Sew it Goes….

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My daughters have finally discovered the sewing machine.

Of course, it didn’t help that it was buried in the storage unit for the last oh 4 years…

Well… we went and got it out of storage jail, and brought the old lady home. She’s just an old basic model Sears and runs like a hoss. Will stitch over 6 layers of jeans AND a pin just for fun. Paid like $100 used for it years and years ago, with a little table and that thing has done a zillion projects over the years for me. Can’t even remember how many costumes it cranked out. And stuffed animals and blankets and quilts… it has seen some use.

But lately, things have just been a little crazy and it got tucked away and kinda forgotten.

Until now. The girls have been bugging me to learn how to sew. Not sure why, but they want to and it sounds fun to me.

Maggie worked last night practicing to sew straight lines and just get the hang of sewing… she made her first creation. A hoodie for her ferret.

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Tasha was not quite impressed with the whole ordeal.

I guess springy green and blue are not her deal.

So Maggie made them a new hammock…

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That they dug big time.

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But since we only had this little box of scraps, and one roll of thread, it was apparent that we needed to go to the fabric joint and gear up a little bit.

Somewhere in the storage unit, I do have more material and stuff, but we couldn’t find it right away and well, it’s probably not what they would have wanted anyway. So off to Jo-Anns it was!

So many cute things! I wanted to get them a real simple small project to get started on… so we picked this cute pattern with little 2 piece animals on it.

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And we got some nice rems at 50% off of fleece and soft animal fabrics…

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AND WE REMEMBERED OUR SHOPPING BAG!!!!

Yeah! We’re not totally pathetic!

We’re trying SO hard to stop using plastic bags!!! We have them in the car and we forget to take them in the dumb stores!!!

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They got to cutting….


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Sewing on faces and whiskers….

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Sewing them together…


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Being scrutinized by critics…

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And made it to their FIRST finished little animals!!! This is Jessy’s little kitty she calls Sage.. because it’s sage green and also taught her to sew… hahaha… funny kid.


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And Maggie’s little soft fuzzy gray kitty that has no name…

I hear the machine sewing again in the other room… not sure what they are making or whom is actually sewing. All I know is that I think it’s awesome that they are creating and just playing. At first they wanted me to hover over them and tell them every step and movement and then finally, I said, no, just play, just try, experiment.. be careful of fingers, but go forth and create!

It’s the best way to learn.. it’s how I did as a kid… I made all sorts of weird things and made lots of mistakes and all, but the discovery process was worth it’s weight in sewing gold… now I can do just about anything on that machine, and enjoy the act of creation. They will too! We’ll have tote bags and tissue holders and stuffed animals and little ferret and kitty accessories galore! Jessy is already researching how to make a little cell phone pouch for her phone… and Maggie just finished her second ferret hammock and a tote bag! Just wonderful!!!!

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My friend’s buns

HAHAHAHA

Now that I have your attention… I want to get you thinking about homemade BUNS…. yes, my friend Lynda always talks about getting her buns in the oven for the day and at first I thought, hmmm… is she speaking metaphorically about her two delightful sons? But then I began to realize, no, she’s talking about bread buns… like hot dog buns and burger buns and sandwich buns!

Ah!!!

And I’ve been noticing… we love our fresh bread and our breadmaker and all that, and nothing tastes better than fresh bread and our homemade butter… but twice now… a couple slices left in the box got old and… (gasp!) moldy!!!

We’re not big bread eaters, not all the time. Yet I was still buying hot dog buns and we were using up crescent rolls, and bisquick bisquits for breakfast, and dinner now and then…

Hmmm. So I did it… I made a batch of dough with the machine and let it rise good and then broke it up into smaller rolls and a couple longer sandwich length rolls…. HOW COOL!

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The were perfect. Two batches in the little oven… all beautiful and golden brown… and perfect to use for all our applications… including popping into the freezer for the next day or two instead of letting them get old and stale!!!

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My kids and I love Subway sandwiches, but they are terrible there… all they want is ham or turkey, a little mayo and some lettuce. That’s it. No other toppings. Me, I can do the whole bar and make it count, but they make the more boring sandwiches! Why pay $5 for that?

Well, now we can do the same at home.. way cheaper and fresher and all that. Sweeet! And it was EASY!

My longer buns were not quite as pretty as my little round top buns… hmmm…. maybe I need to get a longer tube shaped pan or something. I’ll bet there is something out there to make long loaves. Or maybe I just need to get a little better at it! (ha!)

Well… here is my best BUN recipe!!!

1 cup lukewarm buttermilk (or regular milk)
2 1/4 teaspoons of yeast
1/4 cup of honey (We don’t measure, we just pretty much do one good long squeeze from the bottle!)
1 teaspoon of salt
1 egg
4 cups of flour… (we like white for buns… or half and half with wheat flour, for more rolls….)
1/4 cup of oil (or butter)

Add all to your breadmaker… mix on dough setting. Sometimes you have to add a little bit more flour to make it knead and process better. Depends on the humidity and all.

Let rise and then pinch out little palm sized balls to roll and pop on a greased pan. Let rise 30 minutes and then pop in a 350 oven… you can brush the top with butter before or dust with a little bit of onion powder for a slightly oniony flavor. You can even chop very fine onion and then press the ball into the chopped onion before baking… or sesame seeds or any little topping you’d like! Cinnamon sugar is good tooo!

Cook until done… lightly brown and golden lovely on the top. Usually about 20-30 minutes it seems… just keep an eye on them, you’ll smell them when they are done! Yum!!!

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Fowl Envy

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I so want some chickens.

Don’t know why, just do.

I’m envious of others who can have chickens.

I look at kits for coops and draw out my own plans and plot and wonder and hope.

Weird. Do you think it’s has something to do with Empty Nest Syndrome?

I do have two old children now.

Hmmmmmmm

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