Rolled Hem Tutorial

About two years ago my favorite sewing machine mysteriously died. I reluctantly stuck it in a case and put it out in the garage. Well two days ago my wonderful amazing awesome husband fix my machine!! Yes you heard right, after two years we had a real life resurrection. Johnny took my machine apart and replaced a few blown components and WALLAH! it works!!

So with my fav. machine working again I've been sewing like a mad glad woman. I'm working on a new clown costume for Hannah and I happened to see the roll foot and realized I didn't have a clue how to use it and more than likely if i didn't know how to use it maybe you didn't either.

Here we go!

Okay so the rolled hem foot is pretty simple regardless how it looks. Go ahead and change the foot on the machine and we're ready

I read somewhere that it's a good idea to put the needle down in the folded fabric but then I realized that if your sewing, say a skirt then when you make a full circle and make it back to the starting point then you have a problem with a hem that has already been stitched wrong. 

I manually turned the fabric under for the hem  and now you need to pull the fabric up into the little cone shaped area and as the feed dogs pull the fabric the cone will automatically shape the hem and keep it lined up as it sews. 

The foot actually does it all, all you have to do is look cute and give it gas!

It is really super easy to use the roll hem foot and actually once the fabric is in place it's very easy to feed it and the machine does the rest. 

Look at that! Super easy and it looks non-homemade! :0)

Hope this is helpful, I know it's changed my life!!

BTW, I'm linking up with Sew Can Do's Craftastic Monday. 

Reposted from August 2013

Roll Hem Tutorial

About two years ago my favorite sewing machine mysteriously died. I reluctantly stuck it in a case and put it out in the garage. Well two days ago my wonderful amazing awesome husband fix my machine!! Yes you heard right, after two years we had a real life resurrection. Johnny took my machine apart and replaced a few blown components and WALLAH! it works!!

So with my fav. machine working again I've been sewing like a mad glad woman. I'm working on a new clown costume for Hannah and I happened to see the roll foot and realized I didn't have a clue how to use it and more than likely if i didn't know how to use it maybe you didn't either.

Here we go!

Okay so the rolled hem foot is pretty simple regardless how it looks. Go ahead and change the foot on the machine and we're ready

I read somewhere that it's a good idea to put the needle down in the folded fabric but then I realized that if your sewing, say a skirt then when you make a full circle and make it back to the starting point then you have a problem with a hem that has already been stitched wrong. 

I manually turned the fabric under for the hem  and now you need to pull the fabric up into the little cone shaped area and as the feed dogs pull the fabric the cone will automatically shape the hem and keep it lined up as it sews. 

The foot actually does it all, all you have to do is look cute and give it gas!

It is really super easy to use the roll hem foot and actually once the fabric is in place it's very easy to feed it and the machine does the rest. 

Look at that! Super easy and it looks non-homemade! :0)

Hope this is helpful, I know it's changed my life!!

BTW, totally not related to this post but Hubby and I are off to celebrate our 22nd wedding anniversary in Vienna, Austria. Tons of photos to follow!!

Warm and Fuzzy!

So I have been looking everywhere for fleece here in Croatia and couldn't find any but I did manage to find a few little throws in Austria. YEA! I've been wanting to make something for the cutest little girl (who isn't a Leslie) this side of the Atlantic Ocean. Megi (above) the youngest daughter of the national pastor has stolen my heart. I love this little one and would do just about anything for a hug. :0)
Anyhow, I tried my hand at the fleece stuff and was pleasantly surprised at how easy this stuff is, even an idiot (hmmm, see photo below) could make something out of this stuff.

I made this muffler and cap for little miss Megi and it was fun! I really enjoyed it. Here are so excellent links for tutorials.

1. lots of tutorials here.
2. cute little caps here.
3. of course, Martha has some too.
4. pretty easy one here.
5. super easy one here.

Have fun!

Adorable Doll Quilt Tutorial

Okay look what I found over at Sew Mama Sew blog, a wonderfully cute doll quilt tutorial. I would totally love to learn to quilt but I've always been scared of trying, not any more. I'm actually going to do this tutorial tomorrow and then I'll let you know how it goes.
Check it out!

I did it! I did it!!!

I switched to Google Reader today and I'm so glad I did. I was surprised to see how many posts you guys have made that Bloglines wasn't reading. Wow, should have switched long ago. So for those of you who wondered why I didn't drop by your blog anymore, you know why now, Bloglines is guilty!

