Wood Stove Cleaning Tip

My wood stove and my mother's wood stove both have glass windows. I love them because you can see the bright fire burning in them and it makes it that much more warm and toasty. However, it doesn't take them long to get dark from creosote (the black stuff from burning wood). My children and I have tried several different cleaning products and devises with minimal luck.

Well the other day, as I was kneeling down to scrub the window again, I could hear my dad in the back of my head say "dirt cleans dirt kid." So I gave it a try.

Here is what I did.


I took an old wash cloth and got it wet.


Then I dipped the wash cloth in some old ashes from the stove.


Then I scrubbed the window with the wet ashes and cloth.


Then I rinsed out the wash cloth and wiped the window clean.
It was that simple and in less than a minute I had a shinny clean window. We were again able to enjoy a bright fire.

Fire Starter Tutorial

Happy New Year! My pretties!

I wanted to share a quick money saving tute with you to start the year off right. 2009 was a lean year for us. DH lost his job in January and had a hard time getting into his new job. It made for a very tight year. Things are a bit better but still very tight. I know that many of my readers have gone through or are going through the same situation. Well I have picked up a few little tips over the years to help make do and thought I would start a "Frugal Tutorials" spot here on the blog where I can share them with you.

My house has been heated with only electricity for most of our married life. Christmas 2008 we were able to put in a wood stove (used, but new to us and in great shape). Well it has really saved on our electric bills. We do live on a heavily wooded farm and have lots of wood to clean up from ice storms and tornadoes here so we have a free supply of wood. Just lets say that the wood stove has nearly cut my winter electric bill in half and that is a good thing.

I am a very lucky girl and had a great dad that made sure I knew how to build a good fire. It was kinda a pride thing. I was always tickled when I could build a fire in the wood stove as well as he could in the same amount of time. I love getting a wood fire started and trying to do the whole thing with just one match (another pride thing). Well some mornings I just don't have time for that and need to get the house warmed up quick for the kids. I remembered an old cub scout trick of making your own fire starter from things found in the house. It also saves some items from the landfill.

So..... here is my money and time saving tute for you.






Quick Fire Starters

Supplies

Dryer lint

Paper egg cartons (NOT the foam kind)

old candles





Instructions.


1. Pack the cups of the egg carton with the lint.


2. Place the old candles in the top of a double boiler (can be made from a metal bowel over a pan of boiling water.) Melt the candles over a water bath.



3. Pour the melted wax over the lint filled egg carton. I pour once let it set for a few seconds and pour again to make sure I really filled them and let the lint soak up the wax. Set them aside to cool completely.



4. You're done! You have a dozen (or more) quick little fire starters and you made them all from things you had around your house that were ready to be thrown in the trash.



How to Use Them

1. Place a fire starter in the middle of your wood stove.



2. Put your small kindling around it. (I use refuse lumber from construction projects and take a few mintues to cup them up with my hatchet into little pieces. ) Then place small pieces of wood around that. Place the wood in a Teepee, that is one of the easiest fire starting shapes.



3. Light our starter and shut the door and watch. Your fire should take off quickly and burn well. The wax give you a nice little flame long enough to start the bigger wood on fire.

Here is my little fire after about 20 minutes.

Warm, toasty, and cheery.



These little starters are great to have in your preparedness equipment too incase you have ice storms and have too cook over a fire to feed your family for over a week. :o)

Enjoy!

Crab Salad

Confession: I post recipes here because I lose things and there are some recipes that I am lost without. This is one of them. I have spent days looking for this recipe so I could take it to my Quilt Guild's Christmas Party tonight and FINALLY found it. So..... I am posting this recipe here so I will be able to find it next time I want it AND because it is so fabulous I want to share it with my readers too.

I got this from my daughter's best friend's mom. She has lost an amazing amount of weight in the past few years and when I asked her what her secret was, she said it was a handful of recipes that she loved, that were good for her, and safe to eat (meaning you aren't going to hurt any diet by eating them). They also have a good balance of fats and proteins which fill you up and leave you feeling satisfied. Combined with smart carbs, you have a great meal.

