Three Down Nine to Go

Alright I posted my dutiful dozen last week and here is an update.

I have finished three items on the list

Brown Shirt

I took this old favorite shirt of mine 

made it into a pattern

I love this fabric,

(Here are the pleats and I just sewed buttons on because I never unbuttoned it) 

it has such a great peasant look to it

Kira's Striped and Polka Dot Dress

It is similar to her Easter dress

I put a zipper in this one and finished it in about two hours

Lastly, I restyled my striped shirt

(I just cut one sleeve and remembered to take a before pic)

Eric got this shirt at the Army Surplus store for him

It shrunk and became mine
I wanted it to be more fitted in the arms and sides

I wanted to add a little flair

I have been seeing a lot of little fabric flowers with buttons

I cut the sleeves to 3/4 length then after figuring out the rigth fit I used the serger to easily re-sew the arms and sides. I was going to sew the cuffs, but I like the raw egde.

With the leftover sleeve material, I cut different size circles

Using a zig zag stich around the outside while stretching the fabric it created a little ruffle

I stacked them alternating the stripe pattern and added a button

Instead of sewing the flower on,
I decided to simple put a safety pin on the back and put it on when I want to wear it.

Yeah! I have two new shirts and just in time for my new job.

May Giveaway Day!!!

I am feeling REALLY generous!

So there are THREE items to WIN!!

A set of napkins, fabric covered journal or a eight crayon roll-up

A set of four napkins 16x16

(if you have more in your family, I have enough fabric to make two more, just let me know :)

This a journal covered with some fun fabric

It is 5x7, journal included

I got the journal for a buck at Michael's

Here is a crayon roll-up for eight

crayons

(crayons not included)

Here is what you need to do:

Three ways to win and if you do all three you get an extra entry!

1) Leave a comment on which one you want

2) Become a Follower or Subscribe Via Email

3) Find me on Facebook and "Like" Going Kiwi

4) Do all three and comment you did all three

****What I need is a SEPARATE comment for each one****

If you did all three then you should have four comments, four entries

Then I will randomly pick from the total comments.

Alright Ya'll it is on and I am excited to see which THREE of you will win!!

GOOD LUCK

I will ship internationally

You have until Midnight Pacific Time on May 20th!

Craving Chocolate Pancakes?

I was craving chocolate or something sweet to eat for dinner, yes I said dinner. So why not chocolate pancakes? Well, at least my version of chocolate pancakes. I was googling vegan recipes and stumbled upon this Carob and Date Pancake recipe from Diet, Dessert and Dogs. I was a little leary of the chopped dates, would the kids take a bite and discover it and wonder what it was. Oh well, momma had a craving and she is going with it. I obviously had to tweak the recipe to be gluten free and a few tweaks later, ta dah I have my version.

"Chocolate" Pancakes

2 c soymilk/rice milk

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

2 eggs substitute Ener-g brand or 2 Tb Potato Starch and 1 Tb warm water mixture

1/4 c oil

2 Tb Agave syrup

2/3 c finely chopped dates

2 c Rice flour or GF Flour Mix- I use just rice flour a lot if I can't get to the store

3 Tb Sifted carob powder

1 Tb baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp Guar gum

Directions:

Mix milk, apple cider vinegar, eggs, oil , agave syruo and dates together and let sit for about two minutes. Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix date and milk mixture into the large bowl with dry mixture. Mix well. I use a 1/4 measuring cup and pour out batter onto a skillet heated over medium heat. Cooking for about 1-2 minutes on each side.

I served with a little coconut oil and a drizzle of agave syrup. Oh yes! I found the perfect chocolate craving food. The kids loved them and said they liked them better than the "yellow" pancakes (regular pancakes). They were not too sweet and I did not even notice the dates. I will definitely make these again.

Enjoy.

More Felt Food

On Thursday and Friday I decided that we would all make felt food. I wanted to start getting some of my unfinished projects done since I have a sewing machine again. The list is extensive and I do not want to even write it down in fear of what it might say. I can easily think of about ten off the top of my head. Anywho, I thought if I included the kids we might actually finish one project together and they would have a great time too.

I really wanted to make more whole food so that they would not only be eating it at meal time but practice fixing the meals themselves during playtime. So we made a list of the felt food they wanted. Then I made up patterns as we went. I kept it simple for time and for the kids.

