"Concentration" Game

I've been wanting to make a set of these for awhile. My DIL's dad has been hospitalized, and her niece and nephews are often at the hospital with their parents for long stretches at a time. I noticed they were playing Dominoes the other day, and thought maybe they'd like some variety while "camping out" in the waiting room. These are based on that old TV game show "Concentration." I remember watching this show, hosted by Hugh Downs, when I was young.

I cut 3 1/2" squares using my rotary cutter/ruler/mat, although I did make a clear plastic template to fussy-cut some of the squares to get the best look. I cut 20 squares of one fabric for the backs, and 10 pair of different fabrics for the fronts. I used a layer of Warm & Natural inside. I used quarter-inch seams and after turning, I topstiched all around.

I needed to make these quickly so my son could take them to the hospital on Sunday and so I had to choose the fabrics from the stacks I had readily accessible. You could vary both the size and number of blocks based on the age of the child and situation where they would be used. I chose to make small-ish blocks so they would fit on the small tables in the hospital waiting room, but larger blocks might be fun for little kids. Sixteen would have probably been enough, with a 4x4 configuration, but I kept finding more fun fabric, so I finally decided they needed 20, with a 4x5 configuration. Here's a picture with the blocks facing down to start the game.

The first move is to turn over any two blocks.

If they don't match, the blocks get turned back and the players try to remember what they were and where. The next move is to turn over two more blocks, and if one of them matches one of the first two, then they can try to remember where that first one was to make a match.

If they get a match, the player removes those two blocks and makes a pile of their matches.

Anytime a player makes a match, they get an additional turn; if they don't make a match, then the next player gets a turn. The game continues until all the blocks are matched and the one with the most matches wins. Here's a pic of all the blocks facing up.

My favorites are the pickles and the popcorn - no, I'm not pregnant, haha. I also used crabs, apples, pirates, skeletons, spiderwebs, hearts,  sundaes, and the white rabbit.

Of course, I needed a bag to put them in. Fortunately, I had this one laying around. I think my DIL's niece, Nessa, will like the bag as much or more than the game, LOL! I've made a TON of these bags over the years - they are fun and practical for all kinds of uses - I use one for makeup and another for my camera and gear. They have two zip pockets, and an interesting way the zips are applied to form the pockets. And of course, I can make more bias tape, which I adore! Anyways, I hope the kids enjoy the game, and that DIL's dad gets better real soon.





Walker Bag for a Friend

I made this awhile ago, but just didn't seem to get it posted. I was asked to make a "walker bag" for Aunt Pitty Pat's Aunt in California. Since I had several patterns for walker bags already, I said I could make one. Well, the pattern we settled on called for pre-quilted fabric and I didn't have anything suitable, so I had to do the quilting myself, and that added considerably to the time it took to complete this project. At least you can get whatever look/combination you want that way. The pattern is Simplicity 2300. I didn't think very much of the instructions - I've been sewing since I was 5, and usually give a cursory glance, if any, to pattern instructions unless I run into trouble. I had to reread parts of these instructions over and over. I just think they could have been WAY more clear. But it all came together in the end, thank goodness! This is a wrap-around style, with tabs and Velcro. Here's a picture of the "inside" or back side, showing the tabs that wrap over the handles.

This is the "outside" or front. The pockets are gusseted, which provides a lot of room for all the stuff her Aunt needs to pack around :-)  I used an assortment of Lakeside coordinates for the bag.

Here it is, kinda wadded/folded up.

APP requested a special holder for Auntie's water glass, so I fashioned one and put a removable, Duck Tape-covered inset of foam core board to give it stability. When I took this pic, I tried to "faux wrap" it around whatever was handy, to make it look like it would if it were on a walker - if you look closely, you'll see that I used my large storage container that I keep all my selvages in...am I the only one who folds each selvage up neatly?

There are pockets all the way around, although I'm wondering if the largest, front pocket would have been more functional if it had been divided. I got to makes LOTS of bias tape, which is always fun - love making my own :-)

I also included a second bag that I'd made years ago for someone but then decided it was not sturdy enough for their purposes. But APP said to send it along, since her Aunt has 2 different styles of walkers (for inside and outside) and the smaller one would be great for her outside walker where she doesn't need to haul around as much stuff. I love the pink elephant fabric!



 APP said her Aunt LOVED her new bags and got straight to work, filling them up with her necessities! 

Pickles? Pickles? Warning: Not for the Faint-at-Heart!

