Nancy's Easter Bags

These cute Easter bags were made by our cake decorating cousin, Nancy, for her 2 little ones. Aren't they darling!

Here's what she said about them:
These were so easy. I just used a large piece of wool felt and a few different colors of ric rac and bias tape. Then I made the handle out of ribbon and sewed a button onto my son's bag. Added a bow to my daughter's bag and there you go! I hope they are fun for the kids and get used for a few years.

Originally I found these bags at Purl Bee; however, I made my bags bigger than they did. They measure 8.5" (plus 1" for the top hem) x 12.5" (plus the 1/2" seam allowance on the sides) and the handle is about 16" long. After sewing on the bias tape and ric rac, and sewing up the sides of the bag, I squared the bottom of the bag so the eggs fit more easily.

Strangest Christmas Present Ever {Guest}

Or we could call this post "A Mother's love knows no bounds."

My friend Natalie has 4 boys who she must truly love because when her 11 yr. old decided that he wanted a Giant Squid pillow for Christmas she got to work and made him one.  This all started after he did a report for school on the Giant Squid--scientific name, Architeuthis.

Her inspiration came from this post, an equally "crazy in a good way" woman who must love her boyfriend as much as Natalie loves her #1 son.  And apparently these 2 are not the only ones who are squid-maniacs (see the post's commentary).

I think this is awesome and she did such a great job.  My only concern is that my 9 yr. old will see this and then decide that he needs one too, for his birthday in April.  Hide the squid!!!

So what's the strangest Christmas present you've ever made for someone or given to someone?

I'm dying to find out what crazy sewing/crafting you've done for your loved ones.

Ann's Latest T-shirt Quilt

Remember our friend Ann T. who posted for us last year about making t-shirt quilts?

Well, here are pictures of her latest one (and hopefully last one, at least for her own kids). She said she finished up the handsewing en route to Utah this Fall to drop her "baby" off at college. And she says this is her best one yet, ...but don't tell her other kids.

Ready for dorm life...

Squash {Part 1}

Our cousin Tiffany and I have been slightly obsessed recently with all things squash. Winter squashes, unlike summer squashes, can be stored almost indefinitely in a cool, dry spot, like your basement. This is just fine, unless you have a squash like the one in the picture below.
This is Tiffany with one of TWELVE 3-4' long banana squashes that were grown in her parents' garden. Where are you going to store 12 of those babies?!

Cutting one into workable pieces requires a hubby with strong muscles and a machete or chain saw....seriously. And unless you want to eat banana squash for about a week straight for every meal (and that is just 1 banana squash), or feed your entire neighborhood for a couple days, you have to figure out something to do with once you cut into it.

Here are more of the famous banana squash along with the other varieties they grew (and Tiff's cute daughter).

My husband brought home about 10 butternut squash for us, from work, that someone had just left in a bin outside the back door hoping people would take them. I told him to bring as many as he could.

So, if you don't have lots of freezer space to store cooked puree, you could can it. However, you MUST use a pressure canner. I canned half of my squash for now.

Per the Ball Blue Book:
Basically, remove peel and seeds, and then chunk up the squash into 1" pieces. Add to clean jars, plus 1/2 tsp. salt for pints and 1 tsp. salt for quarts. Fill with hot water. Adjust 2 piece lids.

Can pints for 55 minutes at 10 lbs. of pressure.
Quarts for 90 minutes at 10 lbs. of pressure.
(adjust as needed for your altitude)


So then the question is: What do you do with canned winter squash?

Well...for starters just about any winter squash can be interchanged with each other in any recipe that you have. Any recipe that calls for pumpkin (including pumpkin pie) can be substituted with winter squash. We've used butternut squash for pumpkin pies for years. The "pumpkin pie" flavor is all in the spices.

Here's a couple soup recipes to try:
Simplest Butternut Squash Soup from Parade Magazine
Butternut Squash Soup from Woman's Day Magazine
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Tiff's Pumpkin/Squash Soup Recipe:

• 1 Butternut squash- peeled, seeded and cubed (I think you could use acorn, pumpkin or banana squash and be just fine)
• 1 apple--peeled and cubed (any variety--though a lot of recipes say use a tart one)
• 1/2 onion (large) quartered ( I used white, you could use yellow or purple)

Put these 3 ingredients in stock pot, cover with chicken or turkey broth bring to a boil and cook until tender.

• Add salt and pepper to taste
• 1 C. heavy cream (I used plain yogurt cause that's what I had)

Using an immersion blender, regular blender or food processor, blend everything to a smooth texture. Top with parmesan cheese for savory flavor or brown sugar for a sweeter flavor.

Some variations to this:
heavy cream--you may use plain yogurt, sour cream, or coconut milk
additional seasonings--I love curry, so I dumped 1/2 tsp. in mine
If you want a cheesier soup add a few Tbs. of cream cheese, very rich and makes the soup thicker.

