Friday, September 23, 2011

This and that

Good Friday afternoon everyone ~ Hope you all have an enjoyable weekend.

I’ll be heading to work tomorrow, my one day this week.  I’m not sure what is happening next week yet.  Should know tomorrow.

We had rain this morning, then DH and I both were outside working on projects, wanting to get going before it got too miserable, but it ended up being miserable anyway.  We were soaking when we came in.  He worked on putting flashing on our outdoor project.  He had had some rolled up tin in his stash, and since we’re doing our best to keep this project ‘cheap’ he cut the sizes he needed for flashing, bent them to shape, and got a blister in the process the other day. After our nap this afternoon, he tarred the edge of the flashing.  He’s now ready to paint the three roof panels.  They are in his workshop where he has primed them after cleaning them. Remember we are trying to use up ‘curbside’ finds that have been stored around here and it sure feels good using them.  These panels will be painted with ‘curbside’ shopped terra cotta colored thick deck paint.

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It will be neat when this project is completed, to put all the pictures together in order.  It feels great to be in the mood again to work outside.  This summer’s heat and humidity really blasted our interest and energy levels. We can tell that autumn is coming, eventually.

Monday I ordered 10 lbs. of melt and pour goat’s milk soap from Soapcrafters.com I was just going to buy 5 lbs. but when we found out that shipping was just $4.95 no matter how much you order up to $100, DH suggested buying 10bs. (Above $100 it’s free shipping.) Anyway I wanted to try this because goat’s milk soap is supposed to be very good. I did a google search about benefits of goat’s milk soap and found the following great info here. I already have a collection of essential oils (not fragrance oils, there is a huge difference). So this morning I made up three different batches of bars of soap.  Some with tea tree oil and lavender, some with sandalwood, vetiver and another oil, I forgot to write down, for DH, then I made some with ylang-ylang, petigrain, and rosewood, for me. I’ve already tried the tea tree/lavender soap on my face and it is so luxurious.  It makes your skin feel soft and clean. To buy goat’s milk soap already made up by someone else, would be from $3 and up.  Buying it this way it will be about $1 a bar. There are some things I wish I had learned in my youth, making soap from scratch is one of them and also canning. But I didn’t.  

Here is my box of soap, minus what I used up today.

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I don’t have a double boiler so I just used a smaller pan inside of a larger one and it worked fine.  I grated the soap first then put it in the pan. It melted faster being grated.  It hardly took any time at all. This is the soap dried on the pan.

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The white mold is a soap mold, the beige pan is a microwave pan for muffins, and the third pan is a Wilton cake mold.

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Here is my stash of essential oils.

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I do hope some of you might be inspired to try this yourself, to use yourself or give as gifts.

Now here are some bloomers from Plum Cottage today.

A spray of Kathleen

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Miss Muffett caladiums and begonias

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A cute tiny mushroom, about 1” high at the most.

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Here we have a Zebra longwing butterfly sipping nectar from Hamela paten blooms.  Last week I saw my first hummer of the season zipping around sipping nectar too.  There are other butterflies that visit these blooms daily plus bees.

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I’ll give you a break on ‘needlework’ projects today.  Smile I am working on another heart sachet. I worked on my patio garden area today and made the soap so didn’t do much embroidering/beading. Maybe I’ll do some after dinner, which will be left overs tonight.

I checked the weather for our area for the next few weeks and into October, our ‘low’ temps for a couple of nights will be 80.  Good grief! 

Enjoy your autumn weather, all those glorious changing colors and share it all in your blogs so that I can enjoy it all through you.

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15 comments:

Mary Smith said...

I've been making my own soap for years. I occasionally make a few extra bars for a few special people in my life. Goat's milk is my favorite!

Debi said...

Are all those flowers growing in just your place? You must have a little of everything. I always love coming here to see the flower of the day (I call it) on your header. You have had a really full and busy day with all of your projects. I used to dabble in soap making when my girls were little, but haven't done that in a quite a while. Very intesting about the goat's milk soap. I think I've read that somewhere too. Debi

Sunray Gardens said...

Beautiful blooms and you are enjoying Butterflies and Hummers. Lucky you. You two are quite busy this week. Enjoy your weekend.
Cher Sunray Gardens

FlowerLady Lorraine said...

Mary ~ How wonderful that you make your own soap. I really love this goat's milk soap.

Debi ~ Yes, these plants are all growing on our 1/4 acre. I can't grow all the wonderful 'cottage garden' blooms that northern gardeners can grow, so I create my own tropical cottage gardens with what will grow here.

Sunray ~ The best time for gardening for us is starting and we look forward to it every year.

Have a great weekend whatever you do.

FlowerLady

Rebecca said...

You must be very excited seeing the progress on your "shed"....

I admire your ambition at soap making...

...and your beautiful flowers!

Sandra said...

You know I have supplies for soap making but just never seem to get around to it. Your soaps look wonderful :)

Hugs,
Sandra

Amrita said...

Wow that soap looks lovely.

I love your blooms

Darla said...

Ya'll are busy, busy around there. I also make soap, been using pure olive oil blocks though. I have used store bought goats milk soap and I like it. I bet the homemade is much better!

Annie said...

That little mushroom is so cute, and I love the begonias

sweetbay said...

Those soaps look lovely. Kathleen is such a charming rose!

Sharon Lovejoy said...

hi dear,

Ok, now you've done it...I guess I will have to make soap again. I love doing this, but darn it...it takes a lot of work to live simply.

Love to you. I'll be in Florida to give a talk Thursday and Friday...what clothes should I pack??

Love,

Sharon

Meems said...

Hi FlowerLady,
I just love how you two make the most of everything. I have a book on soapmaking but haven't taken the time to try it. So....I've been buying organic soaps and really appreciate the difference on my skin. Your homemade soaps look adorable.

It's still hot up this way, too... maybe we'll get some less-humid weather soon. Wouldn't that be nice.

Have a great weekend.
Meems (love those Miss Muffetts hanging in there.)

Kalyan said...

Simply beautifully captured shots...lovely!

Diana Studer said...

I'm intrigued - what lurks in the glass fronted bookcase in the workshop? And what glorious windows you have there!

Georgianna said...

I love that you and your DH are endlessly creative and always working on new projects. The soap looks great and easier than I might have thought. I don't envy you your heat, though!

Thanks again for all your thoughtful comments – much appreciated!

Georgianna