(21-Thing-2202) Rag Soup

yummy rag soup! My dad makes this every Easter, filled with homemade mini meatballs. It can be made with chicken broth and beef, or with vegetable broth and meatless meatballs.

Rag Soup
2 boxes broth (chicken or veggie)
1 package mini meatballs (or meatless meatballs)
1 lb broccoli raab or okra or spinach
4 or 5 eggs
Parmesan cheese
Italian seasoning
cayenne pepper
salt
black pepper

Put broth in medium pot, add a handful of italian seasoning (rub it between your hands to crush it as its going in the pot), some cayenne pepper, and boil.
Brown meatballs (meatless meatballs) in a pan, set aside.
Add whatever greens you're putting in your soup to the broth. Cover and cook til done.
Add meatballs to soup, cover and simmer.
Beat eggs in a small bowl. Add to soup while stirring. It'll make strings of cooked eggs, like rags (hence name of soup).

Ladle into bowls. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Eat. The leftovers are great for lunch throughout the week.

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Posted via email from summation's Thing-A-Day 2010

(17-Thing-1702)through (20-Thing-2002) Flannel One-piece Pajama

In celebration of my completing my Master's Degree, I wanted to have a pajama party. So of course I wanted to have new schmancy pjs to host my party in! That didnt happen because I'm a slacker and was only able to complete one set of jammies, for Mint Hoagie of course!  He picked out the fabric, and to town i went! He's a bit longer in the legs n torso than regular patterns, so I made it up in muslin first, figured out how to alter the pattern, and then cut it and made it again.  I tried to draft a pattern for making a footie in the pajama, but in the end, I didnt put feet on these pjs. This garment also marks my first zipper insertion! Its nice and straight, and super duper for being my first zipper. The pattern is from McCall's 5956 for Halloween costumes. It's worked out pretty well in flannel instead of fake fur.  Here's a list and photos of my "things" for each day, starting Wednesday and finishing up Saturday before the party.

Wednesday: Footie pattern
Thursday: My first zipper!
Friday: Finished arms and leg hems
Saturday: Knit collar addition

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(16-Thing-1602) Flower Bed

It was such a beautiful day on Tuesday, I wanted to get outside! I'd bought some seeds and bulbs with the intention of potting some of them for TAD or guerrilla gardening around our sometimes not-so-spiffy neighborhood. It's not so guerrilla, but I decided to spruce up the outside of our warehouse loft building by pulling the weeds in one of the tree spaces in the sidewalk.

It was kinda gross, since people just throw trash and leave dog poo everywhere. But once I got all the weeds and trash out, the dirt was really quite nice. I wasnt expecting there to be so many earthworms! There were also a lot of grubs which i threw into the road and the pigeons ate. I wore my heavy duty gloves, but I'm still glad I didnt find any hypodermics or anything too gross. (I did find an unopened can of tuna fish and half a pre-packaged cheese danish* though). 

The bulbs are planted, and the seeds sown, but it's not so impressive looking yet. I cant wait for the seeds and bulbs to start shooting up greens!  I am also bad at remembering to take "before" pictures.  But here is one of the tree next to the little plot I did.

*Just a thought: If half a pre-packaged cheese danish can sit in a flower bed for an undetermined amount of time under some weeds and pouring rains, and still be identifiable as a cheese danish (it was in almost perfect condition) why would we EVER want to put that in our bodies?

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(15-Thing-1502) Friends

I spent the day playing games and goofing around with MH's brother's family, and his brother's wife's extended family from China.  I dont speak much Mandarin, which was ok because most of them didnt speak much English.  The pantomiming alone was super creative, so this totally counts ;)

Set and Ingenious are good games for playing with people who dont share a language.  There were pictures taken, but I dont have any of them yet :(  I'll update if I get them before the end of February.

