Naked Barbies No More!

When my youngest first discovered the one Barbie and multiple princess Barbie dolls we have in the house, she was quite taken with them. Especially their sparkly dresses. Then one day it was as if a switch flipped and they all needed their clothes off all the time.

Sometimes we would be heading out and Jasmine or Cinderella would tag along, in the nude. The naked dolls didn't phase me much, but we did seem to get regular comments about them.

It seemed that they had been naked so long, we had a hard time finding all their pretty dresses. One by one we dressed most of them. A couple were still missing.

With naked Barbies on my mind heading into a naptime, I searched around for easy Barbie sewing patterns. I found two that looked perfect. Jessica's tutorial at Craftiness is Not Optional is clear and simple.  I also liked the bodice idea from Nancy at My Cotton Creations.

A few days later we tried the patterns out. I used the sleeve idea from one, the bodice from another and a nice full skirt. I figured it should take about 15 minutes. Well I forgot how challenging it sometimes is to sew tiny seams and tiny clothes. The sleeves were getting all kinds of caught in the machine and then my sewing opportunity for the day was over.

I was able to come back to the little pink dress today along with my mini helper and it all went smoothly, not taking much time at all to finish. Why not make another! This time I tried just the simple straight bodice and less full skirt. It probably took 15 minutes as predicted. I did put the bodice on Barbie to figure out the darts as the tutorial shows. It all worked well. And the delight on my daughter's face as the dresses neared completion made it an even more satisfying project.

Unicycle Cookies 2012

Last year I created a unicycle cookie cutter and made decorated unicycle cookies. It was a major project and this year I wanted to do it again, but easier.

I decided a stand mixer would help make things easier and it certainly did!

I made up the dough on Sunday and cut out the cookies on Monday. After baking and cooling, they went into the freezer until Wednesday night. While they were freezing, I made up royal icing and read about a different method of using it. Last year I attempted the two step process of flooding and detail work. This year, for some of it, I would use the 20 second rule for applying icing.

Thursday was decorating day. It really did help to have the frosting made up and colored. And in order to color the frosting, I had to have planned out the decorating. My mom was able to join me again and my toddler had a super nap after swimming all morning.

It didn't take too long at all. Perhaps two hours was spent decorating including some clean up. The simplified method of decorating worked well and knowing a bit better what to expect helped too. I wish I had thinned the blue for the saddles a bit more. The thinned black on the saddles worked very well. I started with a larger tip opening and too much icing came out. Switching to a #5 tip worked better.

In addition to the unicycle cookies, I made ovals depicting the Schlumpf logo. Schlumpf is the company who created a geared hub that my husband uses. I also made some square shaped cookies I cut with a fancy cucumber knife. My mom wrote the "MUNI" on them which stands for Mountain Unicycling. The cupcakes are for my husband's birthday which happens to fall on race day.

I enjoy celebrating the great group of unicyclists I've come to know through my husband's hobby.

Memory Mug Rug

My grandmother used to send me fabric from time to time.  She was always a sewer.  She mainly made clothes for herself and her husband.  And she was very talented, no patterns necessary.

Memory Mug Rug

My grandmother died last year and my grandfather died just last month.  I know people do all kinds of neat memory quilts and wall hangings from the deceased clothing.

I thought about the fabrics I have from my grandmother.  One is from a shirt she had made my grandfather, another is from an outfit she made my daughter.  Others I'm not sure of their stories.  I collected these fabrics together and some other scraps that reminded me of my grandparents and a couple that would tie everything together.

Back of Mug Rug

Instead of a quilt, I would make a mug rug.  These are cute mini quilts which are designed to use as a coaster for a cup of tea and perhaps a cookie.  This memory mug rug is for my mother in memory of her parents.  I like the idea of my mom having tea and having a remembrance of her parents right there with her.  I hope she likes it too.

Pancakes for Breakfast

My older daughter isn't a fan of your average breakfast fare.  In fact her favorite thing for breakfast is leftover dinner.  We have been encouraging her to try new, easy things that are sure to be available, especially for school days.

She does however love pancakes and I have been known to make some ahead and freeze them, but I hadn't in a while.

It's a napping child that probably inspires me the most, or perhaps it's the quiet that comes with a napping child.

Anyway, I was happy to use my new mixer again and try out a new recipe for pancakes.

