Cutting Knit Fabric

I have sewed many dresses for my girls. For some reason or another they never get worn. It wasn't until I started working with knit fabric that they started to pick clothes I've made to wear everyday. One dress in particular I had to make twice because I couldn't coax Tea out of it. There was a bit of a learning curve though. Trying to cut knits was near impossible for me until I figured this trick out. Ditch the scissors. But using a cutting mat and a rotary cutter I don't accidentally stretch the fabric while I'm cutting. Using pattern weights to keep the pattern pieces in place help, but I use whatever I have on hand. Usually my cell phone and a Quilter's ruler will keep my pieces in place. I definitely recommend trying this trick. It's well worth it.

Hurricane Sandy

Last year I had to evacuate my home. Irene came through and flooded our basement with over 5 ft of water. We lost a lot in the flood last year. Mostly things that were replaceable but a few things that were not.


This past Sunday, with the threat of another Hurricane looming, I pack up the girls and headed north, to Canada.
Monday was spent in my pajamas watching the news unfold online. It was very emotional to be stuck, helpless, watching the area I have come to call home get devastated.
My father in law is in an area that isn't expected to get their power restored for another 2 weeks. We don't know how long it will be before we see power at our house either. Our neighbor has let us run an extension cord to our fridge from his generator.
As sad as I am that we can't return home for a while yet, my heart goes out to the people who lost everything. 
It wasn't until I experienced it that I realized just how awful the experience of flooding is. Where a fire is the heart attack of homes, a flood is like a slow cancer that you see coming but are helpless to do anything to stop.
I have been trying to simplify our home. I'm going to take this opportunity to purge and donate.

Sewing time

 

This morning I dragged the family out to the bookstore and picked up Sewing MODKID Style: Modern Threads for the Cool Girl. It was the only book on the shelves that covered sewing with knits, and it's EXACTLY the sort of things I want to be sewing. I've decided I need to overcome this irrational fear of knits.

I couldn't decide which thing to make first. I started with the headband pattern, made it in a solid lilac color. Tea wore it for most of the day. Then I made leggings in an aqua striped jersey I've been saving for leggings. Turns out there was enough to use in a matching "swim suit cover up". I made it in a solid interlock with jersey sleeves and pocket. 

This is the first time I've made something and she's been excited to wear it. She asked for another one in pink. A few changes I'll make next time though. She doesn't want a hood. I want her to have something long sleeved. Fortunately the front and back pattern pieces are also the same pieces for several other patterns in the book. This makes it really easy for me to just swap around pieces. 

There's also a pattern in the book for a swimsuit. Dahlia has already requested one in black, another in purple and one in green... I'll be busy. 

Dahlia Mid Afternoon

Tomato Jam

The first time I had Tomato Jam was at a BK Swappers food swap. We did a potluck BBQ and this jam moved so fast. So this weekend when I scored a crate of plum tomatoes (50lbs for $20!!!) I knew it would be on the list of things to make. We went through a 4oz container the first night, pairing it with crusty bread, fresh mozzarella and prosciutto. 

The recipe I used was based on one from Food in Jars
Here is the Original Recipe I had to take out the red pepper flakes because I'm sensitive to them and I omitted the ginger because my husband hates ginger.

Tomato Jam
5 lbs tomatoes, finely chopped
3 1/2 c sugar
8 T lime juice
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t ground cloves
1 T salt

Mix everything together in a large pot. Simmer until the consistency is like jam. It will be very liquid at first. It took me about 2 hours to get it to the consistency I wanted. In the meantime wash the canning jars with warm soapy water. Rinse thoroughly. Put your rack in the bottom of the canning pot, and fill with water, add the jars. Heat to boiling. Put a towel down on your counter so the jars don't crack touching the cold counter. Remove jars when jam is ready. Heat a small saucepan of water to boiling, put the lids (not the rings) in and turn the heat down to low. Fill the jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe the rims with a clean cloth. Apply a lid and ring to each jar, tighten only fingertip tight. Process in the boiling water canner for 20 minutes.
Turn off the heat and wait 5 minutes before removing the jars and putting them on the towel.
Yield - it really depends on how much you boil down the jam. I got equivalent to five 8oz jars.

This stuff is fantastic on burgers, or just a piece of bread.

Slime Time!

This weekend was a busy one!
At the farmer's market I put my name in for a crate of Plum Tomatoes for next week only to get the call mid-afternoon that they had one ready for me to pick up! I promise to post details of what I did with them over the next few days. Right now I want to show you how I kept the girls entertained while I prepped the kitchen for my marathon canning session.

We made slime! It was fairly simple to do, the girls loved it! The texture of this stuff is neat. It can crumble. It also sort of melts. If you roll it into a ball it'll bounce like a rubber ball...
And T thinks it's pretty convincing as snot.

Slime recipe:
1/2c water
1/4c clear glue
1T borax
food coloring in your choice of color

To make put about half of your water in one container (easiest if it has a lid), add the borax. Shake it. In a separate container put the remaining water. Color the water whatever color you want your slime to be. I used two drops each of green and yellow. Add the glue. Mix thoroughly. Slowly, a few drops at a time, add the borax solution. Add a few drops, stir, lift out your stir stick and see your progress. Add a few more drops, stir, repeat. We managed to incorporate all of our glue mixture into our slime.


We played with it again this morning, I stored it in a little jar with a lid. It all sort of melted into one blob in the container. And once I pick up all the little pieces the girls chopped it into this morning it'll do that again.

Fried Chicken

The only time I'd ever had fried chicken, before last night, was at a fast food joint. I was never a fan.

When my Bon Appetit magazine arrived back in February, and it had Fried Chicken on the cover, I tossed it aside filing the idea under "Maybe"

Last night I made it. I took a few pictures while Justin dove in.
When I finally took a bite I realized that I'd been missing out. For my entire life.

It was surprisingly easy to make. I highly recommend it!
Here is the recipe