I followed a tutorial I found
here (good Lord I love reading these crafty chick's blogs!) to make a fabulous dinosaur hoodie for Stinkie. The hoodie was $7.50 at Walmart (geez I should do commercials for them) and the fleece was $3/1yd. I bought one yard, but used maybe 1/8 yd. So I spent $10.50, but could have gotten by spending $8.50. He wore this out yesterday to the movies and dinner and got complimented incessantly on it, and when he put it on, he freaked out. Just a fabulous article of clothing. I am very lucky he's not a girl, or he'd be a constant crafting time suck!
I drew a right triangle with a 3" x-axis and 1.5" y, with about 3.5" hypotenuse. Then I folded along the x-axis and cut out the right triangle, opened up, and blam. An isosceles with a 3" bottom. I cut two of these out and lined the 3" side along the fold on the fleece. The tutorial I used said to use felt, but I like the softness of fleece, it doesn't fray, and it does have enough stiffness to stand up when doubled like we're going to do.
I measured the entire length down the center of the hood and back. My measurement was 33". Since my diamonds measure 3" where it counts, I cut out 11 triangles and opened them up into diamonds. It would probably have been better to measure this first, then create the triangles to fit, but it so happened mine fit perfectly. Then I marked the center line and pinned the diamonds into place like so:
Sewing through the hood was harder, since there's like 3 layers of fabric, plus the fleece, plus a hem. But I got through it, and the rest was a breeze. Just sew down the middle of the diamonds in one line. Backstitch and cut your thread. Then close up all your diamonds to make triangles and sew them closed with a 1/8" allowance (or you could do a zigzag around the edges...but you don't need to). I also pinned the triangles closed before stitching with just one pin in the middle. It seemed to help hold everything together, as pins tend to do. :)
So anyway, that's it, and he LOVES it.
A friend and I were talking about organic fruit ropes and snacks, and how spendy they are, and we both decided they could be made at home, from real fruit, much more cheaply. I didn't take any photos. I just did it. Stinkie (who is 4) helped me prep the strawberries. When I say this, I don't mean he just rinsed them and I helped him chop one or two. I mean, he really helped me! He is great with a knife, very careful. This was the first time I let him really use a knife as it is meant to be used. I was standing right there next to him, pitting the strawberries, but I could have been on Mars and he would have been fine. I just can't believe it. He cut uniform pieces and didn't risk cutting off his fingers. He cut off ALL the green and white at the top without going too far into the red. How cool is he?
I followed a few different tutorials
(here and
here). I bought 1lb strawberries and 1 apple. Peel, core, dice the apple. Chop the strawberries. You should have about 4c fruit. Then put it into a saucepan with 1/2c water. Boil, then simmer covered for about 15 minutes. Add 2T or so of honey (to your personal taste) and 1.5t lemon juice. Make sure it's mixed, then use a blender or food processor or Magic Bullet like I did to puree it.
I have a food dehydrator, but you can do it in the oven. Line a jelly roll pan with plastic wrap (good stuff) and tape into place, the dry it in the oven at like 160 for 8 hours. If you use a dehydrator, line it as smoothly as possible, taping into place and making sure you cut and tape for the hole in the center. Once it's all smooth and level, pour the whole pan in. It will spread easily. Don't let it dry too much. When it's done, you can cut off the edges (they are probably crispy dry) and roll it up still connected to the plastic wrap. I used a sharp knife to cut the wrapped log into 1" wide rolls. Instant fruit rollup. Easy to make, and SO good, made from real ingredients! I love that Stinkie helped make his own snacks. I think it's really healthy for a kid to get involved like that.
I did make a produce bag out of a t-shirt as well, following
this link, more or less. It is really cool. I'm thinking of making a ton of stuff and trying my hand at the Farmer's Market this year. I think these bad dogs would sell like hotcakes there. I can make 2-3 of them out of a $1 thrift store t-shirt and they are SO cute. I could sell them for $1/piece, or even .75, and still make a profit. Mass production of these would be very fast!
I keep thinking I did something else I am forgetting. Dang. Guess I'll get it next time. Long days and pleasant nights to everyone!
The lamp looked like this
