Granny Squares!

I have been wanting to learn how to crochet for the longest time.  I can knit and purl in a straight (kind of) line and crochet stuff without really knowing what I'm doing.  I mean, once I tried to crochet a scarf for my husband and it ended up more of a lap blanket.  My sister, however, is really, really, REALLY good at it.  But because we live a couple of hours apart, we don't get to spend a lot of time together.  When we do get the chance, it's someone's birthday, or it's a holiday etc and time is very limited.  We almost never get to see each other on a whim.  Well, the last two days were different.  She rolled into town at about 9:00pm after a mini-vacation with her family (sight-seeing on the Washington coast) and after a good night's rest, we got up this morning and discovered that we had all day to do nothing.  Such unexpected bliss!! And since our mom had very generously offered to take all five kids to the park (how could we say no, right?) we were left with a quiet house, a few balls of yarn and a couch to share. 

Taken from twobluebirds.tumblr.com

I saw this picture on Pinterest about a year ago and showed it to my sister.  I love the bright color with the fresh white contrast.  This, I told her, is what I want you to teach me.  I want to learn how to make a granny square!  So, she handed me a bright blue hook, knighted me a "New Hooker", welcomed me to the club. 

There was lots of giggling, especially when she explained what "frogging" means (to rip it, rip it ha!!!) and lots of "Wait, hang on, what was that?  Can you do that again, I'm confused..." Followed by a bunch of "HOLY COW I'M DOING IT!!!" and "THIS IS SO EXCITING!!!" and wild gesturing at the fourteen-year-old-boy (who really couldn't care less that I was, in fact, making my very first granny square) that "oh my gosh you have to see this, look!!  LOOK KID I'M CROCHETING!!"  Really, teenage boys don't care, trust me.  Although, he did give me a sideways glance and a crooked little half-grin. 

Hey, that was encouraging enough so I offered out a few more happy exclamations of my new found talent.





Hers is the red and blue one.  Look!  See how pretty they are!!!  I was so excited, I could hardly contain myself.  Yes, all because of the crochet.  I mean, hey, I switched colors!!  And it was EASY!! 

But see, then I kinda messed it up so Big Sister had to take over.  See how perfect her...I dunno, do you call them stitches?...hooky bits...are?  Isn't she talented?  Ok, so maybe you can't tell from this photo but still...she's good.  Have I mentioned that she's only recently learned how to read a pattern and do more than make the simplest scarf.  Yep, she's amazing.

There you have the final product.  I am not sure what we did to get from a ball of yarn to that cute little square, but I think I can figure it out.  Maybe I'll check out a granny square how-to book at the library.  Do you think I can make a blanket out of all different granny squares?  I wonder how many different kinds of granny squares there are.  I bet there's at least a hundred.  I wonder what my husband would say if I added crochet to my crafty repertoire.  Ha ha...maybe I'd better stick to sewing!!  By the way, feel free to take a look at my sister's blog and/or her etsy shop.

Happy New Year!

-Kristi-

Molasses Spice Cake

This past summer, my mother and I were puttering around in our local Goodwill shop looking for inexpensive booth supplies for a craft show we were participating in.  Although we didn't find what we were looking for, we did come across a sweet little train cake pan for $.99 ($36 at williams-sonoma.com how's that for a steal?)  We immediately snapped it up with hardly a second thought.  It was in perfect condition, no sticky spots or weird smells...it looked like it had probably never seen the inside of the oven.  Today, I decided to put it to good use and I am so glad I did.  I made the most delicious, soft, crumbly, moist Molasses Spice Cake with it.  Because it's my own recipe, I am going to share it with you right here.  You should definitely make this one, you won't be disappointed!  If you don't have the world's cutest train cupcake pan, then you can fit this in two 8" round cake pans or a lasagna pan or even regular cupcakes.  Mmmmmmm it smells so yummy in my house right now!  What a perfect treat to ring in the new year!

Molasses Spice Cake

recipe by Kristi McDonough

(makes two 8" rounds or a dozen cupcakes)

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2/3 cup molasses
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup hot water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350*

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.  Set aside.

Measure molasses and buttermilk in a glass Pyrex 4-Cup capacity measuring cup.  Add water and vanilla and mix well.

Place butter, brown sugar and egg in bowl of mixer and beat on medium speed until thoroughly blended and creamy, about 2 minutes.

Starting with flour mixture, alternately add flour and molasses mixture until cake batter is smooth. 

Pour into prepared cake pans.

Bake approximately 20 minutes for cupcakes and 8" rounds, 25-30 for lasagna pan.  Reduce heat to 325* if using glass or dark pans.

Slice the tops flat, if using the train pan or 8" rounds:

Turn out on a wire rack to cool completely before dusting with powdered sugar.

This cake pan could be perfect for a little boys birthday party, a baby shower, circus themed birthday party etc.  Here are a couple of pictures from google.com of some really creative cakes using this same pan.

Photo from trainparty.com

Photo from bridgestreetblog.blogspot.com


Speaking of parties, The Roo is going to be three in about a month, which means I have one heck of a fabulous birthday party to plan!  She starts preschool on January 3, which means she'll have a few friends to invite this time!  I better start thinking of age-appropriate games, I suppose!  Until next time...

-Kristi



Tutorial Link!

