Saving the earth with fabric scraps

Well, that may be an exaggeration but I do like to do my part, especially when it's easy and involves sewing. I got this idea a few years ago while subbing in Pre-K. One of the moms (who is also a friend) would send her kids with cloth napkins in their little lunch boxes, they weren't actually cloth napkins as much as they were old, cut-up, worn-out, dishtowels that most of us would have tossed in the trash. She really, really believes in recycling! I was so impressed with this that I gifted her 3 sets of cute handmade napkins for each of her children and decided I would steal her idea. I started selling sets at the farmer's market with my handmade lunch bags and also started using them in Julia's lunch, as well as our kitchen.

Whenever I have a 13-16" square scrap of fabric, I set it aside for a day when I just want to clear my head and sew something mindless for a few minutes and ta-da... new napkins! I just make a simple hemmed edge and mitered corners. I even allowed myself not to care that they don't match anything or even each other. In fact, I rather like the unmatchy-ness of it all! My favorite part of saving the earth with scraps is that I get to look at and use my favorite pieces of fabric every single day... win, win.

my go-to dessert

I completely forgot about the supper meeting at Gabby's school tonight and I am supposed to bring a dessert. Normally I have at least 3 box mix baking options in my pantry for the late at night "mom, I forgot to tell you I need brownies for school tomorrow" emergencies, but my pantry is bare today. Luckily I always have some apples in the fridge and can whip up my mom's apple cake.

YUM! It is super easy and always delicious.

Speaking of Gabby, here is one of her senior portraits. What a beauty my girl is.

ps- my husband (aka my bumble) declared yesterday's stuffed peppers the best he ever had.

On the menu today

It is a freezing cold day here in Connecticut and that's a perfect day to turn the oven on. I have been using my slow cooker three times a week lately...thank you Pinterest, but not today. I ran into Stop & Shop yesterday and saw that they had a big sale on red peppers and ground beef, I knew immediately what was on today's menu! 

Stuffed Peppers (with steel cut oats)
Oatmeal, in stuffed peppers? Don’t knock it until you try it! I use steel cut oats in place of bread crumb. Cut oats are very low in fat, high in protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals and also makes the pepper stuffing very light and moist. I may be wrong but they might even be gluten free.

1 lb ground beef- lean*
½ dry cut oats cooked according to pkg.
1 chopped onion
2 cloves garlic crushed
Fresh parsley chopped
Peppers- 3-4 large red or green, 6-7 small cubanelles
2 cups marinara sauce
¼ cup grated pecorino or parmesan
1 cup shredded mozzarella (I use reduced fat)
Salt and pepper to taste

Brown the ground beef with garlic, onion, salt & pepper. Drain off fat. Mix with cooked oats, parsley and grated cheese. Cut the large peppers in half, lengthwise like boats, removing the stem. Cubanelles can be left whole after removing stems and seeds.

Fill peppers with stuffing and place in a 9x13 pan. Spoon sauce over each pepper, letting it seep in between and around the peppers. Top with shredded mozzarella and some grated cheese.

 Cover loosely with foil and bake at 375 for 35 minutes**. Remove foil and bake another 10-15 minutes until peppers are tender and cheese is all melty and bubbly. Adjust temp and time according to your oven, mine has a mind of it's own.
*Normally I would use extra lean ground beef and mix it raw with an egg and add it to other stuffing ingredients; however, the 80% lean is what was on sale and I just don't like how greasy it tastes when I make it that way so I have browned it prior to stuffing. This will give you a looser finished stuffing. Both ways taste great, you decide how you will like it best.
**This recipe is great for freezing and can also be cooked in a slow cooker on low for 6-8 hrs using less sauce and removing the lid for the last half hour to let some of the moisture cook out.

if you love the puppy...

This is the best way to describe the end of my crafty dream. Imagine you find a cute puppy on your front lawn, surely it belongs to someone so you post signs, call the dog pound, and just take care of it until the owner comes for it. The one thing you do NOT do is love the puppy, if you love the puppy the owner will surely come and your heart will be broken.

Let's go back to the summer of 2011...
My etsy shop is in full swing and I was asked to join a local farmer's market.

 Things are good. One day I was approached by a woman who was the director of Project Storefront in my city. To make a long story short;  the city works with building owners that have empty storefronts, they work with ambitious entrepreneurs offering them a space and free rent as you grow your business and/or until they find a regular business willing to lease it. She said I would be the ideal candidate. To say I was over-the-moon happy is an understatement. I left the farmers market and put my etsy shop on hold. I worked on my business plan, a place called Home Ec. that offered classes, supplies and retail space.

 I got my space, it was a former luncheonette... perfect until the roof collapsed after an ice storm.

 Luckily I hadn't opened yet.  I quickly moved into a gorgeous temporary space and ran a holiday pop-up shop for the city, fun, fun, fun.

