Denim Chenille Quilt Made From Old Jeans


I made this about 9 years ago, but accidentally deleted the post from my blog when I was cleaning up and reorganizing.  I found the photos of the process recently, and decided to repost them.  

This is a heavy quilt, great for picnics, and can easily be made in a week-end.

 With three boys, we had plenty of outgrown/worn out jeans.  Even the ones with the knees ripped out and stained worked for this - the backs of the jeans were still good material.

See the t-shirt off to the right in the photo above?  It was our youngest FAVORITE t-shirt when he was 5.  You know the one, the one that you can barely get through the wash before he has it back on...  it had a denim airplane on it that I thought would make a great center design for this quilt.

You can choose the size for your squares - just make sure they are all the same. 
I think these were 6x6

 
The t-shirt design cut out for the center

Next I laid the squares out to find a design that I liked.

The back of the quilt, and what makes the "chenille" for this, is flannel.  You need one flannel square for each denim one.  To start sewing, you layer FOUR pieces.

Layer 1.  one denim piece upside down
Layer 2.  one flannel piece right side up
Layer 3 - A second denim piece right side down
Layer 4 - A second flannel piece right side up

So you are sewing one side, through four pieces of fabric at one time - just one seam.
At least half an inch seem allowance.

If you look at the photo above, you can see the pieces sewn together - first you will have just two squares together, like the bottom row.    

It goes together quickly from here. 



Once I had all the squares sewn into blocks of two, I used the strip quilting method to sew them into 4 rows, as shown above. Then it was simply sewing the 4 rows together.



Once it is all sewn together, you need to snip through the denim & flannel that are standing up, about 1/4 to 1/2 an inch all the way around every seam. 

 I did not measure.  This is not an exact science, just start snipping, being careful not to cut through your seams.

 A closer look at my cuts.
After this is done, through the blanket in the washing machine, wash, and dry.  It will come out similar to this:

It's the washing that gives you that "chenille" look.


A view of the back:




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 Rooted In Thyme 

Yesterfood     




Brown Paper Lunch Bag Valentines

I made these in 2014, for our children and my husband.  I think they all still have them - I keep finding them in drawers when I clean.  :-) They are really simple to make, with some scrapbooking supplies and brown paper lunch bags.



This site has step by step instructions, with photos, for how to make them..  but it's not difficult.  Lay brown paper lunch bags flat, sideways.  Fold in half.  Punch holes, then run ribbon through all the bags to hold them together.  Decorate. Stick small candy bars in the pockets.


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Find an Index Of My Craft Posts here:
https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/p/crafts.html




Winter Goat Diary - January 15 2014


Three of the four babies (two sets of twins) born the 1st & 2nd of this year. 
They were so easy, everything went so well, even through this cold snap, that today came as a surprise.  Although it shouldn't have.  It's not like we are new to this, and no birthing season ever goes completely smoothly...

3:15  - alarm goes off.  Wake up youngest son, who is helping cover the morning milking at the dairy barn next door while the owner recuperates from knee surgery.

3:30am - go back and wake son up AGAIN, make sure his feet actually hit the floor this time.

Go back to bed.  Next alarm goes off at 6.

7am - walk out across deck to survey the goat pasture, nearly fall on my butt.  It's much icier than it looks.  All looks fine - the 4 baby goats (two sets of twins) out in the front pasture are running around, they are almost two weeks  old now.   Notice that one goat is hanging back by the shelter, while the others are all out wandering around. Send a photo to husband at work, ask if she is one expected to have a baby soon..  she's not the one I thought would be next. Walk down to the pasture, find the gate has iced over and is frozen shut.  Not concerned enough to climb the fence, head around back to check on the twins born the night before, at midnight.  They look good - the one is very vocal, but has been since birth, so I don't think too much of it, she's even been hollering WHILE eating.  (Yeah, looking back, I should have saw that as a warning sign)
Ana, Standing in front of the shelter while all the others were off at the hay trough.  A sure sign that a baby is on the way..  but in this case, her baby was HERE, and another mom, also in labor,  had already taken over and was cleaning it up...

