Cranberry Orange Muffins

 

Adapted from Cookie and Kate

1/3 cup of oil - I used 2 TB of olive oil and a generous 3 TB of applesauce

3/4 cup of honey - I used a generous 1/3 cup of turbinado sugar and 1/4 cup of honey 

2 eggs - I used 2 for 1.5x the recipe. 1 would be fine

1 cup of plain Greek yogurt

2 tsp of vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp of baking soda

1 tsp of baking powder

1 cup of whole wheat flour

1 cup of all purpose flour

2 cups of chopped cranberries (12 oz bag yielded almost 4 cups of chopped cranberries)

1 TB orange zest (about 1 medium orange)

Additional turbinado sugar to sprinkle on top of the muffins before baking.

Bake at 400 degrees for 15-17 minutes. The sugar got a little brown for me, I might try a cooler oven.

We loved this new recipe and will try it again.

Weighted Lap Pad

One of my students seemed like he would benefit from a weighted lap pad. I knew I had all the materials to make one and went ahead.

First I cut two different materials at 12"x16". I chose soft materials. One has bumps and the other is very soft.

I sewed the two pieces right sides together. Starting on the corner of the long side and sewed along three sides plus around the final corners.

Next step is to flip it to right sides out and top stitch around the three sides and the little bit around each corner.

Next I marked the half and each quarter. Here is where I sewed channels for the plastic beads. After sewing the channels, I added 1/2 as many beads as I wanted for each channel. I wanted the lap pad to be 2 pounds so I put 2 ounces in the bottom sections of all four channels.

Because I wanted to sew down the middle, it's easier to do that with only half the poly beads inside. I added pins to keep the beads away from my center line and then sewed across.

Afterwards I could add 2 more ounces to each channel and then sew the top edge down. I fold in each edge before I sewed the channels which made it easy to continue to keep the edge folded down to topstich across.

The finished product is fairly small and soft. This is for a 1st grade student.

Schultüte!

On the first day of first grade in Germany, children receive a Schultüte filled with wonderful things. 

One year when I started the year with 7th graders on their first year of German, we created Schultüten together with paper, stickers, drawings and treats. I was their teacher as a long term substitute.

This school year I have just one section of 9th graders and I'm their teacher for the whole year. I'm excited to be teaching German again and always enjoy a nice project. 

I considered making a large Schultüte like the kids actually get in Germany and then sharing the contents, but when I was doing some research, I saw someone use party hats as the cone part and decided I was going to go ahead and make 10, one for each student. 

Starting with the party hats, I added a 1/4 of a sheet of sparkly tissue paper. My first thought was to use a stapler, but ended up going with clear tape.

Then I created the hat which was tricky until I folded down part of the tab to make it easier to insert. It still wasn't quick and easy every time. 

A German made pencil is part of the contents and rather tall. I started with the pencil and added the other items all around it. 

Ladybug (for luck!), gummy bear, and German flag stickers were added to the cone for more decoration. After loading up the contents, I used red, yellow, and black organza ribbon to tie up the Schultüte.

They came out very cute and I hope that the 9th graders won't feel too old opening up their Schultüte, but I think the treats will balance out any embarrassment.

Scrunchies

I wasn't sure it was necessary to create a post about scrunchies. I have been making the since the 1990s! But there has been an evolution on the preferred materials and width over the years. More recently I had made scrunchies out of stretch nylon mystic or stretch velvet. I had a note about the width (3.25") and the length (20") and I used a piece of elastic at 8" long.

I wanted pink, blue, and white scrunchies to wear to the upcoming Pride parade to represent the transgender flag. After hunting around, I found a fat quarter with the same colors I sought. This fat quarter is made out of thin cotton material and it didn't really occur to me that using the same dimensions I had used with the thicker material might come out differently.

The first fat quarter was cut into 5 strips each measuring 3.25" wide. This produced a very thin scrunchie. The second fat quarter was cut into three 4.5" strips and one 4" strip. After sewing together the 4" strip, I decided to make two of them for me to keep. The 4" width seemed about right to me. I did make two at 4.5" and they are more reminiscent of the wider scrunchies I had as a teen.

Here are the steps I used.

After cutting, sew a 1/4" seam the long way with right sides together leaving the beginning 1-1.5" and the end unsewn. This allows you to sew the ends together.

Start turning the tube, but stop when it is at the half way point. 

Now it's easy to line up the two ends and sew them together right sides together.

Afterwards, pull the right side out through the small opening.

The next step is to insert the elastic with a safety pin. I use a straight pin to hold the tail so it doesn't get lost.

Sew the ends together with a zigzag stitch.

Finally, sew the opening closed. I have hand sewed and machine sewed. Machine sewing is quickest and when it's done close to the edges, it blends right in.

The many different widths.

Sunshine Gifts

 A while back when a young family member was having surgery, I found an idea for a "box of sunshine." This box included yellow items such as food, stickers, or other small items. It was fun to shop for yellow items that would fit in the box.

Since then I've gifted yellow items other times for different reasons. 

As the school year comes to a close, all the feelings are there. Kids are ramping up for summer, there are many end of year things to do, and teachers are tired. One new teacher has been counting down her first year of school and it seems like it's been a particularly stressful year. I thought she could use some sunshine.

Once again, I hunted down each aisle for yellow items. Some staples I've found each time included lemon flavored drinks, peanut m&ms, Juicy Fruit gum and Nilla Wafers. 

I figured we had a small paper bag at home, but unfortunately we must be out. I knew I could make a simple fabric bag which I have made before. I googled first to see if there was an even simpler idea to try. I basically followed this simple gift bag.