So..... Here is the fabulous crab salad recipe.

Jill's Crab Salad

1 cup imitation crab meat chunked
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup green onion, chopped
1/4 cup green pepper, chopped
1 cup cottage cheese
vinegar (a dash to taste)
Salt & Pepper to taste

Mix together and enjoy.
This is great with veggies, crackers, and a slice of fresh bread and a cup of V8 juice.

Puppy Pouches

I wanted to share a fabulous Etsy Find with you!!

This is Rover.

I am afraid he is my favorite. I know you shouldn't have them, But I do. I wouldn't mind if this puppy followed me home!

Here is another that isn't in the shop yet.

How do I have access to such a photo you ask?

Well the Etsy Shop owner just so happens to be my fabulous Big Brother Sam.

He has wicked sweet leather working skill and an incredible talent for creating these fabulous bags/pouches. I am sure his wife might have something to do with the creative design though.

They were married in Japan and lived there for 10 years before moving onto the farm here next door to me and my little family. It has been great for the last few years to have cousins right next door. His sons helped my poor lonely boy have instant brothers before his own brother was born. My girls have been there to balance out life for his one daughter.

One last treat for you.

"Olivia"

Now head on over to Sam's Etsy Shop "Sam Hill" and send some etsy love.

How do you send Etsy love you ask?

You go to Etsy and log in or sign up if you haven't already, and then check out his shop and favorite it with a little red heart. Better yet, you actually buy one of his pouches.

Hey I will go one more, if you buy one of his pouches and tell him that Lucy sent you, I will include a bar of my fabulous soap with the pouch for free! You can't beat that.

Now run over there before my big sisters swoop down and snatch them up. You have a running start because some of them are techno challenged and can't even log into Etsy yet. hee hee but I didn't tell you that. HA!

Thanks Givings Past

I was digging though some old treasures this week and stumbled on an old book of my mothers that was printed in 1905. It is "The Economical Cook Book" by Mrs Sara T. Paul. Click on the link and you can see the whole book yourself. You can see it here too. You can buy it here.

I love this description of the book!

This is an illustration from the book of the "Ideal" Kitchen. I love it!

In case you can't read it, here is what is says.

"The two views show a model kitchen arranged for convenience, for health, and economy. The floor covered with oil cloth for tiles, the walls papered or painted, plumbling easily accessible, pantries and cupboards ample -- range of the latest pattern, and sinks with hot and cold water."

In looking through this treasure of a book, I found this recipe for Roast Turkey and thought I would share it with you. It is interesting to see how things have changed, and how they haven't in the last 100+ years.

Roast Turkey

"Singe the turkey with burning paper, pick out all the pinfeathers, wash it clean and wipe it dry; then draw out the entrails, and wash the inside of the bird with several waters; prepare a filling as follows: bread-crumbs sufficient to fill it loosely (it should never be packed in any kind of poultry or birds), season with half a teaspoon of sweet basil, one of sweet marjoram, and onion chopped very fine and stewed for five minutes in a quarter pound of butter, which pour over; pepper and salt, and if convenient two dozen oysters chopped fine, fill the bird with this, reserving a little to put in where the craw came from, put the ends of the legs through the opening you made when you drew it, letting the joint come just through the vent, turn the wings back and run a skewer across through them, securing it with a string, skewer the legs in the same way, season the outside of the turkey with pepper and salt, dust with flour, and place in a dripping-pan, pour round it a cup of water. If the turkey is a very large one it will require three hours, one of ten pounds will roast in two hours, and a small one in an hour and a half; baste it frequently. For the gravey, when you first draw the turkey, put the liver, gizzard, end of the wings, and place the neck, and the heart into a stew-pan, with half a large onion cut in two, pepper and salt, cover with cold water and simmer for several hours; when perfectly tender, take out he liver and gizzard, chop the latter and put it back, rub the liver to a smooth paste with the yolk of a hard boiled egg and a piece of butter as large as a walnut, moisten with some of the broth, add a heaping tablespoon of flour, stir this into the sauce-pan, boil up once, when you dish the turkey, pour the contents of the sauce-pan into the dripping-pan, stir it round until brown, pour a few spoonful over the turkey after you have removed the skewers and strings, and serve the rest in a gravy-boat."

