Rug Hooking Class

Last night was the second session of the rug hooking class my friend Becky and I are taking.  Let me start by saying the class is not at all what I expected.  The class is considered a traditional rug hooking class and incorporates techniques used for many years.  I expected to receive a "boxed" kit, but instead the instructor makes her own.  And when I say she makes her own, I mean down to dyeing her own wool! 

We started with a bag of uncut wool in various colors for our project.  She traced the design on to a piece of linen.   We can use as much detail or eliminate it to make it more simple if we would like. 

I came to the conclusion this isn't a project that I will be completing any time soon.  It takes awhile to get the hang of making consistent loops.  The supplies to start rug hooking as a hobby are somewhat expensive.  In order to keep the fabric tight while you "hook" you need a frame to support the material.  Frames range in design and price.  A basic frame starts around $50 and price goes up from there.  The cutter for cutting the wool is even more pricey. Once you invest in the cutter, each cutting head is an added expense.  Cutting head sizes determine the width in which the wool is cut.  Wool is also expensive.  You can search used clothing stores for wool clothing and get wool cheaper if you are thrifty.  Once you make the initial investments in the equipment, wool will be the most expense you have with this hobby.  Many choose to buy wool in bulk and dye it themselves to save money. 

Ready made kits are available for purchase, however, if you read the descriptions carefully, the less expensive kits use yarn instead of wool, such as the rooster pattern below.  I'm glad to have the opportunity to learn the art of rug hooking.  Will I do it in the future?  Time will tell.  I want to get through this project before I make a final determination.

More Canning

I made what is probably the last cutting of my rhubarb for the year.  I decided to make Rhubarb Simple Syrup and can it for use in in the soda stream this winter.

My parents were nice and brought me in some of their tomatoes so I could make more salsa. I had no idea how long it would take to complete the project.  I was up until 1:30 in the morning on Saturday.  I ended up with 25 pounds of tomatoes, which was transformed into 5 cases of salsa!  I still have a few more Mrs. Wages Salsa packets, so I may not be finished yet.  

More tomatoes were delivered today which I plan to make into pizza sauce.  I won't try and do the entire batch at once this time.  I'm going to try and spread the work out over a couple days instead.  Before I tackle more tomatoes, I have grapes that need my attention.  I plan on making grape juice and jam.  It's a good thing I stocked up on peanut butter.  We may be eating a lot of PB & J sandwiches if groceries get much higher this winter!

On another note, I opened my first jar of pear jam over the weekend.  It's very good!  I have more pears on order to pick up at the store to make into diced pears and jam.  I'm going to try a chunky version of jam with the next batch.

Here it is....my tag "garage" sale pressure canner!

Isn't is shinny! And it only cost me $20.  What a bargain!   I had my dad check it out before attempting to use it. He replaced the seal for me and said it should be good to go.  It came up to pressure great when he tested it out. 

Yesterday I asked my mom to come in and help me, christen it with me. It has been a long time since I had used a pressure canner.  Twenty one years, at least, and that was with my grandmother's help.  Honestly, the thought of using one alone made me leery.  Having someone give hands on directions to walk me through it was just what I needed.

Since I had made the chicken broth a few days ago, I really needed to get it canned.  In case any of you are wondering,  no feet were used in my broth.  I don't butcher my own chickens, not to mention couldn't bring myself to use the feet for broth.  The chicken carcass was enough for me to handle.  I ended up with 8 quarts of broth. 

While we were waiting for the pressure to go up and down on the canner we also made diced pears in light sauce using the recipe and method found here: http://busterbucks.hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Preserve-Fresh-Pears    We didn't use a melon ball utensil as indicated.  We just peeled and removed the core with a paring knife. We diced the pears in larger pieces rather than cutting them into halves.  I wanted smaller, bite size pieces ready to eat. 

In addition to canning the broth and pears, we made pear jam using Ball RealFruit Pectin. 

Don't they look yummy!

 

 

This pectin allows you to either not use sugar or add a little so the jam isn't too sweet.  