9am - Go into the goat pasture and find that the goat I watched hanging around the shelter gave birth awhile ago - and didn't finish cleaning the baby.  Another goat is now in labor, and she's cleaning up the baby that is not hers.   It is possible that the second nanny "took over" and the first one was not aggressive enough to take charge of her own baby.  I suspect this was her first birth, most of these goats are new to us this year, a bunch we bought last summer from a friend of ours who had to return to Greece and couldn't keep them all.

Move the 1 day old babies from the backyard pen to the front with the others, move the baby born this morning to the back yard pen with her mom...  Hoping that the mom will bond.  Hold the baby up so she can eat off her mom.  Mom isn't thrilled, but after a minute or two, cleans the baby up.

Note - I was supposed to be at BSF this morning, but Dan's wouldn't start and I thought he had taken mine.  Turns out he had taken the farm truck, but I'm glad I thought i couldn't go - I really needed to be around to keep and eye on things today.  Even if I did miss some things I should have caught quicker.
Ava with her brand new baby boy. 
 This is the mom that tried to steal Ana's baby this morning.

10:30am - Second Nanny gives birth, one baby boy.  She had been dramatically walking around, pawing the ground, laying down, all morning - mostly in the pasture.  I was relieved when she gave birth IN one of the shelters.  I think some of her walking around was her looking for the first baby, that was not hers, I think she really did believe it was hers.  Her baby is larger, much larger, than the baby born this morning.  He's up, walking around, eating within an hour of being born - healthy and doing well.

At this point, we're thinking if mom #1 doesn't take up interest in her baby, #2 might take her - both nannies only had one baby today.

But when I check on the mom and baby in the back yard, the baby is standing up, obviously has eaten, and the mom is laying contentedly beside her.  I leave them alone.

Yesterdays twins are sleeping in their barrel, all looks well.
Anna, with her newborn baby girl.  For a single baby, she is small.
This is actually the calf pen in our back yard, this is where i keep newborn calves that are bottle fed in the spring and summer, but in winter, its just a "problem" pen - where we can put anyone that is having trouble.  It's attached to the side of the garage, and behind the house, so almost all wind is blocked back here.  
  
11:30am 

Anna's baby (born this morning, in the back yard pen) has wiggled into the space between her barrel and the calf shelter.  I move her into the shelter with her mom, he belly seems full - but she is a little wet and cold.  (It's been raining off and on all day)

Liza's babies - yesterdays twins - are eating off their mom.

The new baby boy is doing great, his mom has him walking around outside the shelter with her already.


Ran Meg to her piano lesson, and while she was there I ran into the grocery store in town, they have great mark down items on Wednesday's when I am in.  I grabbed a couple of bunches of marked down bananas for the goats, the goats love bananas.  And for the kids, marked down subs.

1 day old - their mom, Liza, has mastitis ??  Not sure she does - we used the udder balm on her, but she is giving milk that is normal consistency, just not much of it, even though she has a very full bag.  We're massaging her with Udder Comfort.

12:30pm 
Take the bananas to the goats.  Liza has been a little skittish, not nearly as friendly as Piper and Sandy, who gave birth almost two weeks ago.   Piper and Sandy are some of the friendliest goats on the farm.  I have a theory that friendly goats make some of the best moms..  they aren't high strung.

Liza takes the banana from my hand, and lets me pet her.  Her babies are in separate areas out in the grass, hunched.  I notice that Sandy's twins have stolen their barrel, so I put them both in thinking they just got a little chilled.  We have a heat lamp in that barrel, so I was confident they would warm up quick.

Anna's baby looks good - I haven't seen her eating, but she looks like she is being fed, and I'm trying not to interfere with their bonding.

New baby boy looks really fantastic.  No worries there.
Liza, with her babies around 10:30 am. 
 I am irritated with myself for not seeing the problem (mastitis??) sooner, but everything appeared fine.

