What's exciting all those Spammers..........

It's my Homemade Laundry Detergent post from 2008.  You can read about it here.

Between me and you, I have no idea what excites them the most?  Do you?

Another Christmas Gift made........

This is a present for Jeina.  This is the outside

 This is the inside.

 Close up of inside, any idea what it is yet?

 It's a Baby Doll Pouch Blanket/Swaddle Wrap.  I found a pattern here, and have altered it to suit me.

 I added a snap so you can fold the bottom up and keep it up.

 I also added Velcro, so when you wrap the front over it will hold in place

 The baby doll and wrap are part of Jeina's Christmas present.

 I have three more to make now!!  I think the girls will love them.

I am finishing another one off, that I made in the 24 inch size as suggested in the original pattern.  Personally it is way too big.  So my material requirements are:

18 inch square of outside fabric.
18 inch square of inside fabric.
18 inch square of batting.
9 inch x 18 inch of fabric for pocket.
75 inches of binding for the edge
Velcro (optional)
Snap (optional)
Label (optional)

I will post a tutorial if requested.

Quick and Easy gift too make..........

This cost me nothing but time as I had all the bits in the house.  There is nothing better than sitting in front of the TV with a bowl of soup on a cold winter's night.  It's made all the better when you don't burn your hands on a hot soup bowl!!

I made a Soup Bowl Hot Pad using this tutorial.

All you need are two 10 inch squares of fabric
Two 10 inch squares of batting, toweling or flannel (padding to go between the layers of outside fabric)
Coordinating thread
Scissors
Ruler

It's sewn with a straight stitch, so if you can sew in a straight line you can do this.  The pad itself is completely reversible and it is washable.

A couple of these along with a jar of soup mix (recipe here) would make a great Christmas gift.

I am going to sew some more of these now I have made my first one.

Sometimes it's the most simple things that give us the greatest pleasure......

I sat down for breakfast the other day, with toasted homemade bread, plenty of butter (not homemade) and some homemade raspberry jam.......just perfect.....



Oh, and on Saturday I seemed to have the luck of the Irish, as they say. We have been invited to a Black Tie Dinner Dance in February, a really very posh do. So of course when I went to look in my closet, I didn't see any long fancy evening gowns in there.......shocker or what!!!! Dh is going to rent a tux for the night, but that's not an option for me. Also we are invited to a wedding in October, so it would make sense if I could use the same dress for both events.

So me and dh went dress shopping for me on Saturday. As I am a "full-figured" type of gal, I go to a plus sized store first, recommended by someone. Well I wasn't inspired, and they had nothing suitable. However they were helpful and told me to go to another store. So off we go and I walk in, find dh a seat and wander off. I told the sales girl what I was looking for she pointed me the direction of this dress with a jacket that she thought would be suitable. Well I took one look at it, and it was perfect. I went to try it on, and it fit like a glove. I mean what are the odds........plus it was on sale, should have been $310, on sale for $199.99. So now I just have to find some shoes and a handbag, I'm thinking gold, as the dress is a bronze colour?
(if you click on the photos, you'll see more detail)

Homemade Fabric Softener Recipes.......

is something I want to make next. I do have a couple of bottles of Downy left, so will use that up first. I have found a few different ones online, so wanted to post them, and wanted to ask if any of you had tried one of these recipes, and with what results?

As an update: I am loving the homemade laundry detergent, so that's a keeper. Hoping to have the same success with the fabric softener.

The first one is from Recipe Zaar

Ingredients
1 cup baking soda
6 cups distilled white vinegar
8 cups water
10-15 drops orange essential oils (optional) or lemon essential oils (optional) or essential oils, of choice (optional)

Directions
1You will need a one gallon container.
2First add the baking soda to the plastic container.
3Next add 1 cup of water to start with.
4Slowly add the vinegar to the bottle as the vinegar and baking soda will start to fizz.
5Then add the rest of the water swirling around & cover venting the top a few times.
6Last add the essential oil.
7Add 1 cup in your final rinse cycle for each load but give the bottle a good shake to stir up the essential oil if using.

***IT SAYS USE 1 CUP BUT IF USING A DOWNY BALL YOU ONLY USE 1/4 CUP***

Here is another one from Tip Nut

Homemade Fabric Softener Recipe:

1 part Vinegar
1 part Baking Soda
2 parts Hot Water

Place a pail large enough to hold double the amount of ingredients in the kitchen sink or bathtub. Mix the baking soda and water in the pail, stir till the powder is dissolved. Then add the vinegar. Remember that baking soda and vinegar reacts with fizzing, so use a big pail to account for this. Once it’s stopped fizzing, pour into clean bottles, cap, then use 1/4 cup per rinse cycle.
Updated Info: The baking soda won’t be completely dissolved, just shake the bottle to mix the batch up before adding to the rinse cycle.

This one has a video that you can watch, which is really neat, but you do have to have a Downy Ball, so that could be the downside to this, here is the link.

2 Cups White Vinegar
2 Cups Baking Soda
4 Cups Water

Combine slowly and carefully over sink.

Pour into plastic bottle, cover, and shake.

Use 1/4 cup in the final rinse or in a "Downy Ball".

So if anyone has used any one of these recipes please leave a comment. I will try and make a batch of this and will report back.

*********I made the first recipe and used it on my darks and it works. Because I have a front loader machine I had to use a "Downy Ball", but am pretty pleased with the results. I didn't add any essential oils, so there is no smell. My laundry seemed soft and I hung it out to dry and it was fine.

I will say it cost approximately $1.50 to make (I am guessing) and there were at least 14 cups of liquid and if you use a 1/4 cup of liquid per load you have at least 56 loads per batch. Which works out at just over 2.5 cents per load. I will keep using this to see how it goes. I had meant to make the last recipe, but forgot about it.************