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Tiffany and I have been experimenting with some other ideas and recipes. We'll post more in a couple days. (see Squash {Part 2})

Tomatillo Green Salsa to Can

The forecast for our area is overnights in the low 30's by the end of the week. That means any garden stuff that is still growing will most likely be frostbitten later this weekend. I still have quite a few tomatoes, albeit mostly green ones, on my plants. Usually I cover my tomatoes once or twice in the Fall before I give up and let the frost take over. However, I am feeling a little lazy about that, even though it does make me crazy to think of them going to waste.

So here is a recipe for canning Tomatillo Green Salsa, which is a favorite with our cousin Tiffany and her family. This is a good year-end garden recipe as it says you can use green tomatoes instead of tomatillos. Perfect for my situation right now.


Note:
Tiffany doubles the recipe and uses green bell peppers instead of green chili peppers. And she then also uses serrano peppers instead of jalapeño--but DOES NOT double the amount of serranos in her recipe.

She also adds 1 bunch of cilantro--chopped up finely--to a double batch recipe. The original recipe doesn't call for that, but you could add it if you like that flavor. Or you could also add it fresh when you open a jar.

I did double the jalapeños when I doubled my batches because even when doubling the recipe it is only 1 cup of jalanpeños. That is nothing, in my opinion, for 10 pints of salsa.


The canning directions are for 15 minutes in a Hot water bath canner. I used my Pressure Canner instead, as I can double stack pints in mine and therefore do all 10 pints at once. I pressured it at 6# for 10 minutes.

Tiffany uses this salsa for the 2 recipes listed below. She says it is also good made fresh, she just uses lime juice instead of lemon juice if making a fresh batch. Note: You cannot use lime juice when canning. It isn't acidic enough.
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Mexican Pulled Pork
3-5 lbs. pork roast
1 pint Tomatillo Green Salsa
1 c. brown sugar

Combine all in crockpot and cook 6 hrs. on HIGH or 10 hrs. on LOW.
Pull pork apart.
Serve in tortillas for tacos.
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4 Bean Salsa Soup
1 pint each: (or a 15 oz. can) all UNDRAINED
White Beans
Black Beans
Kidney Beans
Pinto Beans
Tomatillo Green Salsa
Stewed tomatoes

Dump all together in a saucepan.
Heat.
Serve with tortilla chips and sour cream.
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You can also try the recipe from Ball® Canning for their version of Tomatillo Salsa. This recipe can also be found in the Ball® Complete Book of Home Preserving on pg. 212. And there is a slightly different version for Roasted Tomatillo-Chipotle Salsa on pg. 213.
Here's a couple other places to look for green tomato recipes.
Google "canning recipes green tomato" and you'll come up with all sorts of hits.
Tipnut--25 different green tomato recipes from pickles, relishes, chutneys, soups....

The Game Quilt {Guest Post}

This quilt idea comes from our Aunt KayLynne. She is the mom to our cake decorating cousin Nancy, and our book loving cousin Annette. She is also the one person in our family that has a game for everything and every occasion. So, it came as no surprise that she'd come up with such an awesome idea!

Here is her Game Quilt:

She made it to take on picnics or to pass the time on trips or while waiting for a parade. Genius, huh? It is backed with brushed denim.

The quilt includes the following games: Backgammon (bottom left), I Spy or Matching (bottom right), Don't Eat Pete (middle left), Bean Bag Toss or Tic-Tac-Toe (top left) and Checkers (top right). She also made herself a carrying bag to put all the game pieces in.

If you love this idea as much as we do, leave Aunt KayLynne a comment so she can read how cool she is! :)

If you don't know about Don't Eat Pete you need to try it, even if you don't make this quilt. This is a favorite game with the kids in our families.

How to play "Don't Eat Pete":

Send the first player away from the game board or into another room. The remaining players choose which one of the twelve people (or spaces) on the game board will be "Pete" for the round. Place one M&M in each square of the game board. Have the first player come back and begin picking and eating M&M's from the game board. As soon as the player tries to pick "Pete" everyone yells "Don't Eat Pete!" The player keeps all the M&M's picked up before trying to get Pete.

Refill the game board and play again with the next player.

You can use cereal or other small snack foods as well as any type of small candy for this game.

HERE is a really cute free download of a Don't Eat Pete game board.

Guest Blogger: Mitered Corner Flannel Baby Blanket

Mitered Corner Flannel Baby Blankets

by guest blogger: Tiffany

(a.k.a. our favorite interior designer cousin)

Supplies needed:
1 yd. flannel for front
1 1/4 yd. contrasting flannel (for back and contrasting sides)
Thread
Ruler

Finished size:
38 1/2" square With approx. 2 1/2" wide border

Directions:
Cut the back fabric to 44 inches square (or whatever width your fabric may be, could be 43 or 42 depending on the selvage waste)

Cut the front fabric to 34 inches square (or 10 inches smaller than the back fabric, 33 or 32 inches, etc.)

Find the centers on all sides and use a pin to mark them.

Placing right sides together, pin the edges, matching up the center pins. Your backing fabric will be longer than your front fabric on both sides. This excess will become your contrast fabric on the front of your completed blanket.

Start by pinning two opposite sides at a time, making sure to match the center.


Start stitching 1/4 inch in from the edge of your fabric and stop 1/4 inch from the end. Sew using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.