I've been putting off switching for a while because I didn't want to take the time to put all of my 225 feeds into a new reader. But there is a very easy way to do it from Bloglines and I'll fill you in now.

To switch from Bloglines to Google Reader:

1. Go to your feeds page on Bloglines.

a. in the left frame you will see ADD, EDIT, OPTIONS just below the tabs.

b. click EDIT

c. scroll to the bottom of that frame and you will see IMPORT SUBSCRIPTIONS and
EXPORT SUBSCRIPTIONS

d. click on EXPORT SUBSCRIPTIONS

e. when bow pops up click on SAVE TO DISK (this will save it to your computer)

f. now go to Google Reader and in the right hand corner you will see SETTINGS, click that

g. you will now see a page with tabs, click on the IMPORT/EXPORT tab

h. now you will see an empty field with SELECT OPML file

i. click BROWSE and find the OPML file on your computer

j. once you've found it, UPLOAD and then it's finished.

k. pat yourself on the back for a job well done!

Okay now that's you've switched it's probably a good idea to go through and clean up your feeds a bit. I went through just one section of my feeds and I was surprised to see how many people hadn't posted in months, so I cleaned up a bit. It's very easy to delete feeds in Google Reader.

BTW, if you are still following your blogs by visiting each one, it's probably time to upgrade to a feed reader, it's super easy and it saves alot of time!

Anyhow, have fun and I hope the instructions are clear.

Handmade Holidays

WARNING!!! TIME INTENSIVE POST
Okay I can't believe how cool this series is over at Sew Mama Sew Blog. You would not believe how many links there are to endless tutorials and ideas for a handmade holiday.

Featured are:

Gifts for Grandparents
Gifts for College Students
Gifts for Girlfriends
Gifts for Dads
Gifts for New Parents
Gifts for Multi-taskers
Gifts for Sports Fans
Gifts for Bookworms
Gifts for Elementary Kids
Gifts for Snow Fiends
Gifts for Teachers
Gifts for Pet Lovers
Gifts for Crafters
Gifts for Music Lovers
Gifts for Babies and Toddlers
Gifts for Travelers
Gifts for Tweens and Teens

Anyhoo, enjoy looking and I hope you have fun making some of these great tutorials too!

How to cook a fresh pumpkin

I've been meaning to do this for years and never really got around to it.

Here in Croatia it's almost impossible to find good cooking pumpkins because in this part of Europe black pumpkin seed oil is tradition and everyone loves it. Actually in the fall it's totally normal to see fields lined with big, orange pumpkins ready for the pickin', but then it happens. Every year I'll see a field over flowing with pumpkins and then the same field will the lying with the wasted shells of the same pumpkins. As soon as the pumpkins are ready the women come out to the field, cleave the pumpkins into, scoop out the insides and leave the rest to rot! Can you believe that such waste is going on in a civilized country? It is, right here in Croatia and this whole part of Europe.

Anyhoo, here is a picture tutorial on how to cook a fresh pumpkin:

First, get your pumpkin. There are many varieties out there but since I didn't really know I settled for the average orange one.
Cut the pumpkin into and then scoop out the innards! These can be retained and then separated to make toasted pumpkin seeds.
Scooped out!
Then there are several ways to cook the pumpkin. You can add them to a large baking pan like the above one, face down and fill with 1 inch water or you can even cook it in the microwave if it's large enough to accomodate the pumpkin. (BTW, my kids drew on the outside before I cut it open, see the funny faces, that's about as close to a jack o lantern they have ever been.)
My daughter, Hannah wanted you to see the pumpkin in the over, don't ask why! I cooked the pumpkin on 325 for about an hour or a little less. The whole purpose is to get the flesh nice and soft, soft enough to be pureed in the food processor.
After the pumpkin is finished cooking take it out and let it cool completely. When it's cool enough to handle take a knife and clean all the skin off of the flesh of the pumpkin. We want only good clean flesh, then I chopped it up in 2 in cubes so it would be easier for my food processor to puree.


Ta-da! Pumkin puree! You may want to put it into a fine colander to strain some of the water off. I set it in the colander over a bowl and let it strain for 15 minutes and there was really alot of liquid that ran off.

