More Sewing Progress

No matter how small the accomplishment, sewing progress IS sewing progress.

I have been working on New Look 6343, ever so slowly.  I am using the lines of the black and white view for both the front and the back:

I recently cut out all the pieces.  Today I pinned the lower skirt pieces, and they are now ready to be sewn:

I will post my progress.

Tuna Salad

Hubby made tuna salad for lunch:

Here's what's in it:

• large can of tuna
• chopped tomatoes
• chopped green onions
• cilantro
• lemon grass paste

Yummm-Meee!

Green Eggs and Ham

Yesterday, I had green eggs and ham for breakfast:

Here's what's in it:

• two boiled eggs, chopped
• one piece of bacon, cut into pieces
• one small packet of guacamole

It was good because I like boiled eggs with guacamole.

A Little Sewing Progress Today

I finally finished cutting out the current project. It is the New Look 6343 skirt pattern.  I made it before (click here) in a jersey fabric called Jet from Joann's.  It is a really cheap-o, thin knit, but I was able to make it without hemming it.

I am now making this skirt in a Navy ponte de roma knit, which has more body and is altogether a classier fabric.  I have lengthened the skirt by five inches, and I also plan to hem it.  I have taken pictures of the current project in progress.  You can see the pictures and my comments by clicking on the picture below.

Enjoy!

nl 6343

Happy New Year! -- and Early Version of a Free Tutorial

One of my goals for 2012 is to publish all my picture tutorials on my blog.  I will start with the Updated Classic Pillow Case.  It is currently in one of my Picasa web albums.

The picture is the link to that album.  I would appreciate any input you have.

classic pc updated

Thank you for looking!

Raw Cranberry Relish - Final Version

After the original recipe (click here, has more pictures), I have finally perfected a chop-and-dump version of raw cranberry relish. I have been making this quite often, and the natives get restless when I take it all to work, as I did today.  Who knew vitamins A and C (and Calcium and Potassium) would be in such demand?

Into a large bowl, dump 1/4 Cup brown sugar and three or four dashes of sea salt.

Rinse and drain one bag of cranberries, dump into a large food processor, and chop them until they are as fine as you want.  Dump the chopped cranberries into the large bowl.

Wash and rinse three oranges, then remove most of the outer skin with a potato peeler.  Cut off the ends of each orange and discard.  Cut the oranges in half.  Discard any seeds and place oranges in the food processor.  Chop until the oranges become liquefied, turning the processor off and on a couple times.  Dump the orange slurry into the big bowl.

Stir the contents of the big bowl until mixed thoroughly.  Place relish in sealable containers and store in the refrigerator.  I put most of it in a large yogurt container, and the rest in a smaller container.

Here is what it looks like when done:

Avocado Green Smoothie

I made a new green smoothie today.  This was my first successful attempt at a non-sweet green smoothie.  My usual green smoothie tastes like apple pie with apples, spinach, coconut milk, ginger, and cinnamon.

No traditional fruits were used to sweeten today's green smoothie.  The ingredients are:

• 1 haas avocado
• three-inch piece of cucumber, peeled
• handful of spinach
• 3/4 can of coconut milk
• five dashes of salt
• one dash of lime juice

The taste is not exciting, but simply tastes like the list of ingredients.  The coconut milk and avocado make it very creamy.  I like it because sometimes un-exciting is good!

This batch filled a salsa jar and refrigerated so I can eat it tomorrow.  I put the rest in a coffee cup for my evening snack:

How Slow (-ly) can I Sew?

Last weekend I showed you this:

... and in a whole week, all I've done is this:

I am going to lengthen this, the top section, by five inches.  The waistline, shown at the left, is more than five inches from the end of the fabric, which is off the picture to the left.  The bottom edge of the top piece is where I cut the pattern, but I also cut towards the edges of the fabric so that I can angle the side seams correctly.  I hope to take a picture when I do that so you can see what I mean.

Getting a Round Tuit

I'm getting a Round Tuit, and will share it with you.

First, I will show you the current sewing project which has been waiting for me to get that Round Tuit for about a week now.

I have decided to recreate an old skirt in a better fabric.  See the discussion here.

Shown on the cutting table is the New Look 6343 skirt pattern, pressed with a dry iron and ready to go.  Behind it on the right is the folded ponte roma knit in navy which I will use for this pattern.

And now for that Round Tuit I promised you:

More Cranberry Relish!

After making raw cranberry-orange relish (click here to see) for Thanksgiving dinner, and again over the weekend, I had to have more.  I found the last bag of frozen cranberries in the freezer, and I thawed them.  Then I made a variation of the relish.

This time I used one bag of cranberries, one orange, one cored apple, and a generous spoonful of whipped honey.  Here's is a close-up picture, and how well one batch fits into my favorite yogurt container.