Quiet Book

I made a short video to show you this quiet book I made for someone else.  It turned out so well, I'm making one for J's birthday.  I made a quiet book for L's first birthday, too -  but this one is much better. These are so fun to make because there are endless possibilities.  Watch the video below, and then read my list of ideas and tips. 

• I used a lot of felt, which is just easier and cleaner looking than a bunch of turned edges.  
• I tried to incorporate other textures too, though, with a few upholstery fabrics, a doily appliqued on, fuzzy letters, and plastic.
• I embroidered a few little designs to make some of the pages more interesting, nothing too complex though.
• I made the fuzzy letters using this fun and simple applique technique my friend Julie showed me. See simple instructions here.
• I tried to make each page incorporate a different action: buttoning, tying, pulling, sliding, poking, folding, zipping, hiding.  
• I tried not to make too many pieces that come off and could get lost, although there are a few.  I put a pocket in the back to easily collect any pieces that are dropped.  
• I stuffed a little poly fil under some of my appliques to make them a little raised and interesting.
• I saved a plastic bag - the kind blankets come in, not groceries, and used it to make a jar with a butterfly inside.  You can easily sew it on the machine.  Tuck something underneath and zig zag the edge.  Ooh, wouldn't a fish tank be fun?

Related:  here's a flickr group devoted to soft books, with lots of good ideas.

Fuzzy Applique Letters

I've been working on a soft book, which prompted me to try this fun technique for letters that my friend Julie taught me.  If you like this idea, do me a favor and check out Julie's blog about their adoption of a sweet Ethiopian girl, or better yet - buy some Ethiopian coffee to help support their adoption!

Words can be tedious to applique, but this technique is super simple, plus it makes neat textures that kids love so much. This is perfect for projects like soft books, bibs, or other play items that don't need to be too prim.

Simply cut block letters from your fabric, no seam allowance needed.  Then, stitch the letter onto your base fabric by machine, making the letter inside the letter. Afterwards, you can get it damp and throw it in the dryer to help it fray.


For my soft books, I made one with a sweat shirt fabric, soft side up (the white shown above). It doesn't fray much and is nice and fuzzy. For the second book, I used a quilting cotton that frays a bunch (the pink below).  Of course, it will fray more if you put it on something that will be washed a lot, like bibs, making a really curly and fuzzy letter.   I imagine we will spend a lot of time tracing over these letters with little fingers. 

Since you usually try to avoid fraying, it's fun to take advantage of it in such a fun way.  I was intrigued and wanted to try more types of fabric to see all the different effects it makes.  So, next, I made the bib at the top using diaper flannel for the letters, which I know from experience frays quite alot.  I think it's my favorite so far!  And, as Julie said, the bib will get better with every wash.

L is learning to spell her name, so I made her a placemat.  I used a knit for this one, and it turned out okay.  The fabric tends to roll only in the direction of the warp of the fabric instead of all around which would be nicer. 

I think terry cloth would be really fuzzy.  Ooh, what about several layers of tulle? Endless easy possibilities!

Patchwork Zebra Pattern

Whew. I finished designing this pattern over a month ago, but just didn't feel motivated to type it up and do all the pictures. I've been enjoying a slower pace this year, but I can't believe it took me 6 months to get this pattern up!

As usual, this is a limited time giveaway (which is now over).  The first 500 downloads are free and then it will be permanently moved to my shop.  Remember, with a free download comes responsibility though - feedback!  Please let me know if the pattern needs cleaning up or clarifying in anyway.  I always appreciate the encouragement and tips all of you share - isn't working together great?

I'm saving these dolls for my girls' birthdays, so they'll be tucked away a little longer. But I thought it was fitting that they are just in time for mother's day - not because they would make a great gift for your mom, but because it represents the legacy of both of my grandmothers. My Granny Dodgen made stuffed animals for me and my cousins throughout our childhood - it would be amazing to have a tally of how many bears, kangaroos, dogs, and koalas she made. And my Grandma Sanders taught me patchwork just a few years ago. In the last few years she has made a crazy quilt for each of her granddaughters, and then some, each one completely hand stitched. "Every stitch was made with love," she tells me.

This pattern shows you how to sew a patchwork block, and then cut your pattern pieces from it to make this sweet zebra. I tried a new hair technique this time using crochet, which I really liked - but if you don't crochet, there is also an alternative hair method described.

Update: when I went to bed Wednesday night my bandwidth had been exceeded for the day, so the downloads were frozen with 200 downloads left.  When I got up Thursday morning, there had been 644 downloads! The giveaway is now over - you can find the pattern in my shop.  Thanks, everyone!

And don't forget to share pictures of your zebras in the wewilsons flickr pool - that really makes my day!

More Sandwich Bread

After I tried my regular recipe three times, I decided to try something different.  So I decided to try Julia Child's Pain de Mie (a good tutorial here).  It beat my last sandwich bread by a mile!

A few important things:

I have a great warm spot to let my bread rise in, but Julia says that warm temperatures speed up the process at the expense of the flavor and texture.  I knew extra risings were good, but I didn't know about the temperature thing.  Wow.  So, this bread rises in a NOT warm spot, for almost double the time, with three risings.  The result is a close grain, flavorful bread.  Awesome.

Julia has you knead in the butter after the initial kneading instead of mixing it in the beginning.  I'm not yet sure why, but it was fun.

Also, this bread was baked covered by a pan with a brick on top.  So instead of a rounded top, it makes  regular square/rectangle for fancy sandwiches.  That was a lot of fun - I enjoy trying different bread shapes almost as much as bread recipes, and this made a neat sandwich slice.

