One Happy Camper!

Our little camp stool was in pretty poor shape when we picked it up for $6 at a local flea market. (If you’ve read our blog for long, you know how we love flea markets!) It looked something like this (except for the fact it had a tacky blue paint on the legs, and the cover was an unattractive striped material)…

We girls saw that it "could" make an adorable addition to our room. So… we went for it, hoping for the best. Wiping down thoroughly, a can of white spray paint, and a new cover was needed. To make the cover, Abigail tore off the old one (by getting the staples out) and measured its length and width. Then she took some pretty, bright vintage fabric we’d gotten at another near-by flea market (14 yards on a bolt for $15! We saw that bargain a mile away!), cutting out the size she’d measured from the old piece, plus a little extra seam allowance. Abigail got some plain white sheeting and sewed the two fabrics right sides together, leaving a small opening for turning. After turning it right side out, she hand whipped the opening closed. The staple gun was used to attach it to the frame. Viola! What a cute addition to our room!

You could easily do this project for yourselves. A little camp stool, fabric you like, a rag, a bottle of spray paint, and a little imagination. You never know… maybe soon you’ll be sitting pretty on a cute camp stool yourself!

posted by Achaia

Chic Sisters Apron Pattern Update

Calling All Sewers….

Hello, everyone! Since the release of our full Chic Sisters Apron at the beginning of the year, several people have asked if we would eventually be selling a pattern for it. The answer for you is "YES!" As we speak it’s at the print shop. We’re trying to work with them to get a good looking front to the pattern. So, if God wills, we’ll have it available very soon. We’re accepting a "waiting line" list now. The pattern will retail at $8 with $2 shipping. You can contact us saying you want the pattern as soon as it’s ready, and we will put you on the waiting list. That’s all! Thanks so much for your patience…

Oodles of ruffles!

A very exciting moment for marie-madeline studio… our third apron design, the "frilly fandango apron", is now ready! And to celebrate, we’re giving two of them away this week for the bloggy giveaways carnival. So hold your breath– these aprons will knock your socks off (or at least we think so)!

bright & bold::

polka dots & roses::

To enter this drawing, simply leave us a comment with your name and email address. Please also let us know which apron you prefer– if you like both, we’ll sign you up twice! Comments are open until Sunday, February 3rd, and anyone may enter. Thanks for looking!

By the way, our friend Anne is giving away one of our pleated cottage aprons over on her blog, so be sure to check it out, too! Crystal Paine at Biblical Womanhood is having a giveaway for one of our chic sisters aprons.

And don’t forget to go on over to Bloggy Giveaways to browse all of the neat freebies that you have the opportunity to win this week.

Fabric Book Cover

These book covers are so quick and easy to make… they’re also great gifts! Plus, this project is an excellent way to use up all of those scrap fabrics– too cute not to use for something– that every seamstress has drawers full of. Here in our home, we each have different fabric covers for our Bibles, which makes it so simple to tell them apart from one another. By the way, these fabric book covers are also fun to make reversible, because there will be no raw edges or seams showing when they’re finished!

You’ll need::

fabric remnants (anywhere from one to three coordinating pieces)
matching thread
thin batting remnant (the kind used for quilting)
large sheet of paper, pencil, ruler, scissors, and sewing pins

step one::

Lay your Bible or book out flat on a large piece of paper (freezer paper works really well); trace around the book softly with a pencil, being sure to keep the spine of the book flat to give an accurate measurement. Now, add 1/2" around the perimeter of your traced shape. Draw a soft line down the center of the rectangle you’ve made. Cut out the pattern.

step two::

Mark a dark line about 2" from the center line; repeat for opposite side. This will be the pattern for the sleeve of your book cover. Write "FOLD" on both of these lines. Your pattern should now look something like this…

step three::

Cut one of each from the full pattern…

fabric for outside of cover
fabric for inside of cover (I like this to be different than the fabric for the outside.)
batting

Now, cut two on the fold line for the sleeve from your other piece of fabric. Your pieces should look like this…

step four::

Press all of your fabric pieces so they’re nice and smooth; keep your two folded sleeve pieces folded, and press in the crease. Layer all of your pieces on top of one another in this order…

batting
outer fabric (right side up)
sleeves (lay these with folded edges in the center, just like on your pattern piece)
inside fabric (right side down)

Pin securely around the entire perimeter of the book cover. Using a 1/4" seam allowance, stitch, but leave a gap on the lower edge in the "spine" area.

step five::

Separating the inside and outside fabrics, turn the entire cover through the gap. Fully extend the corners and press out any wrinkles in the book cover. Slipstitch gap closed, catching the batting as well.

Now they’re done! And aren’t they just too cute?

Chicken Noodle Soup to Warm Your Insides

Our great-grandmother, Grandma Conwell, is 91 years old. The "Madeline" in our marie-madeline studio name is just for her. She’s so sweet. Grandma has this yummy chicken noodle soup recipe, and it’s perfect for those chilly days. We all enjoy it. Serve it with crackers, and you’re set!

