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~