Going Greener!

For a long time I've been wanting to make my own washing powder and dishwashing liquid.

First I made the washing powder a week or so ago

Homemade Laundry Detergent (for front and top loaders)

1 1/4 cup bi-carb soda (baking soda)

3/4 cup borax

1 cup lectric soda (washing soda)

2 grated castille soap bars (I use this variety, which I buy at the local health food shop)

You should be able to buy all of the ingredients except the castille soap from your local grocery store.

Mix all ingredients. 

As I have a front loader I only use about 2 tablespoons per load.

( I found the recipe here )

Then I was talking to a friend of mine who makes all her cleaning stuff from scratch and she kindly shared her Dishwashing liquid with me and gave me permission to share it with you all, (she doesn't remember where she got the recipe from, so I am not able to give credit where credit is due!)

Anna's Dishwashing Liquid:

ingredients:

• 1/4 cup soap flakes
• 2 cups HOT water
• 1/4 cup glycerin
• 1/2 teaspoon of essential oil (which ever smell takes your fancy! vanilla, lemon, tea tree the list is endless!)

1. Combine hot water and soap flakes in a mixing bowl ( I keep utensils and bowls used to make my cleaning supplies separate from what I use for cooking!). Make sure the water is HOT!! or the soap flakes won't melt!
2. Mix well until all soap flakes have disolved. Then allow to cool to lukewarm before commencing the next step!
3. Mix in both the glycerin and essential oil and allow to cool completely
4. As it cools you will notice it will become a gel like substance. You will want to break this up by stirring it with a fork and placing it in a bottle (old shampoo or conditioner bottle will do!)
5. DONE!! use as any other dishwashing liquid!

NOTE: this Dishwashing Liquid isn't very bubbly, but then again it isn't the bubbles that clean the dishes!

I have a couple of other recipes I will try out after this one and will let you  know how they went!

I did it!! I can knit in English!!

As English is my second language, I had to re-route my brain (yes I know, some of you doubt I have a brain!!)  to be able to follow patterns in English. Now I worked it out in all kinds of crafts except knitting! I could not get it right, no matter how hard I tried!!

Until this weekend!! I found this Blog and while reading found the entry about the Crazy Cable Knitting Myth! 

And I went off in search for a cable knitting needle (House to Home in town sells them) some wool (local oppy helped there!) and sat down to work it out!

And work it out I did! I haven't even been able to follow a cable pattern in my native language (dutch) but there I was sitting under my blanky knitting away!

I actually was still knitting at 12:08 am as my hubby pointed out! So I rang in my birthday with a pair of needles in hand! What better way to do that!

And another one gone!!

I was a bad girl this weekend! Instead of finishing off some of my U.F.Os 

I started a new one on Saturday.

On Saturday morning I started off cleaning my craft room and came across a bag full of little scraps and got side tracked from the cleaning.

A few days earlier I was having a look through my old Miniature Quilts mags and found the pattern for "Brick Wall" and decided to make that one. I went for the Big 'n Easy version of the quilt (bricks were cut 1 1/4" x 2")

The quilt top was finished at about dinner time Saturday (darn kids and hubby kept interrupting because they wanted to be fed, can you believe it?) 

Hand quilted it on sunday and finished adding the binding at work on Monday. 

And I ended up with a sweet little 9"x12" quilt

Now what to do next?? Finish cleaning the craft room or maybe a U.F.O? 

a Review of Quilting thread

 awhile ago I bought a spool of YLI 100% Cotton Quilting Thread in Natural and in Black, what for you ask??

Do we need a reason besides some far in the future project??

No I didn't think so either!!

Today I found the spool of Natural Quilting thread! (it had gotten lost in the mountains of craft stuff on my desk!)And decided to use it quilting my Mini Brick Wall quilt, and I have to say I am ver very VERY impressed!

No tangling of the thread or fraying either!

And it glides through the quilt sandwich like a hot knife through butter!

I may never use another brand again!

Prim Nesting box

I ventured into the garage today to make this little beauty! I've been eye-ing the instructions on the Pickled Pepper Patch's blog for a while now!

As always the instructions  given were great, easy to follow. I mean even I could do it!!

I did have a hard time though, but not because of the instructions!

I am so used to have my Buddy Lex lying at my feet and looking up at me lovingly every time I bang my thumb with the hammer and turn the air blue with the language ( he used to be so impressed)

It will take me a little while to get used to crafting without him.

R.I.P Lex

Today We had to make the hard decision to put down our beloved dog Lex!

He's been having some aggression problems and we took him to the vet today and she adviced us seeing the age of Lex (he was 12y old, which is old for his breed!) the best thing to do would be to put him down.

She explained a whole list of tests and stuff we could do to see if there was an other options, but when asked what would she do if it was her own dog she said if he was her dog, she'd put him down!

So Lex was put to sleep at 2:30pm with his head on my lap and me cuddleing him and telling him how much we love him and how much he will be missed by all of us!!

Until we meet again my Sweety Pie!

And another one bites the dust!

I did it!! I finally finished another UFO!!

this one is made with a plain red and muslin (100% cotton) and was paper pieced and hand quilted.

I wanted something to give some bamboo batting a test run, and I have to say it quilts like a dream! And even for a small quilt it doesn't feel stiff and drapes great!

The pattern came from an old Miniature Quilts magazine (not sure about the issue, as I can't seem to be able to find it at the moment!)

The quilt measures 20"x20"

And it only took me 6 months to pull my finger out and finish it! (LOL)




(EDIT: the pattern is in Miniature Quilts magazine issue #33, page 42 and is called Indian Hatchet)