Easter! Eggs and Bunnies

Oh my, Easter is next Sunday! How did that happen? I feel like Alice's rabbit "I'm Late!". Find the tutorial on How to make natural looking Easter Eggs from last year. I love these, and just put them out on my mantel for 2018. Little white bunnies and a hand made (by me) faux bird nest with the natural looking eggs in it. 

I love bunnies, and have been collecting them for awhile. But I've lost some of my bunnies, I know that I put them in a very safe place...oh, where? Maybe I'll find them in time for Easter!

Potato Soup for St. Pat's Day

I haven't made Potato Soup in years, but for St. Patrick's Day I thought that I would give it a try. It turned out amazingly good. When I was a kid my mom used to make potato soup and we would have it with lots of saltine crackers in it (crushed of course). Her soup was basic potato, milk, celery, onions, and a little butter. She never thickened it or mashed the potatoes and she used a lot of celery. I loved it! My taste is a little different now that I'm no longer seven so here is how I made my new version. I think the carrots make the soup extra good.

St. Pat's Day Potato Soup

2 T butter (use more if you like)
1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
1 rib celery, finely chopped
1 small carrot, finely chopped
Sauté in large sauce pan until tender but not browned. Add in:
1 14.5 oz. can low sodium chicken broth
2 cups water
1 chicken bullion cube
4 medium russet potatoes, peeled and cubed in bite size cubes
Bring to a boil and simmer until the potatoes are tender. Use the back of a spoon to mash some of the potatoes, but not all.
Add:
1/2 cup Half and Half
3 T mashed potato flakes or granules
3 T Neufchatel Cheese or Cream Cheese
Stir until the cheese melts and the soup thickens
(Optional) Stir in: 
1 medium russet potato, baked and cut into small cubes, with or without skin
Serve while HOT! Don't burn your tongue :)
You can leave out the cheese and mashed potato flakes if you like a thin soup.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

Adaptive Nightgowns for Mom

Sometimes it happens, someone you know is no longer able to dress themselves. And finding adaptive clothing is not that easy. Here is a tutorial on how to re-fashion an already made nightgown into a hospital type gown that opens in the back. Hopefully making it easier for the person or their caregiver to dress. I have been searching the internet for patterns or ready-made hospital gowns, but to put it nicely, they are either very expensive and/or not so attractive. And I did not find ONE with long sleeves!  

I headed off to Macy's and found two very cute night gowns for less than $15 each. Can't even buy the fabric for that price!  

This polar fleece purple one.

And a red and white flannel one, both were full length gowns. I'll show you what I did. First I cut off 7 inches on the Purple one and 8 inches red one. The purple one was a bit shorter and since it was polar fleece I knew that I would not have to hem the edge. I used this material to create the modesty panel in back. Just cut along one seam making a long strip of fabric.

Next, using my rotary cutter and ruler, I cut  the entire length of the gown on one side in back -just were the curve on the neck of the garment flattens out. Put a small hem on the side that lapped over the modesty panel to finish it. For the modesty panel on both gowns I hemmed the modesty panel for the neck - curving it slightly. For the red gown I put wrong sides together with a 1/4 inch seam. Folded back with right sides together, pressed then sewed another 1/4 inch plus a little more to seam (making a French seam), or you could just zigzag to keep from fraying. Shortened and hemmed the modesty panel to match the length of the gown. Added ribbons to the top neckline on both the gown and panel and added two at the waist to tie the gown shut.

For the purple gown I just zigzagged the modesty panel to the back and used buttons and buttonholes to close the neckline of the gown. I added ribbon at the waistline, too. Now mom has two nice gowns that are easy for her help to get on. So far the gowns are both holding up well!