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(14-Thing-1402) Dalahast Cake

Dalahast is a traditional swedish symbol which originated in Dalarna province.  Mint Hogie (my BF), is of Swedish descent and has taken a liking to these horsies. Especially when they are made of spice cake and icing.  I've altered a Spice Cake recipe from Fannie Farmer's Cookbook to make it even more yummy! This is the latest manifestation of dalahast in our house, made for a Valentine's Day party.

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(13-Thing-1302) Smittens

I saw this Care Bears polar fleece remnant and had to have it, even though I had no idea what I was going to do with it.  I'm always cold, so I came up with a scarf with mittens built in.  Smittens.  Looks like two potholders on a string, but I'm happy wearing them. Here's proof!

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(12-Thing-1202) Long Overdue Framing

I made this Warhol style ducks print about 4 months ago.  Its been sitting with a frame that I bought for it, unframed because I had to cut half an inch off each side to get it to fit into the frame.  So sad.  I was putting it off because I'm terrible with a straight edge and rotary cutter.  But I took my time with this, and only messed it up a little bit. Not very creative, but the finishing touches on another WIP. So here it is, before being hung in my rubber duck-themed bathroom.

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(11-Thing-1102) Spicy Cornbread Muffins

Yummy corn muffins, with chiles and pepper jack cheese chunks.  The cheese was all gooey when I first pulled them apart when they were hot. So Delicious! From Fanny Farmer's Cookbook w/ small changes by me :)

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(10-Thing-1002) Purple PomPom for Tail

I was given a black and white striped tail recently, but I thought it looked sorta plain.  What better way to spruce up a tail than with a purple pompom?

First, I had to make the cardboard circles, which was easy because I happen to have a compass for drawing sleek circles in various sizes.  The I cut 3 lengths of purple yarn about 8 feet each.  (It has to be small enough to wad up and push through the hole in the center). If I was to do this again, I'd use at least another 8 foot length to make the pompom fuller.  Then I cut around the circle and tied the bunch up with another small piece of yarn.  Poof! A pompom!

I sewed it to the tail, and added a snap to the top so I could attach it to my belt loop.  Its always nice to have a tail available to wear when necessary!

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(9-Thing-0902) Bacon Infused Vodka

We're having a pajama party soon, and we'll want to serve Bloody Marys in the morning.  Time to make some bacon infused vodka! I'll update to let you know how it turns out!

Posted via email from summation's Thing-A-Day 2010

Crochet Coffee Sleeve Pattern

I've been "field testing" a crochet coffee sleeve I designed this summer, and its been working out great. I'd love to see pics if you make sleeves from my pattern.


Materials:

• Worsted weight acrylic or cotton yarn
• G or H hook (depending on your tension)

Pattern:

Ch 33 loosely. Join to first stitch with slst.
Row 1: Hdc in each ch. Join with slst to first hdc. (33 sts)
Row 2: Ch 1. Hdc in join and in next 14 sts. Inc in next st. Hdc in next 15 sts. Inc in next st. Hdc in last st, join to first hdc with slst. (35 sts)
Row 3: Ch 1. Hdc in join and in next 16 sts. Inc in next st. Hdc in remaining sts. Join. (36 sts)
Row 4: Ch 1. Hdc in join. Inc in next st. Hdc in remaining sts. Join. (37 sts)
Row 5: Ch 1. Hdc in join and in next 7 sts. Inc in next st. Hdc in remaining sts. Join. (38 sts)
Row 6: Ch 1. Hdc in join and in next 17 sts. Inc in next st. Hdc in next 18 sts. Inc in next st. Join. (40 sts)
Row 7: Ch 1. Hdc in join and in next 28 sts. Inc in next st. Hdc in remaining sts. Join. (41 sts)
Row 8: Ch 1. Hdc in join and in next 19 sts. Inc in next st. Hdc in remaining sts. Join to first hdc with slst. Fasten off. Weave in ends.

This pattern is protected by copyright. Please do not sell or redistribute this pattern in any form. If you'd like to sell the completed items you make using this pattern, please contact me first.

