Boxers Made From Leftover Fabric

I like to make things from the fabric that I have on hand.  Recently, I decided to make a pair of boxer shorts with fabric scraps from a t-shirt quilt that I had made.  They looked extremely interesting when they were complete, and they got quite a few laughs when they arrived as part of a Christmas present to a dear, dear friend.

As you can see, I pieced together strips of various t-shirts until I had large enough pieces for the boxer shorts pattern.

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Making Earrings

I while back, I wanted to have some new earrings.  To be frugal, I decided to learn how to make my own.  I purchased a how-to book, a few strands of beads, a storage box, and some additional supplies.

It was surprisingly easy.  I think the hardest parts were choosing the designs and twisting the wire into a loop.  I was very pleased with the results and I was happy to have earrings that matched my outfits.

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Complex Star Quilt Block

Here is a quilt block I recently did.  I used yellow and pink/maroon scrap fabrics.  There were many fabrics and it was a complex pattern, so I had to label each fabric A, B, C, etc.  It took a long time to cut everything out, because there were squares, triangles, rectangles, etc.  Still, I think it’s a really neat block to make.

The blue quilt block was made from the same pattern.  It’s neat how you get such unique looks from using different shades and patterns of fabrics.

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Making Boxer Shorts

Here are some pictures from when I made a pair of boxer shorts for my friend.  I cut out the fabric, used tracing paper to mark the fold lines for the hems and waistline, sewed the boxers, and added elastic for the waist.

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Cloth Napkins

Another course that I’ll be teaching will be how to make cloth napkins and place mats.  Here are some pics of when I made some sample cloth napkins.  I used the rolled-edge setting on my serger.

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Making Your Own Pocket Calendar

I decided to make my own pocket calendar after a fruitless search for one that I liked.  I took a used mini-composition book and covered it with scrapbooking paper and packing tape.  Then, I printed out mini calendars, cut them out, and glued them into the book.

Since then, I’ve also added a price book to my calendar book.  I printed out mini spreadsheets that allow me to write store names, dates, prices, item sizes, and prices per unit, with one page per item.  Every time I find a better price, either in a store or in a grocery ad, I write it in the price book.  Now, when I see chicken breasts for $1.97 a pound, I can look in my price book and see that they went for $1.29 a pound last month. It really helps me to save money.  (I got the price book idea from Family Feasts for $75 a Week, which was written by Mary at Owlhaven.)

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Egg and Mushroom Baked Omelet

Here are some pictures from a fantastic egg and mushroom omelet that I baked in my oven.  It’s from The Best Casserole Book Ever.

I used eggs, ham, cheese, mushrooms, thyme, and sage.

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Aprons

Here is how I turned a skirt into two aprons for my friend’s lovely daughters.

I cut the skirt up both sides to make two apron pieces.  I cut two strips of fabric off the bottom of each apron piece in order to shorten the apron lengths and also have ties.

I folded and ironed the ties in half lengthwise.  Then, I unfolded them and folded the raw edges in and had them meet at the ironed fold line.  I folded the ties in half lengthwise again, this time with the raw edges inside.  I sewed along the “open” edge.

I folded up the sides and bottom of each apron piece and ironed them in place.  I sewed the edges down and attached the apron ties.

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Level 3 Jogging Program

The Level 3 jogging program is definitely much harder than Level 2.  Instead of jogging 1 mile a day with a 15 min. warm-up (which I actually did as a cool-down), I’ll be jogging 3 miles a day!  What a change!

This workout is the jogging section of the Navy Seal Workout Book.  Click here and here for links to previous posts about this. Anyways, the Navy Seal book includes jogging/swimming, upper body work, lower body work, ab work, etc.  It’s a lot to do, I wasn’t motivated to keep up with it, and I didn’t really have the time or energy to keep up with the program, work full time, and do grad school.  Thus, I modified it to just the jogging portion.  Sometimes, I swim instead of jog.  If I have time and energy, I do some sit-ups and dumbbell work.  Currently, I’ve been using 8 pound weights.

Here’s a picture of the Level 3 workout plan:

As you can see (above), I do a 1 mile warm-up, stretch, and then jog 2 miles.  After five of these workouts, I jog a 1-mile warm-up with a 3-mile jog (=4 miles).  Yikes!  I will be very interesting to see how this goes!

(Below) I’ve added an inspirational outdoor hiking image to help motivate me.  I’d definitely love to go hiking with my husband near a waterfall in the mountains!  I got the picture from a Wyoming travel magazine.

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Finally! Hooray!

I finally completed Level 2 of the jogging program I’ve been doing.  It included walking a 15 min. warm-up and jogging 1 mile five times, and then walking 15 min. with a 2 mile jog.  You repeat this set of 6 workouts four times.  It’s supposed to take a month, but it took me much longer.  Still, I’m pleased that I’ve completed it.  I started out Level 2 jogging a 12 min. (or longer) mile.  Now, I can (with breaks) jog a 10.5 min. mile.  It’s definitely an improvement.

Here’s a picture of my completed workout plan for Level 2:

Now, the hard work really begins!  Turn in tomorrow for details about Level 3!

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Almost There!

It’s sure taken a while, but I’ve almost finished jogging the above plan.  I’ve still got a two mile jog with a 15 minute walk.  I hope to get that taken care of in the next few days.  Hooray!

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Cooking with Carbs and Loving It

Recently, I woke up on a Saturday, and started bread dough rising, kolache dough in the bread machine, more bread dough mixed and rising for a later date.  I went grocery shopping, came home, and went back to work in the kitchen.  I baked the bread, made the kolaches (with a bit of wheat flour this time), and then made a meat pie with leftover beef roast, potatoes, carrots, gravy, and cheese (that post to follow).

This is the bread from the 5 minute a day artisan bread recipe.

Here are the kolaches with a mixture of all-purpose and whole-wheat flour  I put turkey sausage and cheddar cheese inside them.  I like to make a batch on the weekends and freeze them for breakfast in the mornings.  I could eat kolaches every day, so it really saves a lot of money to make them at home.

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