Getting Ready

Well I can't believe I have left this blog alone for 2 years, but it is true I guess. I have been busy, not only with the kids but I also get all the paperwork and such done to become a legal business. So now I get the privilege of collecting sales tax on everything I sell. It's a double edged sword because now I have actually attend craft fairs and sell online, but I also have to report sales quarterly. Seriously, I don't make that much money to warrant quarterly reports but that is the way it is right now.

So what has brought me back to the blog? Well I am getting ready for my first artisan fair that is being held in about 4 weeks (eek). I have been in "full swing" getting ready for it since about July. But I am feeling the crunch right now. Any time I haven't spent making actual product (I plan to bring about 90-100 items to the show) is spent figuring out what I actually need for the craft fair. Things I have never even thought of that I will need.

I have been searching other blogs and Pintrest to see what others have said they needed and I know I will end up forgetting stuff but that is the way of the learning process. I did find this one particularly helpful blog and did a good job of laying out what I you might need. I get a bit overwhelmed thinking about all the stuff I will need there but in true "Me" fashion I have a list (or 2) that I am slowly crossing off item by item. I love lists and so if you are like me then you will love this. I am putting my "Craft Fair To Do List" on the wonderful world of the internet. So for your enjoyment here is what I am doing to get ready for the craft fair.

1. Make Product (that sends you to a different list)
2. Order Receipt Paper
3. Frame Certificate of Authority to Collect Sales Tax
4. Order Vinyl Banner
5. Get a Table Cloth
6. Set us a Mock Display at Home
7. Buy some more Bins to transport product
8. Make Bag Labels (turn regular brown paper bags into a custom All Cozy bag)
9. Order Brown Paper Bags
10. Get a Money Box
11. Make up Custom Order Forms (incase you don't see exactly what you want)

I don't even think this list is complete yet I keep adding to the one at home. And then there is still the list of what to actually bring to the craft fair, and like I said I like this blogs list it seems pretty complete.
So wish me luck, and I can't wait to share how the show goes (and really clean my office because it is very messy right now but I don't have time to clean).

Velour Satin backed Blankie

So Boo (our almost 2 year old), fell in love with a blanket I made her when she was a few months old. It is a velour blanket with a satin self binding back. She is attached to it so much so that it was becoming hard to wash it. My timing had to be just right so that it would be clean and dry at both night time and nap time.  So just this last week I made her a second. She calls it her "Kiki," which is about the cutest thing ever right?

This time when I made it I took some pictures of how I did it. Not the most impressive of projects but a quick easy one to do and makes a nice baby shower gift too.

-First gather your supplies.
-1 yard Velour or Minky fabric (I'm using bubble velour)
-1.5 yards Crepe Back Satin (it has kind of a cotton backing on it and is machine wash and dry able don't confuse it for the satin in the dress/apparel section).
-Coordinating thread.
-Tape measure
-Pins
-Scissors

Pre-wash your fabrics!!! This is so important or else you will get shrinking of different amounts when you do launder your blanket (and baby blankets get laundered A LOT). Then iron the satin fabric.

Triangle method for square cutting.

For my blanket I chose to make it square about 36"x36" and it has a 2" satin binding trim around it. So for cutting the fabric I measured a 36"x36" square from my velour fabric. I did this by folding a triangle with my fabric and checking the 2 sides adjacent to the right angle were both 36." ( I forgot to take a picture of this but it looks just like the picture for the next step only with the bubble velour fabric.)

The satin it needed to be 4' larger on all sides. You can either lay out your satin with the velour on top and measure 4" around all sides and cut or used the same method as above (with the triangle) and make sure your 2 sides adjacent to the right angle are both 44" (36+8).



Now lay your 2 fabrics down and center the velour on top of the satin with the wrong sides together.

Conrail you can thank me for the plug latter.

With a ruler measure that you have 4" on all sides of your satin fabric. It is also important to make sure your satin is lying flat or you will get lumps and bumps in your backing once sewed. Trim any extra if you have it.







