Custom Order Goodness

We've been super busy over here-- it's up to Mum to show you what else has been going on...BUT this is what I have been up to in the evenings. 

I might just be sewn out.... 

Wallygator

Here's my prototype for an alligator version of the fish. 

 He has a zipper for a mouth. 

He is fully lined and has pointy little teeth. 

 His stuffed legs have claws 

And he can eat a ridiculous amount of toys. 

Since Jennifer asked I will probably try to do a tutorial for him ( not that I make any promises to complete one before her kids graduate ...college...) He is actually a really fun and simple sew once the pattern was created.... until then he made my brain hurt. 

Fish are friends- not food!

Some of you may have already seen that I made fish... a whole lot of fish.... But I figured just in case I would pop in here and show them anyway. They were in the shop but they all found new homes already. 

 Micah and Bella kept one of them and they LOVE the thing. It eats all sorts of things that it shouldn't and regurgitates all sorts of things where they don't go so it can move on to eating other things... I actually don't plan to store anything permanently in it since they get such a kick out of choosing things for it to eat. 

I am actually working on a few more for a custom order. If I can get them photographed I will show you... it seems lately that most things go out without good photos taken...

here is an example

 The star quilt was purchased and 5 custom bags were sewn to match it.... this is the best photo I have! 

Bad Blogger. 

Hope you all are good! 

Oxygen Bleach Is My New BFF

We moved into this home 2 years and 11 months ago. It was not in our plan to keep the flooring we have. Sometimes plans change. In the mean time I have tried more times than I care to talk or even think about to clean the grout on the tiled portions of our floors. I have used bleach. I have used steam. I have used peroxide. I have combined bleach and steam and peroxide and steam.  Nothing worked to get rid of the brownie/black grout from 13 years of renters.

We are into phase 3 of our kitchen redo on a budget. What?? Wait! I haven't shown phase 1 and 2?? OOPS! 

I will try to remedy that shortly. 

Anyway, my kitchen redo will not change your life BUT what I found out about cleaning grout just might. 

I came across this post and decided to see if it worked. The article said to use oxygen bleach. What is oxygen bleach, you might ask( if you are like me)?? There are many brand names, but the one I have had in my house for the last few years is called "OxiClean" I repeat, I have had this in my house all along. 

Would it work? 

Would it be as easy as the article said?

I had nothing to loose, I'd tried everything else.....

 I may have gotten things a bit too sudsy.

 I probably made my solution too strong but since there was no real recipe, I thought more is better. I used 1/2 cup oxygen bleach to 4 cups water. I think I will try 1/4 cup to 4 cups next time. The advice was to dissolve your oxygen bleach in warm water, then put the solution on the grout, let it soak for 15 minutes and then the dirt should easily be scrubbed away.
The huge plus side is it is non toxic and doesn't ruin your clothes, in fact, to the contrary, if you haven't tried it on clothing yet, you are missing out. 

 That is pretty much what happened. Some spots needed a bit more scrubbing, some turned white in just a couple of minutes.

You can see the difference in these pictures. I was so excited I couldn't wait to take photos until it was done. Poor Jessica was scrubbing away and there I was taking pictures and exclaiming " oh my goodness!"
If you leave the solution on until it dries, go ahead and wet it again before you scrub. There were spots where the dirt literally popped out of the grout. I didn't know whether to be grossed out or fascinated. I guess I was both. 

While I was taking pictures today, Bella photo bombed me. Since pictures of floors, even clean floors are boring I thought her plan was genius. Prior to this, even when the floor was "clean", I was never happy letting the kids roll around on it. Now, as long as we are not cooking, why not?

Before instead of a neutral backdrop for a sweet profile,  you'd have seen dark lines running through this picture. Strike that, you would have never seen this picture and how sad would that have been?

Now I have to do the two bathrooms....

Thanks so much for stopping by!