I met so many people, made some money and had a great time but remember this is a temporary space while they locate a new space for me...I wanted to love the puppy but I knew it isn't mine. After the holidays, Project Storefront offers me the gorgeous space that I am trying not to love. On February 12, 2012 I was days away from signing my lease, ordering signs, working up plans... I let myself love the puppy! On February 13, 2012 the building owner found a tenant after years of having the space empty...the owners came for the puppy and my heart is broken, I packed up and moved out on Valentine's Day.

That is my sad story and the end of my dream. Now I need a big girl job, in September I will have 2 kids in college and one in private high school. I am done wallowing now and ready to move on and figure out a new dream, maybe I should get a real puppy!

orange cat problems

This is Leo.

aka Leroy, Leroy-my-boy, wootie (as in cutie wootie). Leo is 20+ pounds of adorable and rules the house. The only thing Leo doesn't control is the constant flow of furry visitors to our kitchen door.
Meet Little Red

He lives, and I use that term loosely, in the broken down house next door. He comes to the door every day for some food and a kind word. Leo hates Little Red.
This is Missy-

Missy is Little Red's mother. She visits everyday for food and to torture Leo. She doesn't care if I talk to her or not. In fact, she prefers it if I just put the food down and walk away. Leo really hates Missy.

This is Jake.

Jake the squirrel taps on the window everyday looking for peanuts.He has a few friends that kind of hang back because they are shy. Fine by me, I don't need 3 squirrels knocking on the door. Jake and his friends also live in the broken down house next door. They literally live in the house, in the attic which thanks to me is probably covered in peanut shells. Sorry. Leo really likes Jake for some reason,

probably because Leo doesn't care much for peanuts.

oh my

Hello, my name is Carol and I am an embroidery pattern addict.

I had a free day yesterday and decided to tackle my craft supplies that have gone wild; baskets and baskets of mixed up supplies and bags from craft stores that I never put away. Wow, did I learn a lot about myself. I know that I love all things embroidery and of course I know that I love to buy patterns...vintage (original and reproduced), modern ones, corny ones, I LOVE THEM ALL! It wasn't until I decided to file them that I realized that I have HUNDREDS of patterns.

I have a special affection for produce and household items with faces and days-of-the-week; in fact I could probably produce 700 of just those towels easily. So, what the heck am I to do with them? It is nearly impossible to make money from embroidered dishtowels...I know, I've tried, so I think I will just be gifting them to every single person I know.
If you love vintage patterns you really need to visit Vicki at www.patternbee.com , she has an amazing collection and is such a sweet person.

 I love all of the cheesy Aunt Martha's that I find at www.colonialpatterns.com, the prices are great.

 Of course there is www.sublimestitching for all of your hip and modern patterns, they are so cute.

 A lot of times I just sketch a simple line drawing right on a towel or paper
for a quick gift...because I never could find a pattern before I organized them!

Fidget remedy

I like to relax with my family; however, I am super fidgety. I always feel the need to accomplish something during waking hours, it really is no fun!
Enter crochet dishcloths:

Cotton yarn is cheap, crocheting a square is mindless, making this a perfect remedy for fidgety fingers. I am slowly giving away dishcloths to everyone I know because my cotton yarn/dirty dishes ratio is not balanced. To those of you with ants in your pants like me...learn basic crochet and make some dishcloths, it's a win, win!
Have a happy day.
Carol

I love a quick fix

Sometimes you just need to make something and I am all about quick little sewing projects. I am also all about coffee and fabric so it was only natural that I jumped on the coffee sleeve bandwagon! These are super easy to make. I opened up a cardboard sleeve and traced it on cardstock with a 3/4" seam allowance. From there I cut out a piece of fabric, muslin for interior, and a piece of insulated batting, pinned in a hair elastic, sewed around leaving an opening to turn rightside out, topstitch, sew on a button and DONE! I made 5 in 30 minutes total. The hardest part was making sure the fabric wasn't upside down! See, easy peasy!

Well, well, well

Look what I found here, my old blog! I sat and read for hours last night, I cracked up, I got teary, and I said "aww" more times than I can count.
What's that...why did I stop writing, you ask? Stress, too busy, depressed, internet trolls piss me off, my camera and computer broke and it was pre-smart phone time in my life, Facebook was easier. These are the first things that come to mind.
What have I been up to? Thanks for asking. I tried to make a living doing what I love and realized that it isn't going to happen. It's ok, I will tell you about it later. My kids are so big now ; college sophomore, high school senior, and 8th grader! I am unemployed, broke and need a plan so that my bumble (aka: my tall husband David) can go back to working 1 job.
Come again? Oh, why am I back? I think it is Pinterest's fault. I keep clicking on all of those crafty blogs and it stirs up old bloggy feelings. After reading my old posts, I realized that I was much happier when I was writing...free therapy! I am still crafty everyday and have stories to share. I have no idea who will ever see this blog now but that was never why I started it. There really is no one in my life that gets the creative me, no one to share thoughts and ideas with. I miss my old crafty, online friends! I especially miss Karen (mrs kwitty) who lost her battle to cancer last year, how I wished I knew her in person. I know that her heaven has endless beautiful craft supplies and it never gets messy.
That's all for today!