Vintage placemat --> Clothespin bag

Kellie is a crafty momma who blogs regularly at Greenhab and the Green Phone Booth.

I love picking up kitchy vintage linens, napkins and place mats whenever I see them at second hand stores. I have a big collection of them in my sewing stash just waiting for the right projects. Now that the weather is finally starting to get nice again, I've begun line drying our clothes out on the porch. For the past two years, I've gotten by with a plastic bag for my clothes pins, but this week I found some time to turn a cute sunshine yellow place mat into a clothes pin bag.

For this project, all you'll need is an old place mat and some velcro. You can make the bag any size you'd like, so there's really no need for precise measurements. If you were making one as a gift, you might want to line the bag. In my house, I'm Laundry Queen and am guaranteed to be the only one who will ever see this, so I left it unlined.

First, cut a few inches off one end of the place mat. Turn the larger side (which will be the bag) inside out and square off the corners to create a boxed bottom.

Turn the bag right side out. Fold the top in twice, iron, and stitch. Set this piece aside.

With the small scrap piece, fold the ends in, iron, and top stitch all around. This piece will be the strap for the bag.

Before attaching the strap to the bag, you'll want to attach the velcro pieces. One will go on the end of the strap. The other goes on the back of the bag (outside, top) as seen below.

Now we'll attach the strap to the back side (inside) of the bag like this...

Make sure you attach it so that the velcro pieces will match up when you fold the strap over.

Now that I'm looking at it, you could probably leave the strap off altogether and just use clothes pins to hold it up. I like it this way though, because you can sort of slide it down the clothes line as you go.

Enjoy!

Carnival #165

Welcome to the Make it from Scratch Carnival! This is the very last MIFS in April. (Where has this month gone?) Remember, that from now on, we will not be using the Blog Carnival format. Come here next Thursday to share your recipes and projects by adding your link to the MckLinky.

YUM!

Lori presents Garlic Cheddar Rolls posted at Two Southern Girls.

Dana presents Capture the fragrance of spring with lilac jelly! posted at Roscommon Acres.

Kate Rothwell presents 80 Easy Ways You Can Join the Food Revolution posted at MRI Technician Schools.

Katie Kimball presents How to Make a Sourdough Starter posted at Kitchen Stewardship.

PRETTY!

Tara presents It's A Girl Thing!!: "SPRING" Blocks!! posted at It's A Girl Thing!!.

RecycleCindy presents Recycling Plastic Six Pack Rings posted at My Recycled Bags.com.

Batya presents The "Scrap Hat" posted at me-ander.

Kristin Gagliardi presents Craft Room Organization - Cricut Cartridges and Stamps posted at Attempt Creativity.

GET OUTSIDE!
Wallet Blogger presents Growing Carrots In My Garden posted at The Smarter Wallet.

Tammy presents What We're Up To (Garden Update) posted at Simply Beck's Bounty.

Sandra de Charo presents 10 Great Blogs To Check Before You Build a Swing Set posted at Outdoor Swing Sets.


LINK UP YOUR PROJECTS!
Carnival Guidelines:

Link up your recipes, crafts, garden projects, yarn creations, home improvement, or other d-i-y posts. Posts about making something, or helpful resources and tips for making things is what we are all about.

Please link directly to the post, not to home page of your blog.  Kindly link back to the carnival with twitter, stumble and/or from your blog.

Sweet and Flaky Nectarine Tartlets

Spring and summer always makes me think of fruit. These little tartlets are the perfect ending to a lovely, light summer meal. Although the recipe includes making your own pastry, you can make these even quicker by using a store-bought pie crust.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup ice water

1 large egg yolk

1/2 teaspoon white wine vinegar

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

5 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 stick (4 ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

1/2 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

3 nectarines (1 1/4 pounds), pitted and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Instructions:

1. In a small bowl, combine the ice water, egg yolk and vinegar. In a food processor, pulse the 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of flour with the cornstarch and salt. Add the butter and pulse until it is the size of peas. Sprinkle on the egg mixture and pulse just until a soft dough forms. Turn the pastry out onto a floured work surface and roll it into an 8-inch log. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.

