Recycling Clothes or Restyling Clothes, However You Want to Look at It

Our little thrift store in town has this fill a bag for $5 going on right now. The bag is one of those 13 gallon trash bags. A ton of the clothes will fit in that size bag and I never did fill mine either time I went. Lots of the clothes aren't in style anymore the way they are made etc. I went in today looking for nice stretchy fabrics for some children's leggings I want to make. I was looking for funky fabrics, wild fabrics and pretty, but mainly stretchy. Threw some tee shirts into my bag as well. I found some cute fabrics and also needed some long pieces since some of the little legs I am going to sew for are long ones. I got a load washing now in the washer and one load of them drying. If you're like me you like before and after pix and if this goes good I might can post some afters. Wink wink. 

I have been checking out some you tube videos of some ladies making the little leggings for babies and toddlers and some are reusing fabrics like I am about to do. I also found some free patterns on some of the video's as well and instructions as well. Really don't think I'll need instructions though. I do plan on cutting out some seams on one of them as well since there are side seams that really isn't necessary. I just hope I get the legs long enough! LOL IF I get them to long they can bunch them up, but to short wont be good. Here is one link I found for a pattern. There are many of them. Baby Leggings Pattern

I have went to the little thrift store here in town like 3 times now getting these bags of clothes for various things. One of my little friends needed some clothes and I found her a bunch of little things. It's a really good deal and a very good way of getting rid of clothing so they can put in new stuff. Here are the things I found today for making leggings and such with.

Black fabric with all colors of lines in it. Most of these fabrics are the slinky fabrics as I call them. 

 Another slinky fabric with blue, white, and black. I think these will be some really cute leggings!

Then the next piece is navy blue and white. 

Tee shirt fabric shirt with various of colors in it. 

 Black and white complete with a bow. lol

 Then another tee shirt. It has something on the back of it but I can get what I need out of the front of it for one pair.

A black and white slinky again. This will make some good leggings. I can use some of that black band on the bottom there for the top waist band and for the bottoms of the legs if I chose to do so.

This one is another slinky type fabric. Has the long ties on it to tie at the neckline. Could use that as my waistband/leg bands as well.

I LOVE this next piece! LOVE the colors of it! Has a wide band at the bottom as well. 

Got one more pair made from this one. It was a little to short so I added a band at the waist to make it work. Not going to hem these nor do the elastic yet until I found out their measurements so I will know for sure.  I don't know if you can tell or not from the above pic but there was a really wide band on the bottom of it. IF the pants was to be to short I can add the little ruffle like they do and that will make them longer.  I dearly love this type of flimsy fabric, but it sure is hard to sew and get to lay right when you're trying to sew it together. 

This one is some of that athlete shirts. It's a blueish color and I think would even match the above piece for cuffs or waistband if I chose to do that. 

NOW I need to fix me a hanging thing in my sewing room to hang all these on so I can choose which one I want and they don't get all wrinkled. Don't know about you, but I HATE messing with wrinkled up fabrics! 

I also like this one and might do one or two like this. Just not sure how I want to do them yet. Leggings with a Skirt Attached

This teal skirt is really huge and I can make a bunch out of it. It's also tee shirt fabric. I can make two to match so they can be twinkies. 

I made a couple pair pants last night out of the above skirt. I used the original hem on it for the hem on the pants. Here is one of the pair of pants. I used the wide elastic and everything that was in the skirt for both pair pants. All I have left to do for both pair is to sew the edge of the waist band down since I used my serger to sew on the elastic and then sew down the middle of the elastic to keep it from folding in half like they tend to do sometimes. Lighting isn't the best since it was dark when I took the pic of the pants. I am guessing big time on the lengths and on the waist sizes since I really don't know their measurements. These are suppose to be leggings but I think the legs are much to wide for leggings, but I guess we shall see.

This next piece I thought stretched better than it does. Might have to do this one on the bias for a smaller baby since it really needs to stretch.

This one is black A line skirt with wide waistband. If I am remembering right it's like tee shirt fabric. I have several tee shirts as well in various of colors that I wont bore you with since they're just plain and solid colors.

OK I think that's about it on the clothing. Now to get to sewing. lol 

I sure hope you guys are having a great week!

Rose

Edited to add:I found a few more tee shirts, nice thick fabric ones for a buck each at the thrift store so I bought them. The yellow one was a tank top but my friend always loved butterflies.  I knew it would make a pair for her baby so I bought it. 

