Show-and-Tell Saturday: Pin Report Cards

I really enjoyed doing the 10-pin-plan report last Saturday. It was fun to get back to testing out pins and then showing you how they turned out. This blog started that way...Em and I showing you things we personally tried from Pinterest that just didn't work out. We haven't done as many of those posts lately because we get so many wonderful submissions that we feel like if we only post up our stuff that we're blog hogs (which is also why I've done conglomerate posts lately...I'm trying to get through as many submissions as I can). But I remembered how fun it was to pick pins to test. It's fun to look for ones that look iffy, ones that look super yummy, and ones that are just laughable and waiting to be proven wrong.

With all of that, I decided that I was going to do a pin report card for today's show-and-tell post, only this time I didn't have a 10-pin-plan. I'm just kinda winging it. As I am sitting here typing up this intro, it is Tuesday, October 1st. As I test out Pinterest pins over the next 11 days I'll put my report here in this post so by Saturday the 12th you have a set of tried and tested pins to go through. I've had one success already today...we'll see how the next 11 days go! 

Pin Report #1: Parmesan Tomatoes

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/baked_parmesan_tomatoes.html

I've had these pinned for a long time. The hubby isn't a huge tomato fan and thinks these look gross, so I kinda forgot about them. We had 3 tomatoes left from our Bountiful Basket that needed to be used and so I was looking at my Fruits and Veggies Pinterest board for ideas and came across these. Cameron's gone to work/school...so I knew I could make these and gobble them all up by myself and savor the flavor. I didn't have fresh Parmesan (just the cheap stuff), or fresh oregano (but I did have dried!), but I forged on anyway. 

We had leftover mozzarella from a previous meal so I decided to pin spin this as well. On one row of sliced tomatoes I did just what the recipe said (just the Parmesan, s&p, oregano, and olive oil), on the 2nd row I did the original recipe with some mozzarella sprinkled on top, and on the 3rd row I substituted mozzarella for the Parmesan completely.
I don't know why I was expecting these to get crispy...tomatoes don't really get crispy, so the texture when I first pulled them out of the oven was a little off-putting. But luckily I got over that fast and popped one in my mouth (searing the side of my tongue...let these cool just a little bit). They were DELICIOUS. I think my favorite were the ones with mozzarella and Parmesan, but they were all really yummy. 

So if you're a tomato fan, give these a try. They have my stamp of approval! 

Grade: A++, Super Yummy Pin Spin Win!

Pin Report #2: Baby Girl's Crocheted Beanie

http://www.crochet-patterns-free.com/2012/02/easy-baby-hat-crochet-pattern-free.html

I have a few friends who have had baby girls recently and I'm trying to get baby presents finished up. This was a pretty easy pattern to follow for the most part. I got it to the size I wanted it it (made it one size bigger than the instructions have) and started on the "brim", but I didn't like how the brim was turning out, so I made up my own. First, I'll show you the hat then I'll tell you how I made it.

What I did:
Rounds 1-3: as written in the original directions.  

Round 4: followed the directions to make the next size up (she said "To make a bigger size continue here with increasing rounds in natural sequence. for next size: Create 2 clusters in every 3rd stitch, and continue with pattern").

Rounds 5-8: done same as rounds 4-6 on her hat. 

Round 9: I did just one round of these directions: "Chain 1 working Loosely sl st around in back loops only. slip stitch to join each round. "

Round 10: ch1, sc in first sl st, *(ch1, skip 1 sl st and sc in next sl st) repeat from * around to first sc and join with a sl st. 

Round 11: ch1, (sl st, dc, sl st) in each ch1 space around brim. sl st to beginning st. finish off and weave in ends. 

I'm going to do something different for the flower, so I can't report on how that went. 

Grade: A, Pin Spin Win!

Pin Report #3: Freezer Meals 

http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2012/09/slow-cooker-freezer-meals-make-8-meals.html

I've had this one pinned since last year, but when I found out I was expecting I knew I'd be putting this one to the test. Today (10/8/13) I finally got the ingredients and put them all together. This site is awesome. They have the ingredients lists for each of the 8 recipes combined into one easy shopping list. It made it so easy at the store this morning! On the site they say that these proportions make enough for a family of 4 for dinner, plus 2 lunches the next day. So 6 servings a bag. That's 48 servings total. Not much of what I got was on sale, but I was still able to get everything at a decent price so that it averaged out to $1.71 per serving. That's not too bad! 

