Homemade Chocolate Syrup

Semi-Sweet Chocolate Syrup

1 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

2/3 cup cocoa powder(we like Guittard)

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1. Combine water and sugar. Bring to a boil.
2. Add cocoa powder and salt, mix well, and simmer for 3 min. Stir! It will thicken.
3. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla.

Store in the refrigerator.

Substitute cinnamon for Mexican hot chocolate, or peppermint extract.

To make hot chocolate, add 3 Tablespoons syrup to 1 cup of hot milk.

10 Tips for Holiday Survival

I really like to give home made gifts. When there is time and forethought, this is what I like to do: create something special. But I don't have endless hours......Here are 10 quick and easy hand made gifts! Try one this weekend. These are quick and easy gifts.

Make one with your kids. They will remember the time you spend together more than the latest gadget they are asking for. Come visit our tutorials.....

1. Customize baby onesies! Buy a generic package of plain white onesides, and add some pizzaz. Time: 1 hour

2. Give cash in a hand made wallet! Perfect for the person who has enough stuff.

Time: 2 hours

3. Pincushion-quick and easy We used scraps-try a corner of a treasured but retired quilt.

Time: 1 hour

4. Use scraps to make a headband. Make one in every color to match your outfit!

Time: 1 hour

5. Make your own advent calender with activities for your family. This is your chance to keep it real, keep it simple, and focus on what is meaningful for you.

Time: 1-2 hours

6. Buy a dollar store planner and cover it with fabric you make from your scrap pile.

Time: 2 hours

7. Share your favorite recipes. Ask your aunties and uncles for their secret recipes, and record them!

Time: 1: hour

8. Put together a sewing kit for a girl in your life. Or an embroidery kit! Last summer I put together embroidery thread, scissors, an embroidery hoop, and large muslin squares into a wrapped box for some pint sized friends. They were given instructions not to open it until they were 1 hour into a 4 week road trip. The creations they came home with!

Time: 1 hour

9. Make your own lavender water for ironing. Or spritzing your house. Go to town and create special labels.

Time: 1 hour.

10. Finally, wrap it up! Make your own reusable, green gift wrap. I use orphan quilt blocks and leftover pieces of fabric. Give a gift and feel good about the wrapping. And, over the years, this will end up saving you lots of time!

Time: 1 hour.

And, of course, start early. We take our family photo in November, and try to send out the cards by Dec. Who has time to write? A picture says a thousand words.

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Add your favorite holiday survival tip, for a chance to win a scrappy gift of a dozen fabrics! Drawing will be held December 10th.

Wrap it Up!

Do you have some orphan quilt blocks? Pieces of fabric that didn't quite work in your last project?

Stitch them together into a gift bag!

Gather two fabric squares and ribbon.

1. Cut two pieces of ribbon, twine, or skinny scraps. Pin ends to the raw edge on the right side of one square, about 2" from the top edge.
   
2. Place two squares right sides together.


3. Stitch 3 sides, sewing over the ribbon to secure it.


4. Turn inside out and wrap!

You can use your pinking shears and work with raw edges. Or, finish off the top of the bag with a strip of coordinating fabric.

Gifts Week 1

Personalize a baby gift! Add an applique to a onesie or a t-shirt. How to applique:

1. Fuse double sided iron-on fusible to the wrong side of the fabric. I like a very lightweight fusible.
2. Trace your shape on the wrong side. (Remember that the right side will be reversed, or a mirror image!) Cut carefully on the line.
3. Fuse shape on the onesie or t-shirt.
4. Stitch around the edge to secure. Handstitch a buttonhole stitch, or use a good old zig zag on the sewing machine!

Done!

Gifts Week 2

Are you giving the gift of cash? Dress it up with a customized wallet!

How to make a wallet: Directions and photos are here!

Gifts Week 3

Here is another scrappy project! Make a headband for the girls in your life.

Supplies:

• two 2.5" x 19-20" wide strips for grownups, or 18" long for a 10 year old girl
• 3 inches of 1" elastic
• two 2" x 6" strips

Sew Headband

Iron long strips in half to make them 10" long. To shape the headband, trim away a skinny triangle from each side, making the headband wide at the fold, and skinny at the ends. Mark a point 3/8" in from the cut ends. Draw a 10" line from this point to the edge of the fold. Cut. Repeat on the other side. Shape a curve by trimming away the point at the fold.

