Online Black Friday Shopping

Shop from the comforts of home on Friday and enjoy special deals from some work-at-home-mammas! Fruitful Hands offers cloth diapers, wool longies, mama pads, children's clothing, tea cozies, homemade soaps and scrubs....under the Loral Lane Heirlooms store I'll be selling some retro aprons and custom organizers! Everything is 25% off and all buyers are entered into a drawing for a $50 gift certificate!! I hope to see you there.

Patterns from the past

Today, I started a project for a vintage style launch in December. Planning a dress is my favorite part of the process and I love flipping through my patterns...sort of traveling back in time! I settled on a pattern from one of my favorite 50's designers, Helen Lee. I found an adorable cherry print to use, some vintage baby ricrac (gotta have that!) and voila'...a fabulous dress that only needs some sewing to bring it into being!



Vintage pattern collectors tend to pay large amounts for uncut patterns, those that have never been used. But used patterns have a special place in my heart. When I cut this dress out this morning, I saw that the first seamstress to use this pattern was meticulous, with every notch marked and dart traced off perfectly. I wonder what kind of fabric she chose, did she attempt to copy the cover art on the envelope, did she use cotton or was it a special occasion dress in satin and organdy? All I know for sure, is that she is a sister in sewing, and I feel a bond across the decades.

I know, I know, it's too early!

Last week, my sweet hubby made time to stop by W-mart after taking the kids and I out to dinner and a movie. I needed to run in and pick up a few notions for a customer's order. They went for a spin around the parking lot, and my first words upon hopping back into the car were...'we must be skipping Thanksgiving, the store's gone straight from Halloween to Christmas.' Poor guy, he was subjected to a tirade about the commercialism of Christmas, how the lengthening of the holiday season robs Christmas of the special qualities of anticipation that I love, even now as an adult. So you can be sure that I was quite chagrined when he caught me listening to Ralphie's Radio, a terrific Live 365 station that is dedicated to playing holiday tunes from the 40's. I say, though, that when we've already had weather like this...

I can be excused for listening to Christmas tunes from Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Peggy Lee! Especially when I was 'double dawg dared' ;-)

Now, I'm dreaming of miniatures...

One of the most fun blogs, one that I go 'ohhhhh, how adorable' with just about every new post, is Vicki's Turkey Feathers. And she gave me my most 'ohhh, how adorable' moment ever last week with the reveal of her and her daughter's miniature sweet shop, Le Petite Patisserie. It is a picture of perfection with miniature pastries in tiny bakeshop cases and teeny dolls peeking in the windows at all the goodies. Kali and I liked it so much, we decided we needed another hobby...making polymer clay miniatures!

Our first results are not exactly perfection, but we had the most fun time! Polymer clay is a wonderful craft for children. We used Sculpey III, which was soft and easy to condition, and the sample pack contained more than enough colors to satisfy everyone's creative desires. We ended up with a small sea-turtle soccer team (Jack, 7) and a palm tree, smiley sun and snake-dog creature (Kali, 9). I focused on tiny food: little apples, chocolate chip cookies and a birthday cake.

Oddly enough, my clay cake looks very much like the cakes I bake...a bit uneven and lopsided. At least my edible cakes make up for any fault in presentation with tasting great :-) We have 2 books coming on making dollhouse miniature and tiny food out of polymer clay, so I'm hoping for some improvement to our clay efforts.

I received some tips on getting started from a terrific clay artist, Jessica of Jogee Designs. Here were her hints on supplies and resources to help kids have fun with clay:

• I think polyclay is a perfect craft for kids! They can start over, and over, and over again..... plus it never dries out!! It does react really poorly with some plastics though, so when storing stick to plastic sandwich bags or glass/plastic baby food containers.
• Well, for books I would recommend any by Maureen Carlson, or Shelley ???? Carlson has a few just for beginners, and her style is fun!
• As far as tools go, I would say she'd have to have an acrylic roller (pasta machines are really the best, but if you're just starting her out you might not want to spend the money on that yet, so the roller would be just fine for conditioning and mixing colors.) I use my exacto knife ALOT, also any nail cuticle thingy from the drug store. I use both the tiny wooden ones and the ones with the rubber tip. They actually do sell a tool called The Clay Wipe Out Tool that does the same thing, but I've only seen it on line. So a roller, wipe out tool and needle tool are must haves I would say (also a knife of some kind..... they sell the clay blades but I don't use it much. I have to have my exacto knife). Everything else, like cutters, glitter, mica powder, clay extruder gun, bead rollers, are fun to have but not necessary.
• As far as clay goes, Sculpey and Fimo soft are very easy to use....extremely soft (show lots of finger prints though). I don't like to use them by themselves for that reason, but they are easy to condition.
  

I suspect we're just beginning a long relationship with polymer clay, so we'll keep you posted on our progress!

I'm dreaming of a Boutique Christmas!