2. Preheat the oven to 375°. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. In a saucepan, bring the sugar, water and vanilla bean and seeds to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat. Add the lemon juice and nectarines; let cool.

3. On a lightly floured work surface, cut the pastry log into sixteen 1/2-inch slices. Using a floured rolling pin, roll out each slice to a 3-inch round and transfer to the baking sheets. Drain the nectarines and arrange on the pastry rounds, leaving a border all around. Fold the border up and over the nectarines, pleating the edges; the tartlets should be about 2 inches wide.

4. Bake the tartlets for about 25 minutes, until they are golden and bubbling; shift the pans halfway through baking. Let cool and serve

Quick Kitchen Tip: The Pizza Cutter

Isn't it interesting how when you get married you're exposed to all these new ideas and ways to do things? You realize that not everyone accomplishes tasks in ways that you've always known. To me, a pizza cutter was just that, a tool to cut pizza with. To my husband it was so much more.

It is great for cutting up pancakes, quesadillas, French toast, sandwiches, and more. It is a huge time saver for those of us who need to cut food into bite sized pieces for multiple children. A couple quick passes with the pizza cutter and you're ready to go.

So, pull that pizza cutter out of the drawer a little more often. Give it a quick spin through your pancakes. I think you'll find to be a more useful gadget than you ever thought. You can thank my mother in law.



Photo Credit: MarcPinter

Parmesean Crusted Stuffed Chicken

Spring has officially sprung in Hallock Minnesota so I'll keep today's post short and to the point so we all can get back to enjoying the beautiful weather Mother Nature has finally given us!
Today's recipe is simple and healthy. My family really enjoyed this dish last week and I hope you do too! It's even easy enough your husband can cook this for Mother's Day! hint! hint! ;D

Ingredients

• 3 boneless chicken breast
• extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs, crushed crackers or other coarse crumbs
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1 egg, beaten
• 4 over sized Tb cottage cheese
• 1 Tb sour cream
• 1 Tb crushed basil
• salt & pepper
• finely diced fully cooked pepperoni, bacon, or prosciutto
• finely diced bell pepper - green, red, yellow
• finely diced onion - optional
• about a dozen toothpicks

Directions
Mix cottage cheese, sour cream, basil and a pinch of salt in a blender till smooth. Set aside.

Mix flour, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and a dash of salt and pepper in a seperate bowl. Set aside.

Heat 2 Tb EVOO in a skillet over medium high heat and preheat oven to 350. Using the flat side of a meat mallet, pound the chicken to about 1/4" thickness. Spread a thin layer of cheese mixture over the surface of the chicken leaving approximately 1/4" around the edges. Sprinkle diced bell pepper, onion and pepperoni over the cheese mixture. You can also add some additional Parmesan cheese on top of the veg for an extra cheesy kick. Roll chicken jelly-roll style tucking in the sides as you go. Secure with toothpicks.

Dredge chicken roll in egg then in flour mixture. Place seam side down in heated EVOO. Cook approximately 3 minutes on all sides until a nice crust forms. Place crusted chicken in a greased baking dish. Finish cooking chicken in the oven for approximately 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Jenn cooks and crafts her way to a better bottom line at the Frugal Front Porch. She blogs about gardening, crafts, recipes and raising a family on a budget without sacrificing the finer things in life. Make sure you stop by the new blog meme Strut Your Stuff where you can link up your favorite posts from around the blogosphere!

How To Make Thousand Islands Dressing

Has there ever been a time where you actually smacked yourself upside the head? This was my *doh* moment.

Thousand islands salad dressing: ubiquitous, popular, familiar, and most purchased. I'm not embarrassed to admit that it's my first choice to dress a garden salad. I've always loved it, ever since I was a kid.