The white background one was a tee shirt fabric baby blanket. I could probably make 2 more from it. A little skirt added to one would be cute to. Love how they're doing that now and the ruffles to on the bottoms. I had so much pieces of fabric left over on the blue stripe one I made bath clothes with it for her to. You can see the neck piece of the fabric at the top above the little pants. She's so tiny at a year old she only is in a 6-9 mo. and some of the 9 mo. are to large. She's also walking and she doesn't look like she should be walking she's so little. Just a doll I tell ya! SO precious! Those yellow ones with the butterflies..... see how wide the legs are? That was the 1st pair I 

made. I added length to the pattern and when I started trying to pen it together I was like something is really really weird here. What it was, the pattern was UPSIDE down! I'd found it online and I was like what in the world? So I finally figured it out and it WAS upside down so hence the wide legs because I was making what I THOUGHT was the waist wider. I am hoping they fit her since I don't know measurements and just guessing at it. 

OK will share more of the afters when I get them all made. OH and I did get measurements of my 2 nieces and I got to add a ruffle to the one I hadn't finished yet. Was waiting to see measurements and it's about 2" to short.
Rose

Well we replanted zucchini and yellow squash today (July 23rd) and some cucumbers. Ours did OK but didn't get enough to even hardly put up any. So I decided to replant in hopes of getting some more before winter sets in. I think I must have put up like 7 or so quart bags of finely shredded zucchini and about that many spiralized. Since we're doing low carb and have been for quite a few years now I use the spiralized ones for spaghetti.

I told hubby this evening I thought we needed to make our garden 3 times the size it is now because even the okra we're not getting enough in one batch to even have a mess for us. Takes 2 pickings to get enough. I wanted to can some in quarts and then can some tomatoes in pints for cooking together. They're so good done like that. I think I have canned 4 qts. of the okra so far and that's it on it. Haven't gotten enough tomatoes to even can any yet. I have no clue what's going on this year with the gardening seems no matter how hard I try it's just not happening or making enough.

Now tomorrow I will plant the other garden closest to the house in hopes it does really well and I can get some things canned out of it. I sure hope you guys are getting more put up than I am.

I guess this is all that's happening lately other than me pulling something in my left shoulder getting out of the bed a couple weeks back. It's taking it's ever loving time to heal to. I just let the rattlesnake pole beans go to seed because of it. I canned like 20 qts. so that should be enough. I still have some left from other years anyway.

I got some plums out of the freezer yesterday I'd put in there last year to make jelly out of. The freezer is full and it was taking up a lot of space since they were whole ones. I cooked them down and got out the seeds. I plan on canning those today and making sugar free jelly with them. I'd love to have some blueberry, strawberry, and blackberry sugar free jelly to but I don't have any of those. The stuff is almost 4 bucks a jar and hubby can eat one jar in 4 settings! He wants it to mix with his peanut butter but wont get but 3-4 servings out of one of those little jars. ☹️ SO I figured I'd try to make some. Just wondering how many of the little pints of strawberries it would take to make about 20 half pints? Might have to check into that. 😃

OK I think that's all for today.

Baking Gluten Free Sugar Free Desserts and Wilton Baking Pan

Well a few days ago I was watching one of my cooking video's on you tube I like to watch. He or she can't remember just the one shared this Wilton baking pan and was using it in the vid and said there was a link below the vid. I'd been wanting one of these pans for like 2 years at least now. Everyone I'd found they wanted almost 20 bucks for it and I just couldn't do that. I have my limits on what I will spend on things. So I click on the link and this is a WILTON baking pan for 7.49 and I about fell out I couldn't believe it. SO I start reading all the comments which were hundreds and decided I was ordering not one but TWO. It has 12 square holes in the pan and I will post the link just in case anyone is interested in it. I got mine in the mail today and already tried them out and love them. They are nice heavy pans to. I couldn't believe how heavy they are for the price.

I've been getting a few zucchini from the garden so I have been spiralizing some and finely shredding some for the freezer for winter baking. Next I need to slice some in rings, but first I need a few more bags like this. I want to make some spaghetti out of the spiralized ones. We don't eat spaghetti noodles so we'll use these as our noodles.

So I got in there and hubby was finely shredding up the zucchini while I threw the walnuts into the food processor to whiz them up just a little and getting the recipe ready. I even forgot 4 of my eggs that I didn't put in there until AFTER they both were in the oven cooking! LOL Was wondering WHY it only filled up 7 holes on the 2nd pan although I had added in a little shredded carrots in mine as well. I will also post the link to the recipe in case anyone wants that to. Also on the icing I just use cream cheese icing and used my stevia in it. You can find that recipe all over the internet. Just look for sugar free cream cheese icing. The recipe for the muffins that I add all spice, 1/2 cup shredded carrots, pumpkin pie spice to so it would be a carrot cake and made them in the square hole Wilton baking pan. https://lowcarbyum.com/coconut-flour-zucchini-muffins/

Now the link for the Wilton baking pan before I forget that. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008KE7JLG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Now for pix of my baking. I am no cake decorator by a long shot. To stressful to do that for this one! Here are both my pans and one is out of the cover and one isn't. That is a full sized colander sitting there with peppers in it.

