embroidery projects

I've been doing lots of embroidery lately and Jon has encouraged me to post pictures online for future reference... so here we go!

Love this cute puffer jacket!
This is the top of a cooler, I love this new font!
These bags are baby gifts, the girl I did them for is going to add some cute fabric flowers to them. I'm totally stealing this idea! This is also a new font, it's my new favorite I think, called "strawberry."
Dress for a birthday present. The girl I did this for asked for dots around the letter, I'd never done this before but I had fun playing around with my software to draw and digitize a dot and I will definitely be doing this again!

chocolate goodness

I found this recipe over a year ago on Blissfully Domestic but never got around to making it. My little sister made it this past weekend and commented on how good and easy it was, so I tried it last night.

AMAZING!!!! You probably have everything in your pantry already and it whips up really fast! My one tip is to let it cool some before serving. I ate some almost immediately over some vanilla ice cream and the fudgy saucy part was really thin, after a while it got fudgier which was nice. It also does pretty well to reheat in the microwave which works nicely.

Chocolate Cobbler

• 1 C self Rising Flour
• 3/4 C sugar
• 2 T Cocoa
• 1/2 C Milk
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• 2 T Vegetable Oil
• 3/4 C Brown Sugar
• 1/4 C Cocoa
• 1 3/4 C hot tap water
• 1 C chopped pecans (optional)

1. Mix together flour, sugar, and cocoa.
2. Add milk, vanilla, oil, and nuts. Mix well.
3. Pour into greased 8×8 inch pan.
4. Mix 3/4 C brown sugar and 1/4 C cocoa together. Sprinkle over batter.
5. Very slowly pour the hot tap water over the dry mixture and batter.
6. Bake in 350 oven for 40 to 45 minutes.

homemade pita bread

Yesterday I made hummus which of course meant I needed pita bread to go with it.

That was this morning's project. I used this recipe.

I don't think I'll use it again.... next time I want to find one with whole wheat flour. I also want to do better letting my oven preheat all the way (I'm really bad about that but this recipe needs it). And I think I'd like a recipe that calls for a little honey or sugar. So all that being said...if you are a pita maker and have a good recipe please let me know!

Making pita bread was super easy and very quick to do as far as breads go. So this is something I'll try again.

My pitas didn't really puff much at all and certainly nothing close to the beautiful puffiness of the picture of the recipe I was following.... oh well!

It was an interesting experiment.

blanket stitch tutorial

Mollie asked how to blanket stitch and I'm actually working on a receiving blanket for the baby (just in case it's a boy!) right now so that is great timing. I took a few pictures while I was working on it this morning. It' SO easy.

This blanket stitch is for the edge of an actual blanket. If you want to blanket stitch around an applique on a shirt like I did for the Valentine's shirt then check out these instructions.

Doing this for a baby blanket is so easy and it's a nice handwork project to have going because it doesn't take much thought and you can kind of pick it up whenever. I just buy a piece of flannel that seems a good size for a blanket... nothing exact. And then I get 2 things of coordinating DMC thread. First you'll need to wash and dry the fabric. Then loosely baste the edges, turning them down about 1/4 an inch and then another 1/4 an inch so you have a clean edge. Then you start the blanket stitch.

1. From the back insert the needle up through the edge of the fold and pull thread through.

2. From the front insert the needle a little ways to the right just below the fold of the hem that you basted. (just try to keep this even so all your stitches are spaced the same distance apart)

3. From the back you'll be reinserting the needle just at the top edge of the hem so that you just catch the fabric.

4. Wrap your thread around the needle from back to front and hold with your thumb as you pull the needle and thread through.

5. Then you just repeat that all the way around.
6. At the corners I usually do three stitches entering at the same point but coming out on each side and at the tip of the corner to anchor.

7. Remove the basting when you're done.

super EASY playdough recipe

We made this up this morning in under 10 minutes with things we already had in the pantry. I highly recommend!!

Kool-Aid Play Dough

1 cup flour
1 cup water
1/2 cup salt
3 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 package Kool-Aid Mix (any flavor of unsweetened)
1 tablespoon cooking oil

Mix dry ingredients together in a large saucepan. Slowly add water mixed with oil and stir over medium heat until mixture thickens to dough. Turn out onto a heatproof bread board or counter top and knead until cool enough for children to handle. Dough will be the color of the Kool-Aid mix and will smell like the Kool-Aid mix. (Can be stored in a tightly covered container for up to six months) (This site had other recipes too!)

Valentine's applique

I have been itching to applique something for Baby Girl and Valentine's seemed a perfect opportunity.

Mary Catherine gave me some places to look to get ideas and I combined two (from Etsy) for this shirt.

It was a super fun and really quick project. It would have been faster if I had machine stitched to applique, but I thought the blanket stitch was a cute detail.

what kids can do

I have been AMAZED recently at what Baby Girl can do (she's almost 18 months). Very regularly I think to myself how we as a society belittles kids by expecting so little of them and not giving them opportunities to grow into. A couple days ago I actually felt like I had a conversation with my child... crazy!

Here are some things I have learned she can do:

1. clean up toys
2. put things "in"- i.e. "Can you help Mama put the wipes in the basket?" They may be a mess, but they are in the basket.
3. cook- she has helped me bake on several occasions and can dump ingredients into the bowl
4. listen to reading without pictures- the Bible and poems for example
5. take things places- i.e. "Can you please go put your coat in your room?"
6. follow directions... this is so amazing to me because it means she actually understands what I am saying, even if she can't verbally respond

Maybe this isn't news to most people but with this being child number one it really is incredible to me.

favorite blogs: Lynn's Kitchen Adventures

So it's been six months since I last posted on here... OOPS! I just kind of unintentionally took a blogging hiatus. However, in the last few weeks I have had several things that I've thought... "hmm, that would be fun to post about." So I'm back.

To kick off my return, here's my new favorite blog!

Lynn's Kitchen Adventures.

1. NORMAL family friendly recipes
2. pictures of EVERY dish
3. lots of cooking from scratch (=frugal!)
4. easy to navigate and browse categories

Love it.

favorite blogs: Health Begins with Mom

This is a new to me blog that I LOVE, Health Begins with Mom! Sadly (but happily for her family!) she is taking a sabbatical from blogging for a bit to get school started back up with her kiddos. The archives are still fantastic though and I am already looking forward to her return.

Amy Ellen discusses all aspects of family health. Currently I'm working on making our eating habits more healthful and have found great ideas and resources on her site. I must say that some of the ideas are impossible for our family to implement because of cost, but the general idea of being a mom and wife and keeping my home in a way that promotes health in our family I am totally on board with!

I also emailed her with a question and received a truly thoughtful and personal response. So nice!

I highly recommend Health Begins with Mom!