Grocery Shopping - Like it or not, everyone has to do it!

If you're like me, grocery shopping is not usually a very fun experience. It's expensive and takes a long time and if you go without a plan, you still end up at home saying "what should I make for dinner?"
As a result of this, I am always looking for ways to simplify my grocery shopping experience. I have come up with some good options, but still always try new things. Here is what I do as of right now:

First, a little side note:

A while back I compiled a list of all the things I cook often for dinner. I would just add to it each night I tried something new that we liked. This makes planning SO much easier because it fuels me with ideas of what to make. That's the hardest part anyway, right? So, make your life easier by doing this - you'll be glad you did it, I promise!

Okay, here we go...

• My shopping/errand day is on Thursday, but I only do my grocery shopping every two weeks. So, every other Wednesday (when I get coupons and ads in the mail) I sit down for 5-10 minutes and plan out 2 weeks worth of meals* using my handy dandy master list of meal ideas. I also include any veggies, fruit or side dish we'll have with the meal.
  

• When I have two weeks worth of meals, I go through my list and write what food items I need to purchase for each particular meal.

• I've used two kinds of list formats for this:

I found these cute note pad lists in the dollar bins at Michaels. I bought three of them because I loved them so much. I write the meals under the days and then on the rights side of the page I list what I need to buy for each meal. I also have a matching coupon organizer (also a dollar!)

It ends up looking kind of like this:

Monday
Homemade Mac & Cheese -Elbow Macaroni, Cheddar Cheese, butter, milk
Green Beans -Frozen green beans
Biscuits -Pillsbury Biscuits

Tuesday
Potato Bar -Potatoes, chili, lettuce, sour cream
peaches and cottage cheese -Canned peaches, cottage cheese

This form is not as cute, but MUCH more user friendly at the store. I created it on Excel. The nice thing about this is I arranged it by store sections. So, all your dairy is in one spot, and all your canned goods are in one spot, etc. It even has a place for non-food items! This list is great because it prevents you from having to run back and forth through the store, which I tend to do a lot. You just list your meals at the top and then write in your ingredients at a box below. Cool, huh?**

• After you have made up your list, you are READY to face the grocery store! Hallelujah!
  

*I usually just plan out dinner because we eat leftovers for lunch and cereal for breakfast. If you cook for these two meals, you'll have to adapt your shopping list.

**If any of you would like me to email you a copy of this list, email me at hayleyology@gmail.com I am always happy to share!

Scalloped Blanket Tutorial

Wow! I'm flattered by all the nice comments! I got several requests to give instructions on how to make the scalloped blanket, so here you are!

Materials Needed:
1 ½ yards fabric (I used flannel)
1 ½ yards coordinating fabric (again, flannel)
1 ½ yards plain white flannel for inside lining (this gives the blanket the perfect thickness)
Coordinating thread
Scallop Template

1. Prewash fabric
2. Draw your scallop template on a piece or two of card stock (I used a sour cream lid to make mine). I just taped two pieces of card stock together, drew two scallops and a corner scallop and then cut it out. It looked like this:

(Sorry this is so fuzzy, I don't have a scanner, so I just drew the pictures and then took pictures of them. I know it's ghetto, but what do you do?)

3. Draw your scallops onto your plain lining fabric with a fabric pen. Mine ended up being 8 scallops by 9 scallops including the corner scallops. (I left a little extra fabric at the end so I could make a matching stuffed animal otherwise it would have been about 8x10 scallops). It also would be cute as a perfect square too - really, just do however many you want and can fit on your fabric!

4. Lay your fabric and coordinating fabric right sides together. Place your lining on top with your scallop drawing face up. Be sure to match up the sides carefully and smooth it out REALLY WELL. Pin it together.

5. Sew along the lines you drew leaving two scallops open to turn it right side out (I recommend leaving just two normal scallops open and NOT a corner scallop. I learned this the hard way).
6. Trim around your sewn scallops leaving about ¼ inch (if this makes you nervous, you could probably leave a larger raw edge, it just might be bunchier). Carefully clip the inside of each scallop to the point, leaving about 1/8 inch.

7. Turn it right side out, pushing each scallop out really well. Iron each scallop flat.
8. Slip stitch your open scallops shut. (I learned this the hard way too. I recommend re-drawing the scallop right on the blanket with a washable fabric pen so you have a line to follow. Otherwise your scallop might end up more triangle-y than round).

9. Top stitch all the way around the blanket at ¼ inch.

10. Now quilt the blanket by sewing straight lines from end to end. I just sewed it every two scallops, but you could do it every scallop if you’re feeling ambitious.

11. Voila! You have a beautiful scalloped blanket. Now snuggle up your baby in it and kiss her cheeks off!

Scalloped Blanket

I saw this fun and darling project in a book I checked out from the library (I love the library, it's one of my favorite pastimes) called 'Simple Gifts to Stitch' by Jocelyn Worrall. It was so easy! I should have held onto it to give away as a gift, but it turned out way too cute, I just had to keep it for myself... I mean my baby! Because she doesn't have enough blankets...

Anyway, I was pretty pleased with the results.