Lovely Lemon Laundry Soap (and another face scrubbie ♥)

Happy Tuesday sisters! ♥

I've been thinking about makin' my own laundry detergent for a little while now...just thinkin' if it's cheaper, has less chemically-ish stuff in it, and is not on the "potentially leads to cancer" list... then why not?  I found a couple recipes through Pinterest which got me all excited! (about saving some money on our grocery bill or about how cute this detergent looks in a glass jar with an old measuring cup in it, i'm not sure)

I tried it last night and it worked great (I have a Kenmore HE front loading machine...something the chief mentioned I should take into consideration when I was reading through the recipes and comments)...(I use the right side of my brain people - not the left in any way - i don't think of logical stuff like soap suds pouring out of my washing machine...just stuff that's cute) the load came out clean and smelling really lemon-y...I have yet to try it on rough and tough manly clothes though (heehee) and I chose to make the powder recipe 'cause I'm a powder junkie...no liquid for me, but there are many recipes for both. 

...the Fels Napthia is what smells so good, and it looks old fashioned too! caauute!

1 bar of the soap is a little over a cup...it can be grated with a cheese grater or processed in a food processor, the smaller you cube it the better if your processing it.

I have to tell you that my whole house smelled like lemon when i was doing this part...so fresh and clean!

These were 2 different combinations i came up with by mixing and matching other recipes and through reader comments on Tipnut...I used the first set of ingredients because it seems like the Fels Napthia is concentrated and the idea of using 2 cups of it with 1 cup of each the washing soda and borax would have been to strong. Also, the second calls for 2 Tbsp. per load, which hardly seems like enough but maybe is because of the higher soap concentration?  After you process your soap, it's just equal parts of each ingredient...then 1/4 c. per load...for waaaaay more information...go HERE, HERE and HERE.

After 2 loads of laundry I might be in love ♥ 

...and somewhere in those 4 million comments I read that Tide Powder Detergent, on average, costs .25 cents per load...homemade lemon-y goodness is 1 or 2 cents per load! wow :)

Scalloped Face Scrubbie Pattern

(aunt crochet strikes again!)

with some cotton yarn and a G hook....

♥ch 4, form ring

ch 3 (counts as 1st dc)
11 dc in ring (12 dc total)

join to 1st dc with slip stitch

♥ch 3 (counts as 1st dc)

dc in same stitch

2 dc in each stitch around

join with slip stitch (24 dc)

♥ch 3 

2 dc in next stitch

1 dc in next stitch - around

join with slip stitch to top of 1st dc (36 dc)

♥ch 3 (counts as 1st dc)

4 dc in same stitch

skip next stitch

decrease over next 2 stitches

5 dc in next stitch around

Happy crocheting and laundry detergent making!

Linking to these great parties ♥

Running with Glitter
The Shabby Nest - Frugal Friday
The DIY Showoff Project Parade
Sunday Scoop - i ♥ naptime
Get your craft on Tuesday - Today's Creative Blog
Weekend Wrap Up - Tatertots 'n Jello
DIY Project Parade - the DIY showoff
The 36th Avenue - Share Awesomeness Thursdays

Mason Jar Cozy ♥

Supplies:

leftover yarn...use up those scraps!

size G or H crochet hook (depending on your tension)

mason jar (jelly jar size)

Base:

-crochet 2 rows of the granny square stitch

-dc in each stitch, 2 dc in corners (do not dc in ch2 spaces)

-join with slip stitch

Diamond Shaped Body:

-ch 5

-skip 2 stitches

-slip stitch in nxt stitch

-ch 5

-slip stitch in ch 5 space around, 

continue until it reaches neck (keep crocheting in rounds until you get the height of your jar depending on which size you use-just try it on for size...teehee :)

-join

Neck:

-ch 3

-2 dc in each ch 5 space

-join with slip stitch

-dc in each stitch around (do not finish off)

Handle:

-ch 50

-sc in each chain across (tie off & cut)

-join yarn to opposite side

-ch 50

-sc in each chaing (tie off)

when the sun sets fill with candles!

thanks to aunt crochet for coming up with this pattern out of her own brain...who the heck can come up with patterns out of their own brain?...aunt crochet, that's who ♥

Linking To ♥

       

 

i ♥ face scrubbies

So recently i've discovered i have a love for face scrubbies...what? yes face scrubbies...

I've gotten very impatient with the over-sized, over-wetted, run of the mill...washcloth.

Especially since my 2 girls use twenty thousand of them a week... every time i turn around there's one dripping wet somewhere, or one in the closet or under the bed that never made the folding round on laundry day.

There are a bunch of patterns on the free crochet sites, but none that i really loved...for those of you who are new to crochet, or prefer a simple, straight-shot pattern...crocheting in the round would be the easiest way to make a scrubbie...ending when you reached your desired size. 

The finished size of the pattern we (me and aunt crochet) came up with, is 4 inches in diameter and you would have to know how to

 chain, half double crochet, triple crochet and slip stitch

...make many a scrubbie! 

