picnic for the first day. Lots of our home-preserved food was used in those meals. Our trip was fairly short this time, so we wanted to get down there early. We knew our campsite wouldn’t be ready until afternoon, so we just went to the day use area until it was time. It was funny when we checked in to see if we could get into our spot early. The ranger suggested we drive into town for a “bite to eat” while we waited. I politely said we’d be back at 2, like he told us, and got back in the van, inwardly chuckling. Think that one over….why would we want to drive a 15-passenger van towing a 32 foot trailer back to town, find a place to park it, and eat at a restaurant and then find a spot to turn it around to come back? During Covid-19, no less? Someone else might want to do that, but not us–it was much easier to pack some food into a cooler:).

Last evening, I took one more quick walk down the beach look-out path. We woke up again to a windy, stormy, rainy day.

Rob hooked up the camper while standing in about 2 inches of water this morning. I helped him. The rain was blowing sideways in the gusty, strong wind. Because you have to empty your trailer tanks at the entrance of this park, we put dry clothes inside the camper door, and just changed real quick after we hooked up, then drove to empty, so we didn’t have to stay soaking, sopping wet!

Before we went, I was able to pick several items from the garden to use in meals, and we took the rest with us. I was surprised at how much garden lettuce I ended up with. We had salad every day, mixed with a head I had on hand. Yum! I packed leftovers into the camper out of the fridge in the house and we ate them up. I cooked rice and marinated some chicken for the first night to make it easy. I did some cupboard cleaning while I was camping, and pulled out a basket of food that needs to be used. I ran out of time and didn’t make it to the store for last minute food items before we left. We made out fine. I won’t go again until next weekend, as there is still plenty, which always saves me money when I skip a week of shopping. I have several meals planned for the next few days, starting with chicken-rice soup, which I made for supper tonight. Jake will come over tomorrow, as usual, and he eats that, so I won’t have to run to the store for “Jake-food” for a few days.

It was great to get the camper out. For various reasons, we’ve had to cancel almost every reservation we’ve made, so this was only our second camping trip during the last year. Hopefully, there will be more before too long!

food preservation, Garden, Saving Money

Thriving In My thrifty Week–October 6, 2020

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This is my miracle. Rob picked up some wood from my brother-in-law, came home, split and stacked it.

He is still limping, and has a few other muscles that aren’t working quite right, so he was improved for another round of physical therapy. He started that today.

When Patsy was helping Rob pick up wood, she found a praying mantis. We also found caterpillars in the garden and brought them in with the hope of her being to observe them turning into butterflies. So far, no luck, but it’s good to try.

Our onions are dried nicely now. Rob built some wooden boxes to store them in. We have many, many more than this:). He’s sorting them, a little each day since the white ones will go bad first, then the red and yellow because of the varieties and storage capabilities they have.

He worked with Patsy in the shop while he was building them, and taught her how to safely use a tool she had not used before.

Every time Rob goes up to my sister’s farm, she send home garden goodies. We have been enjoying corn. We have dried the last of her tomatoes, as she has what she wants, and worked with apples, apples and more apples. We also dried zucchini, made Giadiniera, and apple pie filling and bread and butter pickles. I thought I was done with pickles, but found more cucumbers. Those were the absolute last, though, and I pulled the bushes up. My canning shelves are over-full, so Rob build me some wooden boxes to store empty jars in as we empty them to free up a little space on the shelves so I can safely move things around without danger of breakage and more easily see what I have as things in front are used up.

She sent kiwi and kiwi berries for us to snack on.

I spent 4-5 hours tying up my blackberries this week. The new vines grew extra long and were very tangled up with each other, grown into the garden and covered with weeds and otherwise entangled. It was not fun, but it’s done.

This was the week for people to give us food, multiple people for several reasons. What a blessing they all were! I was given a bag of popcorn, many fruits and vegetables, and a box of assorted cans of foods that Rob’s mom was given, but could not use. In that box were canned beans, a can of baby corn, some clams and oysters, and some sauces, plus more. I sorted them. The ones that were slightly over-date were set out for immediate use, the rest put on the shelves for later. I made a baked bean medley from some of them, plan to give away the oysters as we don’t eat them, have a stir-fry planned for the baby corn and will make clam chowder soon. I ate the can of very strange soup, but….hey, we don’t all have the same tastes and it’s gone now:).

I picked some lettuce, the first I’ve had for a while. Summer heat and smoke were not kind to the garden and there wasn’t any for a while. I also picked peppers, green beans, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, zucchini and beets from the garden.

I went grocery shopping last week. I used the $10/off $50 coupon at Safeway and also clipped several store coupons to my phone account. I will need very little at the store this week, between what I bought, the end of the garden, and what I was given. I like to stretch out my shopping trips if I can, to save time and to stay home, and as always, save money!

food preservation, Garden

A Fall Frenzy of Food Preservation–October, 2020

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My sister’s apple trees have yielded a bumper crop this year. She has kindly shared a LOT of apples with us over the last couple of weeks.

This week, I have made apple pie filling, dried apples, and we have eaten SO many apples!

As you can see, the garden tomatoes are coming to the end of their days. But, despite a few spots, Rob brought home this box from my sister’s. We also picked some equally spotted ones from our garden.

We dried them. I did this a few years ago. You can use them in any recipe calling for sun-dried tomatoes that are not packed in oil.

In the cabbage mixture I grew, there was one head of red cabbage. We ate a little off the side of it, then it sat in the fridge. I found a recipe for a German cabbage with apples in it and used the rest of the head to make it. It’s a sweet and sour, pickled mixture and I’m getting excited to try it. I’m just waiting to let the flavors meld together before I do.

Rob wanted to make Giadiniera. He found huge heads of cauliflower at a farm stand. They were only $3/each. We froze some and used the rest for this pickled vegetable mixture. There were many, many recipes on the internet, and they all seemed to be different. I did a little research to make sure the brine was safe, and then just picked one.

The zucchini, Tromboncini and summer squash bushes all ripened more fruit. We dried them. I did this a few years back and used them primarily in soup. I added them at the end of the cooking process and they rehydrated nicely and did not turn to mush. I have another idea or two that I plan to try with these.

When I went out to dump one of my many bowls of apple peelings into the compost heap, I felt a “crunch” under my feet. Much to my surprise, there was a cucumber under my feet in the bushes I thought were finished. I started searching and found enough misshapen cucumbers to make 8 little jars of bread-and-butter pickles. That was a very nice surprise since I had not made any this year and a great way to use these ugly cucumbers in a tasty way.

We have spent considerable time this past week preserving food. This task is winding down, though, as we have also spent a great deal of time putting the garden to bed for the winter. We are not done, but are making great progress. The last few fruits are being picked, bushes are being pulled, vines are being tied up, compost is being spread from the one bin that is finished, and Rob is planning to till soon. I have hoed around my fall plants that will not be tilled up, as they are not finished. I hope to finish that job in the next couple of days, before the rain that’s supposed to arrive this weekend. It’s been a wonderful gardening year, and I’m grateful for all that we have been able to harvest.