This is my carrot cakes iced with the cream cheese icing. Oh man they are so good. I ate to many! lol I am stuffed. Low carb and gluten free AND sugar free. This recipes uses the coconut flour and no they do not taste at all like coconut. The spices I told about above was used and that is what you taste. You can't taste the zucchini either. I shredded the zucchini up fine as well as the carrots. Or Hubby did the zucchini that is. 

Then here is hubs plate. He is a happy camper to say the least. He told me like 3 times so far how good these things were. He said they were awesome. Needless to say this is a keeper recipe! She has some really good ones that I have used in the past as well. Fair warning though do not load up on these because they have coconut oil in them and the carrots AND the zucchini has fiber. Lot of fiber here........So yeah, eat only one. lol Freeze the others.



I really really like my Wilton baking pans!
Well that's all for now. Maybe if it rains again tomorrow and cools things off I can bake something else in the pans. One lady on the comments at Amazon said she likes to do her meatloaf in it. Then another said she uses the pan to make personal sized stuffing for her family at Thanksgiving. How neat and one said pound cake. How cool would that look to have a square pound cake in a serving size with strawberries and whipped cream on top? So many good ideas!

Have a blessed day!
Rose

Gardening

I have been doing a lot of gardening this spring and summer. I have okra, rattlesnake pole beans, zucchini and yellow squash, egg plants, cucumbers, bell peppers, cayenne, banana peppers, and tomatoes planted. All of it is finally starting to make and we're in a heat wave right now. Heat index up to 108 today and sure hope it gets back to normal really soon because this is miserable with our humidity to.

We picked our first okra today and I made some okra and tomatoes with it. I just cut it like you're going to fry it and added some avocado oil to my skillet and stir fried it a bit in some onion flakes, sea salt, and garlic. Then I added a pint of tomatoes I'd canned a few years back. I cooked it until the okra was done. I plan on putting up some chunks of tomatoes this summer in jars as well as the okra so I can put them together like this and cook them for a side meal. We're all on low carbs around here so having a bit of trouble with side dishes since we've been at this for awhile now and getting tired of the same O same O.

I have canned 8 quarts of the rattlesnake beans so far and sure hope I can get more of them canned. With this heat the beans are having a time of it since they don't like hot temps. Leaves are turning yellow and falling off. :( Also fighting birds that keeps wanting to build in the trellis they're on and not having that because they will squawk at me the whole time I am trying to pick my beans. That will drive me bonkers! Sigh

A precious lady gave me some canning jars the other day and that was a huge blessing if you know how much those things cost these days. I am really on the look out for wide mouth ones at the thrift stores when I get to go. Most of the time I can get them for .25 each and I grab them. I am only buying those now since I would like to have more of those. Got plenty of the small mouth ones now I think. I've been trying to get all the jars cleaned she gave me so they will be basically ready when I need them. I usually re-wash in the dishwasher when I am ready to use them, but they had stuff stuck in the bottom of them I was trying to get out so they'd be clean.

I have a gallon of cucumbers in the fridge now soaking in their pickling lime. Someone shared a Claussen fridge pickle recipe the other day so I am going to try that one. They said no way to make them taste just like theirs, but close. The recipe didn't say anything about soaking them in the lime but I know this helps them have crunch so I am doing it. I have my own dill planted I will use as well as some dehydrated garlic I did as well. Going to use some of that in them. Tomorrow I will rinse out the lime really well and then got to soak them again for 3 hours it said on the lime bag. Then I can get the Claussen recipe out and get them made. Here is the recipe in case you'd like to make it. This will be my first time to try this one. I hope it's good because my daughter dearly loves these pickles!  https://www.foodiewithfamily.com/homemade-claussen-knock-off-pickles/

So this is what I have been up to now for weeks, gardening. I am hoping I can get a few things canned this year. Hope you guys are doing some canning to.

I guess this is all for now.
Happy canning
Rose

Summer in the South

WOW how time flies. Been awhile since I have been on here and just now seeing just how long!

 I have been so busy with planting seeds and growing seedlings and then bringing them inside and taking them back outside. Then finally got it all transplanted into flower beds and into the garden and having to water it since we were having no rain. Got rain today thank the good Lord! So now everything is starting to come in so we're happy campers around here getting fresh veggies.

So nice having your own fresh vegetables knowing how they were grown etc. I canned 8 qts. string beans yesterday and that was the 1st for this year. I sure am hoping I get to can 3 or 4 times that amount. Our cucumbers and squash has just started coming in as well.

Sure hoping you guys are being able to can some things this summer for your families.