Halloween Cards

Our next card swap in September has Halloween as one of the themes.  I found a really cute card online at http://www.faithabigaildesigns.com/2011/10/stuck-on-u-sketches-design-team-post_21.html   It looked like a fun card to try, so I made some similar ones for the swap.  Here they are:

 I used a combination of left-over die cuts and patterned cardstock from a Little Yellow Bicycle Halloween mini album kit and the haunted house and fence cuts from Happy Hauntings.  I added black Stickles spider webs to the haunted houses to dress them up a bit.  I didn't cut the windows and doors details from the haunted house because they came out too tiny at this size.  I saved the cut-outs from the yellow fence sections to make the door and windows on the haunted house.

These cards are A2 sized.  Each one has a different phrase or style.  I like them all!

2014 Garden

I love to garden! Spending time outdoors among living things and watching them grow is a satisfying experience.

The flavors of home grown, naturally ripened produce far surpasses store bought produce. Blogging about each year's garden helps me remember what I planted for the next year's plan.  It's fun to look back at the garden pictures on dreary Winter days to remember Summer.  Here's this year's garden:

From left to right, we have:

 1-strawberry plants with Kale peeking up from behind them

2-Mint, Thyme, and 2 kinds of basil with nothing in the neighboring box

3-Red onions, Brussels Sprouts, and Peas with Parsnips and Mixed leaf Lettuce next door

4-Hot Peppers, Chamomile, and Tomatoes

East of the planting boxes, I decided to finally plant crops in the open space along with the compost bin instead of battling weeds there.  Next to the house and along the fence behind the corn, we have raspberry plants.  All around the corn plants, we have a pumpkin vine.  Corn and squash are good companion plants, and I figured that since pumpkins are a kind of squash, they could grow well together.

The corn with the reddish silk is actually popping corn.  Last year I thought it would be fun to try growing my own popping corn, so I found a seed packet labelled popping corn and planted some right next to the sweet corn to see how it does.  It looks like it is working so far.  It just needs to dry out before popping, as far as I know.

(Close-up of two kinds of basil, mint and thyme)

(Close-up of peppers, chamomile, and tomatoes)

I honestly don't know what kinds of peppers I planted.  The tags said either serrano or poblano, but I think I got one Anaheim plant, too.  I've never grown hot peppers or chamomile before, so I'm just experimenting this year.

These raspberry plants are in their second year, so they are producing fruit really well, thanks to our local bees.

This planting box is empty because the watermelon and canteloupe plants I planted there died soon after transplanting when unseasonably cold weather hit.  I decided to leave it empty to rest for this season.

This pumpkin plant loves growing alonside the corn stalks.  The vine has grown even longer since I took these pictures in July.  Three pumpkins have formed so far.  Hopefully, they'll be ready for Halloween!

The red leaf lettuce has started to bolt, due to heat.  The parsnips seem to be doing just fine.  They take a long time to sprout leaves, much like carrots.

This was my first time planting onions and Brussels Spouts.  I have no idea how either crop should look at this stage.  I'm not seeing any sprouts on the Brussels Sprouts.  They look really bushy and leafy.  Maybe they need cooler weather to form sprouts?  I picked one onion, because it had droopy leaves.  It had gouges in the outer layers, as though a snail, slug, rodent, or something ate a long, thin chunk of the onion.  Plus, the onion had begun to rot.  I don't know if the other onions will make it.  I planted them for homemade salsa, along with the hot peppers and tomatoes.

The strawberry plants like to send out runners everywhere, so I'm going to let them take over the rest of the neighboring planting box.  They will probably fill it in completely by next summer.  By then, the kale and the lettuce will be gone.

I plan to use all of the garden space next year, too.  The corn probably needs to go to another area to give the soil a break, but we'll see.

Bells Canyon Hike and Summer Fun

Last week on July 10, my kids and I took a 5.6 mile roundtrip hike to the lower water falls at Bells Canyon.  Here are some photos of the area.

Bells Canyon Water fall (pictured above from blurry cell phone camera).  I was too exhausted at the top to get any closer to the falls for a better picture.

View of Salt Lake Valley from Bells Canyon Hike

This hike has a lot of great shade and cooler air temperatures the closer you get to the falls.  Even though I'm used to walking or jogging 3.5 miles a day, the steep climb up to the falls left me tired and sore for two days afterwards.  This hike is a great workout!  Here are my two hiking buddies:

Some more summer fun from June 27:

 These giant inflatable human gerbil balls in a pool were a fun activity at Taylorsville Days.  The kids kept falling whenever they tried to stand.

