Have a peek at the life of a farmer's visually impaired wife and learn a little about self-sufficiency and saving a few bucks in the process. Let's face it, the economy is challenging all of us to be frugal, so we need to help one another as much as we can.
3.5" x 9.5" quilt strips in 24 colors/patterns in rows on my sewing table
I have been busy working on my quilt, maybe not every single day, but most days. So far it's all been cutting the 3.5" x 9.5" strips I'll be using to make the 9" blocks. Let me tell you I have a whole new respect for quilters! Due to my limited vision, I have one heck of a time measuring, measuring again and measuring yet a third time then rotary cutting the fabrics. In order to see what I'm doing I have to get my face pretty close to the work area and my upper back and neck start aching about 10-15 minutes into a cutting session. When I feel the need, I just Quasimodo my way over to my comfy bed and have a rest while listening to a talking book for a few minutes. So far I have 192+ strips cut which is enough for 64 blocks. Unfortunately this is not enough to complete a queen size quilt. Another misfortune is - I'm out of fabrics! I figure I'll need at least another 16 or so blocks to have enough to complete the quilt. While I'm keeping an eye out for more fabrics I'm going to start stitching the strips together to form the blocks. I'll report back when I have some blocks to show you.
Close up image of a home made loaf of Raisin Oat Bread
I got this recipe from a fellow YouTuber (TheMrsVolfie) and thought I'd give it a try. It was literally the best loaf of bread I've ever made in my life! I'm not sure if it was because I used lard rather than oil or if my new KitchenAid stand mixer had something to do with it, but I'm just tickled pink either way!
Here's how you make it - or you can just watch the video below:
Raisin Oat Bread Recipe
In 3/4 cup of warm tap water add
1 tablespoon of yeast-set aside
In mixing bowl with dough
hook, add...
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup oatmeal
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup boiling water
Stir for a few seconds
2 tablespoons lard or oil or butter
1/4 cup maple syrup (you can add more if you like)
Stir
While your mixer is still on "stir" add 3.5 - 4 cups all purpose flour 1 cup at a time.After 1st cup, add yeast water and turn mixer
speed to 2.
Allow to knead for at least 10 mins
Butter the bowl (or spray with cooking oil) and put dough
back in bowl with cover to rise for 1 hour
Gently deflate dough and knead for a few turns
Place dough in bread pan making sure to evenly snug into corners
Cover bread pan and rise again for 1 hour
Bake in a preheated oven at 350
for 45 mins
Slather with your favorite spread while it's still warm for a sneak preview of what heaven is like. ;-)
Image of my dining room table with 20 Mule Team Borax, Arm & Hammer Washing Soda, Oxi Clean, Fels Naptha bar laundry soap, measuring cup, improvised funnel from 2-liter bottle, metal cheese grater & a long handled spoon.
One of the many ways I save money at home is by making my own laundry detergent. You may have even seen another internet video of someone making it... but you haven't seen MINE! I have a slightly different (and in my humble opinion, better) recipe for laundry detergent. I've been making my own detergent for about 1.5 years now and thought I'd share my secret recipe with you folks.
Everyone who makes their own detergent uses the same three basic ingredients:
1) 20 Mule Team Borax
2) Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (not baking soda - two different products folks)
3) *Fels Naptha's laundry soap bar.
*There are other brands of laundry bar soaps, like Zote, Kirk's Castile, etc. Even lye soap or regular Ivory soap will work for this. You DO know lye soap is milder and gentler than any commercial soap out there, right?
I have also noticed several variations in the detergent recipes out there in cyberspace. Some folks say use 1 cup of each powder and 1/2 bar of the soap while others say use an entire bar of soap and 1/2 cup of the powders, add some water, add a lot of water, etc, etc, etc. I have tried it several ways and eventually came up with my own special recipe that I have found to be the most effective in getting our clothes clean for pennies on the dollar compared to commercial detergents.
Here are the ingredients you will need:
1) 20 Mule Team Borax 1.5 cups
2) Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (not baking soda - two different products folks) 1.5 cups
3) Fels Naptha's laundry soap bar (or whatever brand you can find) Grate up the entire bar
4) Oxi Clean Stain Remover 1.5 cups
5) Any brand of powdered laundry detergent you like the smell of (I buy whatever's cheapest!)1 cup
6) Two gallons and two cups of hot tap water
Here are the tools you will need:
1) Clean 5 gallon bucket
2) Metal cheese grater & bowl
3) Measuring cup
4) Long handled spoon
5) Med-Large Sauce pan or pot
6) Funnel (the larger the opening the better - you can make one by cutting the top 1/3 off a plastic 2 liter bottle
7) Empty detergent, juice, pop, etc.. bottles to hold your finished product
This recipe will produce approximately 8 quarts (2 ga) of finished liquid laundry detergent.
--==Scroll Down To See Video==--
Step 1
Grate your bar of laundry soap. I have used a food processor for this in the past, but find you will need to add some borax in with it before grinding or it will gunk up the blades and not grate up as fine. It only takes a few mins with a regular ole box grater anyway and there's less cleanup afterward.