Iron 1/4" under on each end of each strip.

Place strips right sides togehter, and stitch a 1/4" seam down both long edges, backstitching at the ends. Turn inside out. Press. Topstitch if desired.

Sew Elastic Sleeve

Place 6" strips right sides together, and stitch both long sides, backstitching at ends. Turn inside out. Thread elastic through this tube, and secure it with stitching at each end.

Finish Headband

Stuff each end of the elastic sleeve into the ends of the headband, making a circle. Stitch across the ends of the headband to secure.

Week 5 Gifts

Here's another recession proof gift: recover an old, tired potholder! You know those potholders that won't get clean in the wash anymore? The potholders from 80's color schemes that don't match anymore? Recover them! Make them cute again with a fresh new fabric cover.

Pick a color or pattern that makes you smile everytime you use it!

Week 6 Gifts

Use your scraps and tidbits to make a custom cover for a planner. I found a 2010 planner for $1 at Target. Score! You can turn an ordinary notebook or diary or planner into something special in about an hour.

How to Make a Book Cover:

Make fabric out of scraps: Sew together scraps into chunks of fabric, then combine the chunks into a larger piece of 'fabric'. Press as you go. Make it 6" wider and 4" taller than your planner. Press well.

Place the planner on top of your fabric. Draw a line to mark the top and bottom of the spine of the planner, extending it about 1" on either side of the spin, and making it a smidge taller than the planner. Clip straight down to the line, as shown below. Press this flap down. Topstitch close to the edge of the flap.

Lay planner on fabric, and press it down flat. Draw around it, about 1/8" from the edges.

Trim the edges nice and even, leaving 1-2" on the top and bottom, and 2-3" on the sides. Press under 1/4" on the sides and topstitch.

Using the line on the sides as a guide, fold the sides on the line, placing right sides together. See the right side of the picture below. Sew across the top and bottom of the flap, along the lines.

Turn inside out, shown below on the left side of the picture below:

This is what the inside will look like. A mess!

Tuck the planner into the cover. No more mess!

Fun! Share your project with Just something I whipped up every Monday!

Week 7 Gifts

Seven weeks to December!

Our weekly gift idea is a home-made pincushion. Create a custom color combination, and personalize this pincushion. Use up scraps! Play! Decorate with buttons and trim as desired. Wouldn't this be cute with treasured baby clothes? Make a pincushion to match your decor.

To make:

Gather scraps, stuffing, needle and thread.

1. Make fabric. Sew together a few scraps into a 6" wide chunk. Press. Repeat, and then sew the chunks together. Continue until you have a piece of 'fabric' that is 6" x 12".


2. Fold fabric in half, right sides together. Sew around the 3 sides with a 1/4" seam allowance, but leave a 4"opening for turning inside out.


3. Miter the 4 corners with a 1" miter.


4. Turn inside out. Stuff. Stitch up the opening. Decorate with a button the top!
   

I'm having fun with this. Stay tuned for more variations on a theme of pincushions. Several years ago I used a scrap of a vintage quilt to make a little square pincushion. It's soft and worn and lovely.

Comment on our gift ideas, or share an idea, and you will be entered in this month's drawing for charm squares!

Week 8 Gifts

This is our third week of the Gift Giving Ideas Extravaganza. Already!

-Make a comment, and enter our October giveaway for charm squares-

Thanks for the ideas that you shared with us. I think I'm going to put together some cooking baskets with an apron this year.

This week shares our cooking theme: share your favorite recipes! Do you have an amazingly easy casserole that everyone loves? A method of making vegetables that your kids love? Incredible chocolate cake? Share the love!

One year my sister, in college and broke, hand copied all of my Mom's best cookie recipes for me. I treasure those recipes. I especially like seeing her handwriting.

Gather your family recipes, and start copying! Or typing!

Here's my secret for serving broccoli, passed down from my Grandmother, to my Mother, to me.
Steam broccoli. Drain and place in serving dish. Return pan to the stove, add a dollop of real butter, minced onions, heat for about 1 minute, then add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Pour sauce over broccoli!

Week 9 Gifts

Collect Seeds!

I have little envelopes full of marigold seeds, lupine seeds, and wild sweet pea seeds. We also have some type of wild sunflower that grows like a weed on the side of the road here. If it will grow there, I figure I can keep it alive, so I am off to collect those seeds too.

