Getting to Know My Sewing Machine

I've been spending some time getting to know my sewing machine lately. Last year I received my grandma's old machine and haven't used it much, so I figured I should at least teach myself how to be able to sew a little. I found a few really cute projects to try out and thought I would try to share them here with you as I get them finished. I did not take Home-Ec in high school, so my sewing skills are very minimal. I think if I can manage these easy projects, probably just about anyone can!
I have a ton of scrap fabric around from when I used to make bandannas for my grooming dogs, so I have been trying to use some of that up. First I tried a few of these baby crinkle squares and these reusable snack bags. I forgot to take pictures, but both turned out really well. Recently Beth at Happily Domestic shared this link to some cute doll diapers that she made for her daughter, so I gave them a try for Sweetie to play with on her dolls. The first one that I made was pretty small and only fit a couple of her smaller dolls, so then I increased the size to fit some of her bigger dolls as well.

First I cut out the two pieces.

Then I pinned and sewed them together (wrong sides together) I left a 2 inch hole for turning inside out, which I whipstitched after turning the right way.

Then I sewed on the velcro and they were done! Easy as that!

Sweetie loves them and already has them on her babies!

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Tasty Tuesday - Homemade Tootsie Rolls!

I have been craving tootsie rolls lately, but they are so expensive, so I decided to try out a homemade recipe this week. These turned out pretty good, but I don't think they taste much like store bought ones. We still had them gone in one afternoon though, so they still make a tasty little treat.

Ingredients:

1 oz square unsweetened chocolate (I didn't have any so I used 3 Tbsp cocoa powder and 1 Tbsp butter as a substitue)

1 Tbsp butter

1/2 dark corn syrup

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/3 cups sifted powdered sugar

6 Tbsp instant nonfat milk powder

Directions:

Microwave the chocolate and butter until the chocolate is melted, stirring occasionally. Stir in the corn syrup and vanilla. Microwave again on high for 1 minute. Mix in 1 cup of powdered sugar, add the milk powder, and stir thoroughly. Turn the mixture onto wax paper that has been sprinkled with the remaining powdered sugar. Knead until stiff, adding as much sugar as necessary to form a stiff but pliable dough. Divide the candy into 4 parts and roll each into pencil-sized strips.

Cut each strip into 10 pieces and wrap in wax paper. Refrigerate until set.

Enjoy! And remember to share any of your favorite recipes with me, I am always looking for good ones to try!

Washing Cloth is Easy!

If any of you are considering switching to cloth diapers (and I hope you are after reading this post!), but are still unsure, I am guessing one of the big reasons you don't want to switch is the laundry. So I thought I would join Mama to 3 Blessings as she hosts a link up post about how easy it is to wash and care for your cloth diapers. After you are done reading mine, head over there and read about the routines her and others have found to work for them.
I have found a routine that works really well for me, is really easy, and rarely creates issues of smells or stains. One of the most important things in my wash routine that makes it so easy is my diaper sprayer. If Lovebug has a dirty diaper, I take it over to the toilet, spray it off, and drop it in the diaper pail. I have never dunked, swirled, or soaked any of my diapers and haven't had any issues with stains. I store all used diapers in the pail until wash day. I use a garbage can size diaper pail lined with a pail liner and I actually leave the lid off and have never had an issue with smell. I wash 3 times a week and I just dump the whole pail in including the liner turned inside out and I never have to touch the dirty diapers that way. First I do a cold rinse. Next I add Rockin Green Hard Rock Detergent and do a hot wash followed by a 2nd cold rinse. There are many different opinions on which detergent is safe for cloth diapers and what is best with the type of water you have, and I have tried a few that are recommended by the diaper companies, but have found that Rockin Green does the best job of getting the ammonia smell out our diapers.
My drying routine varies depending on the weather and my mood. If it is sunny and warm enough, I hang the diapers out on the clothes line to sun them. The sun does an amazing job of removing any stains and bacteria. If it isn't sunny, I will hang all the pockets, shells, and covers on my wooden drying rack in the laundry room and then either toss everything else into the dryer for a while and hang dry what doesn't get completely dry or just hang everything right away.
Hopefully that doesn't sound too complicated, but it really is very easy. I have 3 set days that I do diaper laundry so it doesn't interfere with my regular laundry day or have to be done on Sunday, and it has become so routine and is much easier than heading to the store every time we are out of diapers!

