Make a Pillow and Doormat from an Old Rug

From this...

...to this!

After a recent fruitful trip to IKEA, we decided to retire our old porch rug, which was looking pretty rough after my misguided attempt to clean it using bleach. Not sure what I was thinking would happen there, but unsurprisingly, it caused big blotches of discoloration.

I hate throwing things away, but knew the rug was in bad enough condition that no one else would want it, so I decided it could just use a little repurposing.

I cut out the segments that weren’t too badly bleached.  With one of these, I made a rug simply by cutting out a rectangle and hemming the edges.  We’d been needing a new mat for the back door any way, so it was perfect.

New doormat!

I’ve been on a pillow kick lately, so I used the second undamaged section as the front of a pillow, which a sewed to a same-sized piece of red fabric, machine sewed all four sides, while leaving a small hole on one side to stuff it.  Then I sewed up the hole with embroidery thread and a thick needle (necessary since the rug was thicker than most fabric) and liked the look so much I stitched red all the way around the pillow.

red stitching

New pillow!

Next time you’re about to toss something because it’s stained or ripped, see if there’s some part that salvageable!  Fun!  Thrifty!  Green!

For more projects like this one, check out the Domesticity page.

Go on a Picnic

It’s still a little chilly here in Knoxville, but the sweetheart and I decided to bundle up and go on a little picnic this weekend anyway. We headed to one of our favorite little fancy grocery stores, spent way too much money on cheese and bread, packed up a blanket and headed out for a late Sunday lunch. It made me so very excited for spring to arrive.  I think late winter picnics may become a new tradition.

Make a Name Pillow

Shawn’s goddaughter Avery is turning five in March and coincidentally, she’s also trading in her tiny pink IKEA bed for a big ol’ Queen sized one.  To commemorate this momentous occasion, I thought I’d make her a birthday present to complement her new bed.  I took some fabric I thought she’d like an sewed a simple square pillow case.  Next I cut out her name in felt letters and stitched them on before stuffing and sewing the pillow closed.  Here’s hoping she likes her bedroom bling!

Photos by Shawn Poynter.

Cocktail of the Week: Frozen Tart Cherrytini

I’m a big fan of  Kitchen Play’s monthly menus and blogger contest, but I haven’t tried one of their recipes for quite a while.  This month they’re featuring a cherry-themed menu sponsored by the Cherry Marketing Institute.  I made the Frozen Tart Cherrytini* and really enjoyed its tart sweetness.  I used raw sugar and skipped the frozen cherry garnish since they didn’t have any available at our local co-op.  If you find cosmos too sweet but like them in theory, this is the drink for you!

Frozen Tart Cherrytini  
Servings: 4

12 frozen pitted tart cherries
2 Meyer lemons (or regular lemons if you can’t find them)
3 tablespoons sugar
2 1/2 cups tart cherry juice, chilled
1 1/2 cups vodka
2 cups of ice cubes

Thread 3 tart cherries onto each (4-inch) cocktail pick or skewer and keep them in the freezer until they are ready to serve.

Zest one Meyer lemon onto a shallow dish, mix together with sugar, set aside. Cut lemon in halves and “rub” the cut-side of the lemon against the rims of the 4 martini glasses Dip the rims of the glasses into the lemon-sugar. With a vegetable peeler, peel the other Meyer lemon.  In a large pitcher, twist the lemon peels to extract the natural oil, and leave the peels inside the pitcher after the twisting and squeezing.

Squeeze the juice from both lemons into the pitcher and add the cherry juice and vodka. Fill a cocktail shaker with 1 cup of ice. Pour 1/2 of the vodka mixture into the cocktail shaker and shake for at least 20 seconds.

Pour into 2 of the prepared glasses. Repeat with the remaining vodka mixture. Place a cocktail pick with frozen tart cherries onto each glass and serve.

For more recipes like this one, check out the Domesticity page.

Photos by Shawn Poynter.

*Check out the link for a non-alcoholic version of this drink!

Wedding Things

I’ve been enjoying working on a few small wedding projects this winter.  I really enjoy assembly-line type projects that I can work on while listening to the radio or watching a movie.  A few things I’ve been working on lately:

gold snail shells for flowers

salt and pepper shakers

 

welcome bag

Make Your Own Valentines

We’re keeping a low profile this Valentine’s Day– no overpriced prix fixe meals or crappy chocolates for us.  But I still can’t pass up the chance to send out some good old fashioned snail mail valentines, so I carved a stamp and made postcards that’ll allow me express to friends and families some of the things I love about them.

Strawberry Cordial Cups

When I came across a recipe for strawberry cups via Sweet Tooth this week, they seemed like the perfect little sweet treat to perk up what’s been a drizzly, dreary week.  In Erica’s recipe, she froze her strawberry cups after coring them and dipping them in chocolate, but I left mine fresh, poured a little chilled Chambord liqueur into each cup.  Shawn sipped his first, then ate the strawberry.  I just shoved the whole thing into my face.  Either way works.

For more recipes like this one, check out the Domesticity Page.

 

Make a Pencil Holder from a Piece of Wood

Shawn got a drill press for Christmas this year and has been busy using it to make all kinds of delightful things.  My favorite so far is a pencil holder cut from a piece of a tree limb that he sanded down.  All he did was drill several pencil-sized holes into the top of it.  It’s my favorite kind of project– easy, cheap, useful and good-looking.

Make Green Curry Chicken (and An Ode to Recipes)

I’m a big fan of the “Let’s see what we can make with what we have in the kitchen” game.  It’s a great way to use things that have been hanging around your cupboard forever and it definitely saves money.  But yesterday I was reminded of the joys of actually reading and following a recipe.  I had a bunch of vegetables, some green curry paste, coconut milk and chicken breasts on hand and was planning on doing some sauteing and simmering and just seeing what happened.  But then on a whim I decided to look up a recipe for green curry chicken online and decided to follow the first one that popped up from All Recipes.  Admittedly, I added a bunch of vegetables not in the recipe, but I found the best way to prepare chicken in a stir fry or curry– coat it in soy sauce and then coat it lightly in flour before adding it to a hot pan.  It makes for a nice crispy coating that’s not too thick or overbearing.  Below is the recipe I used with the modifications I made.

Thai Green Curry Chicken

• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves – cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 2 tablespoons green curry paste
• 1/4 c chopped onion
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 cups coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1/4 cup red pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped carrots
• 1/4 cup sliced red potatoes
• 14 cup sliced celery
• 1/4 cup chopped zucchini

1. Toss chicken first in 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce, then in the flour, coating pieces evenly. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Place chicken in the skillet, cook and stir chicken until browned, about 5 minutes. Remove chicken.
2. Reduce heat to medium and stir in curry paste. Cook for 1 minute until fragrant, then stir in green onions, garlic, and ginger; cook an additional 2 minutes. Return chicken to the skillet, stirring to coat with the curry mixture.  Add all chopped vegetables. Stir the coconut milk, fish sauce, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, and sugar into the chicken-curry mixture. Allow to simmer over medium heat for 20 minutes until the chicken is tender.

For more recipes like this one, check out the Domesticity page.