Wednesday, July 30, 2008
A week in photos
This is a peice of my week in photos, Tads new jeans and his lasso-he is practicing you understand to lasso his sister...), a very sweet baby that we babysat and lastly, some very cute new hats I made this morning.As a side note, Tad wants his own baby... That baby is spoiled by him and he just met her!
Friday, July 25, 2008
Shopping
The kids and I went shopping and man was it fun!(NOT) We spent 6 hours in Sams Club and Wal-Mart. Nathalie had a shopping card from Grandad to spend and she used it up on a pony, a dog, a barbie and a strawberry shortcake baby. Thank you grandad! She has been super happy since then playing with her things.
We have been trying to buy a lot of food at once as it saves money and time. Gas is so expensive these days, and the nearest real shopping area is 45 minutes away. The kids can push a cart together while I push a 2nd one and we were able to shop for about 10 wks worth of food.
Keeping meat has been a challenge, its a pain to divide it all up and individually wrap it. So we have tried a new technique. I cut all the meat up into portions and freeze it on a tray for a couple of hours, then put it all in one big plastic bag (by animal of course ie beef, pork etc.) I got the idea from ice glazed chicken breasts bought in a bag, its a great idea and so much easier. I can pull out 3 steaks without thawing a whole bunch, or unwrapping them all and defrosting.
Fruit works the same way, we bought a lot of fruit on sale that was ready to be eaten. While bananas make great bread, what to do with the rest? I cut it up and freeze it just like the meat and bag it for smoothies, muffins, crisps, pies, or even just to snack on frozen.
Next we hope to do a winter garden, and can a lot of food from this. Canning is a better idea as a loss of electricity can cause you to lose freezer food. My friend Amanda in california (I dont know how to do the link thing but her blog is http://www.harmonyacres.blogspot.com/) does a lot of canning and gardening and its a fabulous way to save money and shop less. Who wouldnt want to grow their own groceries???
We have been trying to buy a lot of food at once as it saves money and time. Gas is so expensive these days, and the nearest real shopping area is 45 minutes away. The kids can push a cart together while I push a 2nd one and we were able to shop for about 10 wks worth of food.
Keeping meat has been a challenge, its a pain to divide it all up and individually wrap it. So we have tried a new technique. I cut all the meat up into portions and freeze it on a tray for a couple of hours, then put it all in one big plastic bag (by animal of course ie beef, pork etc.) I got the idea from ice glazed chicken breasts bought in a bag, its a great idea and so much easier. I can pull out 3 steaks without thawing a whole bunch, or unwrapping them all and defrosting.
Fruit works the same way, we bought a lot of fruit on sale that was ready to be eaten. While bananas make great bread, what to do with the rest? I cut it up and freeze it just like the meat and bag it for smoothies, muffins, crisps, pies, or even just to snack on frozen.
Next we hope to do a winter garden, and can a lot of food from this. Canning is a better idea as a loss of electricity can cause you to lose freezer food. My friend Amanda in california (I dont know how to do the link thing but her blog is http://www.harmonyacres.blogspot.com/) does a lot of canning and gardening and its a fabulous way to save money and shop less. Who wouldnt want to grow their own groceries???
Me
This is a not so great picture of me. I once again realize that there are not many pictures of me at all. The last person who really took pictures of me was my mother and I was 12... My husband took this while messing around with my new camera. This is the window area of our rental house dining room, and consequently my "office," which is in the corner of my sewing area.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Review
Just posting a review on a fabric company, there are some great ones out there but this one... not so great. I think maybe its just too big, its a huge company and they may have lost their personal care.
www.fashionfabricsclub.com I believe is merged with Denver Fabrics. I bought some corduroy (which wasnt in the pkg), some twill, denim, ribbed knit and interlock knit. The dark brown interlock is a deep purple, but soft. The light blue ribbing doesnt have any stretch, I mean zero! Ribbing is supposed to be super stretchy 2 way. One of the "cotton twills" is the old polyester knit my grandma used to wear, feels really nasty. And the "chocolate brown twill," a color I normally love, is an icky color of cat vomit. The "dark navy denim" is striped with light blue all over, looks very girly but definitely not a solid navy as the picture showed.