Ice Is Here Again!

I finally replaced our broken ice maker!  It actually wasn't that hard to do.  We have a bottom drawer freezer with a refrigerator on top.  It only took a few simple steps to remove the old ice maker and replace it:

1-First, I unplugged the refrigerator.

2-I moved all of the food out of the fridge and freezer and put them in our basement fridge/freezer.  (You could use a few coolers filled with ice for this part if you don't have a second refrigerator.)

3-I cleaned and removed the entire insides of both the fridge and freezer with a simple solution of one part distilled vinegar to one part water.  This step took the longest because we had a lot of hidden spills underneath shelves and in crevices.

4-Vacuumed the coils beneath the freezer and wiped down all exterior components with the water/vinegar solution.  Removed all the dust I could possibly reach or see.

5-Removed the freezer drawer door and removed both interior baskets.

6-Took 3 quarter inch (1/4) screw/bolts off of the ice machine/freezer wall and unplugged electrical wires of ice maker to remove it.  This part was the quickest and easiest!

7-Replaced old, damaged ice maker with new one I purchased at appliance repair shop.  Simply had to swap out the electrical plug to make it compatible with my fridge and replace the new plastic hanging bracket beneath the maker with the old metal bracket from the previous maker.  Then I just re-directed the water tube into the new maker, screwed the three bolts in place, and re-connected the electrical wires.

8-Re-hung the freezer door, and reinstalled all newly cleaned baskets and shelving into the fridge and refrigerator.

9-Plugged in the main electrical plug of fridge.  (Didn't have to re-connect the water line because I never disconnected it.)

10-Waited 2 hours for freezer to cool down below 5 degrees Fahrenheit, and could hear water flowing into ice maker.  Another 1 to 2 hours later, we had our first ice cubes!

This is definitely an easy DIY job.  It just required a 1/4" socket tool that resembles a screwdriver.  

Tessellating Pinwheel Baby Quilts

I've already pieced and quilted two baby quilt tops on the Janome 6500, and I love it! The 1/4" piecing foot made the piecing so easy!  Quilting with the even feed foot was easier and fed more evenly than the walking foot on my Viking machine.  I used stitch 28 and variegated thread to quilt all 16 pinwheels on each of the two quilts.

It took hours to make the quilts, but the extra throat space on the machine's harp made it so much easier to move the quilt all around while stitching.  The needle up/down feature set to down allowed me to pivot around corners easily.  I used the automatic bobbin thread cutter several times, too.  These features actually saved time and made a better quilting experience than I've had in the past.

The drawbacks to my new Janome machine:  large size and weight, price tag, and thread lint build up in needle uptake lever area of the machine.  I still love it, though!  Also, the machine was only available at one brick and mortar dealer nearby for purchase.  Luckily, that one dealer actually let me test drive the machine for myself.

Another odd drawback of the machine was that it continued to stitch even after I removed my foot from the pedal.  It took three or four more stitches by itself.  Not sure why, but I suspect possible overheating from hours of sewing--or maybe the foot pedal jammed somehow.  Not a big deal.

I used the Sizzix Bigz Tessellating Pinwheel die to make all the fabric cuts for both quilts.  The second quilt (not pictured) has a pink binding, but is otherwise nearly identical to the one shown. The die made fabric cutting easy and much safer for me than rotary blade cutting.  The 2 1/2" strip die made the bias binding strips for both quilts really easy.  I like how the die only has blades along the sides of the strips and not at the top and bottom.  That enables me to control the length of the strips.

