George and the Dragon flip doll pattern... and the Princess, too!

George and the Dragon are finally here!  When I made the first George and the Dragon last year, I assumed I would make a pattern - but there were a few design issues holding me back.  Maybe I'll write a whole post about that later.  A few experiments and three versions later, George and his buddy are a fairly simple ragdoll pattern with a twist.  Ahem, I mean a flip.

He still has the flip up visor and fancy plume.  The dragon has ric rac spines and yellow eyes and toenails.  A few new details include George's crest and the dragon's wings.  You can read a version of the story here and here. 

The pattern itself is much more user friendly that the Bunny and Fox pattern, although making all the little decorative bits can be a bit time consuming.  Still, I made the last one in about four hours - so not too time consuming.  Oh yes, and this pattern features hand drawn diagrams, rather than photographs, which I think turned out awesome, if I do say so myself. 

The pattern also includes a rag doll Princess pattern, and alternate instructions for making George and the Dragon into simple rag dolls instead of a flip doll - which I think is more appropriate for little ones who can't flip them yet.

 I have two new flip patterns coming over the next two weeks, and those will each have the usual limited time giveaways, so stay tuned.  There may even be a doll giveaway!  For now, George can be found in the shop.   

I made a couple videos of me flipping it.  I had a little assistant, so the videos are perhaps not the most clear, but still amusing, I hope.

Updates and Heads Up

Two things:

We're beginning work on our own home.  You can keep up with our progress here: Home is a place.

And, the George and the Dragon flip doll pattern will hopefully make an appearance very soon.  There have been some design issues, then my camera broke, and now my sewing machine is in the shop... But I believe I've got the kinks worked out, and I intend to have the pattern, along with two other super cute flip doll patterns finished by mid July.  There's sure to be giveaways and much excitement.  Stay tuned. 

I'm always gonna hafta know...

I was going through some old files today and came across this video.  John made it for me when we were dating, and I think it played a big part in keeping us together.  I couldn't resist sharing it, sorry, John. 



Music: Important in your Life by Jonathan Richman

Birthday

Being a parent on birthdays is so rewarding.  I can't believe how big and cute and sweet my kid is getting!

I decorated last night, so that it would be birthday time from the minute L got up.  I made a quick pink banner, laid out a table cloth, her birthday crown, and some nice flowers that John brought in.  I love these banners, and there are tutorials all over for them.  This is the second one I made, and I realized after my first banner sat on a shelf for 8 months, that it isn't really necessary to do all the fusing and hemming.  So this pink banner is just triangles of fabric with raw edges.  Hopefully I won't ever need to wash it, and it will be just as cute for the next pink occasion (ahem, in two weeks?).

I got the birthday crown idea from this sweet blog Skip to My Lou.  I just made mine up after seeing hers, but I love the shape of her crown!  After she put it on, L started waving her arms around saying, "Just like a princess!"  I'm not sure what these princesses are doing, but it was sure cute. 

We had a big breakfast followed by our little party.  We had birthday cookie instead of cake because I thought it would be more likely to get eaten.  The pink icing was a hit.  Who knew I could throw such a pink party?

The play food has been a huge hit, she's been playing with her kitchen and food all afternoon.  Along with John's super cute contribution of this sweet little wooden, rubber band, banjo.  It makes a neat, funny sound.  John thinks he might add some frets so you can make different chords, and just to make it even more banjo-y. Yeah, he's a cool dad. 
 

No Knead Bread

I know every time I post about bread, I say something like, "this is the best bread ever!"  So maybe I'm overdoing it?  But I recently tried this No Knead Dutch Oven Bread from Mother Earth News, and it is pretty awesome.   The inside is so moist, it's almost "eggy" - except there are no eggs in the recipe.  The outside is a gorgeous and crusty.  The only drawback I can think of is that you're limited to the round shape.  But I cut mine into fourths and then sliced the fourths, so it made nice triangular sandwiches. 

I've sort of ignored the no knead stuff for awhile, because I don't really have any problem with kneading.  It was interesting, and easy to do, so that was good.  But the dutch oven is the real cool factor. 

The recipe is basically a french bread recipe, and the dutch oven creates a similar steamy-heat environment of a bakers oven, so this made the best french bread that I've ever made, and perhaps the best bread altogether?