Over Half Way!

This week I had my 20 week dr. appointment and ultrasound. Everything looked great and the baby is growing right on track. Even though it may look like I am big enough for twins, there is only one baby in there! (And I got asked if there are twins for the first time today!) We'll have to see if it is possible to get bigger than I did with my last pregnancies!

Cloth vs. Disposables

I know that a lot of you will read the title of this post and quit right there, but if you have children in diapers, I would really encourage you to keep reading. I think you will be amazed at some of what you learn.

I admit, the reason I started using cloth diapers was to save money (and less trips to the store with 3 kids was also a nice plus!), but since then I have also learned a lot about how bad disposable diapers really are. Recently, Pampers came out with a new Dry Max diaper that has been causing a lot of rashes and other problems for babies and I have been reading a lot of articles and blog posts about Pampers telling a lot of lies to defend their diapers and disposable diapers in general. As I have read these, I have been amazed to learn how bad for babies and the environment disposables really are. Did you know that disposable diapers contain cancer causing chemicals that are no longer used in tampons and are banned in all countries but the US??? Why are we putting something like that on our children? Did you also know that disposable diapers will sit in landfills for 250-500 years? How is that being a good steward of the earth God has given us?

These are just a couple of the facts that really stuck out to me, but I would encourage you to read up for yourself and find the facts. If you are interested here is a great post on The Cloth Diaper Report and Dirty Diaper Laundry has done several posts, some with links to more news articles (you may need to read back a ways on her blog to find them all). The Real Diaper Association, a non-profit organization, also provides a lot of information.

If this at all convinces you to consider switching to cloth diapers, I would be more than happy to help you get started. For those of you who picture them as folded diapers with pins and plastic pants, I am very happy to inform you that there are many, many more options available than that and most are as easy to use as disposables (and much cuter too)!

Really, who can resist such cuteness?

Tasty Tuesday - Strawberry Pink Lemonade

We've had a few warm days this week, so I made our favorite summer-time drink for the first time this year. It is so refreshing after working outside on a hot day and we all love it!

Ingredients

1 packet Crystal Light Pink Lemonade powdered drink mix
8 cups cold water
1-2 cups frozen strawberries
Ice cubes

Directions

Mix drink mix and water in a pitcher and then pour about 1/2 of it into a blender. Add the strawberries to the blender , cover, and blend until smooth. Return mixture to remaining drink mix and stir. Pour into cups and serve with ice cubes.

Enjoy! And please share your favorite recipes with me so I can try out some new ones too!

Fruit Roll-Ups!

My Lovebug really enjoyed his first fruit roll-up!

I found a great recipe for homemade fruit roll-ups at Fly Through Our Window and I made the peach blueberry ones yesterday and they turned out delicious!

Tasty Tuesday! Creamy Chicken and Veggies in the Crock Pot!

Last week I needed to find something for dinner that I could make ahead of time so that it would be all ready when we got home from Tae Kwon Do, but I couldn't find anything that sounded good at the time. I decided to try out my own crock pot recipe and this is what I came up with.

First throw in your veggies. I used chopped carrots, green beans, corn, and diced potatoes. Then I put a couple chicken breasts on top of that and then dumped a can each of cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soup on the top. I turned it on high for about 4 1/2 hours and it turned out really good!

When we were eating it, I thought it would be pretty good with the chicken cut up also and put it all on some biscuits. You could make it to your liking and use what ever veggies or cream soups you like.

If you have any really good recipes to share, please leave me a comment with them!

My First Sweater!

Awhile back I was looking at the Lion Brand Yarn site for a new pattern to crochet and I came across this really cute sweater. I looked pretty easy, so I thought I would give it a try for my first sweater. I finally finished it up last night and it turned out really cute! I did the 4T size and it fits Sweetie pretty good, but I think she will outgrown it soon, so I wish the pattern had a bigger size. I also think the button is a little high and makes the neck tight, so I would move that down a little next time. If you're looking for a really easy and cute project to do, give this one a try!