After the pumpkin is all finished you may use it exactly like you would for can pumpkin. From one medium sized pumpkin I got about 6 cups of puree. I made 4 loaves of pumpkin bread and 12 muffins and they were delish! So fresh! Here's the super-easy, super-yummy Pumpkin Bread recipe I used, sure to be a hit no matter where!

Pumpkin Bread

1 C all purpose flour
1 C packed brown sugar
1 TBSP baking powder
1 TSP ground cinnamon
1/4 TSP salt
1/4 TSP baking soda
1/4 TSP ground nutmeg
1/8 TSP ground ginger or cloves
1 C canned pumpkin or fresh
1/2 C milk or buttermilk
2 eggs
1/3 C shortning
1 C all purpose flour
1/2 C chopped walnuts or pecans
1/2 raisins (optional)

1. Grease the bottom and half way up the sides of a 9x5x3 in. loaf pan; set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl combine 1 C flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, nutmeg and ginger or cloves. Add pumpkin, milk, eggs, and shortning. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed till blended. Beat on medium to high speed for 2 minutes. Add the 1 C of flour and beat until blended. Fold in the walnuts and raisins.
*** I used a wooden spoon and mixed just until blended and it was wonderful!
3. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake in a 350° oven 60 to 65 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
*** I only baked it for about 40 minutes and it was good but I have a confection over so it works different. Use the toothpick method and when it's almost dry it's ready, don't over cook!
Cool completely on a wire rack.


I made this bread for church this morning and out Croats loved this bread. They are super slow to try anythign and since they don't eat the pumpkin I didn't tell them what was in the bread until they all said how good the bread was, then I broke the big news, IT'S PUMPKIN!!

Also my husband doesn't like pumpkin and he loved this bread, yummy!
Make sure to let me know if you cook your own pumpkin and share your culinary creations!

Pretty Busy for a Few Days!

As I sit here and type I realize it's the calm before the storm, not a bad storm but a storm of activitiy. Today we start out Spiritual Warfare Conference at church. We have guest speaker Bro. Bill Smith flying in to speak for us. He'll be making his way down from Budapest, Hungary with missionary Dave Fraunhoffer and three of his children. We're so excited to have them and our kids can't wait to speak English to someone. :0)

We start the conference off tonight with a 45 minute secession and then dinner together and then another 45 minute secession. Tomorrow and Sunday night we will do the same with a 1hour service Sunday morning.

I have lots of cooking on the agenda. Tonight the church will provide roastil chickens and we will fix all the sides, Croatian style. Tomorrow we'll be having real Italian spaghetti. Croatia is right next to Italy so we have some pretty authentic cooks. Oh yea and real Italian isn't the same as the Olive Garden! :0) I personally prefer American Italian but that's a different thing!
Oh yea and Sunday night will be Goulash. The Northern part of Croatia was once part of the Hungarian Empire so they're pretty good at making Goulash too.
Should be some good eats!!

Oh yea and I'll be taking lots of photos too, so stay tuned!

Oh yea for all you Texans out there, look what I found. Did you know that there are blue, white and pink bonnets in Texas. All my years in Texas and I never saw a pink blue bonnet, :0) but they're real. Aren't they pretty. I actually have some blue bonnet seeds here in Croatia that I'm going to plant this year. Hey now that I think about it, there is probably a law against planting foreign florals, I bet, but ignorance is bliss!!

I read the "story" of how the pink bonnet came to be...They say that after the battle at the Alamo with Santa Ana, the pink bonnets were discovered growing down stream from the Alamo. They say the blood of those brave Texans colored the bonnets pink. In truth, the original pink bonnet was first found south of San Antonio growing along side the road. Very interesting.

Also they say that the flower of Texas isn't the blue bonnet but instead it's the species of bonnets that include all three colors (white, blue and pink). Just so you'd know!

Oh yea before I forget, Tracy over at Unless the Lord posted a wonderful tutorial for making a crochet needle case. I tried to make one of these the other day with out much success. I'm stubborn and tend to want to do things with out instruction and usually have to go back and redo it. So I'm going to redo it using Tracy's tut.

Happy Sewing!

Oh yea one more thing, I keep remembering all the things I wanted to tell y'all. :0)
There's a new craft blog for kids, The Craft Crow, it's really fun and has lots of links and ideas for things to do with the kids.

Praying you all have a great weekend and Lord's Day!!!