2:00pm
Liza's babies are not doing well.  Weak.  The girl is floppy.  We put Liza on the stanchion and her milk bag is hard, and hot.  Even massaging it with hot compresses, we do not get much milk from her.  Meg and I fed the babies bottles - the boy perked right up and sucked his down, the girl ate in spurts, but started to hold her head up. We put them back under a heat lamp, and ran to the feed store for medicine.  A shot, and some balm for her bag.

The goats want to know if I brought them more bananas, and enthusiastically jump up on me.  I am slipping and sliding in the mud.  Spring has never been my favorite season, and even less so when it comes in January, without the flowers.

5:30pm
Another bottle for the babies -- who look MUCH better. The girl even stands and eats on her own.  The boy was trying to eat off his mom while we were out there, I put the girl on her too.  They aren't getting much milk from her, but every drop helps, and I want them to stay bonded to their mom.

The brand new baby boy is out in the mud, and is soaking wet.  we lead him and his mom to a shelter and put him in a barrel.  He still seems healthy - but I would prefer he stay warm and dry.

Ana is standing, her baby eating, with no prodding or help from us.  Very good sign.


9pm
Liza's babies are standing in their barrel and walk out to us when they hear us.  I think we caught it in time!  They both ate well.  We massaged Udder Comfort into Liza's bag - she's already letting down a little more milk.

Ava's baby is in the shelter, but not in his barrel, I tucked him into the barrel.

Ana's baby was sleeping, with a full feeling belly.

Dan was getting ready to head into work, so I backed the car out of the garage for him and let it warm up, then brought our son's truck down and put it in the garage so it would be warmer when he gets up for the 3:30am morning milking next door.  When I walked up to his truck, I could hear
 water running..  one of our boys forgot to shut off the hose after watering the horses this afternoon.  As if it wasn't muddy enough, the entire area is completely flooded and likely to ice over over night...  UGH!  BUT, I'm really glad I walked up to move the truck, or that hose would have run all night long,

Thursday

3am - Gave Liza's babies a bottle - everyone looked good.  Babies took the bottles enthusiastically.

7am - Liza's babies have no interest in another bottle.  Both have full bellies.  All babies look good.  Ana, out back, is doing a great job as a mom and should be able to rejoin the others soon.  Her baby is still much smaller than the others, so I will give her a couple more days if we do not need the pen for anyone else - just to be sure.

11am - We put Liza's babies with her, they ate well off of her and then had no interest in a bottle.

3pm - Liza's girl does not seem perky, but she's eating, just not enthusiastically.  I'm concerned.  The boy is doing very well.  We think Liza is giving more milk now, but we'll continue to offer bottles for the next 24 hours, just to be sure.

8pm - all is well.  Bellies seem full, no interest in bottles.

11:30 pm - Liza's girl is dead, in the barrel, under the heat lamp,  :-(

7am - Liza's boy is weak, and has trouble eating.  Fed him milk replacer using the long syringe like thing that is one step before intubation.


9am - at this point, I'm fairly certain he will not survive, so it's just about keeping him comfortable.  I hate this so much.  We feed all of our goats the same thing.  They all get supplements, they all have their shots.  All of the nannies are healthy.  The temperatures are mild this week - the babies born the first week of the year are thriving, and they survived the "polar vortex" here in the northeast with ease.  The other two babies born a day later than these twins are doing great (even the one I was afraid would not survive - she's so tiny, and her mom wasn't taking care of her..  but now her mom is doing a great job with her and the tiny little girl is out there running and jumping around...)

Liza, the nanny, has shown little maternal instinct.  She feeds the babies and cleans then when I take them to her,  or her to them, but the rest of the time she seems to forget they existed.  She does not ever sleep near them - at night I'd find her sleeping out by the hay trough (a favorite area for our goats) and her babies over in the shelter under the heat lamp where I had left them.  The nannies do not ALWAYS stay with their babies, but all of the others show more interest, and can be found with them regularly.  Sometimes the mommas won't spend time with babies they know aren't going to live - but I don't think that was the case here.  Her milk production was low, but she has milk.  I wonder if we had kept her and her babies in their own pen for another day or two if this could have been avoided.

