Christmas Cookies, pt 2- Icing!

Matt's sprinkle accident

Kaitlynn adds sprinkles

NO!!!

Adding raisins

Kaitlynn made this bone for Jack

I can't think of a happier Christmas scene

Goodie bags for preschool teachers

 We finished our cookies!  I made royal icing in 5 colors- white, blue, green, red, and yellow.  I relied on Martha Stewart for my Royal Icing Recipe.  I have to tell you, I was a little nervous about using 5 Tablespoons of Meringue Powder per pound of confectioners sugar, but it was right on.  I doubled the recipe, and it made ample amounts of icing.  For the teachers treat bags, we added the bells that the kids made.  Thank you Martha!!!  We used pipe cleaners rather than string, I imagine that was easier to thread the bells than string would have been.  Kaitlynn's teacher liked them so much, she may turn it into a class project!

Sharon and I also made biscotti that morning.  So easy, and delicious too.  I couldn't believe how fancy they turned out.  We used melted almond bark to decorate them.  A pan of warm water kept them fluid so we could keep working.  Jason couldn't beleive his luck upon seeing these when he got home.

Lovely drizzle Mom

 

Kaitlynn's Christmas Present

Three layers- fabric, batting, fabric

3 layers basted (pinned) togethe

 I found this great cradle at the thrift store for $4.50, so I bought it for Kaitlynn.  It had a few dings, I painted over those quickly, but I think I will but some colored paint and paint the whole cradle.  I also decided that I would make a mattress for the cradle, and following is the procedure I used to make it.  The finished mattress is 20x7 inches.

I sewed around the edges

I sewed in the middle too in zig-zag lines

Cutting the raw edges off

I still had extra fabric, so I made a little pillow. Edges are sewn together, leaving a hole for turning inside-out.

Turned inside-out, I use a chopstick to get those corners squared

I added a snap button for attaching it to the mattress

I used leftover batting to stuff the pillow

Opening sewn shut by machine

2 inch wide binding strips are cut, I cut 3 strips

Ends of binding strips are sewn together

How the binding strips look sewn together

Sewing the binding on, right side to right side. Fold beginning of strip down.

Fold strip up diagonally

Fold strip back down

Sewing the corner, sew to 1/4 inch of edge, backstitch.

 Sew strip from edge

After binding is sewn on, turn quilt over and fold down edges

Bobbin break!

I sewed the binding down with a zig-zag stitch

Trying the fit out.

 

I super glued snap halves in all four corners, I am going to use a more appropriate glue, not strong enough!

 

Adding a mate for the pillow's snap

I also added the snap mates for all four corners on the quilt, voila, handmade quilt and pillow.

Potato Soup Tutorial

Check out my basic potato soup tutorial over on Flickr.

Christmas Cookies, pt 1

Kaitlynn patting the dough

Kaitlynn and Matthew

Yesterday we started holiday cookies.  We made a double batch of Krusteaz sugar and a batch of Betty Crocker gingerbread cookies.  It was so easy and the cookies were so yummy!  I am definitely going with mixes from here on out, it really lowered the work.  I wrapped each ball of dough in plastic wrap and popped them into the fridge for 15 min, it made them much easier to work with.  We lightly floured the counter and pin, I then used my big Pampered Chef spatula to transfer them to the pan.  I learned early on to roll the dough thin, and cook 8 min, top.  I set a timer to get it exact.  Also, keep the cookies separated to keep them form growing together, this seemed to be a bigger problem with the gingerbread than the sugar cookies.  I transferred them from the pan with this nifty spatula, and cooled them on a 2-tier rack.  Both turned out very yummy, I will stock up on the gingerbread mix, it was the best.  I also saw some great coupons for Betty Crocker cookies on their site.  Now the frosting, that's for another day.

Cynthia rolling out the dough

wrapped and ready for the morning

Hot from the oven

Flipped onto a plate

 We also worked on a couple of projects that Cynthia missed in her cooking class.  We made Caramel rolls and white bread.  Cynthia prepared the dough yesterday, then covered them overnight in the fridge.  They were cooked this morning and turned out quite yummy.  A word of caution though, this particular recipe was a little difficult to follow, so read the directions carefully.  Also, wash or soak the baking pans and plates quickly, that gooey caramel sets up fast and can get hard to clean off.  Today Jason helped her make the white bread.  It was pretty good too, although I feel that it may have risen a little too much as it had a million air pockets.  It still was tasty.

While they were in the kitchen, I caught up on sewing.  My projects really needed some TLC and I got close to completing one, but I ran out of satin binding.  I will have to pick that up tomorrow to get it finished.  I would like to post some pictures, but those will have to wait until the holidays are over!  Tomorrow will be pretty busy, I think Cynthia has strep throat now, so I will talk to the clinic about getting her some antibiotics.  I can't wait for everyone to stop being sick, this has been the worst year for our family in the sickness dept, we need some prayers.

Kaitlynn helping to make orange jello

We made some orange jello from scratch the other day.  It really wasn't too hard, just some orange and lemon juice, Knox gelatin, sugar, and boiling water.  I also added some orange slices.  Cutting the oranges up was the hardest part.  Even though this was Matthew's special treat, he helped for about five seconds before getting bored.  Dear little Kaitlynn stuck it out and helped to the end.  I got to use one of my cute copper molds too, it turned out pretty well, I will add more gelatin next time to make it more magnificent looking, it went a little flat on the plate.  I found that using a gentle stream of hot water once around the mold made it come out very easily.

Ready to go into the fridge

Matthew and his special orange jello

cooking veggies and sauce

I also unfroze a chicken this week and decided that one day it would be roasted, and the next day it would become pot pie.  I came as close to scratch as I could, I did use premade pie crusts, but that is something I will master another day, LOL.  I increased the veggies, I cut out peas and put potatoes in their place.  I also increased the butter, onions, and flour to 1/2 cup rather than 1/3, I will add more liquid next time to compensate, it was a little too thick.  I also will mix the veggies into the sauce rather than pour the sauce over them.  But it was the yummiest pot pie, no competition from anything store bought.

See the hungry puppy down there?

Hot out of the oven, YUM!!!!

 

 

 

Our favorite past-time~ a good book

Today was the busiest day of the whole week.  Daisy still did not feel good, so I kept her home and took her to the doctor.  The clinic had no opening, so I had to take her in at noon when Urgent Care opened.  So, I took Matt and Kait to school, we then left a little early to get home to eat lunch and take Daisy to the doctor.  We got there five to noon, and were already 4th in line!  Luckily, Fairview really has their act together and we were done by 1pm.  So they did the rapid test on her, and sure enough, she tested positive for strep.  So now Matthew, Daisy, and I are all on penicillin.  She will stay home tomorrow too due to contagion issues, which is fine with me, but this is the 3rd time this school year she's been sick!  I feel bad about her missing school.  I also went in for my allergy shots, I get 3 shots twice a week.  Then Matt and Kait got their 2nd flu shots.  Kaitlynn did wonderfully, Matthew had to be held down.  I have 2 kids that don't mind medical procedures, and 2 that flip out.  I've found the best way to get pills into Matthew is to put his tablet into a spoonful of yogurt, then he takes it without much trouble.