Canux : Home Sweet Home

Archive for October, 2011

OK. So you have decided to take the plunge and start quilting. The challenge is that you do not feel comfortable with your sewing machine. What you need are some easy projects to get you started, but that do not feel like you are wasting your time. The following list of projects make great gifts and you will also have great practice when it comes to tackle your first quilt.

Wallets

Wallets are wonderful. What I’m thinking of specifically, is the Wonder Wallet pattern by Lazy Girl Designs. I’ve made so many of these because they are easy and practical. Over Christmas I used them as gift card holders. Because they only use half a fat quarter, you can go crazy over novelty prints without taxing your budget. With this pattern, you will get used to sewing in a straight line and using your walking foot.

Once you are confident with wallets, your next project can be a quilted purse.

Pillowcases

Pillowcases are all straight lines. Again, using novelty prints, these makes great gifts for young kids. I made pillowcases last Christmas out of High School Musical flannel. My nieces loved them!

Another benefit is that once you feel confident with your skills, you can make a quilt out of the same material. The recipient will get both the quilt and pillowcases. Now that is thoughtful!

Coasters

Folks who work in offices will appreciate a set of coasters to keep their desks nice. The upgrade for this project will be place mats to match the coasters.

Bookmarks

A quilted bookmark is the perfect gift for the reader in the family. You can choose the fabric and design according to the recipient’s hobbies. Adding a book with this gift would be a nice touch. Another option is just to make a bookmark for yourself. I know that I have a hard time keeping up with them.

Tote bags

You can easily find tote bag patterns all over the Internet for good reason – they are easy and practical. If fact, you can have a tote bag for different reasons. You could have a tote bag for the grocery store, a tote bag for the library and a tote bag for work. You’ll learn how to sew in a straight line. If you are a ready to branch out, you could use a quilt block as decoration on the bag.

Cranking out wallets, pillowcases, coasters, bookmarks and tote bags will have you getting comfortable with your sewing machine in no time. While you’re producing lovely handmade goodies, you’ll also be preparing yourself to start quilting.

Today many people work at home and have their home office set up much like the bigger corporate offices. The laptops, files, desks and supply cupboards are all essential to the home office. Now the addition of the smaller microwave is becoming standard equipment. It seems that many people like the idea of heating up a snack or just being able to heat up something special for guests without having to go out into the main part of their home from their home office is very acceptable. That is why the smaller microwaves are becoming very popular.

The smaller microwaves fit into any small space and have the capabilities of the larger microwaves giving the user the versatility of heating or making foods in their office. Many food manufacturers make the same foods for larger microwaves packaged in smaller packaging that will fit in the smaller microwave. The customer can now make just about anything in smaller portions using the smaller microwave.

This smaller microwave makes it very simple for the home office user to prepare not only snacks but a meal for one or two. Often people who work from their own home office live out of the reach of restaurants and do not want to shut down their office but still need to eat something wholesome during the day. Even though they can go to their own kitchen to prepare foods it seems having the capabilities to do it in their own home office makes it more convenient.

The smaller microwaves are the wave of the future for many people not only in small home offices but also in college dorms, auto shops, repair shops, and other similar places. You only need to take a walk around your town to find all sorts of business places with a smaller microwave either in the office or break room. The best choice in smaller microwaves is found at your local department stores. You will find that you can get your best bargain priced units at places like Wal-Mart or K-Mart.

A solar power battery system is what you need if you are looking for an emergency back-up power system with continuous source of power.

Producing up to 1800 watts of household electricity when you need it most, a solar power unit is often much better than the usual gas powered generators where you never know if they are going to start, especially in cold weather, and then if you DO have a good gas engine, you still have cords running all over as you can’t have the unit indoors because of the fumes.

Ultra high-efficient and completely portable, emitting NO FUMES, NO NOISE… a solar power battery system is definitely an off the grid breakthrough, many have been waiting for!

Pros of Using a SOLAR powered generator over a GAS generator

No fumes or noise.. you can’t run a gas generator inside the home because of the fumes and racket. Quietly generates electricity and then stores the excess for later use. Don’t have to store up fuel… or have the hassle of having to wait in long lines at the pump when a disaster occurs. Sets up in minutes… should you have to pack up and leave town for awhile, this solar power battery system will run anywhere the sun shines. No spark plugs to replace or worn out carbuerators to deal with!

And you will never be bothering your neighbors when you need to generate some precious juice on a nice calm afternoon by firing up a rackety gas engine!

In fact, when there is a global energy crisis, which many are predicting to happen in the not so distant future…

Commercial dishwashers are energy hogs, pure and simple. There’s no way to get around it, and the best you can do is try to mitigate the costs associated with dish washing by employing a few effective strategies.

Wash full racks only. It’s so obvious it almost seems dumb to say, but train your kitchen staff to never, ever, run anything less than a full rack through the dishwasher. The temptation to run the dishwasher half full is much greater than you might realize, and it’s a colossal waste of energy.

Check water temperature. Use a dishwasher thermometer to check the temperature of the water during the rinse cycle on a regular basis. This is especially important for high temp dishwashers, as you want to ensure you are hitting 180 degrees Fahrenheit on every cycle. However, a temp check will also help kitchens with a low temp dishwasher because often the unit runs water that is too hot, and the water temp can be turned down to save energy.