To make the binding just fold your satins raw edge to the edge of the velour...

and then fold it over one more time.










For the corner it is easiest just to show you a picture. But here's the best way I can think of to describe it. Fold the edge you have been working on all the way to the end of the fabric. (As if more blanket was there but it is the 4" of satin on the next side)

Now make a corner by laying the outer edge of the binding fabric along the new edge (the next side) right along the velour fabric.

Then fold your next sides raw edge in to the velour.

Then over again (like you were doing for the binding originally) to form your corner.

 Pin, Pin, Pin to hold the corner. Continue folding in the binding till all 4 sides are done. The more pins the better to hold the slippy silky fabric in place and keep it from causing unsightly bulges in your stitching. (My picture doesn't have enough pins, I added more and should have added even more cause I had a few tucks in the satin when I stitched).

Speaking of stitching. Now is the time. Stitch with a straight stitch about 1/8"-1/4" from the edge of the binding starting in a corner. I just lined it up to the edge of my presser foot cause that was easier. A walking foot may have made this easier but I don't have one. So I just had to make due with what I had.

That's all you have to do, but if you choose to you can use a ladder stitch to close the mitered corners on the binding. I haven't done this on either of my blankets and it hasn't been a problem.

Hope your little one enjoys the blanket.

Homemade Vanilla

Get an early start on this great Christmas Gift. 

Well I made this last year for Christmas and it was a big hit. Great for all those people you would like to get something for but just don’t know what, including but not limited to, teachers, pastors, secretaries, and grandmas.

I found lots of different recipes online and talked with a few friends, who have made vanilla, then I threw most of that out and did whatever I wanted and it came out great. So here was my process…

Ingredients:

Vanilla beans (I used 10-12)
Vodka (though I read you can use rum too, most people say vodka)

Large Glass Jars with tight lids

Small (4oz) Glass Jars with lids (for the individual gift size once your vanilla is ready)

Knife or Kitchen Scissors.

Small Funnel

Time (about 2 months)

First I researched vanilla beans, it seems that vanilla beans are sort of like wine, in that they come with hints of this and hints of that. I found a really great comprehensive overview of vanilla beans on the Vanilla Garlic blog. I then selected Mexican Vanilla beans to make my vanilla, and purchased them from ebay.

Here is my step by step process…

Wash some large glass jars. I used quart canning jars ‘cause I had them, you can use any glass jar with a tight lid, I also used 2 in order to make the quantity that I wanted. Again you can make as much or as little as you would like at a time.

Cut the beans up the middle to about an inch of the top (so they stay together).

Put the beans into the glass jar(s) I had about 4 in each jar.

Pour vodka in, and close lid tightly.

Shake (a lot).

 

Put in a dark cool spot (our basement was perfect). Here is the progression of our vanilla.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 14

Let it sit for about 2 months. Shake about every week or so.

Day 60 (ish)

 

Prepping for the small glass jars.

I cut my vanilla beans all the way through now so I had half a bean for each jar. This allows for my recipients to have unlimited vanilla (more on that latter.)

Put 1/2 a bean in each small glass jar.

Pour vanilla into the small jars, a little funnel makes this so much easier and less messy. I found my funnel in the camping sections of Walmart or Target (I forget)





Attaching a label to your jar is a nice finishing touch. The label should tell them to shake the vanilla before using it (to get the best flavor).

My label also includes instructions on how to make your vanilla last forever. What you wanna know how to do that too… Well here it is…

When you use about half of your vanilla from your container fill with more vodka shake and let sit for a week or so, then you have vanilla ready to go. If you refilled after every use you would ALWAYs have vanilla ready to go. It is just that simple.

Flannel Rag Quilt

Well this is about the 4th rag quilt I have made. I have found some tutorials online but well can the Internet really have too many tutorials?

If you have never tried quilting and have limited sewing skills (like I can only sew in a straight line) then a rag quilt is perfect for you. It doesn't have to be perfect and you really only have to sew in a straight line.

