Sincere Sew

Happy Dance in my Basement

alisa — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 23:57:15 +0000

That’s right IN MY BASEMENT!!!! Now, don’t even think I’m going to embarrass myself by putting up before pictures of my basement. Honestly, before pics may have driven you to call a show that’s title begins with an “H” and ends with an “ers” – really, it was bad. In fact I didn’t even take before pictures!

Do you see that floor?!? Oh my goodness, their is room for dancing without breaking a foot on a lego, block, car, barbie shoe, or any other small toy you could imagine! I have never been so happy to vacuum a floor! I could vacuum this floor daily just to get that warm fuzzy feeling – and not from mountains of stuffed animals falling around me.

My daughter is finishing school….in the basement?!? at a table? on a chair? she could find a pencil? she even found her book?

Ash is playing at the kitchen?!? We had a kitchen in the basement?!? okay, okay, I am exaggerating; we knew their was a kitchen down there, but it was pretty much inaccessible due to the piles of stuff surrounding it.

Now you know where I’ve been – cleaning! And I even had help (this job was too big for just me)! My sweet friend came over and helped me toss and organize, and my hubby took a day off work to tackle the remaining mess. I know the decor is – blah – but we have big plans for that (you’ll see this Spring). For right now, I am entirely pleased with my basement in its entirety… and for a few months don’t need to change it at all _ that means keep it clean!

Blur Week Wrap-Up

alisa — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 19:32:19 +0000

My sweet man has been busy with work so I’ve found myself “on” 24/7 – technically it’s 24/5, but who’s counting?

Highlights of this week:

I took a shower.

Yesterday I made dinner – no, it wasn’t frozen pizza (that was Tuesday night).

I was on time to piano lessons.

The kids all stayed in class during Awana.

Tonight we will be at church before service begins.

We had a co-teach Science / History day and took a nature walk (in mid-January!!!).

We’ve stayed on our school schedule.

The big girls and I have stayed up late working on AHG badges (totally fun girl time).

Got on the stepper for the first time this year.

I just wanted to give a quick update and let ya’ll know things continue without Daddy, barely.

ttfn~

Alisa

Treasure hunt bag tutorial

alisa — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:14:20 +0000

My kiddos love finding things. They are always finding “treasure”. I am always killing my feet on “treasure”. I decided to put together a little treasure hunt game they can take with them. First thing you will need for this project is “treasure” – if you have little ones around the house this will be very easy – took us about 5 minutes!

Materials needed:

Little things (treasure) 10- 20 pieces per bag

2 pieces of 4″x6″ fleece

1 piece of clear plastic 2″x2″

about 1 – 2 cups rice

needle and thread (sew machine)

First off, I got my plastic at the fabric store (they sell a variety of types and thicknesses), but you can also use a clear shower curtain. I used fleece because its woven tight and won’t unravel. The little things you use should be pretty sturdy – not food or something that will break apart. Also, since you are working with little things for children make sure your littles are using this with adult supervision, it is a choking hazard.

1. Put plastic piece in the center of one of your fleece squares and sew on.

2. Cut fleece out of inside of stitching where plastic piece has been sewn.

3. Sew both pieces of fleece together around the edges, leave a 2 inch opening.

4. Insert little things inside fleece, through 2 inch opening.

5. Add rice. Don’t fill too much, the more the bag can be squished and rice moved, the easier it is to find the treasure. Also, this is when a small funnel would be very handy – I used a wide opening cake decorating tip.

6. Sew up the 2 inch opening.

You are done! This is a great little travel toy. I like the idea of putting all that “treasure” to good use.

TTFN

Alisa

Dining table + church pew = big family mealtime

alisa — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:14:11 +0000

We have had a six seat table for the past 10 years. It was a beautiful antique mahogany set. I got it off ebay in SoCal, super score. We used it daily and never took the table pad off… so the chairs and table legs got pretty beat, but the top was still shiny! The time had come to graduate to a larger table, we have 5 kids and like to have company over often.