With all of the canning I have been doing, I now need to find a place to store it all!

Frugal Friday~Toothbrushes...Don't toss 'em, wash them

Have you ever heard your doctor or dentist tell you to throw your toothbrush away and get a new one when you have a cold so you don't keep exposing yourself to the same germs or virus?  I first heard this almost 20 years ago, and my response was "I just put them in the dishwasher".  The responses I have gotten were "that's a great idea" or "I hadn't thought of that". I guess I was ahead of my time!  As my mother will tell you, if I can fit it in the dishwasher, it goes in.  I even put my small plastic trash cans in there for a good cleaning.  They fit, so why not?

When we moved to this house it was the first time I didn't have a bathroom on the main floor, or each floor for that matter.  We either have to go up stairs, or down, for a bathroom.  We brush our teeth a few times a day, so my solution was to put our toothbrushes in the same drawer as our silverware.  It's close to the sink where we can easily get to them, without having to go to another floor.  When doing this, I decided instead of washing our toothbrushes periodically in the dishwasher, we now wash them each time they are used.

Of course this means we each have to have more than one toothbrush.  We each have specific colors we use, or we write our name on them with a permanent marker.  Mostly for my husband, he's the one that has a hard time remembering his color. Once a toothbrush has lived it's life, it gets a new use as a cleaning utensil.  They are great to use to scrub in those hard to reach places!

Making Calendula Extract

I have several marigold "calendula" plants growing around my house.  Generally I gather the seeds when they dry out and save them for next year, share them, or sew them to expand the bed.  This year I took the front bed over for vegetables, therefore, the plants I have growing are in areas around the steps, and foundation.  They were getting a little out of control and needed pulling.  As I was doing this, I thought there had to be a use for the flowers.  I already buy calendula salve for cuts and burns, so why not see what I can make out of the flowers. 

The first uses that I found were to make tea out of the flowers.  That idea doesn't appeal to me, right now anyway. I may experiment with it in the future.   I also came this link for making a salve and an another for making calendula extract.  The salve can be made at a later time with the extract so I chose the extract method. Luckily I have vodka on hand.  I don't normally, however, I had purchased it to make vanilla extract and hadn't gotten around to starting it yet.  With all the canning I have been doing lately, other projects are being put on hold. 

Place flowers in a glass jar.  Making sure there are no bugs on them.

Smash flowers to compact them.

Pour enough vodka to cover the flowers. 

I had to add more vodka as the flowers expanded a little when it was added.  Place in front of a window where it can receive light for one month.  Turn and shake the jar every once in awhile.  The directions indicate after a month you can strain off the liquid and the extract is ready to use.  It indicates the extract will keep for a long time.  I will keep you updated on the process.  Now to find a sunny location!

Peach Dipping Sauce

I have had this book for a couple years.  I was thumbing through it looking for some ideas for preserving pears and came across this recipe for peach dipping sauce.


I had some frozen peaches in the freezer that were past their use by date and decided this would be a good way to use them up. The peaches were just starting to turn a little brown when thawed and since they would turn brown when cooking, that shouldn't be a problem.

I diced the peaches and onions as instructed.  Placed them into a pan along with the spices and cooked until tender.  Once the peaches started getting soft, I used a potato masher to mash the larger pieces.  Once they had cooked a little while longer I got out the big gun.

The hand mixer.  I rarely get to use it and forget how great it works.  It's like a power tool for girls.  I felt  a little like Tim Taylor from Home Improvement when using it.  I almost had the urge to grunt as he did.

 Just look how easy it is to puree with the hand mixer.  It reminds me of baby food.  If only they would have made these when my son was a baby.  (Maybe they did and I didn't think to use it for that).  Making home made baby food would have been so easy!  The food processor just didn't do the job. 

 

I had prepared my jars before hand and placed the seals in a pan to heat up.  

  This gadget is wonderful to help remove the lids from the boiling hot water. 

It is made by ball and has a magnet on the end to pick up the seals with.