I used a basic recipe from the cookbook entitled, Whole Foods for the Whole Family, and then made some modifications.  I often add mashed bananas to my pancakes, but we were all out.  But we did have a bunch of mini Chobani Honey-nana Greek yogurts which have a nice banana flavor.

2 cups of yogurt and milk mixture - 2, 3.5oz  
  Chobani Honey-nana (banana flavored) Greek
  yogurt and skim milk together to make up 2 cups
2 eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp of baking soda
1/2 tsp of salt
1 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose unbleached white flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

I used my whisk attachment and my lovely new mixer.  It certainly makes baking easier.  They cooked up quickly and I placed them on a cooling rack.  They will be frozen layered in wax paper for a quick, easy breakfast.  It's a fairly nutritious breakfast as well as my daughter prefers applesauce as her dipping sauce.  These are actually so tastey that I sampled one mostly cool without anything extra and it was great!  Between the sweet yogurt and the added sugar, they are sweet.  I probably could leave out the sugar entirely.

Mixing Bliss

After a year of wishing I had a stand mixer, I decided the time was right.

It's time to make unicycle cookies again. I purchased the Kitchenaid Artisian mixer earlier this week, but didn't open the box until today. I had my eager helpers ready and we were all excited to try out the new mixer.

I had actually read the online manual earlier too which made it really easy. I opened the box, washed the parts and started making cookies.

Even with the first ingredients, it was clear that this is a superior machine. It seemed very efficient and mixed everything quickly. This gingerbread cookie recipe calls for quite a bit of flour and the dough gets stiff. I decided to switch my beater to the dough hook for the last cup of flour. It mixed beautifully.

I look forward to our next mixing opportunity. I read that mashed potatoes can be mixed in it as well. Maybe I'll mix and we'll have dinner too.

Oktoberfest Bound

My son is in 7th grade and started a language this year.  I was excited that he chose German as I studied German for many years and even hold a couple degrees in German.

Toddler Dirndl

Jumper Before

For extra credit, he can attend the Oktoberfest happening this weekend and next.  As I was trying to find out more about the event, I saw many pictures of participants from past years.  There were some young children in Dirndls and Lederhosen.  I thought a small girl here might like a Dirndl too.

I wanted this to be a quick project, so I started with a jumper we already had.  While looking at my ribbon selection, I didn't see exactly what I wanted.  Starting with a strip of felt, I tried out my different decorative stitches.  This would make up the sides of the ribbons which would crisscross.

Dancing Girl

After looking at my stash for a floral print, I was happy to find this green floral.  It was leftover from kitchen valences from long ago.  The leftover piece was the perfect size.  I sewed it together and gathered the top edge.

First I added the decorated felt and ribbon, then I cut the jumper.  The gathered skirt went on quickly and finally I sewed a hem at the bottom.

Wonky Pink Ribbon Quilt

The blocks for this quilt I made about six months ago.  Some time afterwards I added the white sashing and borders. A month or so ago I bought material for the backing and bamboo and organic cotton batting. But it wasn't until this weekend that I could put it all together.

The quilt was measuring about 48" and the back would need to be pieced. I decided to add a long strip to each side to make up the 48" plus extra for quilting. It went together quicker than I anticipated. The sandwiching went well too. I placed the top, batting, and backing all together on the floor and pinned the layers together.

I wasn't sure how I wanted to quilt it. I could follow the lines, make geometric designs or just do free motion quilting all over. I hadn't yet attempted to do free motion quilting on an entire quilt this size. It seemed to be going well and it was nice to be able to squiggle from one block to the next.

Close up of FMQ and backing shown on lower left corner

My sewing machine did have some issues. I kept breaking needles and my bobbins weren't winding all the way. Finally I looked up ways to fix my winding issues and found an answer! Then I decided I'd clean my bobbin case and try to be extra careful with my movements. I guess all those things did the trick. I finished my squiggles with less interruptions and am happy with the finished product.

Finally I added a binding by machine and then hand stitched the back side down. I wasn't sure if I should use more white or the backing fabric. I ended up with the brown and pink backing fabric and think the was a good choice.

The fabrics used in the quilt were leftover from my baby carrier pack I made about two years ago.  After shooting these pictures, we went right to nap time, snuggling together under our new quilt.