Isn't that wonderful!! This is how my grandmother cooked and I would hear directions like this from my mother as I grew up. I love it when recipes aren't bound by measurements and lists of detailed instructions.

This book was found in the attic of the cabin where my parents lived when they were a young married couple. My mom thinks it belonged to her mother-in-law or more than likely my dad's maternal grandmother . We will never know! It is a treasure though and I think I will see how much of this I can try this year.

I would like to take a minute to tell you my peeps that I am thankful for you and your comments and the friendships that have sprung up for me here through this wonderful medium of blogging. I hope each of you has a wonderful week and if you are celebrating Thanks Giving, I hope you have a lovely time with family and friends, remembering the many things you have to be thankful for.

Love, Mama Byrd

Baked French Toast

My dear friend Suzanne fixed this for our Quilt Guild Retreat this past month. It was Fabulous! I use that word a lot but it really was.
My children love French toast and so do I. I may post how they make that but here is how we adapted Suzanne's recipe and made it our own.

4-6 sliced of whole wheat bread cubed or torn in chunks
1 pkg 8 oz cream cheese (optional)
6 eggs
1 cup milk
sprinkle of cinnamon and/or nutmeg
pinch of salt
brown sugar or Sucanat

Butter a 9"x9" baking dish
Place half the cubed bread in the dish.
Cut the cream cheese over the bread.
Cover with remaining bread cubes.
Mix eggs, milk, salt, and cinnamon or nutmeg together in a blender.
Pour over bread.
Sprinkle the top of the bread mixture with Sucanat or brown sugar.
Cover with plastic wrap or foil and refrigerate overnight.
In he morning, preheat the oven to 350 deg F.
Bake for 45 - 60 minutes.
Serve warm with maple syrup, powdered sugar or just the way it is.

Scented Play Dough Tutorial

Play dough was one of my favorite things to play with when I was a little girl and I love making it for my children now. I love how home made dough feels. It is so smooth and has the right texture. I loved helping her make it over the stove and then helping her kneed in the color when it was done. I loved the feel of warm fresh play dough. It was so wonderfully soothing.
As a little kid, I had to attend many meetings and some night classes with my mom. She would pack a baggy of play dough and I knew that I was in for a treat for hours. I loved making sculptures and had all kinds of stories running in my head as I sat on the floor next to her or at the back of the room with a chair seat as the stage for my pretend play.

Well here is the recipe I use now for my kids. I switched over to scented dough several years ago. The one thing I hate about play dough is what it smelled like after a couple of kids had played with it. Now the dough has a nice fruity scent.
I bet you could also use essential oils and have herbal scented play dough. I might have to try that with lavender. Hmmmm.... Any way this is the recipe that always works for me.

Scented Play Dough
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup salt
2 pkg fruit flavored drink mix (without the sugar)
1 Tbsp Alum
3 Tbsp oil
1/2 cup flour
2 cups boiling water

Directions:

Add flour, salt, flavoring, alum, and oil into a large mixing bowl.

Add the boiling water ....

.... and stir.

Add the remaining 1/2 cup of flour if needed ....

..... and kneed by hand .....

..... until smooth, soft and definitely not sticky.

Now Play!

Ozark Christmas Stockings

I know it is still early BUT in true anti procrastination spirit of the Holidays, I am posting my stocking selection now rather than the week before Christmas.

I have a collection of Old Quilt Stockings that I have made. These are made from an old quilt top I rescued from an antique mall here. Sadly the shop is no longer there.

The quilt top was hand made by someone with less than perfect quilting skills however, it was packed with charm and I was delighted with the effort and hard work that had been put into each stitch. The poor top had also suffered some damage so I rescued the top and turned it into a set of Christmas stockings. There were 14 in all but there are only 10 left in the shop.

I also have some stockings made with some rescued and re purposed hand made lace.