Sizzix Big Shot Pro

 I never thought this day would come, but I took the plunge and purchased the Sizzix Big Shot Pro.  The reasons I didn't want to buy it:

• High price tag
• The large size and weight
• The added expense of the dies
• Storage space issues for both the machine and the dies
• I already have the Cuttlebug, the Cricut Expression, and the Silhouette Cameo die cutting machines
• I already have a rotary cutter, scissors and rulers for cutting fabrics

What finally swayed me to purchase this version of die cutting machine:

• May 2014's rotary cutter injury to the fingertip of my left hand ring finger and the previous thumb slicing and stitches from a mandolin slicer. I realized that the money savings on the machine and dies were not worth injuring my fingers any further.  
• I could pay for the machine with just 2 or 3 visits to the doctor to treat said fingertip injuries.
• Cut 10 fabric layers at once!  With my handheld rotary cutter, I could only cut through 2 layers of fabric at a time, and would often slip my grip on the ruler during cuts, resulting in crooked shapes. 
• Machine cutting fabric saves time and prevents injuries.  This means more time to have fun sewing and quilting!
• The Double Wedding Ring Quilting die is calling my name.  It only fits into the Big Shot Pro machine--not the other die cutting machines.  I have tried to make a DWR block with shapes I printed for free online, but the shapes cut out crooked by scissors no matter how hard I tried.  This made piecing them together a real bugger.  I didn't complete an entire block because I struggled to match up the crazy curved seams.  I haven't bought the die yet.  But, I got the larger Pro machine so that the option to get the die is there.
• I knew that I could save some money buying the smaller Big Shot machine, but I bought the smaller Cricut machine originally, and kept wishing I had the larger Expression until I finally bought it.  So, I started with the biggest Big Shot Pro.
• A post I read online said that Sizzix quilting dies do not fit into the Accuquilt machines, but that the Accuquilt dies do fit into the Sizzix Big Shot Pro.  I wanted the machine with the most die cutting options.  Also,  the AccuCut dies tend to cost more than the Sizzix dies, based on the online research I did.  I'm still enough of a cheapskate to want cheaper dies.  If I find a particular die only available through AccuCut, I can still buy and use it.

 The first die I tried with the machine is one that I purchased on sale for 30% off at scrapbook.com.  It's the tessellating pinwheel die, which is small enough to fit in the Cuttlebug or either smaller Big Shot or Vagabond.

Only some of the Sizzix quilting dies are compatible with smaller die cutting machines.  The photo above shows the die on top of a Cuttlebug B cutting plate.

The 2 1/2" strip cutting die is 6" x 25", so it's too big for the Cuttlebug.   I use it to cut bias binding for quilts.  It can also cut squares, rectangles, and diamond shapes with two passes.

My sewing machine is out for a 2-3 week vacation.  I'll sew these fabric pieces together when it returns.  At first I was afraid to use the Big Shot Pro because it is so big and beastly.  I felt buyer's remorse at the price and weight of the thing, but chose to wait and keep it.

My husband has several different kinds of saws, because each saw does a slightly different thing than the other ones.  I view die cutting machines as tools, too.  Some are better for cutting multiple fabric layers at once (Sizzix Big Shot Pro), while others are better for cutting intricate images purchased online or designed on the computer (Silhouette Cameo).  It is so quick and easy to cut fabric this way!

Happy 18th Anniversary!

We were so young 18 years ago!  Hard to believe that much time has passed since our wedding day!

Mayhem in May Part Two

For Mother's Day I got to fulfill a wish request I've had for years!  I got to order a serger machine!  Here's the one I purchased through Amazon:

It's the Juki MO-50e.  I got it for $229 with free shipping.  

I researched online reviews on this Juki serger before buying.  The only negative reviews seemed to discuss threading difficulties.

I also had threading problems with this serger at first.  The printed manual's threading instructions  don't clearly explain how to thread the loopers.  My threads kept jamming, because I missed the automatic part of one of the looper guides.  The enclosed DVD with threading instructions helped me see my mistake and get the threading just right.

Cheap cotton thread breaks every time it runs through the machine's high speed and tension settings, resulting in several re-threading experiences.  I switched to Gutermann, Sulky and 100% polyester threads to avoid breakage and re-threading.  Here's the best thing I learned from online searches:  Maxi Lock thread cones for sergers can be purchased from a mail-order and online company called Wawak for only $1.79 each.  Most other sources I found charged $4 minimum per thread cone.  

My first completed serger project was a simple jersey knit maxi skirt.  I love how quickly and easily the serger handles knit stretchy fabrics!  My Viking machine just can't sew through stretchy fabrics without the fabrics getting pulled through the needle plate and down into the bobbin case.  Now, with the serger, I don't have to avoid stretchy fabrics any more!

The photo above shows a side view of the skirt.  The hem at the left side (bottom of the skirt) was a hand sewn slip stitch, but the side seams and blind hem waistband were all sewn on my serger.  The blind hem is easy once you lift the upper blade out of the way and figure out the folding directions for the fabric.  I didn't use a pattern on this skirt, so the waist/hip area is not tapered or fitted.  That's why it looks bunchy (until I fix it).  