This 1/4 inch is the corner of your miter. If you do not leave this much of the seam allowance free it will not flip through. See picture below.


Repeat the process for the two opposite remaining sides. Remember to leave an opening on one of those edges, so you can flip the entire blanket right side out.


The following pictures show what the corners look like once all the sides are sewn up.



The next step is to create the miters.


With the front fabric facing up at you, fold the corner to create a large triangle. Make sure the fabric lays flat and the fold is closest to you.



I used a straight edge with a 45º angle marking to make sure I drew a straight line at the very end of my stitching line.

(The 45º angle mark should line up along the sewn edge of the blanket. You will be drawing a line perpendicular --90º-- to the folded edge of your blanket.)

Pin, sew and trim all corners to 1/4 inch.


(Be careful not to sew over your original stitch line otherwise your miter will be puckered when you go to turn it.)

The piece I cut off was at a 90º angle to the folded edge.

Flip your blanket right side out and iron the seams towards the outside edge.

The mitered seam may be ironed any which way it wants to go.

Pin the two fabric together once its ironed so it won't move while you top stitch the two pieces in place.
Use whatever topstitch method or stitch you prefer. On this blanket I used a triple zigzag or multi-stitch zigzag.____________________________
According to Tiffany the first time she made one of these blankets it took her about 2 hours from start to finish. However, after the initial blanket her time was greatly reduced and she says she now can finish in about 1 hour. We love quick projects that look like we "slaved all day".

Christmas Reading List--Guest Post

Our cousin, Annette, is a book fiend. She freely admits it. And we are freely going to use it to our advantage. She posted on her own personal blog (earlier in October no less) about the Christmas reading list she was putting together for her kids this season and we asked if she'd be willing to share it with everyone. We thought we'd get this out sooner than later so if you like the idea you, too, can get started on rounding up the Christmas/Seasonal books your family likes.

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One of our favorite family traditions every December is reading a Christmas story by the Christmas tree. And every December it's one of the traditions that quite often gets skipped due to parties, school events, getting home late, etc.

This year, however, I have vowed to have a slower, quieter, more meaningful Christmas season. I hope. I saw the idea on a couple different blogs of wrapping the Christmas books and then letting kids unwrap one each night to read. The only problem with that was that about half of my stories are just typed ones that I have in a big binder. My girls prefer stories with pictures anyway, so I figured this was a good year to stock up on Christmas books.

Amazon - which just barely gets edged out by Target as my #1 place to shop - has been a great place to find very cheap, used Christmas books. Most of the ones I bought this year were hardcover books in "like new" or "very good" condition and cost $0.01 plus $3.99 shipping. I think the most expensive one I bought was $2.00 plus shipping. Over the past couple of months I've bought 2 or 3 each payday. There are still a few I'd like to get but now that I have enough to get us through Christmas Day I'm not in such a hurry.

I tried to keep the books a secret but my kids quickly figured out what I was doing and quite often I catch them trying to cheat and read them ahead of time. Then I threaten to call Santa Claus, they cry and scream, and order is restored.

Here's the list of what we'll be reading this December:

1. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer retold by Dennis R. Shealy


2. Frosty the Snowman retold by Annie North Bedford


3. How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss


4. Santa Claus by Rod Green


5. Magical Hands by Marjorie Barker Yoshi (technically not a Christmas book but it's got an inspiring message and we always read it at Christmas)
6. Why Christmas Trees Aren't Perfect by Richard H. Schneider


7. The Bears' Christmas by Stan & Jan Berenstain


8. How Many Miles to Bethlehem? by Kevin Crossley-Holland


9. The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski (How'd you like that last name?) ***There is also a DVD of this story that Renae found at her local library. Check yours, they may have it also.
10. This is the Stable by Cynthia Cotten
11. Punchinello and the Most Marvelous Gift by Max Lucado
    


12. The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore
13. Who'll Pull Santa's Sleigh Tonight? by Laura Rader


14. Mooseltoe by Margie Palatin


15. Snowmen at Christmas by Caralyn Buehner



16. The Christmas Humbugs by Colleen Monroe
17. Christmas Oranges retold by Linda Bethers


18. The Legend of the Christmas Stocking by Rick Osborne
    
19. The Little Shepherd Girl by Juliann Henry
    
20. The Tale of Three Trees retold by Angela Elwell Hunt
    
    


21. Auntie Claus by Elise Primavera
    
22. Auntie Claus and the Key to Christmas by Elise Primavera
23. Humphrey's First Christmas by Carol Heyer
    
24. Russell's Christmas Magic by Rob Scotton
    


25. Jingle Bells Illustrated by Kathleen O'Malley


26. Jacob's Gift by Max Lucado

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson will be my 8 O'Clock Club selection (the book I read at bedtime with my kids) this year. A few other classics are missing from this list mostly because we watch them rather than read them in December. Having my husband, Ron, make us hot chocolate, then watching him sing and dance to the hot chocolate song in The Polar Express has become a tradition we would never, ever give up.

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Thanks, Annette! If you want to leave us a comment telling us about a book or books your family loves to read for the season, we'd love to hear your recommendations, too.