Last night I gave you all a little update about my Riley Blake tutorial, and as promised, here is the link for it!  I hope you love it and enjoy making your own portfolio.  Have a happy day!

-Kristi

Tutorial: Busy Kit for a Busy Kid

Hi!  Guess what?  I wrote a little tutorial for Riley Blake Fabrics and it's set to post tomorrow!  I am so excited for you guys to see it.  I must admit, it was a little tough squeezing it in with all of the Holiday hullabaloo going on, plus the crazy-abundant etsy orders (they just keep coming, yay!) and the Christmas present sewing.  But, I found the time and I managed to put together a cute little project that I think you will enjoy.  Especially if you have little crafty souls in your life.  How's about a little sneak peek?  Stay tuned tomorrow for the direct link...

See you soon!
-Kristi

Christmas Cookies

Yesterday was a day spent making four different kinds of Christmas cookies.  The Roo was so excited that I didn't have to sew because that meant we could play all day together coloring pictures of Herbert (her elf on the shelf) and baking.  I only kept a few cookies from two batches and gave the rest to my mom and husband to take to work for their friends.  I have already gotten several compliments, two people said that they were the best cookies they ever had.  WOW!!  Compliments like that make the late night and achy feet well worth it. 

We made Mini-Chip Snowballs, Peppermint Pinwheels, Snickerdoodles and "Peanut Butter Big Chocolate Chip", which is what Remy calls Peanut Butter Blossoms.  The Peppermint Pinwheels I discovered on Pinterest (of course, I LOVE that site!!)  Here is the original link and here is how Roo and I did it:

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 1 tablespoon red food coloring
• Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough

What To Do:

*Sift all the dry ingredients together in a medium sized bowl and set aside.

Cream butter and sugar together.  Add milk, vanilla, peppermint extract and egg and mix thoroughly.  You'll probably have to stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl, then finish mixing.  Add dry ingredients slowly and mix well. 

Scoop out half the dough and place in separate bowl.  Add red or green food coloring to the dough in the mixer bowl and beat well.

On a powder sugar covered/wax papered surface, roll out the colored dough.  (I learned after doing this recipe that you should shape your dough halves into rectangular logs and then roll them out to make sure they are as similar as possible.)  Carefully set this aside and repeat with white dough.  Gently slide the white dough on top of the green dough and press together.

Starting at the narrow end, carefully and tightly roll up the cookie dough.  Seal the end by pressing the dough together firmly.  Grab the dough in the middle and gently stretch slightly, continuing down the length of the dough.  It should double in length.

Now, keeping your dough log on the wax paper, dump a line of sprinkles along the edge of both sides and roll the log into it.  Press gently into the dough surface, making sure the whole thing is covered.  Wrap tightly in the paper, twist the ends closed and place in the freezer for an hour or so. (Oh!   Also, I didn't have a long enough piece of wax paper so make sure yours is extra long or you will be discovering sprinkles in your freezer, drawers and floor for days!),

Once the dough has set, cut it in 1/2" slices.

Bake at 375* for 10-15 minutes (depending on how thick you cut them).

(Don't worry, it does wash off!)

Let cool on a rack and enjoy! 

We had a lot of fun making cookies together.  I remember the day that we found out she was a girl, the first thing I said was "I'm going to teach her how to bake!  We're going to make cookies all the time!"  I love the time I get to spend with my little girl.

Merry Christmas!
-Kristi

FINISHED!!!



Thank you, thank you to all of my wonderful Etsy customers!  You have kept me busy and happy this Holiday season.  I was able to buy my husband a really awesome gift for Christmas without him knowing about it because of you.  I wish I could tell you what it is, but I have no idea if he reads my blog or not.  I don't want to risk it, you know? 

Anyway, this was just a quick post to give you a little something to read.  I'll leave you with a picture of the stocking I created for Prudent Baby's "Put A Serger In My Stocking" Contest.  It didn't win but I am, nonetheless, proud of it anyway.  It was inspired by my favorite Christmas song  (which you can read about right here ). 

Have a fantastic day!  I won't take so long next time.

-Kristi-

Who Am I?

Why is it that the about me section is always so intimidating to write?  This is a part of my blog that I must have attempted about a thousand times with no success.  The other night, I was still perplexed and was wracking my brains about it when I went to bed.  I restlessly laid there, turning over and switching positions until at last I finally fell asleep.  About an hour later, at 2:00am, I woke up with an idea.  Immediately I got out of bed and practically ran down the hall to the living in room in search of pen and paper.    I had finally figured it out.  A LIST!!  I love lists! I write them constantly, I lose them even more frequently.  I write lists of my lists! I write lists to plan Thanksgiving dinner, then lists for the ingredients in the recipes that I'm using, then lists for the grocery aisle.  I go to the grocery store every Thanksgiving with no less than four lists.  I write lists to pack for a trip.  It's not that I'm that organized, believe me I'm not, it's just that lists help me get the job done, they help keep me on track, they remind me of all the thousands of things I have to do, want to do, should be doing, would rather be doing etc.  You get the idea.  

 Me and Remy October 2011

The best way for me to tell you about me is with an ever-growing, always changing, constantly evolving list.  I will be adding to it all the time, so be sure to come back and take a look.  Of course, if you can think of something to add to my list, leave me a comment or an email and I'll add it, with credit to you, of course.


Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog!


-Kristi-

PS Check out the about me section by clicking here or on the tab on the top of the page.