Going Domestic

can you see the difference?

Well, I can!

My sewing project last night was repairing the frayed stitching on the toes of the shoe on the left for Madeline. The moccasin stitching held up for quite a few months of wear, but my first attempt to repair with dental floss didn't quite work out as well as I'd anticipated.

I ended up using some sort of fine cord (or maybe it's just thick thread) from the shoe hospital on Duckworth Street to do the job. I wandered in there with Madeline one day to ask if they sold thread for moccasin stitching, and one of the employees just gave me two feet of cord for free! I was thrilled, and have to repay that debt by doing something nice for someone else when a good opportunity presents.

It's a different type of thread than what the manufacturer used - the original thread is much finer, and several layers are used. It kind of reminds me of fishing line because it's more plastic-ish than fibre-ish. I used a curved quilting needle for the stitching, and I'm happy with the end result!

hemming and hawing ...

So, did I take this photo to show off the tidy rolled hem stitch on my serger or the cool depth-of-field effect I've been able to get with the manual settings on my camera?

Though I am thrilled to be getting better with my camera, I really did take the photo to have a visual record of the rolled hem stitch. I managed to get it right with this batch of cloth wipes (hemmed them for my sister to give to a friend), whereas when I made a set for Madeline, I had accidently used a flat hem stitch. How would I be able to remember all of my sewing mishaps without this blog?  Both stitches do the job nicely - the flat hem is more delicate, and the rolled hem more substantial. I am not sure if I'm a fan of the wooly nylon thread yet, though - it take a bit more tweaking than I'm used to in order to get the tension right.   

Just Clucky

"We have chicken EVERY night!"

"No, we don't. I only buy chicken for two meals each week," I replied to my husband over the weekend, responding to the challenge about the lack of variety in my meal-planning. 

I am responsible for engineering dinner Monday - Thursday (and technically Friday, though we usually order pizza), and I cook what I can make during Madeline's naptime and then re-heat at dinnertime. Chicken is my favourite, I will admit. It's good in a curry, a stir-fry, baked in salsa ... and I make a great ginger chicken dish from one of the first issues of Everyday Food. Still, it wouldn't hurt for me to add a few more recipes to my repetoire of quick dinners. Madeline and I were out shopping today, and I decided on a whim to jump on the Rachel Ray bandwagon, picking up a copy of her Express Lane Meals.  I'm optimistic about this - thought I ought to warn my husband that several of the dishes in the book feature chicken :)

My Date with Decoupage

Decoupage Letters
Originally uploaded by goingdomestic.

I've been majorly procrastinating about picking out my learn-to-knit supplies and cracking open my copy of Stitch 'n Bitch, but I did manage to tackle one crafty project thus far this summer: alphabet letters that spell out "MADELINE". These things are ridiculously popular, and also ridiculously expensive to buy, it seems. I saw a post on Two Peas with photos of decoupaged letters, and thought that it was a nice DIY project to try out. I hadn't decoupaged anything before, and Madeline's room here in St. John's certainly could use some decorating!

Anyway, I bought eight wooden letters from Michaels, along with a container of Modge Podge, a few foam brushes (10 for $1!), and then trolled the scrapbook section to find coordinating patterned paper. Then and there I decided that Why I Don't Like Michaels Reason #42 is because none of their open stock patterned paper coordinated with each other. There is no other place to buy patterned paper in St. John's, so I bought an entire Slab. For those who aren't familiar with the Slab, it's 180 sheets of paper. It weights a tonne. I now have enough coordinating patterned paper to make decoupage letters for at least fifty other children!

My technique was pretty easy:

1. Apply a coat of Modge Podge to a wooden letter
2. Cover with tiny torn pieces of patterned paper (I tended to stick to one colour per letter)
3. Apply three coats of Modge Podge on top of the patterned paper, drying between coats
4. Trim excess paper (I started out using my fine-tipped scissors, but ended up going back to Michaels to buy an x-acto knife. It produced a much smoother cut line).

If I did it over again, I would trim the excess paper before I put on the top coats of Modge Podge. I think the edges would trim a lot nicer. I also might paint the edges of the letters in a coordinating colour before even starting the decoupage process. I'm still really happy with how the letters turned out, and it's nice to have something special in Madeline's temporary bedroom!

Is this where black pepper comes from?

Black Pepper
Originally uploaded by goingdomestic.

No. But I've been unable to unearth much more than that when I googled "black bell pepper" last night. We came across this specimen at the grocery store a few days ago, along with white bell peppers! I hadn't seen either variety before, ever! We cut the pepper up and skewered the pieces for kebabs for last night's dinner, and when the skewers came off of the grill, the black pepper looked quite green indeed! How weird!