MAKING QUICK, QUIRKY ACCESSORIES

 I guess at heart I am a true, dyed in the wool, southwestern style, feathers and bead loving old hippie and the hatband with matching earrings that I have made prove it.

I wanted something patriotic with feathers and beads and as the hatband began to take shape the song "Yankee Doodle" started going through what mind I have left.

 "Yankee Doodle went to town

riding on a pony

stuck a feather in his hat

and called it macaroni"

So that is how the Yankee Doodle Hat Band got its name. It is easy and quick to make.

I have yet to figure out what macaroni has to do with a feather or his hat, or his pony.

-THE YANKEE DOODLE HATBAND-

-MATCHING YANKEE DOODLE EARRINGS-

Surely, every self respecting Yankee Doodle Hat Band needs matching Yankee Doodle Earrings, don't you think?

Making jewelry is not one of my best ventures. I use beads to embellish my quilts and wallhangings so I do pick beads and findings that are of interest whenever I see them. You never know when you might have need for a spectacular focal point. Of course, that is the justification for all those lovely things squirreled away for future use and you never know, one bead could be the inspiration for a whole design.

At any rate, I hope you have fun with these if you decide to make them. 

Check out these and many other craft videos and tutorials @ http://favecrafts.com/.

-------------------------

Since my maid has not showed up for work for quite some time now, I cannot spend all my time in my sewing room. For some reason, husband dear thinks there should be meals on the table and the house reasonably kept- not to mention a few clean clothes every now and again.  I keep telling him he can turn his underwear inside out and wear them another week but that doesn't work any more. 

As I've told you before, my domestic divadom does include cooking and am sharing some of my favorite recipes. The Hot Fudge Topping was in yesterday's post and today I am including my next fave, my Butterscotch Topping,  which is just as easy and quick. As with the Hot Fudge Topping, this recipe is doubled or tripled every time I make it-might as well get more done in the same amount of time!

BUTTERSSOTCH TOPPING

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons flour

1/4 cup milk

2 tablespoons corn syrup

1/4 cup butter or margarine

dash of nutmeg [optional]

makes about 1 1/2 cups

In 1 1/2 quart mixing bowl, combine brown sugar and flour. Stir in milk and syrup, then butter. Microwave at high 2 to 4 minutes, or until mixture boils; stir well. Microwave 3 1/2 minutes. Stir in nutmeg. Serve warm.

-----------

Since we eat a lot of ice cream around here, we have a lot of those nice plastic containers. I use them for storing leftover soups, chilis and beans in the freezer and also for sending them home with the kids-my good containers would never be seen again if they went out the door. I also use them as organizers for my craft paints and things. You can see those in a former post where I show how to make a "Repurposed Organizer". 

----------------------

Happy Homemaking

Carolyn Wainscott

THE REALLY BIG, REALLY CHEAP SCOOP

No, I haven't completely lost it, not any more than usual anyway.

My "green" sense is kinda always in gear, I've just been toying with some things that we have in abundance around here and I hate to have so much plastic go into the trash.

Since I am a quilter, all those milk and distilled water plastic jugs could be used possibly for templates if the time is taken. I have been working with creating organizers but the water jug I was experimenting with didn't fill the bill. It did show some promise in another direction, though. Having spent enough quality time together to know it wanted to continue its life as useful and not be looked upon as just another piece of trash,  we came up with a design to allow the Plastic Jug or "PJ" as he wants to be called,  do just that. 

The magic marker  magically glided around "PJ" and when I followed the markings with my exacto knife, voila, a really large scoop came into existence. 

So from the job of holding one of our most important commodities, water, "PJ" still has a job to do. 

"PJ" has become  the really big, really cheap [mmm-economical] "Scoop", scooper of the dog food, the one scoop scoop. No more multiple dips into the bag, now you can do it with just one-"Scoop".

The following video was made to detail the process of PJ Scoop's metamorphasis from almost trash to useful treasure.

It can be seen at http://www.favecraft.com/, the online craft site that offers all free patterns, instructions, videos and tutorials in many crafts-crochet, knitting, jewelry making, paper crafts, kids crafts, recycling, and much, much more.

Who knows, you may have PJ's brother in your cupboard.

Happy crafting. Would love to see your "green" creations.

Contact me at: quiltngrin@blogger.com

Carolyn Wainscott
the quilting granny