Little Girl's Aprons - Two Ways (Regular Hem and Laced Edge)

This is a really easy project that you can do in a couple hours...Maybe just one if your internet doesn't suck as bad as mine! (I was trying to watch TV on my computer while I did this, and it kept messing up. So annoying! And we just got broadband!!!! Grrrr....I digress....)

My pastor's wife asked me to make two aprons for her granddaughter for Christmas. This was the fabric. I decided to make them two different ways. It is just a 1/2 yard of 44" wide cotton fabric for both.

First thing I did was to fold each piece in half and stack them on top of each other. Then I cut 4 inches off the top of both of them.

The 4 inches I cut off would become the straps. I folded up about 3/8 of an inch on either side of the straps and ironed them.

Then, I folded them in half and ironed them.

So then, I folded up 3/8 of an inch on the sides of the actual apron parts. (I'm just showing you one as the example here, but I did them the same so far.)

And then I folded that fold over again and ironed.

Okay, this was on the Paris one and not the cupcake one: I cut off the corner of the sides and bottom hem. . .

And I folded the bottom up once. . .

And again, and pinned it in place. I did this to both bottom corners of the Paris apron only.

Then, I pinned it from the right-side. (I always pin things on the right side, because I like to see it while I sew. It just tends to look nicer if you sew the side that will show.)

So, here is my Paris apron so far. It has all the sides and bottoms neatly hemmed.

Along the raw top edge, I did a 6-point basting stitch.

I used my basting to gather the skirt.

Then, I found the middle of the skirt and the middle of the sash and put pins there. (Incidentally, I made sure the pattern was top-side up on both the apron and skirt so it would look right when finished.)

Then, I pinned just the one edge of the sash to the top of the skirt--pinning out from the middle.

I sewed that down.

Then, I let the sash folds fall into place and pinned those--again from the right side. (This picture is showing the wrong side.)

This is the right side. I sewed it down.

The finished Paris apron (from the back).

Okay, so this is how I did the cupcake skirt. I folded the sides of the skirt part in twice and ironed, but I left the top and bottom edges raw.

I basted the top edge and then stitched it to the sash the same way as before. (Again, making sure the print was top-side up.)

Okay, so it kinda looks done, except the bottom edge is still raw.

A closer look at the bottom edge.

Enter: cotton eyelit trim. I stitched the right side of the lace to the right side of the fabric.

It's hard to tell here, but the eyelit trim is sticking out about 1/8" from the pink fabric. This is to make sure the "raw-ness" of the unfinished edge gets covered.

Other than the first pin, I didn't use pins for this because I wanted to make sure the trim and the fabric ended at the same time. (In other words: No ease to worry about.)

So here is it from the right side.

All I did was fold the trim back and iron it.

Here it is with the trim ironed back. I didn't need pins now either because it was laying the way it needed to. Now, all I had to do was stitch it down.

The right side. A finished edge.

The wrong side. Still a finished edge.

And from the inside of the waistbands, the edges are also finished.

The End!!!

Eggplant and Chicken Polenta Casserole

I wanted to make something that would use up the ripe eggplants that my husband has been growing in his garden, but I make Eggplant Parmesan all the time, and I wanted a change. I searched for a recipe into which I could also incorporate some of his ripe tomatoes, sage, and fresh basil.  I found a recipe for Eggplant Polenta Casserole in my vegan "Forks Over Knives" cookbook, but since my husband wishes he could get more protein, I added a chicken breast and two eggs. (If you do it my way and add chicken, you will end up with about three cups of extra chicken broth that you can use for something later.)

Polenta:

The recipe called for five cups of water and 1 1/2 cups of cornmeal, but I didn't have cornmeal, so I improvised.

5 cups water

1 cup washed quinoa

1 cup flaxseed meal

dash of sea salt

(handful of mushrooms)

(1/2 cup of grated cheese)

(2 eggs)

I boiled 5 cups of water and gradually added the quinoa and flaxseed until the mixture was creamy. It took about 15-20 minutes, stirring often. Then, I added a dash of sea salt. Once that was finished, I put it into a glass mixing bowl and set it aside to work on the next part. (Before I put it all in the oven is when I beat two eggs, 1/2 cup of grated cheese, and the mushrooms into it.)

Casserole Filling:

1 large onion, diced

1 large bell pepper, diced

2 eggplants, diced (My husband's organic garden variety are about half the size of the steroidal ones you get at the grocery store.)

1/4 cup minced garlic

2 large tomatoes, diced

1 cup fresh, chopped basil

1 sage leaf, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

Once I set aside the polenta from the cooking pan into the mixing bowl, I used the same pan to sear and then boil a frozen chicken breast. I boiled it in 3 cups of water for 10 minutes. While that was happening, I went ahead and chopped my onions, bell pepper, eggplant, and garlic. I came back to my chicken breast and let it rest on a plate while I converted the stock into a glass jar for using in soups later. I don't know why it looks cloudy in this picture, because it's actually translucent.

Then, I put my chopped vegetables into the same cooking pan and started sauteing them while I diced the chicken breast on its plate. After that, I diced the tomatoes and added them to the other vegetables and continued to saute (about 10 minutes overall). I preheated the oven for 350 degrees. While the vegetables were continuing to saute, I chopped the basil and one sage leaf and added them and the chopped chicken breast into a 9"x13" casserole dish.  Then I added the sauted vegetables to the casserole dish and tossed them all together. 

This is the point where I then beat two eggs, a handful of mushrooms, and 1/2 cup of grated cheese into the polenta. I poured the polenta on top of the vegetables and put them into the oven for 40 minutes. (You can see in the picture that I also sprinkled some dry basil on the top. That was just to make it more photogenic.)

After 40 minutes, I opened the door to take this picture, but then I turned the stove off and let the whole thing cool down on its own--Free cooking energy! (I also burned my finger when I pulled the shelf out to take the pictures, and I'm icing it while I type. . .which is so annoying, and I don't recommend it!)

The End.