Once the sauce was boiling it was time to place it into the jars.  I used jelly jars so we could open a small amount each time we wanted to enjoy the sauce. 

I ended up with 10 jars.  I am not a big fan of cloves, and if I make this recipe again I will cut down on the amount of cloves added.  Just tasting the sauce made we want to go out and get some chicken nuggets or chicken tenders to dip into this sauce.

Frugal Friday~Creating Your Own Artwork with Fabric

This idea came from the Nate Berkus show.  I have only watched it a few times and happened to catch an episode where he was talking about making your own piece of art out of fabric and a artists canvas. The type that has a wood frame on it.  You can find these at hobby lobby in various sizes.  If you watch you can get them on sale, or even print off one of their 40% off coupons for even more savings.  They offer the coupons pretty frequently and they are easy to print off at home. 

After you have decided on the size  of canvas you want ,you can then purchase the necessary amount of material to cover the canvas. Maybe you already have material on hand and would like to get the canvas to accommodate your material.  Thicker material works better for this project.  I used outdoor fabric for this one.  Be sure to allow about three extra inches of material on each side to wrap around the canvas.  The amount you will need to allow will depend on the thickness of the frame the canvas is on.  I decided to leave the plastic cover that what on the canvas when I bought it.

One you have your material and canvas you will also need a stapler.  Not a stapler for paper, but rather a stapler to allow you to tack the material to the back of the canvas.  Iron your fabric ahead of time and cut it to size.  Lay the fabric piece face down.  You want the back side facing up.  Place the canvas side face down on top of the fabric.  Tack one side at a time stretching the material taut over the canvas front as you staple each side.  This is my finished product.  I haven't hung it on the wall yet and think I prefer it propped against it instead.  If you want to hang your finished product you will need to add a picture hanging attachment to the back of the canvas. 

 
I have some material with chickens on that I really like. I may try to find some smaller canvas pieces to make some artwork for my kitchen or entry way. 

Seasoning or Re-seasoning Cast Iron Skillets

I have a few cast iron skillets.  Some I have had for several years, and others were my grandmother's.  One of the gifts my grandmother gave me for my first wedding was cast iron skillets.  Over the years I had given most of them back to her.  We only used them when camping.  I have always preferred cookware that was dishwasher safe and for the most part only sauteed foods.  I didn't have any need for a cast iron skillet until we got our chickens.  Or so I thought.  One of the skillets I asked for of my grandmother's was a small one she always used to fry eggs in.  Once we started getting fresh eggs, we had more than I knew what to do with.

It had been years since I had eaten a fried egg.  I didn't care for "store bought" eggs and only used them for baking.  After tasting fresh eggs, I learned to love them again.  Especially when cooked in the small cast iron skillet.  My husband prefers our non-stick skillets when making scrambled eggs.  I personally don't care for the taste of them when he uses those skillets. 

After using my cast iron skillets, and each time having everything stick to them, I started to wonder if re-seaonsing them would help.  I came across this video which got me into action.  I dug out two of my skillets, coated them with canola oil and set them on cookie sheets to bake at 250 degrees as she suggested. 

I have since used my larger skillet to cook hamburger for goulash.  It worked great.  I immediately washed it up, put in on the burner to dry, and now it's ready for our next cooking excursion!

I have been a busy beaver lately

It's raining today.  It has been over a month since we have received any considerable amount of rain.  Unfortunately, it's a little too late for my garden.  I am hoping to get another cutting on my rhubarb and the rain should make that possible.  It will also help yard.  We have had to resort to watering our yard, so we didn't loose it completely.  The yard had become dry and very brittle.  You could hear it crunch when you walked on it.  The normal paths taken to water the beds, and take care of the chickens were starting to become more dirt than grass at this point.  The rain is a nice and slow steady shower.  Just the right amount to allow the water to soak into the ground at a good pace.