Grandma’s Chicken Noodle Soup

5-6 cups chicken broth (or 1 large can)

2 medium carrots-chopped

2 stalks celery-chopped

1/4 cup onion-chopped (optional)

2 1/2 – 3 cups cut up chicken (or 1 large can chicken breasts)

1 1/2 cup uncooked noodles (or 24 ounces)

Mix broth, pepper, celery, carrots, and onions in pot and bring to boil. Stir in noodles and chicken. Cook over medium heat 10-12 minutes. This makes 4 good-sized bowls.

This is an excellent soup to freeze in individual portions. Whenever one of us is feeling "under the weather", Grandma’s soup is always a good pick-me-up!

MAKING HOMEMADE NOODLES– (enough for the recipe above)

Crack one egg into bowl and whip with a fork. Add some flour and continue whisking with fork. Keep adding flour and stirring until you have a ball of dough, like a pie crust ball. Sprinkle flour on counter top, place dough in center, and roll as you would a pie crust. Roll very thin. Cut into 3 inch strips and stack the strips on top of one another. Cut the stack in half and put one half on top of the other. Slice very thin slices off the end, making thin noodles. You can cook them right away or spread them out on the counter to dry out completely. Grandma likes to make extra noodles, then freeze them for future use.

posted by Achaia

At Last….

Our own marie-madeline studio woven labels are finally here! Now you can expect a really cute pink label in all of your marie-madeline goodies. We decided on a simple hot pink and black design to start with, but are now in the process of creating a logo for ourselves…. hmmm…. we’ll see where that goes!

And now for a little peek–

Oh, don’t forget to enter the giveaway for one of our velvet blossom corsages!

Happy 18th Birthday, Achaia!

Wishing the happiest of birthdays to a sweet, loving, and virtuous young lady,

Achaia Victoria Long

As the third-born of eight children, Achaia knows what it means to serve others and help around the house. Achaia always has a ready smile and looks for ways to serve… how blessed we are to have her! We thank the Lord for giving her to us.

Happy birthday, Achaia! We love you so very much!

Achaia in 1992 Achaia in 2008

Sewing Room: Decorative or Utilitarian?

Earlier this week we came up with a startling realization… our sewing room needed some help! Desperately! When we first began using the room specifically for sewing, Mom, Apphia, and Achaia were the basic ones who sewed. Three of us and three sewing machines. We had only two folding tables. With Abigail and Abiah getting older, they too, wanted to have room to sew. Two more girls and three or four machines later, and here we are. Something HAD to be done! It was getting more and more difficult to find enough room to do our sewing. Enter help– Dad brought in another folding table and offered to buy us an ironing board that hooks to the wall and folds down. We did the organizing. Of course, we all know (at least this is the way we do it!) you've got to make a mess in order to clean it up properly. We weren't kidding when we said it needed help, were we?

Here we are working, working, working, discussing what needs to go where, and letting it slowly take shape…

It's looking much better now! (You can also take a peek under the table at one of our new fabric lines we just recently got)…

Another thing came to us… when we first had this as a sewing room, we wanted everything to be so pretty and decorative. Exit pretty and decorative– Enter practicality and utilitarian. Now we can actually sew and enjoy it!

Frozen Peppermint Delight…Revised

We’ve had a request for the Frozen Peppermint Delight recipe revised for feeding a smaller family. This should serve about 6 people (instead of 12-15).

Frozen Peppermint Delight

1/2 package (7 ounces) Oreos, crushed

Crushed Peppermint candy (optional)

1/2 jar (5 7/8 ounces) hot fudge ice cream topping, warmed

1 quart vanilla ice cream, softened

1 carton (8 ounces) frozen Cool Whip, thawed

1 quart peppermint ice cream, softened

1/4 cup butter, melted

In a bowl, combine cookie crumbs and butter. Press into ungreased small, square cake pan. Spread vanilla ice cream over crust. Spread peppermint ice cream over vanilla. Top with Cool Whip. Cover and freeze until solid. (May be frozen up to 2 months.) Just before serving, drizzle with warmed hot fudge ice cream topping. Sprinkle with crushed peppermint candy. Serves approx. 6 people. You can skip the vanilla ice cream and use all peppermint ice cream, but we like it with both!

Frozen Peppermint Delight

Here’s a yummy dessert recipe for y’all… it’s sooo good! Even though it is a frozen dessert, where we live you can only get the Peppermint Ice Cream it calls for during the winter "holiday" months, so it’s a wintery dessert for us. By the way, it turns out very pretty too.

Frozen Peppermint Delight

1 package Oreos (14 ounces), crushed

Crushed peppermint candy (optional)

1 jar (11 3/4 ounces) hot fudge ice cream topping, warmed

1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream, softened

1 carton (12 ounces) frozen Cool Whip, thawed

1/2 gallon Peppermint ice cream, softened

1/2 cup butter, melted

In a bowl, combine cookie crumbs and butter. Press into ungreased 9 x 13 pan. Spread vanilla ice cream over crust. Spread peppermint ice cream over vanilla. Top with Cool Whip. Cover and freeze until solid. (May be frozen up to 2 months.) Just before serving, drizzle with warmed hot fudge topping. Sprinkle with crushed peppermint candy. You can skip the vanilla ice cream and use all peppermint ice cream, but we like both! Serves 12-15.

Enjoy!