Sewing

Last weekend I broke down and opened my sewing machine. I convinced myself that everything would be okay, and that nothing would get lost. It comes with a handy drawer for all of the miscellaneous pieces, so I don’t think anything too terrible will happen. Also included was a free subscription for Martha Stewart’s Living Magazine, although I’m pretty sure the offer has expired by now. I couldn’t find a date anywhere on the offer envelope, so I’m going to send for it anyway. I wonder what's in the magazine...

I got the machine last year for Christmas. It’s a Singer 2263 Simple. I’ll be the judge of just how simple it really is, though. I read through the entire manual, and I think I’ll be able to thread it successfully. Since I know next to nothing about sewing, I’m going to have to do some serious research regarding sewing stitches and techniques. And I should probably educate myself about textiles as well. P.S. – I’ve already started a “sewing” tub in my closet.

I have a few sewing projects lined up for this year. (What? Did you expect anything less of me?) There’s the quilt I’ve mentioned before, a (hopefully) simple dress, some doggie diapers, and a couple of purses. I’d like to try the doggie diapers first. I think they’ll be the easiest for me to accomplish. As it stands now, I’ll be buying the materials on Saturday in Vineland. I hope to find some hot pink fabric and maybe an animal print. Xerxes likes to be the center of attention, and I doubt he’ll experience any lack of it while strutting around in his hot pink wee-wee holder!

I already bought most of the required materials for the dress. I’ll be using a free pattern from BurdaStyle called Coffee Date Dress. (If you’d like to access the pattern, you’ll have to sign up for BurdaStyle. It’s free!) After a little bit of struggling and some deep thought, I finally printed out the pattern correctly. (100%, no scaling) Much to my dismay, a portion of the pattern lies outside of the printable area on the page, so I’ll have to measure and draw a little. Since the pattern doesn’t include the seam allowance, I’ll have to get myself a marking device while I’m out on Saturday. In addition, I need a zipper foot for my machine. In case you were curious, I picked a royal blue cotton fabric for the dress. At first I wanted a print, but then I decided I’d rather not have to worry about lining up everything and making sure the pieces are cut straight. If, by some miracle, I actually finish the dress and it’s wearable, I’d like to put a thick black ribbon around the waist for interest. I’m on the fence about the ruffle. Unfortunately, it’s walking that very fine line between looking stylish and looking like a waddle.

Last Sunday I spent some time looking up purse patterns. At some point I’d like to make a knit purse, but sewn purses seem so much faster. I chose two patterns that I think I can manage: the Buttercup Bag and the Phoebe Bag. Neither calls for more than a yard of fabric, so they should be pretty cheap to make. Plus, I’m in need of a cute little purse. Who isn’t?

And there you have it. I’ve officially entered yet another realm of the craft world. Goodness gracious.

Before I sign off, I have a bit of good news to share. I have been working on one of my works in progress, and I’m happy to report that I’ll be starting the heel of the second Shooting Stocking tonight. Maybe I’ll be finished with the pair this weekend!

Kiwi Jam

Last night I made a batch of kiwi jam. The process was much quicker this time. (I didn’t have to pit anything!) I sort of made up the recipe as I went, so I’ll share it here for anyone who is interested.

Supplies:

• 5 half pint canning jars with lids and rings
  
• Large pot for sterilizing/processing (the pot must be tall enough to cover the jars by an inch or more of water!)
  
• Saucepan
  
• Stirring Utensil
  
• Ladle
  
• Tongs (or whatever you want to use to handle the jars when hot)
  

Ingredients:

• 2 cups mashed kiwis (about 7 whole kiwis)
  
• 4.5 cups of sugar*
  
• 1 box of Sure-Jell
  
• 2 tsp. Lemon Juice
  
• 1 tsp. butter or margarine to prevent foaming (optional)
  

Preparations:

The packaging around the canning jars should have instructions for sterilizing the jars. You can either follow those instructions or use my method:

1. Thoroughly clean your hands and all surfaces you will be using.

2. Set a freshly laundered towel on your countertop/table to protect it from the heat of the cooling jars.

3. Fill a large pot with water (enough to cover the jars by an inch or more) and turn on the heat.

4. Remove the lids and rings from the jars and set aside. (VERY IMPORTANT! If you leave the rings and lids on during sterilization, the jars will seal.)