Jack and Jill Boutique Designers, a wonderful ebay group I'm a proud member of, just launched our offerings for the Christmas season. We used the famous Clement C. Moore poem, 'A Visit from St. Nick', more commonly known as, 'twas the Night Before Christmas', as our inspiration. Selecting a stanza to use as a muse, we each created a unique, hand-crafted boutique item that reflected our love of this blessed holiday season.

Here is a beautiful bracelet by Pam of Black Sheep Designs. The quality of her work is impeccable, her designs are breathtaking and always original...reading her listings is a treat, too, she's a talented writer, as well! In this bracelet, she combines new and vintage beads in a fabulous design.





My sister IRL, is Missy of Spring*Bean. She specializes in Euro designs and vintage styles with a modern twist. The dress she is offering is a wonderful, reversible jumper. She appliqued an adorable fawn on one side and the coordinating print on the other is suitable for wearing all winter long! You can see it here.






And here is one of my listings for this launch. It is the red silk dress that I gave a sneak peek of yesterday. The photos are just wonderful, I'm definitely going to collaborate with Judy again! Later this week I'll be listing my sugarplum inspired dress, again in gorgeous silk dupioni.

Night Before Christmas Preview

A wonderfully talented designer that I'm in a design group with, Judy of Jumir's Heirlooms, was kind enough to take pictures of my latest offering with her daughter, Sabrina. I had Sabrina in mind when I designed this red silk dress, with black silk accents and vintage lace trim. They did such a wonderful job...Thank you girls!!!

You will be able to see this and MANY other holiday offerings during our Night Before Christmas launch on ebay starting November 7th. Just search ebay using the term 'theJills' or use the link on my sidebar :)

Making it Home Clothing Challenge

The owner of Making It Home magazine, and also the creator behind the blog Loving Our Homes, recently posted a challenge to pare down the amount of clothing your family has. You can find the details here.

Using those guidelines I created a planner for my Mom's Daybook, my own home organizing journal. You can download it for your planner here . Because we live in Northern Michigan, where we've already had snow, I set it up for a winter wardrobe! Enjoy!

My Little Punkin'

Today is Clinton's 4th birthday! The old cliche' that goes 'they grow up too fast' is all too true! Especially with my baby, our last...just when we were getting the hang of it!!

Happy Birthday Beautiful Boy

Shake your bootie!

Browsing Pietrina's site, I found another pair of TDF, super-sweet booties...think she does special orders in a 7 1/2W???

Boutique shopping

My sweet friend, Pietrina, from Australia, has recently opened her own lovely little spot on the web. She creates breathtaking baby layette pieces that are hand-embroidered with adorable silk ribbon designs...I'm lucky to have seen some of her custom work up close- it's flawless!

She's a dear to work with and has an excellent reputation with her customers! Check out her store when you can - Bumble Bee Designs Boutique

Sewing Tip

I did some sewing over the weekend and wanted to take pictures for a tutorial on finishing seam allowances without a serger, but just didn't have the time. I plan on getting to it sometime this week! For now, here's a short tutorial I posted on my ebay group, a how-to on turning a nice, clean point. I usually use the method for collars and ends of sashes for dresses. I think I saw it on "Sew Much More", Susan Khalje's sewing program, that is no longer in production. I wish it was...I always learn something new!



1. Picture of how I sewed 'off the corner'
2. Same, the seamlines intersect at the point
3. Fold over one of the seam allowances
4. Fold over the other seam allowance
5. Use the point turner to hold the folds in place,
then turn the point (sorry, only 2 hands, couldn't get a pic of this stage!)
6. Picture of finished collar
7. Close up of the nice, sharp point

Dinner from the freezer

On Thursday, I picked a frozen packet of chicken pot pie mix from my dinner stash, opened up a refrigerated pie crust (shhhh, don't tell!) and my 3yo and I put together a homemade chicken pot pie! I was going to take an after picture, but we were too hungry, there was just enough left over for lunch the next day and it was a big hit with my daycare kiddies. I'm so lucky, they are all 'good eaters', as my grandma would say :-D

Here' the pie about to go in the oven, Clinton did most of the fluting and the cut outs, with a mini leaf cutter, he was so cute!



Loral Lane Chicken Pot Pie
1 C. chopped veg (onion, celery, carrots)
2 T. butter

Saute until vegetables are tender (you can substitute chicken broth to cut fat)

Put in large freezer bag:
2 C. shredded chicken
1/2 C. frozen peas, thawed slightly
1 1/2 C. white sauce, with chicken boullion added
or 1 can cream of chicken soup
Sauteed veggies

Mix gently in bag, Freeze

On Serving day:
Thaw Pot pie mix
Assemble pot pie using favorite pastry recipe
or store bought pie crusts
Cut slits in top crust
Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes
until the crust is browned and the filling is bubbly


You can easily multiply this recipe, and assemble the meals in separate bags all at the same time. My sister and I made 6 pot pies on our last cooking day. Enjoy!

