Friday, August 22, 2014

Female Mechanical Engineers

Hello everyone, I just saw this shirt on facebook and had to share it! I studied mechanical engineering in school and I just wanted to share the love! Go celebrate those female mechanical engineers in your life by buying them this shirt!!



http://teespring.com/mefin

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Home Made Mitt Clips

I kindof stumbled onto my latest project:


Recently it was my Mother-out-laws birthday and I was stumped. I've bought the out-laws many gifts in the past that go unused so I find it difficult to pin down exactly what to get them.

I decided to cheat a little this year and look back at my mother-out-laws Christmas wish list and tried to see what she was still missing. She had: a sweater, work shirts, sun hat, mittens (cheap ones because she says she loses them all the time), logic puzzles and restaurant gift cards. She had gotten most of the things on her list at Christmas except the logic puzzles, so yay that's one thing down.

Budget, I strive to spend the same amount on everyone that's relatively close to me except my boyfriend, he's special ;) The logic puzzle book I found was roughly a quarter of my budget so I thought to myself what else can I do?

I thought of a solution to her losing mitts dilemma, MITT CLIPS!!! I feverishly searched the internet and found several mitt clips all ranging around the ten dollar mark plus shipping but they looked like they were designed for a 5 yo. She would not like that.

I thought I could just get the clips at Fabricland and elastic and fabric and make my own. Two clips came to 4.20$ each, I'd need 4 clips for one set, plus the elastic was going to be another 4$. 12$ for one set... I thought to myself "these clips are identical to the clips on my sheet retainers"
and went straight to Walmart. I picked up a set of sheet retainers which gave me enough clips to make two sets for 10$ and it includes the elastic. I figured I had material already and trekked home with my newfound supplies :)

My clips

The clips were a little long so I trimmed the length and cut off one of the clips:
Cutting off the one clips

Then cut in half

From there I cut two rectangles of like colour that would be big enough to wrap around the elastic plus the seam allowance (about quarter inch) and the length of the original elastic plus the same seam allowance. Using the original length gives me some fabric to make it look gathered and so my fabric doesn't limit the stretch of the elastic. 

Measuring the rectangle
From here I cut the rectangle and sewed under the short ends:
Then with wrong sides together I sewed the long ends together:
Then flipped it right side out:
I then slipped the tube onto the elastic and sewed the other clip back on. I also tacked down the ends to the elastic so they didn't slip around:

Repeat the above to make a pair. I made a pair with some plaid I had leftover from my sweater project :) 




VOILA! A complete set of two mitt clips :D 





Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Sweater Repair

I have this super adorable little three quarter length sleeve peach sweater that I've had for ages!

This photo doesn't really do it justice :( 

But sadly a few months ago I noticed a small tear at the back near the top!!


I've been thinking for some time about this, always about to toss it but never wanting to let it go :( Then the other day my boyfriend outgrew an item of clothing and I knew it immediately! It was the one! It was my repair tool!!!

Isn't it the perfect colour? 

So here was my plan, cut out three hearts, zig zag stitch the edges and cover the hole with one then sew the other two onto the elbows. Now this would make the sweater a little less formal but at least I can keep and wear it without having a hole in the back!!

I tried to draw a heart. Then I tried again.... then I decided I couldn't draw symmetrically and picked the half of the heart I liked most and decided to fold it in half and cut the pattern:

From there I cut three hearts out of the fabric and pinned them onto my sweater. I found thread to match the burgundy colour in the plaid and zig zagged my way around each heart. Now the one near the collar turned out significantly better than the others because gosh it's hard to sew on a sleeve! Here's the finished product:


I'm still debating on whether or not I'll take the ones on the sleeves off, open the sleeves, re-sew, then sew the sleeves up again. The worse looking heart is somewhat hidden on the left sleeve right now....




Friday, August 1, 2014

How I cook Roast Beef in the Slow Cooker

I don't generally follow a recipe I just toss stuff in the pot and cook till it's done... when I lived closer to work I'd leave it on low for the am, go home at lunch and crank it up to high then eat straight after work, mmmmmm!

Slow Cooker Roast Beef
2 lb Roast
Garlic
Salt
Pepper
a few medium sized potatoes peeled and chopped to bite size
Beef broth
Whatever veg you have on hand

Throw it all in the slow cooker in the am, set the timer (outlet timer or if you have one on your slow cooker) to about 5 hours before you plan on eating/getting home.

Gravy?

Remove meat & veg & potatoes

Pour juices into the largest diameter pot you have and bring to boil

While waiting for it to boil mix 1 teaspoon cornstarch in a jar and fill with cold water.

Close jar and shake the shit out of it

Once the juices have boiled slowly pour the cornstarch water in while mixing

Mix for a bit while it's heating until it thickens

If after 5 mins it's not thick repeat the cornstarch. Actually make that 3 minutes.

Meal Planning 2

I've prepared a second week of meals for my menu plan! My next challenge might be seeing if I can program a gadget on here that let's you build your own weekly meal plan and have it produce a menu? That might be beyond my technological capabilities but we shall see, perhaps I'll investigate next week!

So without furthur ado, week 2:

Monday: Honey Mustard Chicken

Tuesday: Lettuce Wrapped Hamburgers (This one is pretty self explanatory but I'll post my recipe shortly)

Wednesday: Trout & Pan Fried Veg

Thursday: Crustless Quiche

Friday: Chickpea, Tuna, Tomato, Feta salad, yeah I add Tuna


Groceries

Monday:
Plain Mustard
Dijon
Honey
Olive Oil
Onion
Garlic
Chicken
Salt & pepper
Rosemary (fresh)
Tuesday:
Ground Beef
Egg
Spices
Vegetables (onion, peppers, mushrooms)
Wednesday:
Trout
Salt & pepper
maple syrup
Soya sauce
butter
lime juice & zest
chives
Thursday:
Eggs
Real Bacon
Broccoli
Cheese (mmmm)
Spinach
Carrot
Friday:
Chickpea
Feta
Cherry Tomatoes
Tuna
Lemon Juice
Olive Oil
Oregano
Salt & pepper