You can store seeds with a little bit of rice to absorb moisture.

Quick, before the rain starts.

Ten

Ten, as in ten weeks to December.........Enough said.

Homemade jam, sauce, jelly, salsa. Yum! It's homemade, it's edible, it's a treat, it's special, you can personalize it with your own special ingredients. You can do this in a few hours one night.

Don't have jars? Ask an older neighbor, or hunt through a thrift store.

We just made Chipotle Peach Barbecue Sauce, and Salsa.

Need ideas? Check out Fresh Preserving.

Recycling Quilts

A dear cousin gave me a vintage quilt top. The vibrant colors were bright, so bright that it hurt my eyes. What to do? It's been sitting in a box for severaaaalllll years now.

On a recent car trip I tore up the quilt with a new, sharp seam ripper. (I love those Clover gizmos!)

Separated, the quilt blocks naturally fell into two piles. One pile was shades of blue, green, and turquoise, and the other was pinks and browns. Who knew that a quilt top from the 1960s would give up a fabulous, current, color combination?!

There are enough blocks to make two baby blankets. And luckily my cousin has two grandbabies in her life!

How to: Make a Wallet

My girlfriend wants a kayak. It was her birthday. We were leaving for the party in an hour. Eeeek! I made her a special wallet to stash her kayak fund. A dream fund. This would be a great graduation gift.

Do you have an hour? Gather your scraps!

1. Cut two rectangles of fabric, 9" x 4.5"

2. Cut one 'skinny strip', 9" x 3.5"

3. Cut trim, 1" x 9", or use bias tape.

4. Cut one scrap, 1.5" x 3", for tab, or use ribbon.

5. Gather assorted scraps and fusible web for decorating, and a snap or velcro for the closure.

(There is no photo here, but I am putting this up in the spirit of getting it done, but not perfect.)

1. Finishing the pocket edge: Sew the trim piece to the skinny strip, with a 1/4" seam, down the long edge. Press the trim up and away from the skinny strip. Press under 1/4" on the other long edge of the trim(like making bias tape). Next, fold the trim over the seam allowance, to finish it off. Stitch close to the edge. Tip: When you fold the trim over and press it, extend the edge a bit past the seam. Then you can stitch in the ditch, from the top, and catch the edge on the bottom.

2. Attaching the pocket: Place the pocket on the RIGHT side of one of the rectangles, matching raw edges. Baste to keep it all even and square.

3. Tab: Imagine you are making bias tape. Press tab in half, lengthwise. Next, press under one end 1/4" . Press each edge under 1/4". Stitch close the edges.

To attach the tab, place it on top of the pocket piece, on the left side of the wallet, aligning raw edges. Baste.



4. Sewing the wallet: Place the second rectangle on top of the pocket unit, right sides together. Stitch, with a 1/2" seam, leaving a 4" opening on the bottom. Backstitch over the tab and the pocket edges for strength. Trim the corner seam allowances.

Turn inside out, press. Stitch across the bottom, close to the edge.



5. Decorate! Now you can make this personal! Iron on fusible webbing to your scraps. Cut out into desired shapes, and iron onto the wallet.

6. Tab Closure: Sew a snap or velcro onto the tab and the wallet.



Done!

Giving gifts

One of my favorite gifts to give girls is a sewing kit.

Why I think girls love receiving these:

#1) It's their very own. No bugging Mom or Gram or Auntie.
#2) Mom can't accuse them of losing or ruining her best sewing scissors.
#3) Good tools work better.
#4) No-rules creativity is the best.
#5) Even a girl without a sewer in the house can start making stuff-all by herself!
#6) No sewing machine needed.

What I like to include:

• Really good scissors. Clover makes some 7" pink handled scissors that are adorable.



• Quality thread. Anyone who's ever fought with thread understands this. None of the five for $1 spools.



• Pins and needles. I have become hooked on English hand sewing needles. They glide.



• Fabric: scraps, bundles, thrift store finds. Cotton is easier to sew on.



• One starter project or pattern or idea: pre-cut quilt squares, directions to make a tote bag or purse.



• If you sew, a coupon for a sewing lesson.

Lavender Water

Mark Lipinski generously shares his recipe for homemade lavender linen water here: http://www.marklipinski.com/. (Look under Tips from Tulip.) It smells heavenly! What a way to iron.
Wouldn't this make a wonderful gift?