To be honest, I knew when I started writing this post that babies would die.  I suspected Liza's girl would not make it from the start, and Ana's baby in the back yard, I was pretty certain she would not survive either - have I mentioned how tiny she is?  She however, has surprised me, and I'm pretty confident she will be fine.  Liza's little boy surprised me.  He went from running and jumping, warm with a fully belly, to lethargic in just a few hours time.

This is farm life.  I can't save them all - something I learned a few years back.  We've saved a LOT of them.  Two of the babies out there right now are born to a goat that was an orphan we bottle fed when we first started.  She's one of many success stories.  But we have just as many failures too.

Friday - 
 Around 11pm, last goat check of my night - I find this.  :-)  A brand new little girl.

Tuesday, January 21
  Another set of twins!  It's another super cold week - tomorrow our temps are not expected to be more than around 10 degrees.  As the high.  We moved Ana and her little baby to the front pen with the others, and put the new twins and their mom in the back yard.  Again, one was almost frozen before she could completely dry.  (This happened with Pipers babies too - it's so cold that their fur ices up before they are dry.  We put them under a heat lamp, and Pipers babies are big and healthy, almost a month old now, no problems)  

Wednesday January 22
I could hear the new babies crying this morning, but by the time I got to their pen they were both eating - both standing and tails wagging.  I'm nervous from Liza, so once it warms up a bit (it was 1 degree when I was out) I'm going to check her milk.

A week later with Liza, she still does not produce much milk when we milk her.  Her bag is still high and tight, but her milk is not clumpy and seems "normal".  We don't know what the problem is- it does not really seem to be mastitis.  It's so heart breaking to hear her crying for her babies.


  



Celine Dijon Chicken

As soon as January 1st rolls around, and I start looking for more diet friendly recipes to help with our weight loss goals here, this is one of the first recipes I reach for.  It's from the cookbook 
Crazy Plates: Low-Fat Food So Good, You'll Swear It's Bad for You!

Celine Dijon Chicken
(Original Recipe serves 4, this recipe is doubled, because I have teenagers - this one serves 8)

INGREDIENTS
2 cup unsweetened apple juice
2 Tbsp each Dijon mustard and lemon juice
2 large shallot, minced*
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp rosemary
1/4 tsp black pepper
4 tsp olive oil
8 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
   (the tenders at Sam's Club are the size of a "normal" chicken breast I use those, pounded flat.  The chicken breasts in the stores these days are the size of a whole chicken!)
1/2 cup low-fat sour cream 
2 tsp each honey and cornstarch

*Our local small town grocery store does not carry shallots, so I often skip this, or use onion in place of it.


DIRECTIONS

1 Combine apple juice, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, shallot, thyme, rosemary, and pepper in a small bowl. Set aside.

2 Heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken breasts and cook for 2-3 min on each side, until lightly browned. Add apple juice mixture. Reduce heat to medium. Simmer, covered, for 5-7 min, until chicken is no longer pink. Remove chicken from skillet and keep warm.

3 Gently boil remaining liquid for 3 min, until slightly reduced in volume. Mix sour cream, honey and cornstarch in a small bowl. Add to skillet. Cook and stir until sauce is bubbly and has thickened. Pour sauce over warm chicken and serve immediately.

Per serving:
203 calories
4.4 grams fat
0.5 gram saturated fat
27.2 grams protein
11.5 grams carbohydrate
0.2 gram fiber
66.8 milligrams cholesterol
188.1 milligrams sodium
% calories from fat: 20


Find more healthy choices at the Foodie Friends Friday Link Up:



Verses to Pray - Children

update - the next morning, Priscilla Shirer sent a tweet with a link to this post she wrote, with affirmations she speaks over her children.  I'll be making my own list for in my prayer notebook (Mobile Knee app - I'm pretty much all digital) using all of these great resources!

