Maddys quilt top

My first quilt top, and I think it turned out pretty ok. Of course, I still need to get batting for the middle, and a backing. I had purchased a twin size batting at JoAnnes but now that the top is done and I measured it, I realize I need to get a bigger one. This thing is huge.. we wanted it to hang over the edge of her bed a bit.... guess I got that one right lol

Naked soapies

Lavender



The soap came out very interesting looking. It is the first time I have gotten a batch of soap that looks almost translucent, its hard to tell from the pictures. There is no zap when I lick the soap *grins* and it does have a mild lather at this time ... i know cause i soaped up my hands and then tasted the lather. I am not sure if it will cure more solid looking... or stay its lovely ethereal self...I will have to ask around at some of the soap boards i visit to see if anyone knows what might cause this almost gel like look... perhaps its still in gel... anything is possible... it took forever to trace, and then took a long time to go into gel. I didnt cut it until it was cool to the touch out of the mold. So anyways... this puppy isnt going anywhere till its cured and I have tested it out myself.

close up of lavender bar with embeds and shreds



My babies... the trio. From left to right... beer, cucumber and aloe with cucumber and aloe FO, and the ethereal lavender.

Re-Vamped Lavender soap

Or was it larder soap... cant remember *smiles*

Last night I grated up some of the still fresh "ugly" soap and then cubed a few of the bars as well. I made a 1.5 pound batch of soap (castor 10, coconut 25, olive 65, 7%superfat) with a hint of lavender EO, and then split the batch into 1/3s when it was just barely in trace. Brought the smaller amount to trace, added the grated soap and attempted to pour at an angle (whole weird tilted on the side mold thing) and then I brought the other part of the soap mixture to trace, gently poured on top of the other soap and then popped on top of that the cubes. In theory I think it will work... but who knows. I may need to make two completely seperate batches of soap for this process. Let the first set up and then make the second and pour on top of that so that the layers dont merge which is what I am thinking probably happened.

As long as I dont have to rebatch that baby I will be ok with the outcome... if i have to rebatch it I just might have a tantrum. *smiles* Did I mention I totally despise rebatching?

I am making myself wait to unmold the soap. Its still a tid bit warm through the newspaper blankie I put on it... and I want to peak so bad... but I am holding off..

Well I am trying too anyways.





I cant wait to see what it looks like.


Ok so I peaked... cause Im bad like that. Well we either are still in gel, or we have a big mess on our hands. Since its still warm inside its blankie... I am deciding here and now its still in gel.

I hope. *smile*

Beer soap... woot!




Unmolded and uncut.




Sliced using my handy dandy little soap cutter. The girlz wanted to know why i hadnt used my "guitar string" cutter and I explained that I use that sucker for the 4-5 pound batches of soap I make... but with this little 2 pound batch I wasnt going to lug that huge thing up the basement stairs. They just looked at me. Oh well lol

I have to take eileen to the fabric shop today... she wants to make a baby quilt... so in fact do I lol... but mine will have to wait. I borrowed an awesome book from the library the other day called All about Quilting from A to Z and it has the most glorious pictures in it. One block i particularily like is called a snail tail... very spiral like... and I love my spirals *grins* but they have some itty bitty triangles... and Im seriously not sure I want to deal with them ... yet.

Tonight I am thinking about cutting up some of my ugly soap and using the cubes to imbed in the lavender soap I am making for mum. It should be pretty... unless the soap gremlins visit and it turns into rebatch #2. *knock on wood*

Be-ah Soap recipe

Castor 10%
Coconut 30% (this is higher then I like but within parameters... lol)
Olive 60%

7% superfat using soapcalc
Beer 341 ml

INS 152
Hardness 33
Conditioning 63
cleaning 20
bubbly 29
creamy 22
Iodine 61

Soaped this around 8 pm. I had been told there would be a horrid odor from adding the lye to the flat cold bear... but i didnt really notice much other then the same kind of icky sweet scent you get when adding fluids with excess sugar like milk ... oh and cucumber makes a strange scent as well. No Cat pee smells in my house, perhaps its because I froze the beer and i added the NaOH very slowly.

Soaped when lye mix was 90 and the oils were just under 100 degrees... and didnt end up using the stick blender at all... just a vigorous hand whisking. It turned a lovely carmel color and I am hoping it will stay that color. Not likely but one can hope eh?

I really liked soaping this cool... the frozen fluid really made a difference.

Perhaps tomorrow I can get Mum's lavender soap made. That one needs to be made ITMHP so she doesnt have to wait 4-6 weeks to be able to use it.

Hope to have lovely cut soap pics tomorrow to share... *keeping fingers crossed*

~Regi

Beer Soap

I am going to make a batch of beer soap for my hubby. Havent made this kind before but so it will be interesting. I have read that it will have a lightly sweet malty kind of scent so we will see. I would also love to try a wine soap... but that is for another day, and of course I would have to wrestle an unfinished bottle of wine away from someone and that might not be pretty. *laughs*

I also need to make a batch of lavender for Mum... she asked Paul the other day if I had any and I dont like to give out my ugly soap... cause... well its ugly. lol

The cucumber aloe soap is coming along nicely. I have been turning it each day cause there was a bit more moisture in it then I normally do. I didnt discount too much because I didnt want it to trace too fast and even at that it still went a bit fast.

As soon as we get our stimulus check I am going to see if i can squirrel away a bit... just a teeny tiny bit... to buy some new oils and replace a few necessary essential oils. Luckily my fragrance oils all seem to be fine... there are a few that are iffy but i just wont use those in my soaps.

Hopefully I will have some pictures later of Beeeah soap to share.

~regi

We have soap!

I cut the soap this morning and boy did it smell nice. Pouring the soap from a distance didnt give me the deep wells of color I was hoping for but its interesting looking for sure.

Its all cut and curing now... just have to be patient.

ETA: I wish you could smell this stuff... its absolutely divine!