Booster heaters, internal tank heaters, and commercial water heaters can all be adjusted to optimize water temperature and minimize waste. It’s important to continue checking water temperature as well because over time, use and wear may change the water temp in the dishwasher, requiring further adjustments.

Turn off booster and tank heaters. The booster heater and the internal tank heater on the dishwashing unit should be turned off at the end of the night. Otherwise, they will continue to heat water needlessly while you are shut down, wasting a ton of energy in the process.

Check water pressure. Many larger dish machines have a pressure gauge that indicates the water pressure in the unit. More than 25 Pounds per Square Inch (PSI) could mean you are using more water than necessary, as most dish machines require only 20 PSI. Check with the unit’s manufacturer to see what the optimal PSI is for that machine and to learn how to adjust the PSI.

Optimize conveyor type dish machines. The tradeoff with large conveyor type dish machines is that you can process a lot of dishes quickly, but they are big energy hogs as well. Only fire up the big conveyor during your rush periods when you know you’ll have a lot of dishes to wash. During slow times, it’s much more efficient to use a smaller undercounter or door type dishwasher, as long as you can keep up. The longer you leave the big conveyor shut down, the more energy you’ll save.

When you do need the conveyor dishwasher, make sure you do a couple things to optimize energy use. First, run a conveyor in “auto mode,” which will make sure the electric motor inside the unit only runs when needed. Secondly, install or replace worn door curtain strips. These strips hold heat inside the unit and make it run more efficiently.

Finally, consider using a heat recovery system in your kitchen. A refrigeration heat recovery system takes the heat generated by your refrigeration units and uses it to pre-heat water that goes into your water heater, which means the water heater has less work to do and therefore uses less energy. Another heat recovery system uses heat from used hot water going down the drain to pre-heat hot water heater water. These systems require some up-front cost, but they pay for themselves relatively quickly. If your operation consumes large amounts of hot water, you could save a significant amount of energy by using a heat recovery system.

Many house holds are moving to steam cleaners for floors nowadays and ditching the old bucket and mop eliminating those detergents. Do you ever wonder why this is becoming a trend with U.S.A households? Let’s quickly look at some of the pros and cons aye?

The Bucket and Mop, plus Detergents and Disinfectants.

Okay so you get this hot and soapy water which after 5 minutes will no doubt be as dirty as the floor you’re cleaning right? you bet. It won’t be long before all you’re doing with the bucket and mop is spreading the germs evenly over your Vinyl, Tiled or Wooden floors.

To effectively clean your floors with a bucket and mop you actually should be change the water and cleaning the mop of dirt and germs two to three times per room. That’s right, could take you all day to do your house right? You bet!

Then there’s the Detergents and Disinfectants. How safe are you really going to be leaving these chemical residue all over your house hold floors? Over time how cost effective is it really? Hmm now there’s something I didn’t think about, till now that is…Cost! Now let’s look at the alternative shall we?

The Steam Cleaner For Floors.

A steam mop as some people call them, is eco-friendly, environmentally friendly as you only use water and the steamer without any chemicals. You’ll only need to clean the floor once as the hot steam will remove any kind of stain easily. It will eliminate dust mites, most of those other organisms that end up in your home and, definitely kill the germs on your floor. Now lets look generally at the costs shall we?

The Bucket and Mop.

Now I don’t know for certain what the cost of detergents and disinfectants are but for this article let’s say you might spend $8.00 a month on floor cleaning chemicals shall we? Why not.

So, on a yearly basis let’s say spend $8.00 times 12 months total annually equals $96.00 and you could spend the same amount again the following year. Then there is the electricity used to provide you with hot water, okay it’s not major but it counts.

The Steam Floor Cleaner.

You can get your hands on a steam cleaner for less than say $90.00 even cheaper if you know where to look. That could be good for say two years maybe three. Then there’s the electricity you would use when cleaning.

Okay common sense tells me that the steam vacuum is definitely the more economical of the two methods of cleaning hard surface floors. Whatever your conclusion after reading this, if you have young ones crawling around on your floors seriously think about their health and safety.

It’s spring and you are looking forward to spending time at your summer cottage. Sprucing it up a bit, and making a few not too pricey changes, will make it feel like new again. It will take a bit of time and creativity, but not a lot of money.

If your old, shabby chic furniture is looking more shabby and less chic, make some simple slipcovers out of canvas. It is a strong fabric, and easy to wash. To dress it up a bit, recover a few pillows and toss them on the furniture. You can use fabric remnants, or make it super classy by buying a used pair of vintage curtains (they can be stained or torn a bit) and using that fabric to make your pillows. You can get three 20″ square pillows from one panel!

Whether your cottage has hardwood floors or linoleum, you can brighten them up with large area rugs. They can be pricey, but how about buying a few small ones and simply stitching them together? Lay out the design before you start.

Dress-up the bedroom by taking a set of sheets and pillowcases and adding an eyelet border to the top sheet and pillowcases…should take less than half an hour for the whole job!

Take that worn looking basket and spray paint it a light green. When it is dry, rub it with some steel wool to make it look antique. It can be a centerpiece on your table (filled with fresh fruit), hold magazines in your living room, towels in the bathroom, or rock and shell collections anywhere!