I have been a busy beaver lately.  I am starting to feel as if I am nesting, and I know that's not possible!  Maybe it's gearing up for winter.  Friday our family went to a cattle sale.  I had went to the sale barn as a child with my grandfather and have fond memories of those times.  Crazy me, I made a comment to my husband that I thought that was something we should do with our son.  He happened to have the day off and there was a sale going on.  Just my luck.

We got up early and headed to the sale, which was a 45 minute drive away.  The aroma when we arrived smelled just like my grandparent's place.  It brought back a lot of memories.  Needles to say, my son wasn't as impressed.  We watched as they auctioned off all ages of cattle as well as breeds.  We were able to get an idea how much beef was selling for if we ever get an acreage and decide to raise a few for meat.

It was a little disheartening to watch a mother cow and calf sell together, only to have the  calf brought back in to sell on its own.  The poor thing wanted its mother and was freaking out because they had taken her away.  A little while later a newly born calf was brought in by itself.  I kept nudging my husband to bid on it.  He told me to stop or they are going to think we are serious. I told him I was serious, which he knew.  He asked where I was going to put a calf.  I am sure I could come up with somewhere.....  We didn't get it, despite my desire to take it home.

I went to a tag sale with some friends on Saturday. Nicole had found so many neat things at a recent one to outfit her new house, she convinced me to go with her.  This was out of the ordinary for me.  It was merely a glorified garage sale.  You show up early and wait in line to get a shopping number.  This meant getting up early.  Something else I don't care to do.  My husband and son went with me.  I had looked through the pictures online and saw a pressure canner as well as a White sewing machine I was interested in.  I enlarged the picture of the pressure canner and thought I could see a $2_. I was hoping it was marked $20.  If so that was a good deal.  New pressure canners sell for around $200.  We arrived before Nicole and I waited in line to get my number.  I was 7.  After we got our number we then had to wait until 8:00 to be allowed in. 

During our 45 minute wait Nicole dared me to go ask where the things I was wanting were in the house.  She said one of the guys running the sale wouldn't tell you.  I took this as a challenge.  I went up to one of the other guys and asked about the pressure canner and things went forward from there.  The people outside not only told me where the things I was interested in were, such as the basement, they told me exactly how to get to the basement stairs from the front entrance, and where I needed to go once I got down the bottom of the stairs.  From then on, I was on a mission.  If you have ever went shopping with me, you have found I generally have in mind what I am looking for, and once I find it, I'm done.

At 8:00 we lined up and were let into the house in order of our numbers.  Nicole was let in a few people behind me and had other things she was looking at.  I quickly passed the older gals and headed straight for the basement.  I may have even been the first one down there.  My son went with me to carry anything that needed carrying.  The canner....  We found it, it was marked $20.  I opened the lid as my son held it to make sure it was as nice looking inside as it was on the outside, and off to the sewing machine we headed.  I found it, ripped the bottom half of the tag off of it and headed upstairs to find Nicole.  I was done, except for a small pyrex dish I spotted while walking through the kitchen.  It was $3.  Now to settle up, and have my husband pack up the sewing machine.  It was actually for my mom.  It came with a neat sewing table as well all for $65.  I will have to post pics of both the canner and sewing machine when I can get them taken.  All in all it was a good day for bargains!

Getting Organized

For some people organizing can be overwhelming. Being an Aquarius, organizing is one of my traits.  I love to organize things.  Following through to keep them organized is another issue.  One of the issues for most of us is we don't know what to do with all of our stuff, or how to get it organized to be used more efficiently.  It can be expensive to purchase shelving, containers, or cabinets to help one get organized, so where do we begin?

Start small.  If you start with a small area instead of an entire room or house it is easier.  Start with gathering like things.  Maybe you start out simple by placing all of your items for your morning coffee in a small basket in the same cupboard or even on your counter.  

If you are like me, cupboards are sparse, and so is counter space.  My son found some nice coffee mugs on clearance at Kohls awhile ago. I loved the color, but where was I going to put them?   I didn't have the space in my cupboards for them. Instead of tying to find a place in the cupboards, I bought some inexpensive cup hooks and had them hung.  Now they add color to my kitchen. We placed them in an out of the way place just high enough my coffee pot can sit under them.