Yesterday, we (Ben, Autumn, and myself) made pickles - dill and refrigerator. It was Autumn's idea since she's never canned anything. I had previously helped her make freezer jam, but I haven't canned anything in more than 13 years and it took me awhile to round up the canner and the rest of the apparatus, but I found everything but the canning funnel - it's on my grocery list now. We did 7 quarts of dills and we are soooo proud of ourselves! Autumn did a great job of packing those cukes into the jars.

 

Ben wanted to make some Refrigerator Pickle Medley. He'd made these when he and Adam were in 4-H and although we couldn't locate his recipe card for these, we were able to find them quickly on the Internet - don't we love the Internet!!! You chill the veggies for 3 hours on ice before packing them in a container and adding brine. 

 

The cukes for these pickles needed to be slicely thinly. I got out the Zyliss Mandoline, installed the 1.5mm blade and started slicing, but using the tube that guards important digits from the very sharp blade wasn't working very well, so I just slid the cukes across the blade with my fingers, knowing how sharp it was and how low I could go. Ben said he wanted to slice. He was going way too fast and I said "This is the kind of thing a mother just doesn't want to watch..." and didn't even get the words out of my mouth when he sliced a big chunk right out of his thumb! The chunk was clinging to the underside of the slicer! I didn't think to take a picture of it, and yes, we washed the slicer:-)

 

Then Autumn said "I'm really good at cutting myself" and took his place. One cuke, and HER fingertip was clinging to the bottom of the slicer! Even bigger chunk than Ben's! This time, I DID take a pic - and aren't you glad I did? YES THAT WHITE OVAL IS A RATHER LARGE CHUNK OF AUTUMN'S INDEX FINGER!!! Ugh.

 

Bandaids were procured. Ben wanted a SpongeBob Squarepants.



 

But those finger cuts (machete whacks?) tend to bleed a LOT, and Autumn's just woudn't quit.

 

After about a half hour, Ben said "Where's the Super Glue?" Autumn said "Does it burn? You first!" But finally after 2.5 hours of Autumn's finger bleeding, Ben made her use the Super Glue and it worked.

 

Needless to say, mom finished the slicing, and my fingers are fine, thank you very much. We also discussed whether to compost the fingertips. Or perhaps, feed them to the dogs. We finally decided to just put them down the garbage disposal ;-) It's just never dull at our house...

Birthday Cake for Me

Adam and his girlfriend, Katie, came down the other night with a birthday cake for me. Oh, it was 10 days AFTER my birthday, but I am the QUEEN of Late Gifts myself, LOL! It took me by surprise to the point that I "puddled up" a bit...aren't I the one who's supposed to be doing stuff like that for others? What's with this "somebody doing stuff for ME" thing?

Umm, here's the cake. Umm...ok, so it's a HALF a cake. No, Katie didn't just bring me a half a cake...some peeps have been munching on the cake (who would that be?). But when they brought it down, I was so stunned, I didn't think to take a picture right away.



SO out-of-the-blue it was...it rocked me to my core! It also made me think that the old saw "It's better to give than to receive" goes both ways - sometimes you've just got to receive so that someone ELSE can give ;-) But, having said that...I immediately pondered how I could get back at Katie, LOL! I decided she needed some reusable grocery bags. Her favorite color is green, and I'd recently tried Keyka Lou's Grocery Bag pattern, so decided to make her a couple of those. I love this pattern, and the only change I made was to add a hanging loop in the middle of one side at the top. This was Ben's idea so that it would fit over that little pokey-outey peg on the grocery store bag holder thingie at the checkstands (technical terms, I'm sure).

Of course I didn't have anything suitable in my stash (IS MY NOSE POKING RIGHT OUT OF THE COMPUTER SCREEN INTO YOUR EYE?), so I zipped off to one of my LQSs, Bayside Quilting, and got these lovely green batiks and a green dot. Since they are lined, these bags take a LOT of fabric, so they are definitely in the GIFT category, rather than the money-making category (unless you have some fabric that was on sale to the point it was almost free). About $15-$17 apiece if using LQS cotton quilting fabrics since it takes 1 1/2 yards per bag at the going rate of $9.49 to $11.49-ish per yard (of course it would be less using JoAnn's or similar fabric). But since I don't sell my stuff, that's ok with me. Also, the fact that the pattern is an instant download pdf is a real bonus - no waiting for the mail!

The colors aren't quite so garrish in person - believe me!

A couple people have commented that the fabric below looks like The Matrix movie!

