Exposed Zipper Bag

I haven't been sewing much because I bought a serger a few months ago and I've been trying to figure out how it works. I made the mistake of using it for something that was probably more suited to a regular sewing machine and got really frustrated.  It stayed in its plastic covering and I tried to figure out what to do.

A good friend suggested Craftsy. They have lots of online classes, for everything from pattern recreation to cake decorating. I signed up for a beginning serging class, assembled my machine and got ready to learn.

It's awesome. The instructor, Amy Allen, is so friendly and helpful. The projects are useful and all the handouts are clear. I feel much more confident now.

The first project was an exposed zipper bag. I got a couple fat quarters, b/w houndstooth and a blotchy pink, a black zipper and four cones of black thread. It was fairly quick and easy! My zipper seam allowances aren't completely even, but I'm probably the only person who really notices and cares. I'm totally going to get more supplies and make more of these.

Peppermint Marble Loaf Cake

I love the combination of peppermint and chocolate. The York Peppermint Patty creamer makes me very happy in the morning. This easy marble loaf cake is like the creamer in cake form. 

Marble Loaf Cake Recipe from Baking From my Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

Ingredients

2 Cups Flour plus 2 Tbsp All-Purpose Flour
1 ¼ tsp Baking Powder
½ tsp Salt
1 ½ Sticks (12 Tbsp) Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
1 Cup Sugar
4 Large Eggs
½ tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
½ Cup Whole Milk
4 oz Bittersweet Chocolate, melted 

4 oz White Chocolate, melted

1/4 tsp Peppermint Extract

Method

Preheat the oven to 325˚F. Butter an 8 ½ x 4 ½ x 2 ½-inch loaf pan, dust the inside with flour and tap out the excess. Place the pan on an insulated baking sheet or 2 regular baking sheets stacked one on top of the other.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Working with a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, or with hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add the sugar and beat for another 2 to 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Don’t be concerned if the batter curdles and stay curdled-it will be fine. Beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and alternately add the flour mixture in 3 additions and the milk in 2 (begin with the dry ingredients), mixing only until each addition is incorporated.

Divide the batter in half and stir the melted bittersweet chocolate into one half and the melted white chocolate and peppermint extract into the other. Drop spoonfuls of dark and light batter randomly into the pan, and then plunge a table knife deep into the batter and zigzag the knife through the batter. For maximum peppermint contrast, only zig and zag a few times. 

Bake the cake for 1 hour and 20 to 30 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted deep into the center comes out clean. If the cake looks as if it’s getting too brown during its bake, cover loosely with a foil tent. Transfer the cake to a cooling rack and let it rest for about 15 minutes before unmolding, then cool the cake to room temperature right side up on the rack.

Fabric Headbands

  A new year needs new hair, right? I decided to chop off my hair into a fun pixie cut a few weeks ago. I really love it. It's so easy to take care of, but I do still have an occasional bad hair day. I decided to make some headbands to hide any crazy poufs or just liven up an outfit.

 I found a pattern at Happy Together for a double-sided fabric headband. I prefer headbands that tie, because the elastic ones scrunch up too much, especially with short hair.  I taped the two pattern pieces together and then extended the end a few more inches. I left a 3-inch opening near the middle for turning. The Dritz turning tools came in very handy here. A little topstitching and I was all done. Two headbands took about 20 minutes and were free since I used scrap fabric.

I figure this wide-headband look will be very popular with the new Great Gatsby movie coming out soon. Who can't use a little 20's glamour in her life?

From Minus Minions

From Minus Minions

Frog Quilt

  Dude, where has the time gone? I got sucked into the holidays, dealt with the girls having massive colds, then found myself with fatigue and a touch of writer's block. However, I finished a few projects, one big and a few small, and I'm ready to write again.

I like frogs. My maternal grandmother collected frog figurines and when she passed away, my mom gave me some of her collection. I've expanded it a bit and have some froggy touches around the house. Naturally, when I saw the "Infrognito" quilt pattern, I had to have it. I decided to go with a different color combination, opting for more greens, blues and purples. I got a bunch of batik fat quarters, grabbed by rotary cutter and went to town.

From Minus Minions

I think this is one of my favorite projects ever. I love the color combinations, the whimsy, and how soft it is. I used a double thickness of a low-loft batting, so my hand-quilting stitches aren't nest and tiny, but the payoff is how cozy and warm the quilt is. It's perfect for curling up on the couch. I stitched in the ditch, so there are fun outlines of frogs on the back.

It went together pretty easily. The shapes are all straight lines, making rotary cutting easy. The big frog and all the eyes are attached with fusible webbing. I drew the eye details, like the pupil, with fabric marker.

From Minus Minions

 I might have to make this again, with other colors. 