I don't have enough drawer space to accommodate utensils, so I use a crock.  My mom gave this to me several years ago for this purpose.  I have placed it on top of my refrigerator in the past, but that wasn't very convenient.  Instead it now sits on my counter next to the stove.  Not only is it decorative, it's functional. 

These milk bottles were my grandmothers and I have had them for many years.  I'm sure they are worth something, and have thought about selling them, but can't seem to part with them.  I have displayed them in various places around my house, shoved them into cupboards, and now they have a new use of holding my dish brushes.

I purchased several containers like these over the years and use them all over my house.  It is easy to place a label on them and change it when I find a new use for the basket.

These containers can easily be washed, while baskets cannot.  I use these baskets in my freezer to separate like items and keep things from falling out.  Check out these images for pics of freezer organization. 

These baskets stand up to the extreme cold and won't crack when used in the freezer. I have purchased them at both Walmart and the Dollar Store. 

I use these for many things:
-Nesting boxes for my chickens
-Organizing my gardening seeds
-Canned foods
-Sewing projects
-Canning jars
-In cupboards to hold small containers or lids
-Hold magazines

They make a deeper version which we use to hold car washing supplies and cleaners.
 

I also have several baskets around my  house. Some of my baskets are Longaberger Baskets, that I purchased many years ago.  These pictured are not.  They just look close enough that people have asked if they are. 

I found these basket about 10 years ago at Walmart for very little money.  I bought several of them in various sized and used them to hold items on my bakers rack.  At the time I lived in a very small apartment and had even less cupboard space.  The baskets held my dish towels, dishrags, and so many other things. 

Although baskets are very pretty, and I love how they look, they tend to collect dust just like anything else.  I also sewed the basket garters and liners to spruce them up.

If it's books, or knick knacks you want to organize, you can purchase inexpensive shelving units that will do the trick. You can also have shelves placed into closets for added storage for very little expense. As a carpenter, my father was doing this many years before it became popular.  He was always ahead of his time.  He placed drawers in kitchen cabinets for pots and pans.   He would place shelves in the corners of our closets to hold my purses, shoes, boxes, games, just about anything you want to place out of the way.  When ever I move to a new place, I have him rearrange my closet so that I have two hanging rods and a shelf above them for shoes.  This gives us more hanging space for clothes and we don't have to pack them away each season.   He also added this opening for me to get to storage above our stairs which was virtually inaccessible. I have yet to finish the doors.

I had more books than I had space for.  I didn't want to purchase an expensive book shelf at the time, but really need to find something to house our ever expanding collection of books.  I had a space at the top of my stairs that was empty or a catch all for things that needed to be put away.  At one time a small desk was there, laundry hampers and as I said, junk.  I would have loved to have placed a corner curio cabinet there, or a custom made book case, but this house has always been temporary, so spending money on something we probably weren't going to get to enjoy wasn't in the cards.  I was getting really frustrated with our piles of books and after finding a book shelf for my son's room to spruce it up, decided to get one for the area as well.

 

This book shelf was $15 at Walmart.  I didn't care that it won't last as a good quality one would and we can even leave it if we move.  For the price it helped me get a little more organized as well as find a use for the empty area. 

The black shelving unit my son chose when we redecorated his room is much classier looking if you are into black.

These wire shelving units are great.  This happens to be one in my son's room.

We have several of these around the house.  I have two in an L shape in our store room holding tubs of Christmas decorations, Halloween items, fabric, electronics, office supplies, wrapping paper, etc.  You can adjust the shelves to the height you want.  Some of them even have casters and wheels so you can easily move them.  They can usually be found at Sam's club and at times Aldi's has them as a special purchase.  I have several of them in various places in my basement holding my stock pile of canned goods, laundry soap, dry goods in tupperware such as flour, sugar, rice, beans, pasta, and so much more!