(7-Thing-0702) Bath Salts

An easy day after my hiking misadventures required an easy project. My backpacking companion remarked that he would love some nice smelling bath salts for post-hiking relaxation. It was a breeze to whip the salts up (one cup epsom salts to 8 drops lavender essence). The bottle was in MH's pile to take to the thrift store. The sachet bag I had saved from a wedding shower. I refilled the sachet with lavender blossoms, poured the salts into the bottle, and slapped a "Hello My Name is" badge on it. I think my friend will enjoy the results.

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(6-Thing-0602) Giant Bruise

On Friday, I spent pretty much the whole day straightening the house and running around getting last minute supplies for a backpacking trip that I was suddenly invited on. So no Thing for that day :(

We hiked about two miles into Henry Coe State Park in the fog, and set up camp on the flattest ground we could find. In the morning, the fog had lifted, but it was raining. Our tent was gaining water, and our sleeping bags were getting wet. Once out of the tent, we realized we had set up in a valley, and the run off was running straight under our tent toward the nearby stream. After breakfast, we broke camp, walked about 50 feet and saw a glorious flat camping space on high ground with firm dirt. We were sad.

After filtering water for the days hike, I put a bandanna on my head, thinking I could make an awesome tie-dye project as the bandanna got soaked by the rain and mixed with the purple dye in my hair. As it turns out, my rain gear was way more rainproof than I had expected, and my project didnt work out.

Luckily, I fell crossing a tiny stream and made this amazingly large bruise!

Posted via email from summation's Thing-A-Day 2010

(5-Thing-0402) Nightshirt

Continuing on the "lounge wear" theme, I decided to make a nightshirt too. I'd bought the materials and pattern about 2 years ago, but wanted to alter the pattern to fit me better in the bust. I had no idea how to go about doing this and so it sat, unstarted, in one of my project bins. Luckily, I was able to get mnrsiat to teach me how to alter the pattern. She's a good teacher, and I was able to finish this project pretty quickly after the pattern had been redrawn. I'm supposed to hem the bottom, but I surged it instead and I'm thinking of leaving it that way.

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(4-Thing-0302) Pajama Pants

I've been excited about this gorilla flannel print since I got it. Wednesday I turned it into a pair of pajama pants. I'm getting pretty good at pj pants by now. They are super fun to make, and I even get to use my automatic buttonhole feature on my machine, which is really fascinating to watch. This is from McCall's 4320 pattern. I didnt follow the instructions for the waistband, because I like to make pj pants with elastic in the back and draw strings up front. So I take a piece of elastic about 14 inches long, sew the draw strings to each end, and then thread it through the waistband. Then I center and stretch the elastic and sew the two ends to the pants through the waistband. It makes it fit better in the seat (for me at least).

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(3-Thing-0202) Collapsible Hula Hoop

I'm a bit behind in posting, mostly because my camera battery died. But now its all charged up and ready to take pictures of my daily "things" once again!

I've been wanting to make a hula hoop for some time so I can start practicing hooping tricks. Tuesday I finally got down to the hardware store to pick up tubing, so I decided to experiment with making a standard and then a collapsible hoop.  Both are incredibly easy to make and fun to decorate.  Here's a picture of my collapsible hoop.  I've written an Instructable on it here.

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(1-Thing-0102) Rolled Hem Vintage Scarf

After a few false starts (didnt have plastic cups for resin mixing, princess was in another castle) I decided to ease into the most creating-est month of 2010.  I just bought a rolled hem foot for my sewing machine and I have been wanting to make a pretty scarf out of a hideous vintage dress I picked up at a thrift shop.  I tore the fabric into a nice long rectangle (to make sure it was on the straight of grain) and then did a few test runs setting up the stitch length and figuring out how to feed the material into the fancy rolled part of the foot. 

I had to rip out the hem a few times and round the corners to make it easier to keep the material threaded through the foot in the turns.  But here it is. Now to wait for my hair to grow out some so I can wear it!

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Posted via email from summation's Thing-A-Day 2010