Sweater Pillow Morality

I'm not sure where I stumbled on this idea, but there are instructions in some craft/sewing books and online as well. (The sweater pillows, not the morality - that part comes at the end).

Several months ago when Hubby was cleaning out his closet, he put a bunch of sweaters in a pile to donate. I quickly snapped them up and they have languished in my sewing room ever since. It was time, homeys.

I am, of course, seemingly always in the process of cleaning out my sewing room and finishing unfinished projects (ostensibly so I can start something new).

You need, of course, a sweater and a pillow form. Wash the sweater in hot water and dry on high. Turn the sweater inside out and lay flat. Lay the pillow form on the sweater to get a general idea of how the two will fit together. You do not want to cut before you start sewing.

Step one is to sew across the midsection. In this case, I also sewed new seams on the sides as my pillow form was skinnier than my sweater. AFTER you sew, then you can cut off the upper part of the sweater.

I think if you are truly industrious, you can probably find a use for the remainder of the sweater. Like if you have a much nicer midsection than I do, you could probably just wear it over a cami frayed ends and all, or stuff and sew it closed for a draft snake...but I digress.

You are probably also noticing the puckering in the sewing in the photo below. We'll get to that in a moment.

This closeup is to show that I do a straight stitch and then a wide zigzag as well directly over it for strength.

Trim roughly 1/3" from your seam lines, turn right side out over the pillow form and check for fit. The sweaters are stretchy, so you want it pretty snug.

I read somewhere online that cutting it in a rectangle would result in "ears" on the corners of the finished pillows and you could get around that by cutting the corners as seen below. Much cutting, sewing and on and off the pillow form later, I discovered that it fit best if I just made it a trapezoid. (scroll down for photo).

It's still a little puckery, but the fit was much nicer at the top corners and on the sides. You'll notice in this photo that I'm using the bottom of the sweater as the edge left open. It sort of has minor ears on the bottom, but just let it go.

After you get the three sides pretty much a snug fit, pin the open edge closed and embroider it together with a simple stitch or a blanket stitch in a coordinating or contrasting thread.

Here is the brown pillow completed on my bed.

Here is the contrasting stitching on the finished pillows.

I did the green/cream one first, so of course the brown/blue one is much better.If you have questions about this process, let me know!

The morality part of the project is this: after I made the cream pillow, I started the brown pillow and had three more in queue, lined up like chorus girls on the futon in my sewing room. But, the minute I cut into the brown pillow something turned in my stomach.

There was nothing wrong with the sweater. nothing. Somebody in the world was cold and needed that sweater and I was making a decorative pillow out of it. ugh. shudder. I had already cut into it, so I finished the pillow, but the other three sweaters are going to Tank's school food and clothing drive this week. I will find some sweaters with holes or stains to make my remaining three pillows and I hope that every time I look at those pillows (one on sofa and one on bed) that I will be reminded of the cold hungry people in the world and try to tread a little more lightly.

Okay that was sanctimonious and preachy, but there it is.

revisionist history

We all do it. Make something better in our memory than it was in reality.

The story that goes with these pictures will be systematically revised Animal Farm style to make it a beautiful day in our memories.

It will not be a story of a whining three year old and a pouty seven year old. It will be a story of a lovely sunny Fall hike together.

Where have you revised history?

sweet surprise

Look what I found in my mailbox the other day...

A sweet surprise and the first hint of Christmas in my home. All the way from Lux with a lovely note from one of my most cherished friends.

I miss you much, my dear.

Sage Roasted Pork Loin with Port Sauce

Pork is, as Homer says, "a wonderful, magical animal" that produces many of my favorite things: bacon, sausage, smothered pork chops (coming soon), ham hocks for soup, pulled pork sammies, chile verde, tenderloin glazed with maple syrup, and a thousand other things as well as a beautiful, lean loin for roasting!

I apologize in advance that you've already seen these pictures, but I am attempting to post proper recipes, not just, oh yeah, I cooked that the other day and it rocked, so bear with me.

As Burning Pasta always says, "let's get to it".

You want a threeish pound pork loin roast which will probably be all tied up when you get it. When I say threeish, I mean 2-4. Let it sit out on the counter for an hour so it isn't forty five degrees when you want to put it in the oven and have it start cooking.

First order of business is searing. You want a very high quality heavy skillet. Mine is copper but yours doesn't have to be. Get it hot. And I mean hot. We start with the fat side down. There is no oil in the pan. Use tongs to manage the meat; it's easiest. As soon as the meat lifts right off the surface of the pan without sticking an iota, it's seared. Keep turning it and searing it completely. You are getting all sides of the roast this lovely caramel-y color. (I'm starting to feel like I use the word caramel-y too much and this is one of the thousand reasons why I am not a paid food writer). The searing improves the flavor, gets it cooking and seals in the juices...mmmm...searing.

Anyway, when it is seared on all sides, you can put it in a shallow dish, roasting pan, whatever. Rub it all over generously with a paste you make of olive oil, coarse sea salt, freshly ground pepper and chopped fresh sage. You can add garlic to this if you like; personally I think it overpowers the sage and I like the cleaner flavor you achieve by leaving it out.

Pop it in a 375 degree oven until it reaches about 155 on the thermometer. You also want it to be sitting in the pan in the oven fat side up.

While the meat is in the oven, take a large handful of dried prunes and quarter them. Soak them in a cup of port.

When the meat is done, remove it from the oven. This is what it looks like when it comes out.

One of the most important things you can do for your meat is to let it rest. Take it out of the pan, put it on the carving board and tent it with foil for fifteen minutes. You can use this time to make the sauce, finish your sides and get the troops to wash their hands.

You should have some goodies in the pan you used in the oven. (It may have been the same pan you used stovetop; that's up to you). Pour them off and save them, you'll need them in about five minutes. Of course on this day, I made my sauce in my crappiest nonstick pan. What was I thinking???

Now, you want about 1/2 cup of thinly sliced shallots. Saute them in a little butter until limp and a little browned. Turn the heat to high and add the port, scraping off anything off the bottom of the pan while it is bubbling up and getting all excited.

When it calms down a little and you can't really smell the alcohol coming off the sauce, add the reserved drippings and prunes. When the sauce is reduced and thickened to a proper consistency, turn the heat to medium low and taste to see if it needs salt and pepper.

Slice and plate your meat and ladle the sauce over it. Heaven. Since I'm still a dork at this blogging thing, of course I did not take a picture of the plated dish. duh.

I served it last time with green beans sauteed in butter then dressed with sliced almonds and a little balsalmic and a scoop of hot, cheesy polenta.

Questions on my esoteric meat cooking instructions?? Fire away.

The Loot

My boys had approximately 90 pieces of candy each. We know because they counted it, rather obsessively, I might add. We had a family meeting the morning after and the plan we came up with was that they each got to keep 15 pieces. They can have three pieces a day at 3pm for five days and the rest of it...went away (to daddy's work).

If they ask for candy outside the scheduled time, a piece gets taken away from the stash-o-fifteen. Plan seems to be working well so far.

I offered to buy all of Tank's candy from him for two dollars and though tempted, he did not cave. damn.

How do you handle it?