Polka Dot Pj Pants!

Corey is my beautiful and fun 12 year old granddaughter.  I used to make her flannel nightshirts but as she got older she decided she liked to wear oversize t-shirts.  I can't blame her for that....oversize t-shirts are comfortable!!!

So this year I wanted to make her some pajama pants and learn to make them from a cotton knit.  I ordered the fabric from Fabric.Com, Inc (USA).  It was white with turquoise polka dots and Corey gave her approval for the fabric.  The polka dots are a nice large happy size.

The delimma was that I had to make my own pattern.  She had a pair of similar pj pants that we bought for her so she let me keep them to make a pattern from.  I used paper on a roll that we had purchased from Ikea for the kids to use to do crafts with.  It was perfect.  I did not have time to take pictures of this process, but basically fold pants in half for front inseam and trace around them ...and then do same for back inseam.

Some sites that have tutorials for this are Riley Blake Designs and Golden Leaf Designs.  I did sew a side seam since the ones I used for a guide had a side seam which made my pattern different since did not use fold for side seam.  There are definitely more tutorials online.

Yes....she is definitely excited about them!

Corey, you are so nice, beautiful and lots of fun!

I am so excited to make more for her!

 I love you Corey!

Thank You Threading My Way for Feature

Thank you so much, Pam for featuring the Colorful Boy Baby Quilt on your  wonderful blog.

Here is the feature page on Pam's blog.  The quilt is after the really cute green scarf and hat.

For any of you who haven't looked at Threading My Way.....take a look!

Pam has been hosting her blog for a long time.  She has ongoing entries with ideas organized into different categories. To see categories click here.

Anyway, I was surprised and so encouraged by the quilt being featured.  It was the first one I actually made the correct way of quilting.  My daughter Mary uses it for her son (my grandson) Nolan to sit and play on.

It is so colorful and happy!

Camoflauge Fleece Vest

Decided to make fleece vests for 3 of our grandchildren and wanted to share on this post the one I made for Henry who is 7.  He is into camoflauge and I found the perfect fleece at our local Joann''s Fabric store.

Below is view of it with zipper closed.

These vests made of fleece are so easy to make.  The fabric does not fray so no need to turn under edges.  I got the Parka Separating Zipper from Joann's Fabrics only because they did have the correct length I needed.  Otherwise, I order them online from Zipper Shipper.

It is so easy to sew in the zippers according to the pattern directions. .....and the pattern is also very easy to follow for making the body of the vest.  McCalls M6222.  I already knew this vest pattern runs short so added length when cutting out.  However, when adjust length need to also make sure you get correct zipper length.

Even Papa Bear wanted to wear the vest!

My Great Grandchildren!

Blue Fleece Vest for Nolan

After making some fleece vests for 3 of our grandkids,  my daughter Mary who is mom to Nolan (1 year old) asked if I would make a fleece vest for him. 

I was so excited!  I knew it would be little and so cute on him.

I have enough leftover blue fleece from the vests for Evie and Canaan.  I ordered a zipper from Zipper Shipper but could not find a pattern for a 1 year old in the pattern books at our local Joann Fabrics store.

So...I tried searaching online and ordered a really perfect pattern.  I apologize that I did not keep source from which i purchased the pattern.

Below are photos of Nolan looking so very cute in his new blue fleece vest.

The verdict is in.....Nolan is cuter than the blue vest....

but the Blue Fleece Vest is still so cute on him....

Nothing more gratifying than seeing my grandchildren wearing clothes I make them....

Henry's Flannel PJ's

Every year I sew flannel pajamas for our grandsons.  This year, however, only Henry wanted flannel ones.  Canaan wanted fleece ones which are in another post.

I give them to the grandkids at Christmas but since could only recently start back to posting, blogging:)  wanted to share them now.

Henry is into camoflauge so I really hoped our local Joann Fabrics store would have that print in fannel.  Thank goodness Jerry went with me ....we looked and looked and he found some!!!! It had the perfect colors for Henry so I purchased 3 yards which is what I usually would buy for pj's.

Got home, all excited to wash, dry, cut out and start sewing....only to find because Henry has gotten taller that I needed more fabric to adjust length of shirt and pants to be longer.  I guess we bought the last bit of it and Joanns was not longer carrying it in stores or online.  Then, I decided to look online and found an etsy store in Arizona that had some. Was extremely thankful.  Arizona is close and the fabric arrived so quickly.

My very sweet, very fun and very handsome Henry!

I used the pattern below:  New Look 6746

 

Close up of fabric

The great thing is I have enough fabric left over to make hopefully another pair of pj pants and will purchase a solid for the top { or who know, maybe vice versa:)}

I simply love sewing ...... especially for grandsons!

Homemade Flour Tortillas

When our kids were growing up, I found a recipe for homemade tortillas and made lots of them.  It was much less expensive to make them than to buy them.

As years passed, I was able to buy them and put that recipe aside.......and lost it.

About a year ago, I searched online and found recipe for Homemade Flour Tortillas that also used olive oil.  I tried it....and WOW....tortillas from this recipe are delicious!.

Recipe is on Taste of Home here.

Olive Oil, Flour, Sea Salt

The dough resting.

Rolled dough into small balls....followed recipe......then rolled each ball into circle.

Heat small amount olive oil in skillet and put flour tortilla in to cook.  When bubble show, it is time to turn over the tortilla for the other side to cook....Only takes a minute or so on each side.

Tortilla flipped over.

Finished stack of tortillas!

I fried one of the freshly made tortillas to be chips as side for dinner.

Delicious dinner.....Soft flour chicken tacos, chips and black beans.

Homemade is best.........

Swiss Chard Enchiladas!

Jerry and I have been married 40 years.

When we were first married the vegetables we ate literally came out of our little garden and also from day old section of indoor ranch market.

Even then, I loved the challenge to cook what we had.  I read Edith Schaefer books and was inspired by the way she has always lived her life...accepted challenges to make do with what she had.

One dish I would make was Swiss Chard Enchiladas.  I really did just make it up back then.  I used big cans of Tomato Juice for sauce...it would go far.  I can't seem to find it anymore so now I use Tomato Sauce.  I always roll the chard inside softened corn tortillas.

Here we go!

Swiss Chard....It is so pretty!

It is cut up and being cleaned.

Put the ends cut up in our compost pitcher to feed our worm compost.

Start cooking the swiss chard....I just put about a 1/2 inch of water in pot as the leftover rinse water on chard also give moisture for cooking.  I cook on low heat until done.

Also, start heating the Tomato Sauce in skillet.  I am very limited on herbs and spices that I can eat, so I added parsley to the sauce.  You can add whatever you want to make it spicy to your taste.  Onions are also delicious with this..they can cook with chard, in sauce or just be saute'd in separate pan.

I softened corn tortillas in microwave and then pull them through the hot sauce to soften them more. (be careful to not burn your fingers)

Put some Swiss Chard in middle of tortilla that was swept through the sauce.  I put them one by one in 9x13 baking dish to roll them up.

Before rolling them up, I add Shredded Part Skim Mozarella Cheese on top of chard.

 So, I do fill and roll them one by one in the baking dish.

I sprinkle rest of shredded cheese on top,......

.......pour rest of Tomato Sauce over the tops or the enchiladas and let it flow over ends and onto bottom of dish so the corn tortillas will note dry out.

 Baked.....

.....and ready to eat!

we still love to eat these Swiss Chard Enchiladas......