5. Place the jars into the pot using tongs or whatever is most convenient for you.

6. Boil the jars for 10 minutes to ensure that anything lurking inside is dead.

7. Carefully remove jars from pot without touching the insides/rims and place them right side up on the towel.


Method for Jam:

Peel, rinse, and chop kiwis into small pieces. Lightly mash kiwis until they become a chunky, pulpy blend. Place mashed kiwis, lemon juice, Sure-Jell, and butter into saucepan. Turn on heat and bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. (From now on, you’re going to have to keep stirring.) Add the sugar. Bring the mixture to a rolling boil, and let boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and ladle into jars.



Kiwi jam on the stovetop!

Processing:

1. Wipe down the rims of the jars with a clean, wet paper towel to ensure a tight seal.

2. Place the lids on the jars and screw on the rings “finger tip tight.”

3. Place the lidded jars into a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

4. Remove jars and allow them to cool.

5. Check to make sure your jars have sealed about an hour or so after they’ve left the boiling water bath. Usually you can hear them seal as they cool. Any unsealed jars must be put into the refrigerator immediately.



My kiwi jam!


*I know that it sounds like an awful lot of sugar, but if you mess with the amount of added sugar, the jam will not set. If you want to try making jam with less sugar, or a sugar substitute, you’ll have to get special pectin.

Etiquette - For Grocery Shoppers

1. Do NOT double park in the spaces closest to the store. It is difficult enough to find a spot closer than half a mile away from the front doors due to the 40 or 50 handicapped parking spots each store provides. Don’t aggravate the problem by bringing your fancy sports car grocery shopping. Same goes for crooked parkers.

2. Do NOT spend an eternity traveling the crosswalk that runs from the store to the parking lot. Navigating a crowded parking lot can be tricky, and the last thing you should be doing is causing a traffic jam.

3. Do NOT park your cart in the middle of the aisle while you look for an item, have a conversation, read your list, zone out, etcetera. I should not have to move your cart for you as I struggle to pass through to the next section.

4. Do NOT walk down the middle of any aisles, pathways, etc. at Mach-Slug.

5. When experiencing “chooser’s remorse,” do NOT plop any refrigerated/frozen items onto the room temperature shelves closest to you. Walk all perishables back to where you found them – or at least to another refrigerated/frozen case.

6. Do NOT open any boxes and take one snack cake, tampon, twizzler, etcetera. Either some unfortunate soul will purchase that box and not realize until they get home that it’s been tampered with, or the store will add it to the damages pile, resulting in a slow and steady rise in prices for all.

7. Do NOT allow your children to run hog-wild through the store. Who will be the bad guy when I accidentally clobber them with my cart?

8. Do NOT take an entire cartful of items to the 10 or less register. Bringing 11 or 12 items is fine. Anything more and I can assure you that you’ll get plenty of nasty looks. There is a reason those lanes are labeled “express.”

9. Do NOT load all of your stuff onto the check out belt and flee the scene for 10 minutes in search of something you forgot. If you can’t return with the item in less than 20 seconds, get it next time, or check out and get back in line. Making others wait while you continue to shop is rude.

10. And please, do NOT berate the cashier when something doesn’t ring up correctly. The cashiers don’t set the prices or have them memorized. They aren’t responsible for misplaced signs, tags, or items. Screaming at the cashier will accomplish absolutely nothing. Just ask for a price check. Politely.