I'm planning on making all my bread in the dutch oven now.  You should too.  Here's a good video of Mark Bittman talking about no knead bread. 



you tube:

Hamburger Buns

After my recent experimentation with sandwich bread, I realized I needed a good hamburger bun.   So, I tried Julia Child's french bread recipe made into 12 small round loaves.   Her recipe is definitely different that white bread dough - much wetter, and a little different to knead.  But, whew.  It was awesome.  I mean, awesome. 

When I think of hamburgers, and I spend a plenty of time thinking about burgers, I rarely think about the bread.  But the truth is, I hate that soft white bread that most burgers are served on.  It gets stuck in your teeth, and has no flavor.  So, when we made these burgers, I realized that the bread part of the burger should not be forgotten. 

I have made this recipe several times since then, and it turns out it makes great sandwich bread too.  It's got such great flavor, and because they are buns instead of bread slices, you never have to worry about them falling apart.   My favorite sandwich of late is avacado.  Just mushed avacado on this bread.  Yep.  It's the new peanut butter.

This recipe only makes 12 buns, which we go through pretty fast.  I tried doubling the recipe and ended up with a sticky mess that (as Julia says) still made bread, but was too sticky to form into buns.  I'm playing around with the recipe now to try to figure out a way to make more at a time, and be able to knead it in my stand mixer.  I've been making all of our household bread the last couple of months, and it's been really exciting.  I'd love to get a recipe together that is easy enough to repeat on a weekly basis.  I'll let you know how it goes.   

Squirrel Fail

When I told John I wanted to make a squirrel for the Brooklyn General contest over the weekend, I could tell he was skeptical. He knows how much time it takes to make a new pattern, because he does plenty to help me by taking care of the girls and weighing in on my fabric and design choices. But I was confident I could throw together a patchwork squirrel on the first try.

Once again, my husband's cautious nature was right. The picture is a little blurry, but perhaps that actually helps make this squirrel look a little less like roadkill? Thought maybe you'd enjoy seeing this craft fail.

Squirrel Pattern

I just can't resist a contest - I don't know why.  So when I saw the plush squirrel contest at Brooklyn General, via angry chicken, I just had to make one.  It ends May 15th - so there's  still a little time left!

I put it together over the weekend, first intending it to be a patchwork squirrel. But, since it was last minute and everything, I didn't bother to make a prototype of the pattern. Needless to say, a pretty little patchwork block ended up in the junk pile. I had to make the squirrel three times before I got it right!

It reminded me that figuring out a pattern is kind of like a puzzle, and it's a bit of fun I kind of take for granted. I always enjoy sharing these little victories with you, and I thought this would be a good one to share. The instructions are short, and I didn't make process pictures as usual - but I've got a tidy little pdf pattern made up to share (updated April 2011 - just for prettiness :). No rush, it's not going anywhere - you can download it here.  And don't forget to share your squirrels in the wewilsons flickr pool!

Sprouting

John and I decided to give sprouting a try after he watched this you tube video:

We've been doing it about two months now, and it's super easy. I'm kind of amazed at how simply adding water to some very cheap lentils, you can triple their volume and their nutritional value, plus grow a fresh and tasty veggie - right on your counter!

Give it a try, but read a little first - sprouts from some beans (like kidney) can be toxic. Eek! All you need is a mason jar and a sprouting lid like the one here. They're pretty inexpensive, but if you don't have a health store around, the shipping is not really worth it. So you can make one following these directions (like we did).

They're great on salads, sandwiches, and - my favorite - burritos!

Teething

Here's another shout out for a recent handmade purchase. This amber teething necklace from Natural Inspirations was brilliant.  I am always hopeful, yet skeptical, about natural remedies.  And, while I don't have a lot of data to back me up here, I am convinced this made a huge difference while J was teething.  Over a 10 day period she got all four of her front teeth in.  She was crazy fussy and clingy, and within 20 minutes of putting on her necklace, she was more of her cheerful self.

I had worried about the safety of a baby wearing a necklace, but it worked out well.  We took it off while she slept, and kept it under her shirt most of the time.  It works by releasing some kind of super soothing amber oil on the skin, or something, so keeping it under the shirt actually helps it work.

We're in another round of teething, and since she's been biting furniture and fingers alike I've gotten it back out.  Here she is eating sweet potato pancakes while wearing the necklace.  Yeah, she's pretty cute.