Thank you Katie for the wonderful cake! You are such a sweetie :-) And I hope you enjoy your bags :-)  

Hot & Spicy Marinated Grilled Flank Steak

I know most of my mid-west bloggie friends just wanna keep cool...but this Hot & Spicy recipe can either be broiled OR grilled, so a nice, chilly marinate in the fridge and then get some burly guy to toss it on the grill - no hot kitchen to deal with! I usually use flank steak for this recipe, but it's great for other cuts as well and you can keep it in the fridge for up to three days. We can never wait more than a few hours though ;-)

Hot & Spicy Marinated Grilled Flank Steak

1/4 cup olive or vegetable oil (I use olive oil)
2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons dry Sherry
2 Tablespoons soy sauce (I use the less sodium kind)
2 Tablespoons packed brown sugar
2 Teaspoons seasoned salt (Lowry's, Johnny's Dock, etc.)
2 Teaspoons dried red pepper flakes (or to your taste)
1 Teaspoon worcestershire sauce
1 Teaspoon paprika
1 Teaspoon chili powder
1/2 Teaspoon garlic powder with parsley
Steaks - flank steak, ribeyes, New Yorks, etc. (I've used all of these at some time)

In a one gallon zip-loc bag, combine all ingredients except steaks. Moosh & slosh around (kitchen technical terms) to mix well. Add steak and seal bag, squeezing out excess air. I usually use a flank steak pack from Costco which has two fairly large steaks, or three smaller ones. If you have a LOT of meat, you may need to increase the amount of marinade, but as long as all the meat gets "wet," you can make the marinade go a long ways. Flop the bag around to ensure the marinade completely covers all sides of the meat. Refrigerate several hours, or up to three days. Remove meat from bag and discard marinade. Grill or broil to desired doneness. If using flank steak, cut crosswise into thin strips. Enjoy!!!

A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Let Wander...Or Is It?

Warning: Slightly X-Rated Post

Do we know really know what happens when we let our minds out to wander? Where do they go? And more importantly, why do they come back full of such weird stuff?

It happened to me yesterday. I mentally nodded off for just a split second and my mind grabbed the opportunity and rocketed out the doggie door for parts unknown. About 20 minutes later, it swaggered back, smug and sassy and barking orders: "Go ask the kids for condoms!" Yep...I said CONDOMS. Unable to muster the wit and wherewithal to ask why, I crept down the hall and knocked on their door. This would be my son and daughter-in-law, Ben and Autumn, who moved in with us about five months ago.


Ben and Autumn at The Farmer's Market



I try to be a considerate parental unit and always knock if their door is shut. Well, and quite frankly I don't want to see what might be going on behind that closed door. When no one shrieked "Aaaack! We're naked!!!" I opened the door and without preamble or pretext I blurted out "Do you have any condoms?"



They had that deer-in-the-headlights look goin' on. Quickly, I added "Uh...I'll give them back..." Now they were MOOSE-in-the-headlights. "I'm not going to USE them." I don't know what's bigger than a moose...let's switch species and go with wooly-mammoth-in-the-headlights. Clearly, they were having trouble processing so to add to the confusion I said "And do you have that tea wallet I made you handy?" I think they were numb at this point. Autumn reached into the night stand and threw a handful of condoms in my general direction and mumbled something about a basket on the dresser, where I found the tea wallet. I think they just wanted me OUT of the room so they could discuss assisted living options for me.

Safely back in the "sewing area" (which is most of the rest of the house), I slipped the tea out of the tea wallet pockets and replaced them with condoms. Ta Da!

With Tea Paraphenalia

Well, almost Ta Da...condom packets are a teensy bit smaller than tea packets, so I mentally calculated about a half-inch difference in the final measurements I would need.  

Tea Packets vs. er...uh...CONDOMS!

I always use this tea wallet tutorial with a few of my own modifications. For my new creation, I shortened the four 5" x 7" pieces to 5" x 6 1/2". I chose a few pieces of fabric, started cutting, and barely 30 minutes later, I had two "Condom Wallets" for two friends who had July birthdays. I was going to see them both later in the day, and since they are very fun-loving ladies, I knew they would appreciate my slightly off-color gifts.

By this time, the kids had somewhat recovered from their mom/condom shock and were heading into town for some grocery shopping. I tempted fate and asked if they would mind picking me up a box or so of condoms. Oh, and PRETTY condoms would be a real bonus, please and thank you! I showed them my empty but finished wallets and handed over twenty bucks as I shooed them out the door. While they were gone, I fancied the wallets up a bit with some charms and beads.

Those kids really got into the sprit of the task and came back with three boxes of assorted colors AND flavors! Banana, Cherry, and Lime, Oh My!

Plus a couple of "surprises" listed on the box below...we won't discuss those in polite company but they fit nicely in the wallets as well.