Lemon Cutout Cookies

  It's time for Christmas baking again! This year's menu included Chocolate-Dipped Orange Peels, Sables and World Peace Cookies, and, for the first time in a long time, Festive Lemon Cutout Cookies. I would make these with my mom and aunt for our Cookiefests, but since they're labor intensive, I haven't made them on my own. Since the girls are old enough to wield  frosting bags, I decided to make a few batches this year.

From Minus Minions

I really like the hint of lemon in the dough. The cream cheese keeps them somewhat soft, which means they're probably not too stable for shipping. I did have breaking issues with my larger Christmas tree cutter, but it got better once the cookies were well cooled.

Half the cookies were frosted and half I sprinkled with decor before baking. I  didn't make the lemon glaze this time, using instead the Betty Crocker cookie icing. I set out a bunch of fun decorations, out wax paper down for a work surface and we had a great (sugar-fueled) time. 

Festive Lemon Cutout Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

3 oz. cream cheese, softened

2 Tbs. RealLemon lemon juice

1/4 tsp. salt

1cup sugar

1egg yolk

1 tsp. vanilla

2 1/4 cups unsifted flour

Combine all ingredients, except flour, beat with mixer until well blended. Beat in flour.

Divide dough in half, wrap in plastic and chill at least 1 hour.

On a well-floured surface, knead one dough portion into a smooth ball. Roll dough to 1/8" thickness. Cut into shapes. Place 1" apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven, 7 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned at edges. Cool. Repeat with remaining dough. Decorate with Lemon Glaze. Store tightly covered.

Lemon Glaze

With mixer, best 4 cups unsifted powdered sugar and 1/4 cup RealLemon lemon juice. Divide glaze and tint with food coloring.

Sausages with Ratatouille

  Now that cold weather is upon us (at least if you're in the Northern Hemisphere), it's time to think about warm, cozy meals.  And, since we got rain, sleet and snow yesterday, I decided to make one of my favorite meals tonight: Sausages with Rataouille from Real Simple.

It's got a lot of chopping, but otherwise it's easy to put together. It's also not unhealthy, with all the veggies. I love serving it with mashed potatoes, rice or orzo, but a warm loaf of crusty bread would be awesome, too. 

It smells, and tastes, divine. Know that scene in "Ratatouille" when Anton Ego eats that first bite and he has a flashback and it makes him happy. That's what this will do to you. It's that good.

My Little Pony Costumes

For some reason, I really wanted the girls to be characters from My Little Pony this year for Halloween. I was stuck, however, on the whole mane and crown thing. Do I get a wig and dye it? Do I buy a bunch of yarn?  I wanted something cute and easy but not insanely expensive. I was stuck.

I did some web searches and found lots of cool cosplay outfits. One, in particular, fit exactly what I wanted. It was a fleece hoody vest with fleece mane, wings, horn and crown. It's perfect for Colorado Halloweens, where it can be sunny or snowing. And the whole thing was pretty easy.

Supplies

• Hoodie sweatshirt with matching pants (I got mine at WalMart and Hanes.com)
• Fleece, 1/4 to 1/2 yard per color, depending how how many colors you need. Princess Celestia has 4 colors, Princess Luna has 2
• Regular felt for crown, necklace, horn and cutie mark
• Stiff felt for the wings
• Glitter paint for fabric
• Velcro
• Tracing paper
• Craft/fabric glue
• Needle, thread

The first step is to sketch the pattern for the mane and tail. I traced around the hood and then drew my pattern pieces on that.

  

I drew my pieces on tracing paper individually, then cut them out of the fleece.

Then, I pinned the pieces to the sweatshirt and sewed them. I decided the mane looked a little anemic with only one layer, so I cut and sewed a couple more layers.

For the wings, I drew patterns on tracing paper, then cut them out of extra-stiff felt.  The horn was cut out of a piece of regular felt and glued shut.  To give them a little more shine, I added some detail with glitter fabric paint.

The next step was to attach the wings and horn. Since this is a kid's costume, I want to be able to wash it. The extra-stiff felt isn't washable, I didn't want to permanently attach the wings. I decided to sew the hook side of a velcro strip to the back of the sweatshirt. The felt will stick easily to it, but if you wanted, you could glue the matching loop side to the back of the wings.  I hand-sewed the horn to the top of the mane, after sewing down the top of the mane so nothing would flop around.

Next, I cut out and glued the "cutie mark" to the bottom left of the hoodie.

I cut the crown and necklace out of regular felt and added a glitter fabric paint jewel.

I hand-stitched the crown to the hoodie, behind the horn. Since the hoodie's have a zip front, I sewed two pieces of velcro on the shoulder seams so the necklace can be taken on and off easily.

And that's it! I think they look so cute and unique. With coupons at JoAnns and getting the sweatsuits at a good price, I don't think cost more than a store-bought outfit. 

The Bean loves hers, just look at that face!

The Belly decided she didn't want to be Princess Luna but wanted to be a ladybug again. Since I still have her costume from last year, I didn't really mind. Here's what the Luna costume looks like, minus a model.

That's it! Happy Halloween!