A goal and a finish

The turtle quilt is finished. I added a border to the pattern. Again, it was an excellently written pattern. I really enjoyed making it. It can be found here.

I am quilting the butterfly quilt. It should be finished completely by the end of the month. Which means I have met my goal for the one monthly goal and then some. I am thrilled with the progress I have made for the month of January. Especially since I have had the flu.

And I have made over 100 bars of soap and a dozen bottles of lotion for the winter months. This is the first I have tried of lotion bars. They are more shelf stable and hold their firmness until applied to the skin, and then they melt into lotiony goodness. I still need to get rid of the soaping stuff that I am not keeping and packing the rest away for another day. Next month, we will be concentrating on canning and jars.

I am linking to:

Jos country junction

Making Monday  link in sidebar

Moving it Forward Monday 

main Crush Monday   link in sidebar

show and tell monday

design wall monday   

boms away   link in sidebar

 and One monthly goal

will I finish?

I am still recovering from the flu. I have moments when I think it is almost over, and hours when I think it will never be over.
In the back of my mind, I am wanting to reach my one monthly goal and finishes for January, which is the turtle quilt and to quilt the butterfly quilt. and I am trying to finish up the downsizing on soaps and lotions since January is coming to a close. Before the flu, I was making good steady progress. but now...
I have soap to put somewhere...

And a quilt to finish quilting that has just been tempting me to finish.

I am bored. I have watched stupid Tv until I feel stupid, but it takes too much energy to actually do much. No, I didn't have a flu shot this year. I don't like them. Will I next year? I don't know. I wish I could just trust. My second son was born with an immune deficiency and his first immunizations were dangerous. I waited to give my children immunizations for several months after that. My daughter had the one in a million reaction to the pertussis vaccine, and the doctor wouldn't give it to any of my other children. And then, our youngest is autistic, even after delaying his immunizations for 6 months. I have read so many articles and notice that it is becoming a hate topic. I made my decisions many years ago about the children and wish there was a way to feel completely safe. But I certainly don't want to fight the flu again either. sigh.....


I am linking (links in the sidebar) to:
needle and thread thursdays
oh scrap

turtle top

I have sewn the rows together for Mr. Turtle quilt. It is so very cute. I just love it.

I even made a special label for the back and the flannel back pieced.

and I have the binding together from scrappy bits.

Maybe, this will get finished soon. The quilting frame is empty. It shouldn't be, but I could quick sneak this in the line.
There was a soaping disaster yesterday. I missed the mold a little bit. sigh....
At least it will be easy to clean

I am linking to:

TGIFF

Finished or Not Fridays   

Whoop Whoop

crazy mom quilts

making more soap

more soap. This batch included hyacinth, gardenia, and bird of paradise. I am not a flowery person. But the overall smell in the house was wonderful. I included goats milk, shea butter, mango butter.

I feel a little behind on my rainbow challenges, and my turtle quilt has reached a stalemate. I have the turtle applique panel together. I may not have anything to report by the weekend. Have you noticed that if you concentrate on one thing, something gets neglected?

I am linking (links in the sidebar) to:
needle and thread thursdays
oh scrap

turtle applique

It's time to meet the turtles. I would name them but they are for a gift, so I will leave that to my Grandson. It has been awhile since I used wonder under fusible and appliqued with a zigzag. My Juki is straight stitch only, so I had to welcome my bernina back to life. I used the green fabric from leftover pieces of the quilt blocks for the shells.

more soap - lavendar

I am linking to:

Fiber Tuesday - 

Free Motion by the River

to do tuesday

too cute tuesday

soap and quilts

With Hubby's job ending soon, we are trying to downsize and make decisions about all the fringe interests. Last month, we concentrated on fiber, we sorted, played, and packed up what we still wanted in our spinning life. We even sold a spinning wheel. yay!  If our new life doesn't have room for spinning then it can all go, but hubby and I really like to spin so we went with the idea that we would still be able.
This month is all about soap. I know I don't want to ever be without my homemade soap, but I no longer want to make for others or spend time dreaming up the perfect soap. Our plan was to use up all the ingredients and pack a few containers with soap that will keep for awhile. Hubby loves my soap too and was very enthusiastic about making soap with me.

 Since the soap is just for us, I was just going to keep it simple, no color, no fragrance, regular bars. But my head started with the silly ideas ( why does it do that?). And I needed to think of something for my visiting teaching ladies. So Snowflakes with peppermint were born. Oh no, if the fun has started then what.