A few years ago I wanted something to house our ever expanding collection of movies.  You could say we collect movies versus paying for cable.  We watch from our collection often.  I found this cabinet for a little over $100 and thought the pie safe theme would go nicely with my dining room.  It's made of oak, which is my choice of wood.  I love oak furniture and when purchasing a piece that will last a long time, it is always oak.

Look at the amount of movies this piece houses!  And it is all out of site, not to mention in a closed cabinet not collecting dust.

 I like to purchase functional furniture pieces.  This piece houses our CD collection.

Keep in mind these are  things I have accumulated over the years.  I didn't go out and buy everything at once to help with organization.  Again, start small.  Decide what is bothering the most and start there.  Making things more simple and saving you time is always "a good thing".  Maybe you want to start in your bathroom.  I used to have a hamper for each family member in our bedrooms.  That meant I never really knew how much laundry I had to do until I took it to the basement and started sorting it.  This took more time and energy.  Something I usually have very little of.  By placing the hampers into the bathroom and designating each one for specif clothing it has saved me a lot of time.

These are actually inexpensive trash cans.  One if for light colored clothing and the other for dark.  I know when the hamper is full there are enough clothes to do a load of laundry.

The same goes for my towels.  I used to use a normal laundry basket until I found these at Walmart.  I only wish they would have been available in white.  These work great for towels since they are usually wet.  The holes allow for ventilation.  I have two of these.  One is marked for those towels I can use bleach on and the other for colored towels.  Again, once the basket is full, I know there is enough to make a full load of laundry. 

Shoe boxes are another great idea to help get your bathroom organized.  I use shoe boxes in my bathroom closet to house first aid items, deoderants, soaps, lotions, and basically anything that will fit into them.  It helps keep similar items together and from rolling or falling out of the cabinets.  I also use shoe boxes in our craft cabinet.

Magazine holders are great for organzing paper too!  I have these turned on their side and use them to hold construction paper, folders, printing paper, as well as card stock paper for making cards.

This cart hold my stamping items.  These were purchased at Staples when they were on sale a couple years ago.  The cart has wheels so I can move it to another room when we want to use the items.  I actually have two of these carts.  One was damaged in shipping so it was free.  The other cart used to hold my coupon items, but now has knitting in it.

Finding a use for items you may already have around the house not only saves you money, it is recycling at its best.  It puts an item to use in another area of your home. 

This changing table is a good example.  It was given to me years ago.  It has been in our storage room since we moved here 8 years ago being used as a shelf.  Finally getting rid of some of the things it was holding made we get creative with another way to use it.  I could sell it, but then I would most likely have to buy another shelf to take its place.  Instead, I decided to set up a sewing area in my bedroom.  

This area behind our bedroom door is always out of site, and has been the dumping ground for two filing cabinets, clothes that no longer fit, and about anything else we wanted out of site.  A couple weeks ago I got a bug to move the filing cabinets into the store room and switch them out with the changing table to hold my sewing things.  

I moved my machines up to my bedroom and made more room in my dining room which will be great!  I can now sew in my bedroom and not have to worry about moving from room to room to accomplish a project.  Once I get it all organized it will be in one place.  The oak towel rack sitting next to the changing table will be hung on the wall to hold material I have ironed.  It will help to keep it from wrinkling while working on the project.  I have a holder for my ironing board and iron I am wanting to find a place for as well.  It's a work in progress.  

My rack for holding tread sits on the back of the table perfectly.  

Since this is a work in progress, and I am in the mood I had better get back at it.  I hope this has given you a few ideas to get started organizing and I'm sure I will have more for you in the future.

In the meantime here are a few web sites and blogs that may help to inspire you:

The Container Store web site has many ideas for getting organized.
http://www.bohofarmandhome.com/
http://homesteadrevival.blogspot.com/search/label/Organizing%20Life
http://browse.realsimple.com/home-organizing/organizing/index.html
http://creativeorganizing.typepad.com/
http://www.hgtv.com/organizing-and-storage/package/index.html