Step 2
In a med-large saucepan add 2 cups of hot tap water and the grated bar soap. Stir frequently until the soap pieces are melted. Don't get too fanatical about making sure every little bit is melted. After all, we all know what happens to soap when it's left in water-it melts all on it's own! Just don't let your soap boil as it may form hard bits that won't melt and for goodness sake, don't let it boil over on the stove - what a MESS!
Step 3
Add 2 gallons of hot tap water to your 5 gallon bucket
Step 4
Add your melted soap to the bucket of water and give it a stir
Step 5
Now add the powdered ingredients and STIR after each ingredient is added:
1.5 cups Borax
1.5 cups Washing Soda
1.5 cups Oxi Clean
1 cup of good smelling powdered laundry detergent
Step 6
After you're sure all the ingredients are well mixed, place the lid on the bucket and let it sit overnight to gel.
Step 7
Bottle your detergent! Leave a couple inches of head space at the top of each bottle to make it easier to shake before the first use. You will eventually see some water separation in your final product so shake before each use.
Top Loading Washers:
Feel free to experiment with the quantity needed for each load of laundry. If you have a water softening system, you may only need 1/2 cup; but if you have hard water, you'll probably want to use a full cup.
H.E. Front Loading Washers:
I don't have first hand knowledge about H.E. washers since I'm not lucky enough to own one, so just follow the manufacture's recommendations for the amount of soap to use and you decide how much from there.
After your clothes have been washed a couple times with your home made laundry detergent, they feel noticeably softer and more comfortable next to your skin. That's because there are no commercial detergent residues left in the fabric. So give it a try!
Image of my hands in front of a sewing machine holding a finished quilt square made with 3 strips of fabric sewn together. Color combinations are: #1 white background with small red flowers/designs, #2 solid red, #3 white background with prominent red flower designs
I DID IT - I DID IT - I DID IT!!! I finally put together my first quilt square! Only 120-something more to go...or something like that. I haven't actually counted how many I need. At the rate I'm going, I'm hoping I'll have it finished by the time next winter rolls around.
I have decided to cut all my fabric strips first because that seems to be the hardest part for me. I'm also positive I need to get more fabric since I want to make a queen size quilt. At least it should go a little faster now that I've decided to go with 9" squares rather than the smaller 6".
I'll post more updates in the future as I make progress.
Image of a cutting board with several broken pieces of french bread and a food processor loaded with more chunks of bread.
Here's an incredibly easy way to save a few bucks while stocking your pantry. Just save up your stale bread in the freezer until you're ready to load up your food processor with it. You can also add other items to the mix such as non-sugared breakfast cereal, tortillas and/or dehydrated tomatoes & veggies. Add your favorite seasonings/spices while making the crumbs or wait until you're ready to use them in your recipes. It's all up to you.
You can store your bread crumbs in a zipper storage bag, vacuum sealer bag or even in a mason jar and use your vacuum jar sealer attachment if you're looking for a long term storage solution.
Closeup image of my hand holding a red kitchen scrubbie preparing to scrub the bottom of my clothes iron.
If you watched my previous video on the Quilting Gadget Haul, you might
remember the cutesie little iron I bought that was just the right size
for a small child...but NOT MEANT FOR A SMALL CHILD mind you. That little iron
will come in handy later on when I'm pressing quilt block seams, but
since I needed to de-wrinkle fat quarters and larger pieces of fabric, I
decided to bring out Big Bertha. When I looked at the bottom of Bertha (yeah, I know that doesn't sound right) I knew there wasn't going to be any ironing just yet. The fact of the matter is the years have taken their toll on Big B and
she needed a cleaning. There was a light sprinkling of rust, water
marks and a sticky something that all had to go before I could use her. It's always something isn't it?
First I must confess that I am not, nor have I ever been a regular ironer. I always made sure to not buy clothing that would require me to iron it before wearing and as long as I had a clothes dryer, tossing an item in for a touch up was so much easier. I'm afraid most of the ironing I have done in the past, oh say 28 years, was done in the line of sewing projects - and not that many of those either.
Here's how I cleaned Big Bertha. Hopefully she'll last me another 28 years.
Close up image of purple, pink & blue fat quarter fabrics and unopened packs of sewing machine needles and bobbins.
Before I could really start getting busy on my 1st quilt project, I needed and/or wanted a few tools of the trade. I made poor hubby take me to JoAnn Fabrics since they were having a pretty good sale at the time. He wasn't the only hubby that got dragged along either. Thank you hubbies everywhere! :-D
Once there, I was really surprised at the number of customers in the store. I don't know if it was JoAnn's best sale of the year or if it was the height of "sewing season" or both, but the weak economy doesn't seem to be having an affect on their business. An unstable economy might even be beneficial for them since a lot of folks find it more frugal to repair or make their own clothing.
There are a few stores that have an affect on me like a kid in a candy store and a sewing shop is one of them. (Computer & hobby stores are also on this list.) Since I had a budget I needed to stick to, I had a mental shopping list of necessities and pretty much stuck to it. If I ever hit the lottery, look out!
