Pretty Food!

I made a green smoothie today.  Into the blender I put the following:

• 1 can coconut milk
• 1/2 bag spinach
• 1/2 small bag frozen cubed mango
• 3 apples
• 1/2 cup green tea

Here's what it looked like when I started to blend it:

Here's what it looked like while it was blending:

Here's what we do with it when it's done.  Well, OK, we actually put the salsa jar lids on and store them in the fridge ...

I used a spatula to get the last of the smoothie out of the blender jar, and I let DH lick the spatula.  He declared it good enough to eat, and told me that it was a Pretty Color!

Usually DH doesn't like to eat it, and only because it's green.  For example the other half bag of spinach was used in an "apple pie" smoothie a few days ago, and he refused to eat it.

Here are the ingredients for the Apple Pie Smoothie I made last week.  I usually use coconut milk, but wanted to use up the last can of coconut water:

• 1 tall can coconut water
• 3 capsules psyllium fiber (it was still quite liquid)
• 3 small apples
• 1/2 bag spinach
• 1/2 small bag frozen strawberries
• 2 teaspoons (if not more) apple pie spice

Have you ever made a fruit smoothie or a green smoothie?

Pressing open a Side Seam

I got back to work on the skirt today.  I have a lot of pictures of the progress of the skirt, and I intend to eventually compile a how-to for this pattern, New Look 6343.

In the meantime, here are some pictures to describe how I press open the side seam of this skirt.  I use "Dritz Ezy-Hem" plates, which are metal and thus help to suck the heat out of the fabric.  I also use a "ShopSmith" 2" x 48" aluminum ruler, which is also metal and also rather heavy.

I pull the skirt over the ironing board with side seam centered, hem first.  I pull it on so far that the waist is inside the tip of the ironing board:

I press open the top half of the side seam, place two hemming plates over the opened seam, and place the iron on top to hold them down until the pressed seam (and the plates) cool:

I pull the skirt waist off the ironing board until the lower part of the side seam is straight.  I press that seam open and place a shopsmith ruler over the opened seam allowances until they cool.

Here is a close-up of the pressed side seam.

Here's the other side seam, ready to be pressed.  I don't know why I didn't notice before that the length of the skirt would fit on the ironing board.

Here is the pressed side seam, cooling off.

Sewing continues

Now that the taxes are done, I can get back "into the swing of" sewing things, including blogging!

Here's proof that I was pressing around the outside of the sheet fabric.  There are two four-yard pieces that have been laundered three times, pressed, and folded:

I will return to the skirt project this week, and I hope to actually finish it.

Distracted from Sewing

We went to JA's a couple weeks ago and bought some fabric on sale - for sheets!  It's 90-inch wide cotton quilt backing in navy blue, and we bought eight yards for about $40, which is a really good deal!  After bringing it home, I had to cut the length in half so I could zigzag the cut ends and launder it.  Somehow, eight yards of double-wide fabric does not fit in my washing machine all at one time.

I finally got both pieces of fabric laundered three times each.  So far, I have managed to iron around the edge of one piece of fabric and fold it up neatly.  After I iron and fold the other piece, I will inquire about cutting the fabric on the floor of my friend's neighborhood clubhouse, as we did for the red sheets (click here to see).

It has taken some time, but we have also managed to put in a garden.  In addition to two raised beds that DH built last year, we bought and installed a recycle lumber frame, which is shorter and wider than the first two beds.

While weeding the garden beds, I found some chickweed that DH guarantees to be chemical-free - because the whole garden area of the yard has never been sprayed for weeds.  I just finished drinking an apple pie smoothie that I made with chickweed instead of spinach (click here for the recipe).

Besides the normal plants - tomatoes and lettuce (actually a salad mix) - we also put in some squash and zucchini!  There will be filler plants, too, such as carrots and onions.  I plan to sow some marigold seeds to help deter bugs.  The stevia plant and the sweet potato vine were moved, since we had to allow for rotating certain crops.

We placed the home-made cover over the lettuce, and realized that it is worse for the wear.  Basically, we will have to make a new fabric cover for it.

Also, DH - who is very tall - ran right into a bird feeder in our yard.  He was so ticked off that he pulled that sucker! out and you will see it on the ground by the fence.

My fern "moved house" from the original cheap plastic container to a decorative pot I found while shopping one day.

Here are some pictures of our garden:

Sewing Patterns for Sale

Edited to add:  My pattern sales have been modified, so the links below no longer work.  Here is a post (dated November 1, 2012) which describes the updated list of patterns for sale.

I have cleaned out my sewing patterns, and they are now for sale in the classifieds section of Pattern Review (Look for seller "Mary in FL").

Here are the links to my Picasa photo albums where you can see the patterns that are for sale.  All prices are in US Dollars and include shipping to USA addresses only.

burda OOP $7.50 each

Butterick OOP $4.00 each

Butterick (current) $3.00 each

KwikSew OOP $7.50 each

McCall's OOP $4.00 each

McCall's (current) $3.00 each

New Look OOP $4.00 each

New Look (current) $3.00 each

Stretch&Sew OOP $5.00 each

Simplicity OOP $3.00 each

Simplicity (current) $2.00 each

Vogue (current) $7.50 each

If you want to buy one of these patterns, please email me at marysews at gmail dot com - of course, remove the spaces and replace the at with an "at" sign and the dot with an actual dot.

For all the patterns I have for sale, I even have more.  I just have to get around to getting them ready to sell.  Each pattern must be scanned front and back, which includes making sure the scanner includes the entire picture and rotating the pictures as necessary.  Then I have to add each picture to the correct folder in Picasa.

The technical part of this task starts with moving the pattern description to the correct spreadsheet, then verifying the description and adding the sizes to the description.  Then I have to copy that information into the listing that will appear in the Pattern Review classified ad.  Fortunately, I can do this while the pattern envelopes are being scanned.  Thank goodness for multitasking abilities!

Stick around for the next round of pattern sales.  Yes, there will be more, and fabric, too!

Here's one of the patterns that I have for sale (click on the picture to enlarge):