Things have been busy around here for Missy and me. Check out her new puppy here! His name is Finn and he is so adorable, I got to hold him all the way home last weekend when we picked him up. I also got a new (old) baby- a Consew 206RB-1 (looks like this one), an old industrial sewing machine. I’m waiting on some necessary parts to be delivered to I can sew some samples and take pictures to share with everybody. I’ve got a bad case of ants in my pants waiting around for the UPS guy……c’mon already!!!!

I have changed my label name and am transferring all content here to my new blog soon. I have new, woven labels on order and am looking forward to our coming craft shows. I’ll post a schedule when we have everything worked out. I know our next show is July 5 & 6, the Dancing Hippopotamus Craft Show. Hey, you can see a picture of our booth last year, it is the blue awning in the photo under Lilien’s! It was so much fun, the original founder, Lilien, was escorted around and she regaled us with stories of her crafting career. She was a hoot! Definitely in love with life and so much fun to be around.

I’ll be posting again soon, with pictures of new designs, recipes and vintage lovelies!

The most effective boredom killer around here is that the ‘bore-eee’ automatically gets a job to do- sort of like a forced labor sentence in Siberian Russia (I just finished reading Gulag…which is a whole ‘nother post). I must have a sadistic streak, because I would actually get gleeful when a new daycare child would mutter those words and then I could chortle, ‘Oh good! I forgot to tell you about our bored rule- you get to do some special chores- yeah!!!’ Then I gave them a bottle of soapy water and a brush and they would usually scrub all the kitchen chairs, ahhhhh, good times, gooooood times! So, needless to say, my own kids don’t complain about boredom, they know they’re better off finding their own entertainment.

We are lucky, in that we live in the country with a natural river frontage and all kinds of critters, big and small. In the spring and summer, there is a lot of bug and snake hunting (with end of day wildlife releases, of course), digging in the sandy part of the yard and visiting Nonni & Poppa (and their ample snack pantry) next door. When everyone starts getting antsy and needing some distraction, some things we do to shake things up around here are:

1. Visiting a tiny, public beach about 3 miles from our house. I don’t know why no one ever seems to be at our favorite public access on a large, local lake….only the local must know about it! There is a roped swimming area, which helps keep my adventurous crew close to shore. We pack Kool-Aid, snacks and sandwiches and make a day out of it.

2. Visiting the library. I recently threw myself on the mercy of the librarian and she forgave my horrible fines that had racked up. We’ve already been several times, playing games and checking out some terrific books.

3. Working on a big project together. The boys helped me do most of my spring gardening this year. I always forget that, though it takes longer to get something done as a group, we end up having such a good time together!

4. Board games. For the littler ones, we love Whack-A-Mole and Blink. The older kids are learning Battleship and Monopoly. Large puzzles are a fun way to pass the time, too.

For more Boredom Busters visit Shannon’s Works for Me Wednesday at Rocks in my Dryer!

Sorry to be MIA, no excuses- I just flaked! I did get some sewing done, a duro dress for Kali and I’m working on a new checkbook cover design and tote design.

My menu this week is using food we got from Angel Food Ministry. We picked up our first order over the weekend and, overall, I’m pleased with it. The only disappointment was the pork that was included, it wasn’t pork steak, it was sort of a country style rib, but far too fatty. It will be good for soup, though! Asterisked (*) items come from the AFM boxes- we bought 2 main boxes and 2 chicken boxes this month. Italicized items are recipes to be posted in the coming days!

Monday: Salisbury Steak Dinner*, Rice, Broccoli, Heavenly Pears*

Tuesday: Vegetable Frittata*, Parmesan Potatoes

Wednesday: French Onion Soup*, Chicken Breast Fillet Sandwiches*

Thursday: Bacon Wrapped Fillets*, Baked Potatoes, Italian Green Beans*

Friday: Crockpot Bean Soup*, Corn Muffins*

Saturday: Pizza*, Salad

Sunday: Saisbury Steak Dinner*, Cauliflower and Carrot Gratin*, Mashed Potatoes

My most favorite thing about the internet is the WEALTH of vintage images that are available. Vintage lovers (people who love vintage things, not granny-aged smootchers) are generous people and seem to be happy to share their collections with those of us don’t have boxes of ephemera. Someone has put together a site to share her links to all things retro- it’s Retrolounge. I had planned to share some vintage images, but couldn’t remember where I had snagged them, but then recalled it was through a link at Retrolounge. There are categories for advertising, cinema, transportation, etc- but my favorite is Fashion! Here are a couple of vintage German catalog pages that I plan on using for sewing inspiration, love that dirndl look

You can see more 1950’s catalog images here. For more vintage-y goodness visit Confessions of an Apron Queen!