Thumbs up for the best sandwich bread yet.

p.s.  If you bothered to read this whole bread post - you earned a head's up to a new pattern giveaway coming very very soon!

Sandwich Bread

After I posted about my grilled cheese sandwiches, a couple of friends asked me about my bread recipe because homemade bread doesn't always make great sandwich bread.  The recipe I used was the plain old "Basic White Bread Recipe" that you can find in most bread cookbooks.  They're usually pretty much the same - I found one similar to mine here.

And in fact, my bread was a little crumbly for sandwiches - even though it was great bread.  Which got me wondering - how do you make great sandwich bread?  A good sandwich bread should be soft, not crumbly or dense, and strong and flexible enough to support it's filling.  This week, I made the recipe three more times, after reviewing some good bread resources (see below).  Here are the three most important things I found for making your homemade bread a little less rustic, and more sandwich worthy:

1.  Give it time. Let the dough rest for a couple minutes before kneading.  This gives the flour a chance to absorb the liquid and prepares the gluten for kneading.  And then, be sure to give the dough plenty of time to double in size during the first rise.  Don't just go based on time.

2.  Knead until the dough is flexible enough that it springs back when you poke it.  Sometimes I stop when it looks smooth, but this can make it crumbly.  When in doubt, knead a little more.  You are more likely to under knead, than overknead. 

3.  Use bread flour or hard wheat.  I usually use half white and half wheat for a plain loaf like this, but I found swapping the white out for bread flour made a much nicer sandwich slice.

All three of these tips acheive the same goal - enabling the gluten to really develop makes a soft flexible bread.  My third batch made the best sandwich bread I've ever made, even getting the toddler-peanut-butter-sandwich seal of approval.  I've been enjoying the reading and baking so much, I think I'm seeing a lot more bread in the near future.  I think Julia's French Bread is next...

 

Beard on Bread, and Julia Child's chapter on yeast bread's are great resources.  And they are both illustrated beautifully.  Seriously, can I illustrate a bread book, please? 

Free Motion Writing

I've been meaning to play with my darning foot since I got it last December, but only just now had the motivation.  I'm working on a soft book, and wanted a neat way to make some words without having to hand embroider them all.  I've been practicing free motion stitching, and I'm feeling good about my progress.  See my sort-of-successful new banner up above.  Keep your fingers crossed that I don't ruin the book!

Grilled Cheese

I love to make bread, but I rarely make plain sandwich bread.  I just don't usually think to do it.  But John and I are trying to stick to our budget a little better this year, so I've been paying more attention to my grocery spending.  I realized by the end of the first week of April, I'd spent two weeks worth on groceries, although really I had more than two weeks worth of food.  So, I'm trying to go until the end of two weeks before I go back to the store.  And then, oops, I realized we have no bread - so homemade bread was made in just a few hours without spending any more money. 

Grilled cheese may be my favorite sandwich.  I mean, I love a big fancy sandwich with sprouts and avacado and all that stuff, but grilled cheese is comfort.  And with homemade bread - mmm.  Sandwich success.

My mom reminded me a couple of years ago about when I was a kid, and I refused to eat grilled cheese unless it was made the way my best friend's mom made it.  I still make it that way:

Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Butter one side of two pieces of bread.  Lay one piece of bread, butter side down, on your skillet.  Next add two slices of cheese of your choice, then the other slice of bread butter side up.  cook over medium heat for two to four minutes depending on how dark you like it.  Carefully flip, and cook the other side.  I like mine a little burnt. :)

How do you fix your grilled cheese?

Christ is Risen!

I got this puzzle for the girls for Easter from a great Etsy seller, Arts of the Heart, who does beautiful work. It is a byzantine image of Christ conquering Hades. L is really into puzzle right now, so I thought it would be a fun way to talk to her about the meaning of Easter. The puzzle pieces are really chunky, so when you take it apart they feel like blocks in your hand. The shop sells painted or unpainted versions of her puzzles, so you can paint your own if you want.

Be sure to check out Arts of the Heart, and especially this sweet Noah's Ark puzzle with interlocking animal shapes!

Colored Eggs

Easter is almost here, and we're getting ready by dyeing eggs.

A few people asked questions about our eggs so here's a quick summary:
We have six hens and one rooster. Two hens are bantams and give small eggs, while the rest lay extra large ones. It makes measuring interesting. We get almost 3 dozen eggs per week, which is a little too much for us, but not quite enough to bother trying to sell at the farmer's market. We've been sharing with friends, but we're also going to start making more egg dishes. When we move to our own land, we'd like them to be free range, but right now they have a pretty good size run in the woods. All the grass is gone, but we give the grass clippings from the mower when we can and cracked corn every day.

So here they are before. I wasn't sure how the colors would work with some of the dark brown eggs. It just happens that all the bantam eggs are lighter rose and green colors, so most of what I dyed are the small lighter eggs.

And here's a few shots of the after. Mom, L and I made them using yellow onion skins and turmeric, and one bowl where we mixed the two dyes together. Find instructions on Martha and here. It didn't make a true red, but a nice burnt sienna kind of color, and the turmeric a rich gold, and mixed together marigold - my favorite. Notice the un-dyed eggs in the back, one brown and one green bantam.

Signs of Spring

We Wilsons have become avid bird watchers from our kitchen window. Our list is getting longer and longer. Some of our favorites this year: Juncos, Cardinals, Purple Finches, and Nuthatches.

Tomatoes and marigolds started indoors will soon be ready to go out!

Our chickens are laying almost 3 dozen eggs a week! Whew! Egg recipes sure to follow.