As far as my quilting goes, I have only made a little progress on my turtle quilt. I have made rows, and I like them. Next I need to do the turtle appliques.

My old mystery quilt challenge Carolina Crossroads decision was made about the border fabric, and I did cut it. But that's it.

 my old Christmas Block of the month has more pieces cut and only a few pieced together.

I am linking to:

Jos country junction

Making Monday  link in sidebar

Moving it Forward Monday 

main Crush Monday   link in sidebar

show and tell monday

design wall monday   

boms away   link in sidebar

turtle quilt progress

These fabrics are for the turtle quilt. I picked fabrics for this quilt from my green scrap bin. The pattern was wonderfully written. I had it cut in a short afternoon at my Friday group ( including much talking and listening)  and everything was labeled and ready to go. I was impressed with the cutting directions. Little things matter - everything for each block to be cut was on one page. I didn't have to flip back and forth.

The quilt pattern is one I won from Susan at Quilt fabrication for a blog anniversary. I am planning on it being a quilt gift for a Grandson. Here is where I blogged about it. It's also part of my one monthly goal at Elm street quilts and 6 and 6 at pomegranate and chintz.

I made a batch of soap this weekend. Our downsizing goal for the month is to make up all my soap supplies and get rid of what I don't use. I want to have quite a few on hand for our use and to give as gifts. I am nearly out of shampoo soap, so that was the first I have made. It has been a couple of years since I have made shampoo soap. I love how well it lathers and doesn't make my head itch.

I also made a mill soap which is a fancy way of saying taking odd pieces of soap and remelting it.

I was afraid that would be last of soap making as I couldn't find my trusty notebook with all my "secret" recipes LOL.  Losing things has become a way of life lately. We found it today, and I am anxious to stoke the soap making fires. And, yes, there is a happy face carved from my silly husband.

I am linking to:

Fiber Tuesday - 

Free Motion by the River

to do tuesday

too cute tuesday

Are you afraid of lye?

Sometimes, when my soap is looking a little puny, and I want to change it up a bit, I remelt it using a crockpot. This has the added benefit of working lye free. There is always lye in a soap, but the measuring, diluting, breathing, and touching the lye has already been done in the soap that is used to recreate a soap. Quick, easy, and painless...

except for the grating... and your fingers.

Once it is grated, add it to a crockpot on low, add a bit of water, and wait for it to melt completely. It will need some watching and stirring - it can burn. 

This is a great time to break out a fun, new mold to try.

Silicone is great with an easy release after the soap has hardened. I like finding my molds at Goodwill. Judging from how many are donated to Goodwill, it seems baking with silicone was a good idea, that has come and gone.

 

 

A Bit of the Ocean Lather

The link for this soap is not in English, but it is a beautiful piece of art. The water looks translucent and would more than likely contain glycerin which is always good for your skin.

Soap good enough to eat

Yum - doesn't this look tasty? This is a link to melt and pour soap and all the fun ways it can be used in soap making. I have not had much luck with it, and the results are more for fun and show than skin benefits.

This soap ( Melt and pour cheesecake soap slice) was made by Jeanne Mac and found on pinterest.

Time for more soap

I needed another batch of soap for home use. This is banana nut bread. It smells good enough to eat. I wanted a little more swirl to it so that it looks like banana bread as well.

My favorite ingredient in this batch, besides the fragrance, is shea butter. I love how it moisturizes my dry skin.

Exfoliating Almond Meal soap

We sold out of this soap at the Winter Woolen. I'm sure the yummy smell had something to do with it.

This soap contains almond meal, that I ground from raw almonds. The vitamins alone are worth the extra effort, but it is a wonderful way to gently exfoliate as well. I scented it with the obvious almond honey fragrance oil. I like this soap for my eczema days, as it removes the scaley skin that accumulates.

Shampoo Bar a big success

These are the finished shampoo bars. I used one on my hair and loved, loved it. The suds and lather were better than my expensive shampoo. I had scented it lightly with Berries and cream, and that was refreshing. My hair looked great, and my perm didn't frizz as much as it dried. We sold several at the winter woolen this weekend. One customer was excited to carry it in her luggage for vacation. It would work better in an airport as well. I added silk to the bar during the water, lye reaction.

This soap is available at my Etsy store.