One thing that really works for me is to have some ‘Go To’ recipes, that I can turn to when time is short! For me, these are recipes that use pantry ingredients, go together quickly and are popular with my crew. I try to keep the ingredients for these recipes in my pantry/freezer at all times. When I make one of them, I just add the ingredients to my shopping list for replacement. The one that is probably the kids’ favorite is Tortellini Soup, it’s so easy, it’s not even a real recipe. Cook dry tortellini until done, add to chicken broth that has been heated. If you have some chicken (I use canned, if it’s all I have) and fresh spinach- terrific! If not, it’s still pretty good!

Ingredients:

The Soup: tastes better than it looks

For more Works for Me Wednesday, visit Shannon at Rocks in my Dryer!

Don’t measure! That seems counter-intuitive to being a good cook, but really the most important skill I think you can develop is learning what 2 tablespoons of oil look like, or a teaspoon of salt, etc. It speeds things up so much in the kitchen during preparing food and after with far fewer things to wash. I keep a 1 cup measure in my flour canister and sugar canister and a measuring teaspoon in my baking soda box for quick baking, too. These days I only measure when trying out a new recipe, or baking something complicated. Otherwise, ‘eyeballing’ it works just great

Visit Tammy’s Recipes for more Kitchen Tips!

Rhonda, of Down to Earth, has a good post today about her and her dh reevaluating their budget in light of rising costs. Gas is now $3.99/gallon,here, and food costs are slowly rising. We are making sure lights and appliances not in use are off, hanging laundry to dry and consolidating trips into town. What are some ways you’re conserving?

Jack (my middle son) and I went to the used book store today, I found a couple of books that were on my long list to read this year and I found a copy of a title I’ve been on the lookout for a long time. I picked up an older book on presidents and some spelling textbooks for homeschool. He was thrilled to add to our Dr. Seuss collection and pick up a dino book, too

Speaking of hanging laundry on the line, here’s one of my new clothespin bags going into our store next week. They’re great for toting your knitting, keeping your reading hanging on your nightstand, and clothespins, of course! This one is embellished with an oversized yo yo and layered button accent. Others I will be putting in the store have vintage linens, doilies and pretty cotton prints!

Today I have more vintage style sewing for VTT! The pattern I used is a vintage Advance 5942 that my wonderful sister loaned me. I loved it- it sewed up very easily. It is an unprinted pattern, which seems to frighten some sewers off. Don’t let it! The patterns use notches and holes for all markings, but the pattern pieces are already cut out, internets- already cut out!!!!
(sorry for the image quality, dh’s scanner wasn’t working and I have the caffeine shakes after a few cups of coffee)

Here’s a picture of the back

Here’s Kali in her jumper, I think I need to do some more tweaking to get the bodice to fit a bit better- lengthening both the front and back bodices, for starters.

My favorite part- the super-wide bow in back!

The main fabric was $1 mystery fabric from Wal-Mart, it’s a bit too heavy for this application. The dress would have better drape with a cotton or cotton/blend. The contrast I used for bias binding came from JoAnn’s. I think this style could very easily be adapted from a modern pattern with simple lines.

Burda 9702

New Look 6613

There is even a modern Butterick, #5019, that is extremely similar.

For more vintage goodness, visit Confessions of an Apron Queen!

Patty! Congratulations!! I’ll email you for your addy

and then pop it into the mail!

Thanks for playing everyone and thanks so much for the birthday wishes for my sister and me. Missy writes about our shared birthday experiences at her blog- shared cake, matching outfits and identical presents- and no, we’re not twins! She was born the day before my second birthday and has been my best friend ever since- love you sissy!!

Here’s a peek at some b’day goodies from my mom, does she know what I like, or what?! Vintage linens and Fiesta creamers- too too cute! Thanks, Mom!

It would be much easier to shoo the kids out of the kitchen while I’m working in there. All the chores seem to take 15 minutes longer when I have ‘help.’ But if I did, I would miss out on some of the best times we have together. My oldest is my sous-chef, she helps chop vegetables for side dishes and salads, keeps an eye on the boiling pots and makes simple dishes like grilled cheese and scrambled eggs. My youngest is my baking helper, he cracks the eggs, counts the cups of flour and shapes his own rolls and bread dough. My middle is my pasta maker, I make the dough and he rolls it through the pasta machine and lays out the sheets of dough. Last week, I showed him how to drop the noodles into the chicken broth and as he dropped the first noodle, he turned to me and exclaimed, ‘I’ve been promoted to Noodler!’ That works for me