Need...More...Time

I haven’t done much crafting in the past couple of days (well, except the cup cozy thing) due to lack of time. I spent Tuesday shopping, Wednesday sleeping, and tonight I went to get a haircut. (It looks great by the way. I hadn't had it cut in over two years, so it sure was needing it!) Sometimes I feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day. My weekdays usually go like this:

-Wake up (between 5am and 6am)
-Prepare for work (6am – 7am)
-Commute to work (7:15am – 8am)
-Work (8am – 4pm)
-Commute home (4:15pm – 5pm)
-Make dinner and do any cleaning/errands that I (rather Kai) can no longer put off. What can I say? I HATE doing chores after spending an entire day at the office. (5pm – 7:30pm)
-Savor a little bit of free time, unless something in the prior bullet spills over. (7:30pm – 8:30pm)
-Randomly visit the computer while winding down and getting ready for bed. (8:30pm – 9:30pm)

Occasionally I’ll stay up later for that "there's a couple extra hours in the day" feeling. But in the end, I always regret doing that. I have a very hard time getting up in the morning - even when I go to bed early. I know it sounds pathetic, but I’m already looking forward to retirement. Though I’m not sure what funds I’ll have for retirement. My student loan payments have swallowed up all of my retirement contributions and will be doing so for the next 29 years. Gotta love that expensive (and practically worthless) education!

A Full Plate

I’ve been hoarding again. I bought more yarn and needles from Knit Picks a while back, and just last Sunday I visited Joann (the store) for an all out shopping spree. I’ve wanted to make a quilt for a while, and on a whim I decided I needed all of the supplies immediately. I chose four different fabrics: tan, gray, reddish brown, and a patterned one with a black background and paw prints in the aforementioned (non-black) colors. I know it sounds like it’ll be a dreary quilt, but the shades don’t look bad at all, and Kai can identify each color with confidence. (He’s colorblind. Did I mention the time he swooned over a pair of pink fingerless gloves I made? He wanted to keep them…until I told him they were pink. I made him his own set in green– which he calls tan. Go figure.) I also bought some black thread, black binding, and the batting for the inside of the quilt. I need to get a sheet for the bottom and some pins, and hopefully I’ll be doing that tonight. I want the sheet to be black, and now that I think about it, I might have a black sheet somewhere around here. I’ll have to try to find it before heading out.

I’ve come up with a new rule for myself, although I may have difficulty enforcing it. I want to finish all of my works in progress before moving on to anything else. I want to finish everything that’s hibernating on Ravelry before starting any new knit/crochet projects, and I want to finish the large cross stitch project I started ages ago before starting anything embroidery floss - related. (That won’t stop me from attempting to buy floss and aida cloth at Walmart tonight!) And I’m not allowed to start my quilt until EVERYTHING is finished. I hope this serves as a hefty dose of motivation.

In an attempt to shame myself, I will list my works in progress here:

-Shooting Stockings
-WWII Socks
-Short Sleeved Cardigan
-Palindrome Scarf
-Houndstooth Scarf
-Baker’s Kitchen Dishcloth (I put a dishcloth in hibernation?! Well, it was hurting my hands.)
-Lace Panelled Baby Blanket (I might let this one slide considering it’ll be a while before I need to give it away.)
-Owl Sweater (For my mom. I can’t start it until I get the yarn – which will probably be around September.)
-Dalmatian Cross Stitch Project

Oh! And I have one more project in the works: a cup cozy for my dad’s water glass. My mom caught him shirtless - sitting in front of the TV - wearing one winter glove. When asked why on Earth he chose to clothe himself in the style of Michael Jackson, he said that his cup was cold. When I offered to make a knitted cup cozy for Father’s Day, my mom said that wouldn’t do. She wanted me to make something waterproof. So, she took a trip to the fabric store and picked up some fabric that has foam attached to its underside. (I’m sure there’s a fancier name for it, but obviously I don’t know it.) I started the cozy last night with no pattern and a very rough idea of what I’d like to accomplish. And of course, I’m sewing it by hand. I still refuse to break out my sewing machine. I’d like to make two: one straight and one tapered. Perhaps I’m a bit ambitious.

