Cute and personalized onsies

I wanted to get Nate a camouflage outfit for the baby so he would be at ease that I wasn't going to frill up this little lady. It was way too hard to find something cute, but not cheesy. So, I decided to make it myself. The first photo shows what I came up with. It took only about 10 minutes to make, and I have to admit it's cuter than anything I saw online.

Materials:

White onsie

Camo T-shirt ($2 at Salvation Army)

Pellon fusible interfacing

Heat N' Bond Iron-On Adhesive

Embroidery floss

Here is what I did:

I cut the sleeve off the camp T-shirt and ironed it to the Pellon. Pellon makes the stretchy T-shirt material easier to work with. I used a heart stencil and cut out a heart from the camo material. Then, I followed the directions on the Heat N' Bond. The purpose of the Heat N' Bond is to adhere the material to the onsie without sewing. Once I applied the heart to the onsie, I used a running stitch with embroidery floss. Voila, it's done. The hat is homemade, but not by me. It's from Etsy, I believe the store is called Little Lids. This will be wrapped.

Grand plans for sewing

My sewing machine has been getting a lot of love lately. Since I abandoned the T-shirt quilt for a bit, I focused on the baby quilt. I had to do a lot of reading in various places to feel confident enough to tackle the little thing. I even experienced ripping out hundreds of stitches. You never understand the power of a sewing machine until you have to rip out it's work.

I think all I have to do is bind the edges of the quilt, which is a little scary. However, I have my trusty books to guide me along the way. I also recommend YouTube, if you are a visual learner.

Once this little thing is finished, I am going to try to sew some onsies. I was having a hard time finding cute, girly camo. Nate wants our baby girl to wear something other than pink. So, I decided to make some onsies with camo shapes on them. I just have to get to the sewing machine. I bought a worm camo tee at the Salvation Army for $2 and plan to cut some shapes out. I will fuse them to some backing that makes it more sturdy (have you ever tried to sew straight on T-shirt material?) We will see how it comes out. I want to have it done in time to wrap it up for Nate as a surprise.

And, I still have high hopes of making some personalized touches for my nursery. I didn't want the cookie cutter nursery, and tried to steer clear of all things commercial. That, my friends, is pretty much impossible. Look at all of the packaging and plastic. I hope to spend Christmas break getting some more things organized and put in its place. I have a long way to go. I need a dresser, first. However, I have to remember how far I have come.

For now, the nursery is a playground for my cats who love the tissue paper and baby-smelling items.

Where does time go?

I really don't have time to be blogging. I mean, I have lesson plans to develop, an IEP to write, two graduate research papers and a few reactions to wrap up the semester. But, I miss my crafting. I have so many ideas in my head. Being 27 weeks pregnant, I am starting to think of all the little projects I want to do for my baby, who is due to arrive Feb. 24. The T-shirt quilt was put on hold for a baby quilt. I am nearly done, but it's been a work in progress. I wanted to tackle something smaller to get the gist of actual quilting before I tackled a full-size bed blanket. It's been interesting. Of course, it's not perfect and there are a lot of flaws, but my baby is probably going to love it anyway.

And, I will continue to dream about other projects, like wall art, decorative pillows and maybe a mobile!

Stay tuned for photos of my completed projects.

Canning disaster

Ugh. That is how I feel right now. Completely defeated. Although, even with the raging hormones baby Stiger is sending my way, I held it together.
Here is how this scenario went:
Step 1: I planted a garden and picked tomatoes out the wazoo all summer. I stored them in the fridge until I had enough to make a batch.
Step 2: I didn't have enough, so I raided my mom and stepdad's tomato plants.
Step 3: I cleaned and weighed 12 pounds of tomatoes.
Step 4: I roasted 12 pounds of tomatoes on the small grill.
Step 5: I roasted 4 bulbs of garlic in the oven
Step 6: I started the canner water.
Step 7: I washed the jars and lids and put them on the stove in warm water to simmer.
Step 8: I peeled the 12 pounds of tomatoes and attempted to deseed and cube them (nearly impossible because they were too soft). This took forever.
Step 9: Simmer tomatoes on the stove, as I added the roasted garlic.
Step 10: Discovered that the canner never boiled the water. I had been warned that a flat-top stove might not have enough to boil that beast of a pot. That person was right!
Step 11: Turned off all the burners, called my dad and we decided that I should just freeze the tomatoes.
Time of all this was 3 hours.
I am feeling defeated, yet optimistic that I tried, that is more than many people can say. No one learned any of this overnight! I will get it eventually.

Dinner inspiration out of no where

I headed back to school today for a meeting. All summer, I have been slacking on cooking dinner. Poor Nate has been living on frozen pizza, macaroni cheese and lunch meat sandwiches. I don't know if it was getting back into a routine today, but I was inspired to cook a decent dinner. I could see the joy on Nate's face as he said, "I like when you cook dinner, babe."
Before I left in the morning, I pulled two boneless skinless chicken breasts out of the freezer to thaw in the refrigerator. When I returned home, I completed the thaw in the microwave. I cut the chicken into strips and marinated them in Kraft balsamic vinegar salad dressing for a little while. Then I made baked corn. I have NEVER made that before. Before making it, I wasn't even sure that I really liked it. I am never a fan of adding butter, milk, eggs and other fattening ingredients to a vegetable, even if it is a starch. Nate mentioned that we should use the leftover corn on the cob from a few weekends ago for baked corn, a dish he only tried for the first time at my mom's house. So, I did before it spoiled. While the corn was baking, I cooked the chicken on the George Foreman grill, which went very quickly because the piecs were small. I topped off the meal with instant mashed potatoes, well because, we like them and they are easy.

Here is the recipe I used for baked corn from a church cookbook (which contained three recipes for baked corn. This one had the shortest cooking time.)

Baked Corn
2 cups cooked or canned corn
2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 tablespoon flour
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 eggs, beaten

Mix all ingredients together. Pour into greased baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Serves 4.

See, quick, easy and absolutely yummy!

Roots and Tupperware!

After spending much of the summer taking classes, cleaning, organizing or working at Cracker Barrel, I knew that it was time for fun. I mean, after all, summer is almost over. So, I hooked up with some co-workers and headed to Root's Market in Lancaster for homemade ice cream, whoopie pies, Smitty's Candy, and inexpensive fruit. But surprisingly, I found the pick-a-deli Tupperware container as well. Just like Root's, Pick-A-Deli is a memory from my childhood. We always stored pickles in it so we didn't have to reach our little hands down into the depths of the pickle juice. I love it! For $9, I can store pickles. And look how cute the color is. Much better than the drab 1970s green container from my mom's fridge. Despite the horrible heat, it was a great day!

Really?

Has it really been three months since I posted? Since that post I completed a triathlon, finished three graduate classes, planted a garden, cooked a few good meals, resumed work on the T-shirt quilt and started some new sewing projects. I've tried to clean and organize, but I usually end up taking a nap. I've worked weekends at Cracker Barrel and continued writing my column for the York Daily Record. Hopefully I can take some pictures of a project or two before the whirlwind of the school year starts again. My fingers are crossed, but don't hold your breath.