The other fabrics, some ribbings, denim and twill are usable, relatively nice fabrics but it wasn't worth all this waiting! I definitely recommend against using this company. They kindly said I can send the unwanted pcs back, which is nice, and they will refund my shipping back. I still wasted shipping money getting it here and I planned on these pieces for outfits so I now have to find them elsewhere and wait.
On a better note, I definately recommend using www.sewzannesfabrics.com. She is fabulous! Her fabrics are true to photo and very high quality at competitive prices. Her customer service is astounding, she once sent me the wrong piece and more than made up for her mistake and did it happily. She has made no other order mistakes, her fabric is flawless and lovely. Her shipping is faster than any other company I have used. I get her items within 2 days even though she is in California and I used to live in South Carolina! The only reason I cheated on her lovely company and ordered from another is because she was out of some colors I needed... I learned my lesson!
www.fashionfabricsclub.com I believe is merged with Denver Fabrics. I bought some corduroy (which wasnt in the pkg), some twill, denim, ribbed knit and interlock knit. The dark brown interlock is a deep purple, but soft. The light blue ribbing doesnt have any stretch, I mean zero! Ribbing is supposed to be super stretchy 2 way. One of the "cotton twills" is the old polyester knit my grandma used to wear, feels really nasty. And the "chocolate brown twill," a color I normally love, is an icky color of cat vomit. The "dark navy denim" is striped with light blue all over, looks very girly but definitely not a solid navy as the picture showed.
The other fabrics, some ribbings, denim and twill are usable, relatively nice fabrics but it wasn't worth all this waiting! I definitely recommend against using this company. They kindly said I can send the unwanted pcs back, which is nice, and they will refund my shipping back. I still wasted shipping money getting it here and I planned on these pieces for outfits so I now have to find them elsewhere and wait.
On a better note, I definately recommend using www.sewzannesfabrics.com. She is fabulous! Her fabrics are true to photo and very high quality at competitive prices. Her customer service is astounding, she once sent me the wrong piece and more than made up for her mistake and did it happily. She has made no other order mistakes, her fabric is flawless and lovely. Her shipping is faster than any other company I have used. I get her items within 2 days even though she is in California and I used to live in South Carolina! The only reason I cheated on her lovely company and ordered from another is because she was out of some colors I needed... I learned my lesson!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
New Projects continued
These are the things Frank has been working on this week. He made 3 fabric frames which allow the fabric to be rolled off of the bales onto the 8 ft cutting table. He made the table similar to an old dining table that my grandfather made over 45 years ago. It is a very sturdy table! The pads that are under the table and foam and plastic and the plastic portion allows the table to moved side to side or front to back very easily. Even Nathalie, my recently 6 yr old daughter, can move this heavy table.
He is going to make 1 more frame, I have enough fabric bales to cover one frame plus a few! We are house hunting right now and making sure that the new place includes and entire fabric room.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
New projects
Check out what my husband made for me! Tomorrow is my b day, though he says this is just because. He has talked for some time about making racks for my fabric. He used 2 x 4s to make this, and the wheels all pivot. They are large industrial wheels that even roll on the stone sidewalks outside. He made it so that it fits through a standard door way for moving purposes. Its the appropriate height for standard ceilings. Very well supported through the back, its quite sturdy. Each frame will fit 4 large bales, by large I mean big around. A frame for bales of PUL could fit 5-6, not sure yet. He can make narrower ones for bales of fabric that are tubular.
The bars going through the bales are metal conduit, and they can hold shorter bales fine. He is building a table for cutting, that will be hip height and the bale can roll right out onto it and he bought multiple wooden measuring sticks to nail down to the table... This will make cutting fabric so much simpler!
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