Over at my regular blog, Gotta Little Space, I have a 100 Things To Make list, and on that list is thousand islands dressing. So a few days ago I decided there's no time like the present and I just did it. And that was my *doh* moment. Because in less than five minutes I'd whipped up a homemade version of thousand islands dressing that was just as familiar as Kraft.

Except...except I made it with ingredients everyone has in their kitchen, and without the unpronounceable mystery ingredients listed on the product page of Kraft's website, for example:

SOYBEAN OIL, TOMATO PUREE (WATER, TOMATO PASTE), VINEGAR, SUGAR, CHOPPED PICKLES, SALT, WATER, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF XANTHAN GUM, LEMON JUICE CONCENTRATE, LACTIC ACID, DRIED ONIONS, CITRIC ACID, POLYSORBATE 60, PROPYLENE GLYCOL ALGINATE, SPICE, MUSTARD FLOUR, VITAMIN E, NATURAL FLAVOR, OLEORESIN TURMERIC.

I took the liberty of researching a few of the strange phrases for you - if you click on the links it will take you to a description of what they really are. My question is this: if it's this easy to make my own, minus those wonky ingredients, why the heck have I been buying it for so long??

What about you, what's your best *doh* moment?

Thousand Islands Salad Dressing
Recipezaar
Makes 3/4 cup

1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon white vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons sweet pickle relish or chopped pickles
1 teaspoon finely minced white onion
1/8 teaspoon salt
few grindings black pepper, to taste

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Stir well to combine and refrigerate several hours, stirring occasionally, to allow sugar to dissolve and flavors to marry.

Carnival #164

Welcome to the Make it from Scratch Carnival! Remember April is a transition month. Blog Carnival submissions are still accepted, but now Mcklinky links are available. You'll find those at the bottom of the page.
Now onto the carnival.


Good Eating
Heather Solos presents Shrimp Étouffée posted at Home Ec 101.

David Cox presents Awesome Corn Casserole Recipe posted at Cook on a Shoestring.

SimplyForties presents Vegetable Stuffed Pork Tenderloin en Croute with Creole Mustard Cream Sauce posted at SimplyForties.

Lori Vaughn presents Broccoli Parmigiano posted at Two Southern Girls.

Zhu presents What's for Lunch? | Correr Es Mi Destino posted at Correr Es Mi Destino.

Rachel presents Fun Learning Activities for Preschoolers and Kids » Blog Archive » Alphabet Soft Pretzels: Yummy Preschool Snack & Activity posted at Fun Learning Activities for Preschoolers and Kids.

Kris presents Whole Wheat Pasta with Asparagus and Turkey Sausage: A Recipe for Baseball Season posted at Cheap Healthy Good.


Kitchen Helps
Digerati Life presents 3 Disadvantages of Ready Made Meals & TV Dinners posted at The Digerati Life. 

Penny presents My Refrigerator Solar Cooker posted at Penniless Parenting. 


Other Household Helps

Wallet Blogger presents 7 Frugal Tips To Clean and Care For Your Clothes posted at The Smarter Wallet.

RecycleCindy presents Recycled Plastic Fat Bottom Bag posted at My Recycled Bags.com.

Linda@NHE presents Make Your Own Cat Repellent posted at Natural Health Ezine.


Ana Paula presents Top 100 Gardening Blogs posted at Construction Management Degrees.

Wil Procter presents How to make English vocabulary index cards posted at Wil's World of Words.

Florine Church presents 100 Best Blogs for Fashion Students posted at Online Degree Programs.org: Top Online Degrees.


Alex presents Printable Mothers Day Cards posted at Home Life Weekly.


Carnival Guidelines:

Link up your recipes, crafts, garden projects, yarn creations, home improvement, or other d-i-y posts. Posts about making something, or helpful resources and tips for making things is what we are all about.

Please link directly to the post, not to home page of your blog.  Kindly link back to the carnival with twitter, stumble and/or from your blog.