Face Scrubbie Crochet Pattern

Supplies: 
100% cotton yarn • G/6 crochet hook

Stitch reference:
ch (chain)

sl st (slip stitch)

hdc (half double crochet)

tr (triple crochet)

1. ch 6

2. sl st in first ch to form a ring

3. tr 12 in middle of ring

4. join with a sl st to first tr in round

5. *one tr around post of 1st tr in the previous round, one tr in next space* rep 12 times

6. join with sl st to first tr in previous row to connect

7. *one tr around front post of tr in previous row, one tr around back post* rep 12 times

8. join with a sl st to first tr in round

9. working in back loops only, 2 hdc in each stitch around

10. join with a sl st to first hdc in round

11. sl st all the way around

fasten off and weave in loose ends.

ps. stay tuned next week for a hanging mason jar cozi pattern ♥


Linking To ♥


    

throwin' a baby in the mix

To quote a friend and new mom, "everybody loves babies! everybody is CRAZY FOR BABIES!"

Okay, so maybe not EVERYONE, haha, but c'mon, babies are cute.  And I'm 

~*pregnant*~ 

so maybe I'm feeling a little biased right now.

Yup, you heard right! Another baby is joining the mix here at Seven Sisters.  I debated long and hard on how/when to announce it on the blog.  I considered not announcing it at all, but ya'll might think I'm a little weird when the baby projects start popping up and there was no announcement!  The reason I've felt so cautious is because this baby has been thought of and prayed for and hoped for for the past two years.  I'm not quite ready to share the whole story, but I can say this baby is nothing short of a miracle, and God is so good.  The short story would equal an infertility diagnoses, fertility treatments, and now 15 weeks of perfect pregnancy-dom.  One sentance in no way does justice to any of that, and I hope you'll excuse me and that someday I can tell the whole story with clarity and completeness.

Right now I just feel so humbled and honored for this answer to prayer and huge (little) miracle.  We are basking in God's goodness and still pinching ourselves that this is really happening and staying busy working on the nursery and all those other baby preparation things! 

Speaking of the nursery, that brings me to the first project I can't wait to share, the mobile.  Our nursery bedding is the Migi Splash . We bought it off eBay for a great deal!  We don't want the nursery to be too "theme-y" or matchy-matchy though.  A lot of the inspiration for the room came from the bedding's stock photo, but of course I put my own spin on it.  More on the nursery as a whole to come! But you'll get a few sneak peeks below, like paint color :).  So, we didn't get the Migi Splash mobile, lamp or curtains.  But I didn't want a babies room without a mobile at all!

Enter the Jellyfish Jam pattern by Bittersweet.  LOVE this pattern, SO EASY and it's FREE!  I crocheted 5 of them.  On some of them I added/removed a few rows to the body to make some bigger/smaller than others.   Meet the fam: Alfredo, Stan, Betsy, Fluffy and Tiny Tina.

After I crocheted them, I bought some fishing wire, and found some driftwood (so easy to find at the lake/beach!).  I also had some jute string on hand.  I simply put the driftwood in a cross pattern, and tied the jute string around it till they were rock solid in place.  I also secured it with hot glue on the top.  Looks kinda ugly, but you can't see the glue from where it's hanging (over the changing station).

After that I just added some fishing wire to the top of the head on each jellyfish and wrapped it around the driftwood.  I added a little dot of hot glue at the top to keep the fishing wire secured in place on the driftwood so it couldn't slip off.

I originally thought about hanging it over the crib, but since it's homemade, I didn't want to take any chances since it definitely wouldn't pass a child-safety test.  But to have it over the changing table is perfect, since a baby must always be supervised on a changing table! (and everywhere else of course!) :)

So, what do you think?  Are you baby crazy?  Can you do the jellyfish jam?  Could you, would you, eat green eggs and ham?

Linking to:

All Dolled up in Homemade Dresses

A few months ago I got the idea to make my girls their Easter dresses this year. At the time I didn't own a sewing machine yet, nor did I know how to sew. However, what I did know was how to crochet. I have to encourage anyone out there that has ever wanted to learn how to crochet to learn it someday because there are endless adorable projects to be done! And I mean ENDLESS!! This dress pattern was actually the first patten that I found on etsy that started my clothing making frenzy! 

Now crocheting a dress for a one year old and a four year old is not an easy thing to do. In that it took me a while to accomplish. But every night I would just do a row or too and then put it down so I didn't get tired of doing it. I love that I stuck with it because the girls looked perfect! I found the pattern, along with many other sweet patterns at the CrochetGarden shop on Etsy.com. The pattern is called Lollypop Sundress and they come in both baby or toddler sizes. Happy Crocheting!

This is how my girls dresses turned out. I made my one year olds purple and my four year olds pink. I left out the lollypop pocket in the end because I felt like it took away from the beautiful skirt on the dress. Plus it looked more Easter like without the pocket. I also sewed my own sash for both of the dresses instead of using ribbon because it just made it look a little fancier. And lastly I sewed the bow to match. (Next week: A full tutorial on how I made the bow).

Little L's: My little Fancy Nancy!!

Little E's: I just loved these colors!! So Springy!

 So Cute Matching Bow!

 I hope everyone had a lovely Easter!