Remembering to blog

 

 I have to say that it is hard to remember to blog. I want to do blog weekly but I can not remember to do it. My excuses are that it's summer time so everyone is out of school. I am also watching two children during the week and after they leave it's back to the "life of the wife", cooking, dishes and making sure the house is back to normal. You know all those fun things. Also being almost eight months pregnant makes me a little tired at the end of the day. I guess should be happy to post when I can.


The finished product

I know last time I mentioned that I was going to post about the quilt I was going to make for our new son's room. Bedding sets are so expensive and I can't seem to find anything I like. I decided to make his bedding. I saw a pin on Pinterest that helped inspire me. The picture I saw was of a little girls quilt. Well since were having a little boy I thought this would be more appropriate.

If your scared of sewing this is a super easy project. It's all straight lines. I basically just measured the crib and used that as the size of my quilt. Then I just cut the strips of fabric. I should mention that I didn't do any measuring when I cut the strips of fabric. Honestly I hate to measure and I am for the most part a good guesser. I did measure to make sure the strips would equal the right length of the crib.

Then I sewed the strips together with a quarter inch seam allowance. If you can sew in a straight line, you got this!

I bought batting at the fabric store that said it was for baby blankets. I know there are a bunch of different kinds and thicknesses but that is to confusing to me. I like easy and fast. I then cut the batting to match the size of all the strips I cut and sewed together previously.

I found this fabric at Walmart as I was looking at things I shouldn't be looking at (fabric). It's called minkie fabric. It's stretchy and kind of hard to cut but it is so soft and silky that I had to have it.



The back of the blanket.

I laid the pieces on top of each other, kind of like a sandwich and cut the minkie fabric to fit. Then this is where it gets a little tricky. I honestly had no clue what I was doing and basically guessed. I will give credit to my mom. She is great at sewing and I had to ask her what I was to do next.

 

Me trying to stitch in the ditch.

She said I had to "stitch in the ditch" it's where you take your sandwiched pieces; top, batting and backing and sew in the ditch or seam of where you sewed them (the top pieces) together.

If your doing the minkie as the back fabric as I did, please make sure you use a lot of pins. That fabric is a little slippery and likes to stretch.

After that is all said and done. I took blanket binding and sewed the binding around the edges of the blanket. That stuff is slippery also so make sure you take your time and don't stress to much. My blanket SO isn't perfect but I didn't care. This is my first quilt and I was more proud that I completed it then any and all the mistakes that are in it.

After it's all said and done I washed it in the washer and dried it in the dryer. Yes I was scared it was going to fall apart but it survived!!! When people look at it they don't see all the flaws they see a beautiful baby blanket.

I did another project but didn't take any pictures of the process I will have to remember to do that. But as they say practice make perfect... Well lets hope. :)

Sarah

Cleaning The Washer

Well first things first. Sorry for not posting two times a week like I promised but things got a little crazy this week. It's nuts because when you become a stay at home mom, you think you have all this time on your hands. Well that isn't the case. There always seems to be some sort of running around or errand that needs to be run, something needs to be cleaned, and someone wants you to do something for them. It's a never ending battle. But I love it!!!
 
Like this week I watched two babies a few days this week. As well as my great nephew. I also did a few hair cuts and colored hair also this week. Which leads me to my hair... It's still not colored. This also leads me to my story of how I cleaned my washer.

Last night while my husband was at work. I thought it would be a good idea to color my hair. (I should also mention I have a mini salon in my basement.) So I went down stairs to check on my color supply and see if I had the color I needed. As it so happened I didn't. So instead I waxed my eyebrows and lip.

But as I was downstairs in our basement playing beauty shop. I got the idea that I should clean the washer. It was also suggested to me before this that we should probably clean it. I should also mention that I'm not the one that usually does laundry in our house, my husband does. When we first moved in together, I asked him what job he wanted: laundry or dishes? Being he knows how much I hate laundry and how much he hates dishes, I feel it was a fair compromise.

On to the cleaning story and how to clean your washer. I have cleaned the washer one other time before but that was about a year ago. I have read that you should clean your washer two or three times a year. My suggestion is as often as needed. I normally clean it when things get a funky smell or if I don't like how it looks. So about once or twice a year.

Cleaning a washer is a little time consuming but is super easy. I will give you a list of things you need. I use bleach and vinegar but not at the same time!!! If you don't want to use bleach you could just do a vinegar cycle, but I kinda like the hint of bleach smell.

You need:
1-2 Cups bleach
2 Cups vinegar
A cloth or sponge to wipe it down
A toothbrush (optional) to get in the nooks and crannies.

Set your washer on the hottest setting and let it fill up with water. Once it is full of hot water pour bleach in washer. Let it sit for about a hour. (I ended up letting it sit for about two hours because I started watching TV.) Then come back and let it finish its cycle.

After that is done fill the machine back up just like you would with a new load of laundry except your washer is empty. Let it fill up with water like you did before and this time pour vinegar into the hot water and let sit for a hour. (I also ended up letting this sit for about two hours. I was talking to my mom this time)

After the time is up then all you have to do is get your cloth or sponge and with the vinegar water sitting in the machine use it to wipe the machine down. You can take the fabric softener thingy out and let it soak in the water as well, which is what I did. Make sure you wipe the inside as well as the outside.

It's amazing how dirty a washer gets but once your done it will look good as new! So after cleaning and wiping everything down to get it all pretty again, just start the washer like you did with the bleach. After that load is finished, you will have a beautiful washer and it won't have a funky smell.


This is a before picture of the washer. Yuck!!!

This is after being cleaned. Pretty!!!

 

 

If you have a high efficiency washer you can do the same thing but l would use less bleach and vinegar for each cycle. Also make sure you wipe down in between the rubber rings in those things because they can get super nasty and smell moldy after a while.

I hope you enjoyed this. I like sharing my projects with you. Next week I'm going to work on the new baby's bedding. I will post pictures of the progress. Should be fun!!! See you next week.

Sarah

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My First Blog Post

This is my first blog post so I don't expect it to be great or anything. I guess I will tell you a little about myself. I was once a single mother until I found the love of my life. I love to paint, draw, do photography, cut hair, be a mother and wife.


We have a 10 year old son as well as a little one on the way. I will probably talk about that a lot because it's kind of like starting all over again. I know what to expect in some aspects but there is so much that you forget. Like buying baby clothes, what size diapers you should stock up on, what kinds of bottles to buy, and other stuff like that.


I will probably show pictures of my paintings, drawings or even photography. If you want any hair advice all you have to do is ask. I will tell you what I know and if I don't know it, I will find out for you. I also love to cook. If I have a new recipe, I will share it with you too, as well as any other craft or sewing projects I do.


The same goes in return, if you want me to try a new craft project or recipe just ask I will try it out and maybe suggest some changes or tell you that it's great just the way it is.


There will also be stories about my family. Some will be funny, embarrassing, or even boring. I'm creating this blog to get out and open with the world as well as for myself. I need to explore my options and learn new things. I also enjoy sharing my thoughts and feelings, so that is why this is as much for me as it is for you.

I think this is a pretty good start to my fist blog post. I'm going to try and post twice as week and see how that goes. Then eventually I would like to do three times a week. Well enjoy your evening.

Sarah