My new Coco purse

Well everyone I had to post pics of my latest creation.  The Coco purse with a slightly different twist :)

I decided to go with chain and a premade handle I got at Walmart because I really liked it.  I would love some opinions :)

New Pajamas from pattern M6224

Here are the pajamas I made and I love them!  I made them from flannel and the are toasty warm, not to mention my son loves the bears. :)

They are big on him but he will have them for a couple of years anyway :)

Homemade Tide laundry soap

So today was the big day. I had to make up a new batch of laundry soap so I thought I would try powder this time.  Some work later, I have a wonderful smelling product that seems like it will last forever!  Yep I love it, cheap and a long time lol.  But I digress.

The recipe is pretty simple and pretty smelling too. And here it is:

2 cups borax
2 cups baking powder
2 bars of Tide soap
1 container of those nice smelling beads :)  I used Purex Crystals in Tropical Splash
2 cups of Oxy Clean, I used the WalMart brand

Mix it all up and you're done!  Easy peasy right?  Well not quite as I found out.  Now normally the only hard part would be grating the 2 bars of soap which is not really hard at all but since I have bad arthritis I ask the hubby to do it :)

Unfortunately the bars of soap, which I believe are from Japan, are like clay and took forever to try and grate!  I even tried to look up good ideas on how to deal with this but there was nothing so that's why I am posting this.  Here is the soap uncut and in the original packaging.

I got these two bars at our local dollar store just to let you know :) if anyone knows anything about why the soap is like clay please let me know because now I am curious.

So after about 10 minutes trying to grate this stuff, they hubby and I decided to try something else so out comes the hammer!  Yep, you read right, I said hammer.  We put the soap into a ziplock bag and he took the hammer to it trying to get it as beat up as possible.  And here he is :)

Yeah, please ignore the messy counter lol.  So when he pounded the soap down to what we thought were manageable chunks then he passed it over to me and I started cutting :)  I took a knife and cut at the soap in the same way you would cut herbs, onions, or garlic to get it just right.  Here it is :

Yep, all hail the Queen's magic shredding skills :) lol.  Well once all that was done we could finally add those little shreds to the whole mix and Voila!  Laundry soap!

Well this stuff smells fantastic, and will last probably around 6 months give or take.  I do a lot of laundry and generally one scoop of this stuff will work but knowing me I will use 2 because hey, lets face it, I have 4 dogs, 4 cats, 1 boy and 1 husband so you know that's a lot of dirty laundry lol.

And here it is. The magic mixture that will keep this house clean and functioning take that Hogwarts!  Now to find a load of laundry to test it out, oh gee look there is a giant pile :) Ha ha goodbye for now all and happy laundry days :)

New jamjams from pattern M6224

Good morning everyone it's a beautiful day here on the mountain and I know just how to spend it, sewing and baking lol!  I am working on some footie pajamas for my little guy and I am using pattern M6224 from McCalls sytle B.  I love the one pieces for him and I will probably make a few after the first one, they are nice and warm especially considering all the storms we have been having.

For this first one I am using a nice light tan color with brown bear prints on it and I love it.  But I don't have any ribbing for the hands and I can't get out of the house to go to town to find some so I started thinking.  Well, thinking leads to looking and looking leads to finding lol.  I decided to use my hubbys black socks for the arm cuffs. After all, it is ribbing and black will go well with it :)

Now as far as the pattern goes it has ribbing for around the feet too but I wanted to make little footies for it instead so I am going to try to make them using a tutorial I found on Things for boys  it does a wonderful job of explaining and has pictures which is a must for me! lol.  Here is the pattern and I will post pics of the jamjams lol  as soon as they are done :) 

Happy sewing everyone!

Oh by the way, style B is the one piece set :)

My wonderful decoration

I have to say though, one of the best things we did this year was to make a hanging centre piece over the kitchen table.  Now it is decorated in the winter and Christmas spirit but I can decorate it anyway I want at anytime of the year. :)

I am thinking a cute birds nest for the spring and maybe sunflowers for the summer :)

The first thing we did was went for a walk with a saw :)  I looked all over for a log that was just right and when I found it my husband cut it for me.  I went with about 4 feet long which is the length that complimented the room.

Then we hung 3 plant hooks from the ceiling and wrapped the log with exact lengths of twine.  I used enough to let it hang about a foot from the ceiling.  I can't go any lower, I have a tall husband lol.

Once it was up and hanging then it was easy peasy.  We just grabbed some garland and other odds and ends I got at our local dollar store and hung them with twine or tied them to the log.

I absolutely love this piece and will definately keep it up all year round.

All the equipment and a bull mastiff to supervise.

My wonderful daughter doing all the heavy lifting lol.

And here is the finished product I personally love snowflakes!

My wonderful Christmas gift.

So Christmas came and went around here and was pretty great.  I got exactly what I wanted which was a beautiful and healthy Aurora.  She had her surgery which they removed her whole leg to the hip and she is in amazing shape.

Well Christmas is all ready to go around here.  The presents are done and now I think its time to get started on my sweater.  A little late I know but at least I will have it for next winter.

Timeless Treasures Embroidery

Hi there everyone I am posting a link to my website called Timeless Treasures Embroidery.  I can do custom embroidery for all kinds of occasions.  Please feel free to head over and take a look but the website is under construction right now so please be patient.  If you have any special requests for the Christmas Holidays please let me know.  http://ttembroidery.blogspot.ca/

Homemade laundry dryer sheet with hair conditioner

Well today is going to be fun because I get to make my favorite laundry dryer sheets.  Now this isn't the first time I have made it so the first step is already done.

I just grabbed some material from my stash that wasn't really slated for anything but hey, who can actually throw away good material right?  Then I cut some some squares about 5 inches and that's it.  So easy right?

Then there's the recipe which I got from one of the most helpful websites around http://www.themakeyourownzone.com/2013/08/homemade-liquid-fabric-softener-recipes.html.  Bev knows very well the importance of putting natural and frugal together in a way that speaks to me and she is a great writer for it.  Thanks Bev!

Now for the recipe that I use:

• 1 Cup Hair Conditioner

• 3 Cups Hot Water

• 1-1/2 Cups White Distilled Vinegar

Today's blessings

Ok here we go! I finally got my blog the way I like it and I hope y'all like it too.  Today I get to meet a friend in town and finally get some honey.  She is new here and from Vancouver which is where I used to live and we have a lot in common.  We both like the Wiccan religion, we both believe in peace and nature and living holistically so I really enjoy spending time with her.  Not to mention my wonderful husband will be staying at home and looking after the baby for me while I have a girls only shopping day :)  Yep, I may not have much but I am truly blessed.