First I looked for yellow fabric and chose which had enough fabric for the pile of items I wanted to include. Then I cut it just bigger then my pile. Next I loosely followed the ideas of turning down the top edge, creating a casing (fold down edges and topstitch, then tuck under the top and bottom long edge and sew down to the bag) for the outside (I made one for the front and one for the back), and finally sewing the sides right sides together, then serging and boxing the corners. Because I had created two casings with openings on both sides, I could run two rows of ribbon to cinch it together.

Everything fit well into the bag and I think it's pretty cute.

Afterwards I had another teacher I wanted to bring some sunshine to. I created a mini tote with the leftover lemon fabric and added handles out of ribbon. That went together very quickly. Once again I used the serger and boxed the corners.

Quilt for School

 My cloffice (closet/office) is directly across from one set of doors used for arrival and dismissal. Once outdoor temperatures dropped below 20 degrees Fahrenheit along with strong winds, my space's temperature also dropped. Aside from wearing a winter jacket indoors, I thought about other options. Ultimately I decided to look for small blankets and quilts. In one closet I found many forgotten blankets and quilts, many I had made before my third baby was born. They were all on the smaller side and perfect for a lap quilt. Before I had looked around my house, I did a quick search for interesting fabric. While the mini quilts I brought into school did serve their purpose, I kept remembering the cute fabrics I had found and wondered if I might be up for a sewing project. It has been years since I quilted anything. Finally after looking at the new fabric one more time, I found a panel that seemed like a quick and easy way to get back to some quilting without a bigger commitment of a pieced quilt. 

Because I teach English as a New Language, I was looking for fabric with the world on it. The winner ended up being a Michael Miller panel called "Wonderful World." Thinking back to my early days of learning to quilt, I considered different methods for putting this panel together. Instead of spending a lot of time planning or buying many materials, I bought the panel and later some matching fabric for the binding and was able to locate some fleece from my stash for the backing. One option was to just sew right sides together and flip it, but once I found the fleece, I decided to go ahead and pin it for quilting. After pinning the panel and fleece, it sat for a couple weeks. Fortunately, I had a school break coming up and that ended up being the perfect time to start quilting. 

I wasn't sure how I wanted to quilt it. Being out of practice and knowing I didn't want to baby my sit down quilting machine, I wondered if I could just sew lines on my regular machine. Remembering the specialty sewing machine feet I have made it easier. I started with the even feed walking sewing machine foot. Instead of just making straight lines along the world's oceans, I made wavy lines. It worked pretty well and I added more as needed. Then I needed to tackle the nine blocks around the world. Initially I sewed straight lines around each block. Remembering back to rules about how many inches apart quilting should be, but also taking into account that I wasn't using batting, I decided I did need more stitching. 

Another specialty sewing machine foot I have in my little box is for free motion quilting. I

remember really enjoying "doodling" with that foot and because this project is smaller, it wasn't difficult using my regular sewing machine. It was really neat to start right in on a white block and squiggle along without a real plan aside from getting from one side to the other and not sewing through any faces. After a short time I had filled up all nine squares. Checking the back of the quilt is a great way to see the stitching and check for any large unstitched areas. Some of the printed blocks have such large images or words, it seemed important to add a bit more stitching. When I was considering how to quilt this project, I was drawn to the words and wondered about stitching on them. Once I started squiggling, I didn't think I would revisit the words, but it was fun to highlight them after all.

I'm glad that I decided to buy new fabric and get back to quilting. Choosing a panel made it easier, but still allowed me to have fun free motion quilting. I used matching blue fabric from the collection for the binding and followed Heather Bailey's tutorial for continuous quilt binding. A 1/4 yard was more than plenty for the binding and two small loops for hanging.

This little quilt will keep me warm in the winter, but I already have plans to hang it from a shelf in the warmer months. Even if the world doesn't always feel welcoming or wonderful, I will continue to maintain a welcoming and wonderful environment for my students.

Morning Glory Muffins

 

I had discovered Morning Glory Muffins when I was looking for carrot cake recipes. It intrigued me because I had never heard of them before. The combination of fruits and veggies sounded delicious. I perused some recipes and made some modifications. This is what I ended up with.

Can be made in a bowl by hand.

Combine 

1/3 cup mashed banana (1 small banana mashed on a plate with a fork and then measured)

2 TBSP of olive oil

1/2 cup applesauce (1 snack cup of unsweetened applesauce)

1/3 cup of pineapple juice (from 8 oz of crushed pineapple)

1 egg

1/4 cup of brown sugar

2 TBSP of honey

1 tsp of vanilla

Mix well then add

1 cup of wheat flour

1 cup of all purpose flour

1/3 or less of ground flax-seed and chia seed mix (last batch I used 1/4 cup of flax only and like it)

2 tsp of baking soda

2  tsp of cinnamon

1/2 tsp of ginger

1/2 tsp of all spice

1/2 tsp of salt

Mix just until combined, then fold in 

1 cup of grated carrots (some recipes have 2 cups, 1 is fine)

1 cup of grated apple (can substitute applesauce)

1/2 cup of raisins

1/2 cup of crushed pineapple

Spray muffin pan and fill most of the way with a full ice cream scoop.

Bake at 425 degrees for 5 minutes and then reduce the oven to 350 degrees and bake for another 15 minutes or so.

Last time I baked at 375 for about 15 minutes.

These muffins are moist and have a great flavor. I do detect a hint of banana, but it doesn't take away from the other flavors.

One time I was out of apples and wondered about using chopped, fresh cranberries. I was hesitant and decided to use applesauce, but also just add cranberries to two muffins (1 TB each). The cranberry flavor was muted, but a nice addition.

Yielded 12 muffins and 1 small ramekin.