Go check it out at

My Byrd Nest

Suzanne's Stuffed Peppers

This is one of my favorite, vintage recipes. I owe it all to one of my dearest friends, Suzanne. When I was a teen I used to babysit on a regular basis for several families I knew. Suzanne's was one of them. I got to watch her two boys. Suzanne is a great mom and a great teacher. She almost always had dinner in the fridge and I would just fix it up for the kids while she was at work or night school. The foods she had were always wonderful and the introduced me to new flavors that have become some of my favorites. This recipe was one of them. I had never cared much for cooked peppers (what kid does) but I would try anything once and I wasn't going to set a bad example for her kids so I tried it, loved it, and have craved it ever since.

So here is the lovely recipe she shared with me.

Stuffed Peppers

1 lb. ground beef
1 egg
3/4 cup of crushed crackers
1/2 can tomato sauce
garlic to taste
onion fresh or dried to taste
salt & pepper
red pepper if you like bite

Mix together by hand, don't over work.
Stuff bell peppers,
add Ketchup on top, and
bake for about 1 hr. 350. enjoy!
I added little strips of bacon to the top because there was some in the fridge.

It was as good as I remembered and my kids gobbled it up.
THANK YOU Suzanne for sharing the recipe. Sometimes you need comfort food and this is it for me.

Blogger's Quit Festival - Fall 2009

I know I am getting in on the last day of this BUT I just found out about it this afternoon. So here I am entering and am so thrilled that something like this is going on. Park City Girl hostessing her second Blogger Quilt Festival and there are, currently, over six hundred folks participating. How it works is quilters all over the world post a blog post about a quilt or maybe two that they have. It can be a quilt you made or were given or even picked up somewhere. BUT you have to tell the story. So here is MY quilt and MY story and I have to tell you, I love it!

This is my wedding quilt.

It was made for me by my mother, and was quilted by my best friend Vea.

The quilt it self is full of stories.

The center panel is a representation of my family.

The seven stars in the sky are me a and my six sisters. It represents the constellation Pleiades or the Seven Sisters. We are seven sisters and if you will notice in the constellation, there are six of them bunched together and one a little way off but still part of the group. Well my six older sisters are much closer in age than I am but we are all still together.

The swans represent my six brothers. They also represent the six brothers from the fairy tale, The Six Swans. In the story six sons of a king are turned into swans by their evil step mother. They only way to break the spell is for their sister to to make them each a shirt from asters. You will have to go read the story to find out how it all works out. ☺ It was one of my favorite stories my mother told me when I was little. I loved the little sister and wanted to be as loving and giving as she was. (You will have to ask my brothers if I even remotely measure up.) I never made them shirts but I do remember making pants for one of them. I did make them all cookies though. The six swans with their heads held high represent my brothers and the six with their head bent are my brothers-in-law. Clever isn't it?

The row of girls around the outside edge represents the song "I dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls".

This song had special meaning for me. It was my favorite song growing up in the late 80's and early 90's, It was one of my mother's favorite songs in the 40's, and it was one of my grandmother's favorites in the 1910's. It is now my own daughters' favorite song today.

It is a pretty special song for me.

I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls

With vassals and serfs at my side,

And of all who assembled within those walls

That I was the hope and the pride.

I had riches all too great to count

And a high ancestral name.

But I also dreamt which pleased me most

That you loved me still the same,

That you loved me

You loved me still the same,

That you loved me

You loved me still the same.

I dreamt that suitors sought my hand,

That knights upon bended knee

And with vows no maidens heart could withstand,

They pledged their faith to me.

And I dreamt that one of that noble host

Came forth my hand to claim.

But I also dreamt which charmed me most

That you loved me still the same

That you loved me

You loved me still the same,

That you loved me

You loved me still the same.

The square blocks around the girls are actually a block called marble floor. I thought that was pretty cool. My mom made sure that each princess had her own spot on the dance floor.

I love the detail that the quilting added to the princesses. They are now Fairy Princesses.

Oh and for you Quilters out there these ladies are NOT paper pieced. She pieced every single girl. My mom really hates paper piecing.

