PJ tut for CK

my friend asked for a tutorial for making PJs. I am making a pair for my nephew, so took pics during the process:
After you buy, prewash, dry, and iron your fabric, lay out and cut the pattern. there are 2 main pieces. front panel and Back panel. some also have pockets and/or waistband. this is just the 2 main pieces (and I added  pocket)

you will be cutting 2 of each pieces, on folded fabric, so the 2 pieces face opposite directions. hre are my pieces:

now, take ONE of the FRONT pieces and ONE of the BACK pieces and lay them on top of each other with the outside of the fabric facing each other & the outer side seam edges togethee ..as pictured below:

SEW down that long edge.

if using a fabrics that frays easily, zig zag over the seam (or I often do a flat feld seam, but that's harder to explain..and this flannel doesnt really fray, so I did neither this time)

then open the newly joined front&back and iron the seam either open or all to one side.

here is the outide of your front/back attached pieces:

at this time, I added a pocket to the side on the seam:

now, that that leg section, fold (right sides together) so the inside seams are lined up:

sew the inseam. Do all of this with the remaining FRONT and BACK, so you now have 2 pant legs. Turn one right side out (leave the other inside out) slide the Right Side Out leg into the Inside out leg, matching seams:

here is one leg being put into the 2nd leg:

and here is what they look like when all the way inside and lined up:

you now will sew that curved seam- its  the center seam (and crotch)

reinforce the crotch area (I just sew a zigzag close to the main seam)

now, pull one leg out of the other:

and you are now almost done.......

iron all the seams so they fold over the same direction (to make inserting elastic easier).  and iron down about 1/4-1/2: fold:

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now, fold this over to make a band large enough for inserting elastic. stitch close to edge, but keep 2 inches not stitched (like between my fingers in the below picture)

I have to get more elastic. I will finish this tutorial with pics when I do... but here is what you do next:

cut the elastic large enough to go around your waist, add an inch. use a safety pin attached to one end to feed through the waistband casing. pull the 2 ends out that 2 inch gap you left unstitched (make sure it is not twisted), overlap the ends and stitch together (I pin them together first, try it on, then adjust as needed)

sew that gap closed along the edge(to match the rest of the stitching), them hem the ankles as desired.

January 1 Merry Christmas!

I am sitting at the kitchen table with a homemade chai latte and plate of cookies. I need to get all the cookies and Swedish Fish eaten by Monday, so I can get back to logging calories and nutrients.

We celebrated Christmas with my parents and brothers family yesterday. We did the same last year (different reason,though)
I think I like having Christmas spaced out like that. It's less overwhelming.
I had made sock puppets for my 2 yr old nephew. Whenever I watch him, we always wear socks on our hands and make them talk, so I thought he'd like some sock puppets.

And for his mom... A box with easy lid for storage of the puppets on his toy shelf.
In addition to hot glueing the embellishments, I tacked them in place with needle and thread. It seemed for "Toddler Friendly" that way.
Here is a quite visual guide:

I spent News Years Day (morning) charting out my revolving garden. Those parts of the garden I plant to rotate crops for a more year round harvest. I have 5 garden areas for this,  my 3 boxes to the left of the back porch, a box on the right side of the back porch, and a section in the ground I will rotate winter carrots and summer bell peppers. I have sowing dates for all 10 crops, along with dates to prep the soil between plantings. I put all pf the dates into my smartphone calendar with a reminder set for a few days before. 

I felt Quite Accomplished. Too bad I can't devote this much effort to cleaning the kitchen.

HEALTH NOTE: on the first day of the year, I took my vitamins, drank my 2L of water, and met my Fitbit goal! 

my 21 yr old son found an app for my smart phone called HABITRPG. I earn gold by meeting daily goals and tasks (that I list) and can go on quests and buy new armor and swords with my earned coins!

Duck, Duck, Square!

It looks like a duck. This makes me smile. So, I keep the garden area as-is after we move to this house.  Here is my vision for the main garden 2015. (I think the original owners may have had a small tree in the middle of the circle part )

This duck head garden is off the right side of the back porch. The back porch is approx 12'x24'.  The duckbill (carrots and radishes) extends across 1/3 of the porche front edge. I grew some basil off the front edge of the porch last year. Last year I had potato bags off the left side. I now have garden boxes on the left side. I have 2 (Orange), but plan for 2 more (green). I will be increasing th size of th basil garden and moving my potato bags to the left front edge.

On viewing the area today, there may not be room for a Leek Box. And I may put the beans off the side of the blacktop. We have a square of blacktop; the original owners had it as a basketball court. We use it to set off smoke bombs and other science demonstrations. I have other options for the leek box. ... We also have an area that is approximately 35'x10'. It is home to the asparagus and compost pile. I keep trying to get squash back there. I get a few small unimpressive squash, I think the soil is poor.

Easy Gardening

I usualy don't on Sundays, but I had to today. Go in to work, that is. I work 20 hours a week at a local Healthfood store.

I did my nails all fancy today. (I have kinda bad nails, so I keep them covered to help keep them from splitting and ripping)


My spinach box has been open, as the temperature has been 40-55 the past few days. I planted carrots Dec 26 and left that area exposed to the milder temperatures. My smart phone informed me the temperature was dropping to 27 overnight. (I had to ask it first; it may be smart, but doesn't volunteer information)

So, I did quick, easy gardening today. I paid my 18 year old to cut and place covers for the carrots and put the covers on the salad box.

CARROTS (Nelson) :  I had small hoops in place already, my son added gardeners quilt and garden plastic sheeting.

  TWO BOXES with stepping stones off the side of the porch have spinach and Purple kale.    SALAD BOX: by the back door. It has lettuce and beets. I think. I forget. It all looks the same right now to me.

  

YES, I did!

Yes, I did pick spinach from my winter garden today!! Fresh picked spinach for BLTs!

Yes, I did plant carrots seeds in my back yard today on December 26 in Ohio! I hope my Winter Harvest book is right! The author plants carrots the last week of December at his commercial farm in Maine!
He then covers them in plastic. I will do that on Moday. We actually are in a warm pocket this weekend. It has been  in the high 40s to 50s the last two days.

The variety recommended for December planting is Nelson Carrots.

I received more year round gardening books! I got Winter Harvest (by Eliot Coleman) last week. Yesterday I got Four Season Harvest (by Eliot Coleman). Also a little handbook on cold frames.

Combine these with the book of herb growing from my brother earlier this year and I should have a wonderfully productive and yummy garden soon!