Apple Muffins with Eight Ingredients

Because every recipe on the internet had at least ten, and most thirteen. I carved it down to this, and these worked out just fine. Husband says DELISH and only left a couple of them long enough to cool down.…

Sharing 1962 Novel “Here’s Barbie” Excerpt

About as different from that awful movie as it’s possible to get. In this first explanation of Barbara Roberts, she is a high school freshman, with only the most innocent, girly things to worry about, set in an idyllic America-of-the-past…

Protein Cookies Recipe: Going Unsweetened

My daughter showed me Granny Guns on Instagram and I wanted protein cookies. Her recipe is a bit too intense for me. I just want regular cookies but with protein powder in them. I searched in some of the recipes…

Great Cocoa Marshmallow Cookies

I went looking for marshmallows without pig to make smores. The health store had only mini marshmallows. I bought them rather than my quest end fruitless, but you can’t really make smores out of those (except in the oven, which…

Barbie One Size Fits All Sewing Patterns

I see a real need for this. It’s a simple, easy dress to fit any Barbie shape. We have a pile of naked Barbies! They need clothes quick, and they should be able to share. Let’s go. Here’s a pull-on…

Denim skirt for Barbie BFF 28″

By request! Here’s a cute country girl look. The crop top is the peasant pattern shortened a little and elastic added, and here’s a pattern for the slim denim skirt. That’s the first draft. I finally got around to testing…

Spiral Lace Single Crochet Mat

Therapy crochet while I listened to a message at home. I started messing with dishcloth cotton because I need some more dishrags, kinda reinvented the wheel (this basic sc lace doily idea’s been around since early times) but then added…

Crochet Openwork Octagon Square Motif

Built from the septagon mat, but I decided to make this a separate post. I was so tickled with how the septagon design looked that I wanted to make some more using flower colors. Good luck joining seven sided motifs,…

Crochet Openwork Septagon Counter Mat

I wanted, not a dishcloth, but a cotton round to lie on the kitchen counter for cushion under pans and things. I wanted it openwork for more ventilation. 1)   Dig through the internet for two hours  2)  There’s nothing like…

My Homemade Hand Crank Singer 403A

Could it be this easy? Just add a knob to the hand wheel? I didn’t know, but the motor doesn’t work any more, so there was nothing to lose by trying. I drilled a hole in the hand wheel and…

About Me

I’ve had some kind of block lately and have to force myself to write. This is an exercise. “Write something.” The website name was an exercise in self-acceptance many years ago. I grew up disliking my name, but later realized…

Spirographs in Ivy Draw

But can it make Spirographs? Yes, it can! Only basic ones, not fancy designs like Illustrator, but they’re pretty and they’re easy and fun. They scratch my Spirograph itch. Here’s a basic oval that was Selection – Duplicated, then the…

Jumper Dress Pattern for Women

It’s about as simple, basic and easy as a sewing pattern can get. Free pdf to print at home. Free pinafore dress pattern with modest neckline and long armholes. Adult woman/misses size. This is a multi-size pattern I made up…

Diamond Granny Crochet Motif

I was having a granny square thing for a while and churned out a bunch of scrapghans. But what about a granny crochet diamond? I can’t remember what got me on the idea of a diamond shape, which is sad,…

Six Petal Flower Crochet Motif

Amazing! From my imagination to a motiv that was exactly what I had in mind, on the first try. That’s not usually how it goes. I’ll have a try at writing the pattern. If you see any errors let me…

Update Nov 2021

Here’s the latest tidying of my website! I wanted it to be completely on WordPress since I’m about to move off grid and need to be able to make all my changes online. Wait, does that sound backwards? I’m going…