In some of the "marble halls" she quilted castles. I love it!

The back of the quilt is even significant because I love hand dyed fabrics and have been dying them myself since I was in high school some 20 years ago.

So there you go. That is my quilt and my story. I hope if you have a quilt and a story you will share it too.

Happy Blogiversary Giveaway!

Holy Cow. I have been blogging for three years this month. I can't believe it. Time flies and I have had a lot of fun. I went back today to look at my first post and it was about some lovely Halloween Costumes I made for my girls with some help from my lovely friend Michelle.

Well to celebrate my anniversary I would like to give away a child's corset set.

That would be :

1 child size corset

1 child size skirt

1 child size blouse

(I will have a picture up here ASAP of the outfit)

Here is how you win......

• Leave a comment here telling me what you have enjoyed about my blog in the past three years (even in you just found me today) -1 entry
• Post about my giveaway on your blog, face book, or twitter page and invite your friends to come see my lovely blog and giveaway - 3 more entries (but you have to come back here and let me know so I can give you credit
• Go and buy something from My Byrd Nest or Sexy Apron Day -Get 10 extra entries

The Giveaway ends at midnight Central time on October 25th. The winner will be announced on Monday morning October 26th, 2009.

This is my chance to say a big Thank You! to my wonderful blogging friends that have entered my life through my blog. Some of you have become very dear friends!

THANK YOU!

By The Way -- If you are thinking .... How do I get such a lovey costume for myself???

Answer....

Go to Michelle's site and check out what she makes. She has an Etsy, Artfire, and Ebay shop.

I'm a Loozer!

If you were my swap partner and you got this apron.....

...... would you truthfully say that it was better off LATE than never??

Yes I am a late swapper. I will not tell you which swap it is for because my partner would know and because then you would know how big a LOOZER I am. Life jumped up and BIT me this summer and fall and things are not happening as I had hoped.

The apron was very fun to make and I think should be sized up so some of us chubby chickas can wear it too. What do you think?? yes that means I am asking for comments.....

Soap Giveaway!

The wonderful Mindy at Apron Girls is hosting a giveaway for my soap!!! It is a furoshiki 4-pack of my soaps (your choice). So hop, skip or jump on over to Apron Girls and Check it out!!

Passionately Pink Apron Swap is Here!

Shawnee and I are once again sponsoring an apron swap. This month is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and to celebrate and promote this great cause we are hosting a

Passionately Pink

Apron Swap

Everyone knows someone that has been affected by breast cancer - a friend, co-worker, neighbor, sister, mother or even more personal. The Purpose for this swap is to raise awareness and help support the cause of breast cancer research. For more information and to join in this wonderful swap, please go to our swap blog for details.

Coming Soon .....

HERE

Sugar Pie Dollies

I have some new little friends to share with you.

In my spare time I have been creating some more little friends. These little Dollies are for you. You can pick one up at My Byrd Nest.

We are calling these new dolls, Sugar Pie Dollies. They are homespun and sweet as pie and waiting to come visit you or a little girl you know. They have perfect manners and love tea parties, sleepovers, walks in the woods and keeping special secrets.

Meet the new Sugar Pie Dollies.

Aileen

Miss Aileen is just "a wee bit Scottish." Her dress is a sweet homespun plaid and she is wearing long bloomers. She is a hard working little farm girl with lovely copper colored pigtails. She is looking for a new home and a new set of friends.

********************************************************

Gracie

Is a sweet little 1930's country girl with golden pigtails. She is always happy ready to help. She has clear blue eyes and sweet little smile. She loves to have stories read to her and is the best of listeners. She loves to bake cookies and gather the eggs from her chicken coop. She can't wait to go home with a new little (or big) friend and share secrets and giggles.

****************************************************************

Kirstin

Miss Kirstin is a Swedish Dairy Maid from Minnesota. She has a slight accent and can sing like and angel. Her hair is golden yellow and is put up in two little buns. So cute! She is sweet and wholesome like like the sunshine and sweet air on her farm. She can't wait to meet her new family and share many fun adventures with them.