Pumpkin fun

This past fall my aunt gave use several pumpkins.  One thing nice about pumpkins is they keep for long time.  I shared a few, and then cut and cooked three for our use over the winter.  We love making pumpkin bread, especially on cold mornings.  It helps warm up the kitchen.  Hannah and Beth were happy to help.

Before cutting.  This was a smaller pumpkin compared to the others that my aunt gave us.

 Cut in half

 

They had fun removing the seeds.  We saved the seeds to roast later. 

 

I cut it into smaller pieces so it would cook faster.

 

Then we put them into a large pan with a few cups of water.  

I brought it to a boil and simmered about 20-30 minutes until the pumpkin was soft.  

  I covered the pan and let the pumpkin cool slowly.

 

After it was cool enough to handle, we peeled it, smashed it up and put it in freezer bags. 

 

Then we labeled it and put it in the freezer.

 

Now we're ready to make some pumpkin bread.  The great thing about pumpkin bread is that you can use almost any kind of flour and no one can taste the difference or see a difference in texture unless you use something really odd.    

PS. To see more of what we are creating, please visit CreatedByOurClan on etsy. Thanks.

Patchwork skirt

Recently we were given a bag of fabric scraps.  Beth wanted to make a skirt or dress from some of the browns but there wasn't enough of any one color and it had odd angles. Finally, I had an idea of making patches and sewing them together.  

First, I cut rectangles 7"x11"  (Next, time I think I'll do 7"x10")

Then I pinned the patches together.

 Next, I let Beth and Hannah sew them.  This was great practice for them.  It is a short straight line.  They enjoyed it, and I saw an improvement in their ability to sew straight.

 

 After they finished sewing, I serged all the edges.

  Instead of doing gathering stitches, I put in little tucks semi-evenlly around the skirt.

 To finish it, I hemmed the bottom, and made a casing for 1" inch elastic.

 I have a large safety pin that I use for pulling the elastic through the casing.

 

The finished product!!!!

 

This was a fun project and Hannah is already planning to make a similar skirt with blue material.  Have you ever done a similar project?  What do you do with leftover material?  I'd love to hear your ideas.  Please let me know in the comments.

PS. To see more of what we are creating, please visit CreatedByOurClan on etsy.

Creative evenings

I have been using my long evenings to start creating things again.  I know I've been spending too much time on gadgets. I find that when I put the gadgets away and sew, crochet, or some other craft I am having more conversations with my husband and children. This past week I even played games and crocheted at the same time. 

I love the challenge of creating something new and different, especially from the jeans that my boys keep wearing the knees out.  Hannah even wants to sew along with me.  Beth loves to use her knitting looms and create baby doll stuff.  Abby is a wonderful artist and is constantly drawing instead of doing her schoolwork.

I opened an Etsy shop to hopefully sell some of the things I create.  I don't like to hang onto every thing I make.  It would be too overwhelming.  We also could use some extra income to help pay bills.

My husband's work has slowed down so much that he frequently doesn't even get 40 hrs a week.  We have our house on the market, but we have mixed feelings about moving.  One day I want to move, have new friends, new home, and new adventures.  Then the next day I see everything I love about where we are now and I really hate the idea of moving. 

Any ideas or tips about selling on Etsy would be appreciated.  Also I'm open to other legitimate work at home ideas. I am an introvert so marketing/selling things is not appealing at all.

I'm back

Well, maybe I'm back.  I haven't done anything with my blog for over two years. We'll see how it goes.  With homeschooling, mothering, cooking, cleaning, ect., I'm not making any promises.  My newest venture is trying to sell on Etsy.  I love all kinds of crafts, but stopped doing them because it was creating a lot of clutter.  I struggle with clutter.  We probably all struggle with it.  I know that the more clutter I have the more stressed I become.  I'm hoping to turn what I love into something profitable.

I feel like I need to relearn how to blog.

What kind of posts would you, my readers, like for me to write?

New Deck

Every year my parents come to visit, and every year we have a project for my dad.  This year's project was a deck on the back of our house.  I have been dreaming about having a deck for several years.  With everyone helping we got it done in record time.

 The boys enjoyed helping to remove the old porch.

Foundation being laid.  The kids had a grand time going in and out of the door without a porch.

Everyone helped attach the deck boards!

 Cute little guy!!!

almost done with deck boards

 makes a great place to pretend you're in a cage

Steps and gate done.

 All done!

Fun walking on outside of deck

First snow from deck

 This  little guy is just too cute!!!!

Bethy

Today my smiling girl turns six.

She likes to pretend that Josiah is her twin.

She made a new friend this year.

And spent time with some other friends.  The girl to the left of Beth was born the day before Beth and with the same midwife.

She loved the snow we had this year.

Ginger

Last March for Abby's birthday she got a lionhead rabbit.  We now have three lionhead rabbits.  She named her rabbit Ginger.  Hannah adores the bunny.  However, the name Ginger has led to some very funny confusions as to which ginger.

Abby holding Ginger

Hannah and Ginger

Anytime I say ginger Hannah immediately thinks it is the rabbit.  One day when Abby was sick she asked to have a ginger-bath.  Ginger baths seem to help with fevers and general flu symptoms.  When Hannah heard this she wanted to go get Ginger the rabbit to put in the tub.
Another time Hannah was asking me for "bunny chews".  I was very confused about what she was asking for.  Finally I figured it out, she wanted the ginger candies that I had bought for a trip to help those who had motion sickness.