Baked Potatoes
Sweet Potato and Regular Fries
Spinach
Pickles
Mustard
Tomatoes
Red Bell Pepper
Snow Peas
Baby Carrot Sticks
Avocado

                                                 Clockwise: Baked Potatoes watermelon, tomato slices,
                                                  spinach, carrots, bell pepper, snow pea, pickles,

                                             and in the middle:  potato fries, sweet potato fries and avocado. 

I was so happy and they had a blast. They helped me cut, pin and sew. We used Kira's sewing machine. They pressed on the petal while I moved the fabric. It was pretty hard for Enzo and he had to used two hands for the pressure, so it was theraputic too.

My little snow pea....isn't it cute?

Now I consider myself a bit of a perfectionist...my husband would be laughing right now. Okay I am very much a perfectionist. But only on certain things. Sewing is a hit or miss with me. Sometimes I just want it done and if it does not need to be perfect it will not be. That being said, I am happy to admit that I let go of my perfectionism and let the kids have a ball.

These are the ones Kira sewed by hand

Kira and I sewed quite a bit of them by hand. It was great she sat there so quietly and did an amazing job for a five year old. We spent about two hours each day on the project. They were great and so patient. Everytime Kira would finish a piece I would ask if she wanted to stop. Each time she looked at me like I was crazy, "I want to do another one." with a sass in her voice. I loved it. I found something that she enjoys, keeps her busy, educational and fruitful. She was so cute at on point, she said "Opps, I did what you told me not to do" I replied "What was that?"  She giggled and said "I let go of the eye" It was great because I had been telling her that in order for the thread to not come out of the needle, she needs to hold the eye when she is pulling the needle and thread through the other side of the stitch. She finally understood it after about ten times. Came to the conclusion herself that I knew what I was talking about. What a great lesson. I think the life lesson of listening to instructions and understanding why is very important.

Strawberry Lemonade

On Easter Sunday our church had a fabulous lunch catered after the service. This sweet gal from church made Strawberry Lemonade to drink. OH MY! It was so good, not to sweet, not too much pulp, just right. I had two cups and Enzo had one too. Saturday afternoon some guys were selling strawberries door to door and how could I resist!. I told them to come back every week if they could. Plus our neighbor has a huge lemon tree and Eric picked a bag and a half. So I was inspired to make Strawberry Lemonade. It was so easy.

Strawberry Lemonade
1 1/2 cups fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 1/3 c fresh strawberries
3/4 c sugar
9 c water

Directions
Juice your lemons. Add strawberries in the blender and part of the lemon juice. Blend until completely pureed. If you do not like pulp then strain it or strain half of it for a little pulp. Now you have your lemon-strawberry mixture. Add 9 cups of water with the mixture and I made one large glass pitcher full.
Makes about 12 cups.

You can add sparkling water instead of regular for a fizzy drink. So refreshing and not too sweet that your teeth hurt. Enjoy.

Mr Polka Dotted Dinosaur Pinata

We had the kid's birthday party on Sunday and they really wanted a pinata,

so we (I) made one

Mr Polka Dotted Dinosaur

Not bad for not making a Pinata since grade school
I got the kit at Tuesday Morning on Friday.

Party was Sunday

It barely dried in time

Kids decided they did not want to break it

They want to keep it as decoration

Super Heroes to the Rescue Part II

I made these felt superheroes and never took pictures of Superman. I thought I would post about them today. I got better as I made more. Hulk was the first one I made and he is almost Gumby-ish. Then Wolverine was next and I had fun with him and his costume. Superman was last and by that time I had it down what stitching worked best. I used a zig-zag stitch and setting for stretch fabrics, the plus/minus setting on my Viking and created the super close wrap stitch. I had fun with Superman's hair too. The curl was little harder than I thought it would be. I kept on cutting out the opposite curl and on the third try I got it. Not bad for no pattern
Enzo loves them!

Superman

Wolverine
The Incredible Hulk

Picnic Blanket

I wanted to give a homemade wedding gift to my dear friends. I saw this post for a homemade picnic blanket forever ago(I forgot where). I then saw a tutorial of one down at the fabric store
too. I got one and a half yards of the vinyl and of fabric. I started it in February with the project and then my sewing machine died on me. I need to get it to a doctor and hopefully within the next week, as I have fabric for a Easter dress for Kira.

The ones I saw did not fold over the edge. I liked bringing vinyl side over. I think it gives it a fun look. Now I do not know if the picture shows it but the vinyl has small brown polka dots, super cute. I really want to keep it, so that means I did a good job to me :)