I loaded up the wallets and admired my handiwork. Later that evening, my fun-loving lady friends were absolutely thrilled with their quite useful gifties. I guess next time my mind wants to wander, I should send it off with my blessings and a no-limit mental credit card and wait to see what it brings back.

Raspberry Ketchup Luggage Tags

I'm sure you are wondering what Raspberry Ketchup Luggage Tags could be about? I know it's a strange name, but bear with me - I do have a reason why I'm calling them that. But first, let's talk about food! I'm sure you've all seen sites like allrecipes.com where you can find not only recipes, but ratings and reviews of those recipes. I love these sites and take advantage of the reviews to determine whether or not I might like to invest my time making the dish, and to see what pitfalls or improvements I can glean from the reviewers' experiences. BUT...invariably, there are those who give a recipe a half-star and say something like this:

"I thought this was just awful! My dog wouldn't even eat it! A waste of ingredients - I threw it in the garbage!" And THEN they say: "And I followed the recipe exactly, except that..." 

• "I added mushrooms instead of pecans."
• "Instead of French bread, I used onion rolls, I left out the cilantro, omitted the mustard, and added feta cheese."
• "I didn't have any heavy whipping cream, so I used non-fat yogurt."
• "I used non-fat cheese, not-fat sour cream, substituted olive oil for the butter, and cut the sugar down from 1 cup to 1 tablespoon."
• "I was out of raspberries, so I used ketchup instead." (on the theory that they are both red?????)

Ok, Ok...I admit it. I made up that last one...chuckle...but some of them just leave me scratching my head! If you leave out or substitute half the ingredients, you can't say the recipe stunk BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T ACTUALLY MAKE the friggin' thing!

Having said that...it's far easier to "do as I say, not as I do." I found a cute idea for luggage tags in the Summer 2011 issue of BH&G's Quilts and More (love that magazine).

I decided to make it "exactly as shown" except that...

• I used pieced jelly roll strips instead of one solid piece of fabric.
• I substituted a regular, large snap for the magnetic snap.
• I printed my own personal info on ink jet printer fabric sheets instead of iron-on transfer paper using their template.
• I used non-fusible batting instead of fusible, and skipped the interfacing.

Uh...just a FEW little changes...and here's what I produced:



Closed



Open

  Cute! But, as I fondled and played with it a bit, I observed that with only the one snap (and it would have been the same with the magnetic snap as well), the corners tended to flop down and I wondered how that would work in the airport baggage-handling craziness of rolling belts and burly baggage tossers. So I grabbed my seam ripper and snipped off the snap pieces, replacing it with a strip of Velcro all the way across. MUCH better, and much more secure!

Then I looked at my new masterpiece some more, and thought about where I would actually PUT the tag on my luggage. The swivel hook would need somelthing to hook onto and the business end of my hook was a bit FAT (maybe it needed some of those non-fat substitutions those reviewers mentioned above!). I grabbed my large "checked baggage" bag, as well as my smaller carry-on, and examined them both. One had a somewhat suitable orifice for the swivel hook, but the other would have flopped around too much and seemed likely to get caught on something. Hmmm...then I thought...the airlines use long, sticky strips of plasticy-papery stuff to put the 3-letter IATA (International Air Transport Association) airport code on each piece of checked baggage to they know which airport the bags are going to, such as SEA, LAX, etc. Of course, for the VERY FIRST TIME IN MY ENTIRE LIFE, I had actually REMOVED the sticky strips from my bags when I got home from my last trip, so I can't show you a picture, but I think you know what I'm talking about.

Anyways, I decided to use that model to fashion a different type of tag. Here's a "before" picture of my largest bag. Hot pink ribbon, so I can spot it easily, and my info tag was hastily conjured up using an old French Laundry clothing tag - hey, it's "green" isn't it?

And "after" - my oh-so-pretty, secure-from prying-eyes new luggage tag - a long, skinny tag with a couple of strips of Velcro. Again, I used homemade 2 1/2" strips, but this time I used two lines of Velcro - one at the very ends, and another closer to where it wraps around the handle - with the personal info label in between.



Open, I used two sets of Velcro



I like them both, but neither is all that much like the Quilts and More pattern I originally set out to make. So I dubbed them "Raspberry Ketchup Luggage Tags," in honor of my made-up review above :-)

I guess you could say it's much ado about nothing...you can get those free labels right at the airline counters. But of course, if a sewist can fashion something - ANYthing! - out of cloth, we will! And if it's pretty, so much the better! Hmmmmm...I wonder if I should make one with ruffles? Ball fringe? Prairie Points? Yo-Yo's, anyone?