So here are the materials you need...
These measurements are for a baby sized rag quilt approx 31"x46"

1.25 (44" wide) yards of flannel for the back of the quilt
1.25 (44" wide) yards of flannel for the middle of the quilt (this can be neutral or contrasting)
1.75 (44" wide) yards of flannel for the top of the quilt (I break this up a bit and use different fabrics)
            in this quilt.... .5 of the Green Bugs, .5 of the Blue Bugs, .75 of the yellow gingham.
Thread (either matching or contrasting it is up to you
Raging spring loaded scissors
Roller Cutter, cutting board and ruler (optional you can use scissors and a ruler too)
Washer and Dryer

Step 1:
Cut your fabric. I sued 6" squares for this quilt.
Cut 48 for the back, 48 for the middle, 48 for the top (for this quilt 12 Green, 12, Blue, 24 Yellow)



Step 2:
Layout your quilt. Depending on how you are designing your top you may need to play around with placement or your squares. For this one I used a diagonal pattern as you see in the picture. For my quilt I did 8 rows of 6 squares each. (I admit this quilt is actually only 6x6 since I was short one of my fabrics but the point is the same).

Stack the rows together.

Each row is now in a stack.

This just shows the order

Step 3:
Make your sandwiches.
Place a bottom, middle and top piece together (keep the tops in order of your rows for your own sanity latter). You want to lineup your sandwiches the best you can. The picture shows you the order (and the bottom piece is face down) don't have it all spread out like this.
NOTE: When placing the sandwiches together make sure the bottom is right side OUT and top is right side OUT, the middle doesn't matter.

Step 4:
Pin squares together. Bottoms together and top side out. This is back wards for what most sewers do and put the right sides together and hide the seam in the back. Here we don't want to do that we want the seam on the top.



Step 5:
Sew each square in the rows together with 1/2" seam allowance.

Seams going in opposite ways.

Step 6:
Pin rows together.
Hint... Make sure you keep you seams going the same way through out it will make life easier. I fold the top seam over  one way and the bottom seam the other (bottom going with the sewing machine cause it is easy that way.)

Step 7:
Sew rows together with 1/2" seam allowance. Make sure to back stitch  at the end of each row.

Zigzag Binding

Step 8:
Add a binding around the edge. Some people use an actual binding, I don't I just use a binding stitch. In this case a simple zigzag stitch about 1/2" from the edge of the quilt all the way around to hold the edges together.

Step 9:
Clip the seam allowances about every 1/4" on ALL your seams. You will want to use those spring loaded ragging scissors now or you will get blisters and a cramp in your hand for sure. Make sure at the corners you only clip in one direction where they meet or you will end up with a hole in the seams.
Hint... Have a system for doing this part so you don't miss any seams.

Step 10:
Machine wash and Dry your quilt.
Do this with NOTHING else in the washer or dryer as it will loose lots of piece of string, and you will be picking it off of other things forever.
Dry it on a medium setting to really help the ragging fluff nicely.

Step 11:
Check your seams to make sure you didn't accidentaly clip any seams. If you did then sew over those again so your quilt wont have a hole (I always have to do this no matter how careful I am).

Your quilt is now finished.

Mesh Laundry Basket Repair

So we all have one (or five) of these wire messh, pop-up laundry baskets and after even a little use they look like this...





Now you can do one of three things, let it go till it literally falls apart, throw it out and buy a new one, or fix it. "Fix it?!" I hear you cry... Well I found a way to put a patch on my basket and it is now it is working better and will last longer.

So you are thinking I'm crazy these things only cost a few dollars in the first place so either use it till it falls apart and then buy a new one or just buy a new one. I could but really what happened was I found a good one that was only falling apart on the bottom and the handle was great so I really wanted to get a few more years out of it (cause I looked and can't find another like it).

So you are gonna try this fix? Well here is what you need...

A pack of double fold bias tape (or binding) I think I bought the 1" size.
Thread
Pins
Sewing Machine (optional)

You could make your own bias tape but I chose not too do that. It is easy and you could look up how to do it if you want to just use some fabric you have on hand.