**Update** The serger stopped working well after 4 or 5 projects.  I tried replacing the blades and adding oil and just couldn't get the thread tension working any more.  It still cuts and serges, but the stitches are sloppy and too loose.  Inexpensive machines really do not last.

Mayhem in the Month of May

Last month we attended our niece's wedding, threw a birthday party at our house for my daughter, started building a shed in the backyard, planted our garden, and had a few injuries.

I'll start with my daughter's party, because we had a lot of fun with it. We decided to go with a minion theme from the Despicable Me movies. I found a really cute svg file for three different minion poses online to cut with my Cricut machine and the no longer available for the Cricut Sure Cuts a Lot software. Visit Okie Ladybug's wonderful blog HERE if you are interested in this cutting file. It works with Make the Cut software, too.

I originally cut 18 to 22 minions for our school's teacher appreciation week with a "You're One in a Minion" theme. Since a dozen or so minions were leftover after that week, I used them on the invitations for my daughter's party with the text: "Assemble the minions! You are invited to a despicable party for {name}'s {year}th birthday." It included the address, date and time. I used the Dalek free font from dafont.com because it looked industrial Gru-ish to me.

At the party, the guests first decorated a yellow gift bag to look like a minion. I found a free download of a pin the goggles on the minion game HERE at Hale Grafx, a great resource for many fun free printables, so I printed extra sets of goggles to stick on the bags for the minion faces. For the gift bags, we just used blue construction paper for the overalls and a fine point black sharpie to draw the mouths, hair and detailing on the overalls. The gift bags doubled as the party favor bags, so that guests could keep adding things to the inside of the bags as we went along.  It was a great gathering activity since not all party guests arrive at the same time.

The goggles on the water bottles came from Target.  They are called Beer Keepers (or something like that).  They came in packs of 6 or 8.  I found them in the party aisle along with other unique party favors and gag gifts.   Each guest took home a water bottle minion.

We had banana shaped hard candies (like Runts) which I ordered online from amazon before the party.  Minions go crazy for bananas, you know.

For our next activity, my daughter wanted to paint fingernails, so I ordered a 24 pack of assorted Shany brand nail polish bottles from Amazon before the party. Each guest chose two bottles to keep. While their nails dried, we watched a minion short cartoon from a $5 Walmart DVD bin.

While we set up for the minion shaped pinata (also found at Walmart), the kids played pin the goggles on the minion game from Hale Grafx. For prizes, they got a twinkie decorated to look like a minion. (That's another idea I found online through pinterest and google searching. I love the internet!) They also got candy and small plastic toys from the pinata.

The birthday cake was just a simple double layer lemon cake from a cake mix with a raspberry/blueberry filling.  I used yellow frosting for most of the cake, black frosting in a grocery store tube for the hair and glasses, white frosting for the eyes, and small circles cut from graham crackers for the irises.  Nothing fancy, but it tasted great!  After cake and banana splits, we opened gifts.  Then guests could choose to either make the elastic band bracelets on plastic looms or to play outside.  We had a lot of silly fun!

While decorating for the party, I needed to hang some minion party streamers from Zurcher's on our vaulted ceiling.  The thought came to mind to use a ladder, but I had a swollen, painful knee due to arthritis, and didn't want to haul a heavy ladder into our house from the garage.  I decided to climb onto the back of the couch to reach the ceiling instead.  That worked just fine until I had a moment of stupidity when I decided to jump onto our wood floor from the back of the couch.  I couldn't stick the landing because my swollen knee buckled from the pressure of the jump, and landed on my tailbone on our hard tile floor.  Ouch!

I spent the entire party on my feet because I couldn't sit at all without extreme agony.  At least my tailbone hurt so much that I could no longer feel the pain from my swollen knee.  Those injuries led to even more injuries in the days that followed.  It took three weeks before I could sit without pain.

The back of each decorated Twinkie had a little computer printed tag I made with the Dalek font again, which said "Thanks for coming to my party!  You're one in a minion!"  I also gave a few of the extra minion Twinkies out on Mother's Day with a tag saying "Happy Mother's Day!  You're One in a Minion!"

I'll share more about May's Mayhem in the next post!  Mother's Day was great!