Saturday, January 28, 2012

fleece knee patches

i don't know what kind of gymnastic acts Ji has been doing at preschool, but lately he has been coming home with a new hole in his long johns and play pants almost every day! and eventhough i love sewing, i REALLY hate mending...well,i guess probably everybody does! and since my mended holes have come home as even bigger holes and plain ol' iron-on patches weren't working very well either, i decided i had to make a more heavy duty kind of solution...fleece patches! i think they're cute and the extra cushioning is also great! hope it lasts!


1. cut out patches                                                                       
2. apply fabric glue                                                                       
3. zig-zag stitch                                                                          
                                                                   

1. didn't have my chalk w/ me, so i just pressed a cup against the fleece and twisted it to the right and left a couple of times to leave a mark- quick and easy! btw - if you want an oval shape patch, do 2 overlapping circles.
2. apply fabric glue (i have a dritz fabric glue stick) to patch and glue on to pants...since the knee area is a pretty tight squeeze to do on the sewing machine (and there was no way i was going to hand-sew 3 pairs of johns!...did that already in the fall), i did glue instead of pinning! 
3. zig-zag stich around patch - voila!
p.s. if your hole i a bit larger, you will want to stitch up the hole before doing the patch, so your little one doesn't catch his toes in it! :)     





Monday, January 23, 2012

MY stirring whisk :)

we put away our christmas tree this week and so i gave the stirring whisk project a try...
and it went pretty well :)


i cut the trunk into sections and then debarked them. since i watered our tree every day, it was still pretty fresh, so it was pretty easy to debark it, plus it made our living room smell sooo nice!

now i just have to carve the date onto it, let it dry out and then give it a nice coat of kitchen linseed oil.

here are my tips:
- try to do this project while the tree is still a little fresh, it makes it easier! with dry trees it might help to put the whisk sections into water for a day or so(like my dad suggested)... 
- cut the side(whisk) branches longer than you need and trim after debarking.
- to make a rounded end i used my gardening scissors to chomp around it - much easier than doing it with a knife. 

p.s. like my fish knife? :) i've had this since i was a kid! almost every kid had one of these...they're not too sharp(only if you sharpen it ;). an they still sell them!

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Mezirici chocolate sauce

this is the B.E.S.T. chocolate sauce i have ever had! it's our family's traditional recipe, originally from my great grandmother (so i named it after the town where she lived - Mezirici (pronouced mezyreechee)), but i learned it from my wonderful mom, who always made and makes it to top: our delicious b-day cakes as kids, christmas pastries, crepes with strawberries and whipped cream and icecream sundays! ....or we would just secretly take a spoonful.... :)


                          ingredients:

                          3/4 cup sugar
                          50 ml water
                          125 g cool butter
                          2-3 tbsp dutch cocoa

...you might think that i made a mistake with the amt. of water, but i didn't - it really
is the key to making it "creamy"...if you want it more runny, just add a little water.

1. prepare bowl (heat resistant) with butter - small slices or cubes, add cocoa on top
2. combine sugar and water in a pot, med-high heat, stir until disolved and comes to a boil
3. pour the hot sugar-water over the butter-cocoa and stir until all ingredients combine (1-2min)

p.s. the other day my sis sent me the link to banana icecream, and i'm just "ok" w/ bananas, but this was actually really good(and heathy!) and has just one ingredient! and made a great combo w/ the chocolate sauce...since the icecream is so healthy, we don't have to feel guilty about the chocolate, right ;) ?

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