Adam decided he’d like a chruch pew for seating. Time to scour craigslist, we found some that were pretty pricey and some that were more of a modern style. We ended up finding a month old ad with the perfect pew at the perfect price – and she still had it! The day after Thanksgiving we set out to retrieve our pew about an hour away. It is 10 feet long, so we pulled a trailer along to bring it home. I must say, the drive was well worth it, the pew is beautiful and fits exactly where we want it.

The table is from an ad on craigslist as well. It just all works together so great, a little thing we can say “thank you Jesus” for- God is so good. We even sold the antique set for more than we paid for the “new” one.

Now that we have more room at the table – we are going to try making more rooms in the house! This spring will bring big projects, I cant wait!

chicken and dumplings – delicious! Slow cooker recipe

alisa — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 03:09:57 +0000

My girls made a delicious dinner tonight. I’m posting this for myself as much as I am for you – I don’t want to forget the recipe!

I took a few pics, but it was at the end of the meal (my camera battery was dead). I decided after about 10 shots chicken and dumplings isn’t a very pretty meal. Now don’t judge a book by it’s cover, this meal is fast and really tasty!

Get out your crockpot and in about 5 minutes dinner is simmering.

Ingredients :

4 – 5 pounds skinless, boneless chicken (thawed)

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/2 tsp. ground thyme

2 tbsp. chicken seasoning (I use lawrys)

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 chopped onion

1 bag frozen mixed veggies

1/2 can chicken broth

1 can refrigerated biscuits (add these during the last hour of cooking)

Put all ingredients (except refrigerated biscuits) in crockpot. Cook on high for six hours. During last hour cut up or tear apart biscuits and add to chicken mixture.

That’s it, you’re done! Dinner is done and it’s delicious!

**variation 1 ~ my friend used flash frozen chicken breast, and omited the veggies.

**variation 2 ~ omit the biscuits and add this mix to a pie shell for a great chicken pot pie.

The best part of this evening wasn’t even the meal. We had our sweet friends over maybe for the last time in a long time – they’re moving out of state . We love you guys and are praying for you always, excited to see the Lord working in your lives!

All I can do is pray…

alisa — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 23:29:50 +0000

James 5:13-16 (NKJV)

¹³ Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. ¹⁴Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. ¹⁶Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

We can come to the Lord with anything, and we should be coming with everything.

In conversation with my husband we were talking about someone in need of salvation. We spoke of the influence we could have on him, what his family was doing for him, how his actions were affecting those around him, and how he needs Jesus. In conclusion I said, “Well, all we can do is pray.”

Immediately the Holy Spirit spoke to me and reminded me – the MOST I can do is pray! God is Good, He is the Creator, He is all-powerful, He is our refuge – He is the Alpha and the Omega! What more can I do than pray?

“Well, all I can do is pray”, unintentionally our attitudes may be showing going to prayer only in times of despair or as the last resort; “gee, too bad their isn’t anything better I could do”.

Praise the Lord, their isn’t more I can do! My ways are futile, I have no power! God the creator of the universe, hears my prayers?!? What more can I do? Jesus has made the way that I can bring everything to Him in prayer.

Philippians 4:4-8P(NKJV)

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.
⁶ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;⁷ and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

The very Best I can do is pray! I covet your prayers and thank God that He has allowed me to bring everything to Him in prayer. I am blessed to be able to come before God in prayer and to be prayed for by others!

Shark Steam mop (cover) Tutorial

alisa — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 18:45:06 +0000

No, I’m not going to show you how to make a steam mop – sorry! I will show you how to make a cover. My steam mop only came with 2 covers, and wouldn’t you know they are always dirty. Now hurry, go get your old hand, dish, or gym towels – this is a super simple and fast project!

You will need:

1 hand towel

8 inches of hook & loop tape (velcro)

needle and thread – (sew machine)

Your towel size will vary so I skipped the whole measurements part – if we all had the same towel I could give a bit more detail on sizing.

Here is my towel

My towel is big in both length and width. I held it up to my mop to see how much needed to be taken off. Your towel should have about an inch of fabric on each side and be long enough to completely cover your mop- including an inch overlap at the top.