Since the proportions were for 4 people I decided to split the ingredients for each meal/recipe between two bags. I'm hoping we'll waste less this way and it'll be easier with leftovers. We're getting better with eating our leftovers, but we're still not great at it. So I ended up with 16 meals (2 of each recipe since I split them between 2 bags) all bagged up and in the freezer for us to throw in the crock pot once Merle gets here and we just don't feel like cooking. 

I worked slow and took a break or two during the process, so it took me about 2 1/2 hours to put all this together. That really isn't too bad though for getting 16 meals prepared and in the freezer for us. Hopefully this will help make things a little easier here in a few weeks as we get used to being a family of 3. I can't report on the taste of any of these yet obviously...that'll have to be a future Show-and-Tell Saturday. But for now, I give it a...

Grade: A, Pin Win. 
Easy to follow instructions and a great sense of productivity seeing those all in the freezer

Pin Report #4: Hand Quilting Tutorial

http://annamariahorner.blogspot.com/2010/03/stitch.html

My sisters, sister-in-law, and sister to the sister-in-law all did a mystery quilt project together about 2 years ago. Once I got the top done, I decided I was going to be over ambitious and try hand quilting it. Luckily I only did a baby size quilt. I looked around at various tutorials and had one picked out to use. Before I bought my supplies though the above photo showed up on my Pinterest feed and I liked that idea and look a lot better, so I went with it. It only took me 2 years of working on the project, forgetting it for months on end, and working on it for a day or so here and there again to finally get it finished up. Last Friday though I finally did get all the quilting done and the binding put on (the binding tutorial I found at http://www.heatherbaileydesign.com/HB_QuiltBinding.pdf). I love how it turned out. 

I give the tutorial an A+...but I don't know that I'd rate my quilting job that high, lol. 

Pin Report #5: Grocery Bag Storage

http://mousechirpy-polkadotpineapple.blogspot.com/2009/03/grandmothers-apron-carryall.html

We have stored all our plastic grocery bags in a large mesh laundry bag since we got married. It's done the job, but it sure is bulky and it's hard to pull just one bag out of the mess. 

See, that bag is huge. 

Today  (10/11) was "clean the laundry room" day and since this bag lives in the laundry room I decided it was finally time to do something about this sack. So I went to my boards and found the pin I showed above and read through the directions. Seemed simple enough, I remember learning to make those football triangles from my mom when I was in elementary school. I turned on "The Court Jester", dumped my bag of bags out on the floor, and plopped down to fold away. Just 3 minutes shy of 2 hours later I had all of the bags folded. 116 grocery bags that used to just fit in the mesh laundry bag now look like this:

 That takes up way less space and it will be so easy to just grab one out of the bag. I can put some in the glove compartment (or jockey box as Cameron calls it) of the car, in my future diaper bag, and with the garbage cans around the house. Yeah, it took me a while, but I was watching a movie and I was working on it alone. Grab your hunny and/or your kids, pop in a movie, and get to work and you'll have yours done way fast. 

Grade: A, Pin Win. 

Pin Report #6: Infinity Crocheted Scarf

http://crocreations.blogspot.com/2011/11/to-infinity-and-beyond.html

Last year for Christmas I wanted to knit Cameron a scarf. First I had to buy yarn...then I had to learn how to knit. It came out...okay. The first yarn I picked for him looked manly when it was all in the skein, but as I kept trying different scarf patterns it just looked too girly. So I put those skeins away and bought him some good ol' green and brown yarn. I've had the first yarn (which was a rusty orange, dark brown, and a brownish deep purple) tucked away for a "future project." I saw the above scarf on Pinterest last week and wanted so bad to try it out...and I knew the purply yarn I had stashed away would do the job great. It took me about 3 afternoons of crocheting, but I finally finished! Instead of sewing the ends together to make it an infinity scarf, I attached 4 buttons to one end. That way I can wear it as a regular scarf, or I can button the ends together and have an infinity scarf, a mobius scarf, a doubled up cowl, a head wrap, etc.

I wish mine had come out as self striping like the original pin, but the yarn changed colors so fast that it just kinda ended up being a conglomeration of the colors. It's not bad, I just like the colors of the original one better. But...this will be nice and warm and versatile! 

Grade: A, Pin Win. Easy to follow pattern and it goes pretty quickly!