Planner Form Trial

I think I found a trial version of software that will creat pdf files...any tips on finding a free one? Here is a link to my Tea Party Planner to use in your Mom's Daybook!

Tea Party Planner

Vintage Scotty

This adorable project is a present for my niece, Abigail, who has 2 Scottish great-grandparents and whose Daddy wore a kilt when he married her mommy (my sister)! I think it needs a bit more embellishment, though. She's made from felted red wool flannel and I crocheted her a little flouncy collar and some blanket stitching, stuffing and she's done...almost ;) I found the pattern here.

I think I'll name her Maeve!

Taking Care of the Ladies

Here is a sweet little clip of a gentleman in the making! It is from Vision Forum's Everyday News. If you're not familiar with this, they are little snippets of video, made by homeschoolers reporting on one of their interests, or maybe sharing a new skill they learned. In this one, little Daniel explains how he takes care of the ladies in his life...it's so sweet!
Taking Care of the Ladies

And here is his sister, Hannah, showing how she does the laundry!
Laundry Detail

Enjoy!

Mother Daughter Tea Party

Yesterday, Kali and I hosted a wonderful tea party for loved ones. Our theme was to celebrate the special joys of mothers and daughters. We started planning about a month ago when we ordered invitations from a terrific designer on ebay, who also happens to be a Jill on ebay with me. Kristin customized these invitations for us. Next, we ordered a tea cozy from Rene' at The Cozy Teapot, to keep our teapot warm and cozy! Mrs. Wilt, at The Sparrow's Nest, has a lovely ebook for sale on A Proper Tea for a very reasonable cost.

Our guest list included my sweet mother-in-law, my sister and niece and my brother's fiance and her daughter. Unfortunately, my mother was out of town, but I'll make sure she's available before I set the date for out next tea. This picture is of the girls sipping tea and my mother-in-law with my daughter, Kali.

Our menu was a bit heartier than typical tea party fare. We did already have a snowstorm that cancelled school last week! The first course was miniature spinach quiches and spanakopita, followed by avocado and bacon sandwiches and turkey, lettuce and cranberry sandwiches. We finished with lemon blueberry muffins and a delicious apple cake, the recipe for which I found here. Thanks, Rene', it was a huge hit with everyone! Here's a picture of our little buffet and our teapot that held Raspberry Tea, kept warm with a cozy :)

At the end of the buffet, you can see the favors for our guests. We wrapped a candle in a holder (bought at the dollar store) along with a frame (again, from the dollar store). During the party, I snapped pictures of the guests with their daughter, or granddaughter, and used my little photo printer to print them out, and we filled the frames on the spot. So all went home with memories of a lovely time and a little memento to remember our day.

All in all, our first tea party was a wonderful success, everyone deciding that this should be a regular event. I'm looking forward to receiving an invitation soon!

I developed a sweet planner form for tea party planning, but I am having trouble getting it to upload and download again at my website. I hope to have this ironed out soon, and have many planning forms available! Here's a little picture to tide you over until I do :)

Comments enabled!

I think I figured out which little button I needed to click to turn the comments on...so if you're stopping by via the Shed, or ebay groups...or wherever (!) please take a minute to say 'Hi' :)

Cooking with Company

After many months of talking about it, my sister (Missy) and I, decided to have a co-op cooking session. I’ve done OAMC, by myself before, and at the end of the day, my kitchen and I were a disaster. Cooking with company is much better! Step-by-step, here is how we tackled it.

1. We decided on a list of recipes, done through phone and email conversations.
2. We got together and decided how many of each recipe we wanted for our respective families.
3. Using the lists and recipes, I made a shopping list for our cooking day.
4. The day before our scheduled cooking day I shopped for groceries. That night I also cooked the hamburger, cooked the chicken (in an 18-qt roaster), and made a batch of drop cookies to be frozen (unbaked).
5. The morning of our cooking day, Missy arrived with extra groceries and freezer bags.
6. Assembly line style, we put together meals. She shredded the chicken into labeled bags and I added the other ingredients that were called for in each recipe.
7. We layered the full bags into a box and stored it in my chest freezer.
8. We relaxed with a cup of coffee and dreamed of coming days when all we will have to do for a nice, hot meal, is pull a bag out of the freezer in the morning and pop it into the oven in the afternoon :-)

In just under 2 hours, we put together 14 chicken dinners, 12 ground beef dinners and 4 batched of chicken and broth for soup. Hopefully, later today, I will add some resources for bulk cooking and copies of the planner forms I developed to plan our session.

Kali chopping veggies~
Cookies ready to be bagged~

New Ventures

I'll be making some changes to my blog, hopefully ones that will be met with interest! In the very near future I hope to have step by step instructions for setting up your Mom's Daybook, in the tradition of homekeeping journals of years past. I'll have planner forms for you to download and links to my latest binder covers on sale with Fruitful Hands and Jack and Jill Boutique Designers .

Stay Tuned!

Picture Trial