My towel was long enough to fold over once. If you need to take any off the length I would suggest just folding it, terry cloth unravels and is messy.

Remember to leave that little extra at the top, that’s where you’ll be attaching the hook & loop tape (popularly known as velcro . Take a look at the top of my towel, one side is already sewn and finished and the other is folded – no hem needed!

Now I cut the sides, leaving about an inch more on each side than my mop.

Turn your fabric so you hairy terry is on the inside (the print or smooth part of your towel should be facing out). If your towel is equally fuzzy on all sides it really does not matter which side is facing out, just know, the inside right now will be the outside of your mop cover . Any overlap fold will show the hairy terry out – take a look at my fold.

Now sew the sides down, I reinforce a little at the ends of all my stitching.

Here is a look at the other side. Now turn it inside out – it should look like a little pillowcase – both seams inside.

Now add your velcro. I hate sticky back velcro, and I don’t think it wold be a good choice for this project because of the hot steam. I used about 8 inches of sew on velcro, 4 inches on each side of the top cover. Be sure to leave enough space open for the mop pole. You will be closing your cover like an envelope so the loop side should be on the outside facing you and the hook side should be on the inside facing you.

And the finished product! Don’t look to close, I took this pic before I used the finished mop cover on my floor!

Happy new year – 2012!!!

alisa — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 22:20:24 +0000

Here is my big idea for this year: A project a day…ok let’s be realistic, maybe a few a week. I’m gonna shoot for one a day and if I get a few a week I’ll be happy. I’d love to say a tutorial with each project, but with time constraints I make no promises.
Here is my birthday/ Christmas combo gift (helping to make this effort so much nicer): Singer Quantum

love, love, love it!

Through a series of events I ended up with 2! I know, I know I didn’t really need another machine to begin with… but I got a super great deal on it and I am going to be clearing out my stock of hand-me-down machines. This is my first brand-new machine! I can tell you – I may never go back to a basic machine, I thought all the features on this computerized model would not be used, but just the few I do use make what was tedious – easy.

Do you see that crack – that is the main reason I ended up with 2. The crack is just cosmetic and does not effect the operation of the machine, but the seller I purchased my machine from sent me a new one – crack free!

I have a tutorial already made -I’ll be posting it soon!

Praying you all have a blessed year, love ya!

TTFN ~ Alisa

Zucchini season!

alisa — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 19:08:48 +0000

Remember my raised garden beds?

Well, I actually managed to grow some plants in them. Really, their are vegetable plants growing, even blooming! The problem? Their are no vegetables! rrrrrr. Every time I see a bloom on one of my healthy looking plants instead of growing some delicious vegetable it shrivels up – I don’t know what the problem is.

Their are a couple green tomatoes, and I am hoping the carrots are a decent size when I dig them up.

Overall, I did not put too much effort into this whole gardening thing, but I was really hoping for a more bountiful crop!

Well, I have some dear friends that take pity on my pathetic harvest and have given me some veggies: corn, tomatoes, cucumbers and mega – zucchini!

A year ago, I got mega-zucchini from a friend that happened to be about the same size as my newborn, Roo.

Look at him now… he really is a cuddle bug, loving that zucchini!

We’ll see what happens next year in the garden, hopefully better eats!

Souvenirs!

alisa — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 03:08:36 +0000

I hate shopping at resorts – NO clearance rack! Paying full-price makes drives me crazy, especially when it is over-priced to begin with. My kiddos don’t ask for things while on vacation, so we like to surprise them with gifts – and no, not the $8 balloon, $12 glow stick, or $32 plush! We go souvenir shopping early.

Our vacation is fast approaching, so I’ve been trying to get all my ducks in a row.

I have the autograph bags done, just need a black fabric marker!

We got a bunch of pins online (if you are a pin trader – check out eBay)!

Hit the local stores clearance for a few little items for the road trip and some surprises.

Aaannnnddd… I got my souvenir! I love it, especially because it was only $11!

So the long and short of it – shop before you go. It’ll save you time and money!