Before I wrap this post up, there’s one more thing I’d like to add. I finished that teeny welcome sign last weekend. It’s cute, and I managed to crudely “mount” it on some cardboard. I shoved it in the provided frame, and it’s sort of staying, but I wouldn’t trust it if I were to hang it somewhere. And so, without further ado, here is my first completed cross stitch project.

The picture is a little blurry!

I Can, and So Can You!

True to my word in my previous post, I spent last night canning. The process was a bit lengthy, and I would have preferred to do it on a weekend. Unfortunately, cherries don’t last very long, and I had to can/process all of them last night before they turned. Since last night was my first time canning, I documented my experience with pictures.

A big bowl of cherries just waiting to be pitted!


One of those manual hand-pitter things. I borrowed it from Kai’s mom.


A bowl of pitted cherries. The pitter was very effective, but it sure did hurt my thumb!


Canning jars undergoing the sterilization process.


Some cherry jam on the stovetop. I “chopped” the cherries in the blender. I’m not much for extra chunky jam.


A jar of cherry jam – all sealed up and ready to store!


How could I resist constructing a jam tower?

In addition to cherry jam, I canned some whole cherries for kicks. I’m hoping that they taste kind of like maraschino cherries (only better) when the time comes to eat them. Canning whole cherries was VERY simple. All I had to do was pit the cherries, shove them in the jar, pour a boiling sugar/water mixture into the jar, slap on the lids, and place the jars in a boiling water bath. Ta da!


Canned whole cherries! They sort of look artifical in this picture, but I swear I added nothing but sugar and water.
I thought I packed the cherries in pretty tight, but evidently that was not the case. They probably lost some of their juices during the canning process - which caused them to become smaller and more likely to float. I hope they relax once they’ve soaked up all the sugary goodness.

Anywho, I’ve decided I like this whole canning thing, and I’m thinking about all of the other stuff I can preserve. I’d love to make some kiwi jam, and I found a recipe for dandelion jelly that looks interesting. Now if I could just find a field full of dandelions…

Double Pineapple Doily

I finished a vintage monstrosity last weekend. I think it could double as a cape.

Vintage Double Pineapple Doily


Artsy shot!

This carpal tunnel – causing gem measures 19 inches in diameter. I crocheted it using a size 7 hook (1.65mm) and black cotton crochet thread. It took me about a month to make, which isn’t too shabby considering my track record. Anything large usually takes me many months to finish, but that’s because I have severe project ADD.

Speaking of project ADD, I have ceased work on my cardigan and the two pairs of socks I started in favor of a little cross stitching project. I figured I should give my wrists a rest before I lose the ability to perform any and all handcrafting. A while back I raided my mother’s craft box, and I brought home a bunch of little cross stitch ornaments and doodads. I’ve chosen to do a teeny welcome sign since I’m not really in the mood to make Christmas ornaments at this point in time. I’m about a third of the way done, and it’s really simple. I am, however, very confused about how I’m supposed to get the finished product inside the provided frame. I foresee the use of glue…and cursing.

In other news, I went cherry picking last Sunday with Kai and his family. It was quite an experience! I had never actually seen a cherry tree until last Sunday, and I had no idea that cherries grew in clusters. Picking cherries was so much easier than picking strawberries. After 30 minutes or so, Kai and I had picked approximately 17 pounds. We gave about half of them to my mom and kept the other half for a jam-making extravaganza. In fact, as soon as I post this, I’ll be heading to the kitchen to begin the process. This will be my first time canning, and I hope I don’t mess up or hurt myself. I’ve been begging Kai to take me on a return trip to the farm. He isn’t very sympathetic towards my cherry-pickin’ needs. Sad face.