Step 1: Measure and cut your bias tape for one side of the basket.

Step 2: Pin the bias tape in place.

Step 3: Sew the bias tape using either your sewing machine or a needle and thread. If you use a sewing machine then be careful working around the wire mesh, and I recommend using a zipper foot. I used my machine and it didn't give the best results but was quicker, and hey it is still just a cheap laundy basket. I'm not sure I would have done better with a needle and thread and my 2 hands but you may if you are careful.

Step 4: Repeat steps 1-3 on the other sides.

Voila your basket is now sturdier for a while longer. You're welcome.

Helping the Herd

Well my All Cozy (my etsy/crafting business) side of my life has been busy making corn heat wraps and doing not much else for the last few months. Every time I think I'm a head of the game something happens and I feel like I'm playing catch up again. But despite that I've decided that what I'm doing now is more important that making some money on my heat wraps or crafting for my own enjoyment. What I'm doing now is trying to be WITH God.

Our Pastor preached last Sunday that (in a nut shell) real peace doesn't come from God being with US (since God is everywhere he is always with us) but from us being with God. It makes so much since to me. How else could missionaries go overseas to do potentially dangerous work and have peace about it. It is because they are doing Gods work and therefor are WITH God.

Now I am trying to do that be with God and help him do HIS work (not mine). So some of you may have heard about the mom from my MOPs group whose oldest daughter was diagnosed with a rare for of Brain cancer and lost her short but brave Battle in early February. If you haven't it was a truly heartbreaking and touching story that you can read more about in this link.

In the wake of her loss and in the name of remembering her and helping other families in a similar situation, a group volunteers have gotten together to help raise funds for Maddie's Mark (a foundation her family set up), and are sewing Elephants.

Sewing... To help remember and carry on Maddies memory and help other families. I feel like it was a meant to be way for me to help out. So tonight I go pick up some Elephants that need tags sewn in them. So a break this weekend from All Cozy work and a chance to do what I believe is Gods work.

Please check out the website and findout how you can help or maybe buy and elephant for someone in your life.

Maddie's Elephants: Each of Maddie's elephants is handcrafted by a vol...: Each of Maddie's elephants is handcrafted by a volunteer in the herd. Every elephant is special and unique. Maddie's Elephants ...

Cranberry Sauce



Picture by Skinny Taste 

Well it was always something I overlooked at the Thanksgiving table when I was a kid. That cranberry sauce, with the lines from the can still visible, never appealed to be. It came as a surprise to most people however because I love cranberry anything, juice, bread, muffins etc... but not cranberry sauce. That is until I had real fresh cranberry sauce. Now I can't have a Thanksgiving meal (or leftovers) without it. I have made it in the past the traditional whole cranberry way, with water, sugar, and cranberries boiled on the stove. This year I am going to be making a new recipe that I got from my favorite healthy cooking blog Skinny Taste (you will recall the sweet potato pie came from that sight too). This gal has done a knock out job on making delicious recipes with less fat and calories without adding fake phony food and keeping the taste.

So this year to lighten up our cranberry sauce by reducing the 2 cups of white sugar that is usually used to sweeten and extract the juices from the cranberries, we are going to be having a Cranberry Pear Sauce. The recipe still uses the whole cranberries but uses ripe pears to help sweeten the cranberries and also uses Agave Nectar.

I did a little research on why agave nectar was being used as a substitute for sugar and found basically two big points. The first is that it is sweeter then sugar and less viscus then honey so it

makes for a good sweetener, the second was that it doesn't effect blood sugar levels like sugar does. So even thought packs 60 calories per table spoon (vs 40 calories in sugar) it isn't swing blood sugar levels and it is 1.5 times sweeter then sugar so you can use less and still satisfy that sweet tooth. I guess it really isn't that new a thing but I'm not diabetic and don't know many who are (that I'm making food with at least), so it is new to me.

I can't wait to try this recipe and please check out Gina's Skinny Taste as well.