The MOB Society hosted a #PrayingForBoys Twitter party tonight.  Two of the questions involved scriptures to pray, and since praying scripture is one of my big goals for this year..  I took notes!

Colossians 3:23 
"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, "

Jeremiah 17:7
But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.

I Peter 4:10
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.

Romans 8:37
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

Ephesians 2:4-5
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

Psalm 92:4
For you make me glad by your deeds, Lord;
I sing for joy at what your hands have done.

Matthew 6:33
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.

Psalm 90:12
Teach us to number our days,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Proverbs 22:6
Start children off on the way they should go,
and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

Deut.  11:8
Observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess,

Luke 2:52
And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man. (Pray that our sons would grow the same way)

Philippians 1:9-11
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

Psalm 16:8
I keep my eyes always on the Lord.
With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

I Timothy 4:12
Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.

Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.


Isaiah 61:3
and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the Lord
for the display of his splendor.


Salted Caramel Hot Cocoa


(printable label at the bottom of this post)

This is easier than it sounds.  Trust me.  The post is really long only because I typed out the steps the way I actually do this - placing ingredients in the right areas so I do not forget anything (I once forgot the vanilla) and so that I'm not wandering to the pantry and getting sidetracked, then forgetting what I have already added and what I still need to do.  (Sadly, this has been known to happen on many occasions, with many recipes, in my kitchen...)


Ingredients Needed:
5 C sugar 
6 T vanilla 
3 C cocoa powder
4 T  sea salt 
2 C dry milk 
1 1/2 C packed brown sugar
2.5 C chocolate chips

Materials Needed:
Baking sheet with sides (not a flat cookie sheet)
parchment paper
food processor or blender
Large pan (I used a nonstick dutch oven)
whisk (I sprayed mine with non stick baking spray)


Step One:
-Measure out sugar, placing in a saucepan.  
- Measure out vanilla - leave in a measuring cup or cup to the side of your stove
- Line a cookie sheet or baking pan (the kind with a rim, not a completely flat sheet - you don't want the caramel to run off the sides) with parchment paper

Make the Caramel

Caramel
5 cups sugar
6 T Vanilla

Heat the sugar in a saucepan - do not stir.  When it is all melted, occassionally life the pan and swirl it - still not stirring, but moving the sugar around.  Leave it cook for about 15 minutes, the sugar will melt into a deep amber color.
 The first time I swirled the sugar 
a few minutes later 
almost done


Remove the pan from the heat, and slowly add in the vanilla (it will pop and fizz & splatter - be careful) whisking the sugar until it is smooth again

Dump the mixture onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet with sides.  Let it sit to harden - it will take an hour or more to completely harden.

Now breathe a sigh of relief - the hard part is over.  All that is left is to mix things together.

Step Two:
measure out the other ingredients, set them beside your blender or food processor.

Break the hardened caramel into pieces, then place in the food processor and pulverize.
Add the salt, pulverize some more
Add the brown sugar and powdered milk, mix thoroughly into a powder
(I have a LARGE food processor, if you make this full recipe - you can cut in half - you may need to mix in a large bowl)
Dump all of the now powdered, mixed together, ingredients into a large bowl.

Place the chocolate chips in the food processor.  Add 2 cups of the mixed powders, and pulverize the chocolate chips.  

Mix everything together well.


This is the label I used.  It is not round, and ideally I would have cut it out and glued it to card stock, then attached it to the jar lid.  But instead I placed it on the insert, then placed the jar ring over top.  It was quick and easy.  Simply right click on the photo, save it, then you can paste it into a word, or google doc.  Paste it a few times, to print as many as you need on one page.

To see more 
24 Days Of Simple Christmas Projects
http://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2013/11/24-days-of-simple-christmas-crafts.html