Happy New Year!
Sewing, Sewing, Sewing!
These past couple months I've been in full swing with sewing, and I love it.
I made initial ornaments out of felt. Super easy and fun. The felt I used had glitter already in it, which added a subtle shimmer. I used this tutorial: ornament tutorial
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| Apron for my sister in law. |
This apron was my first time using a pattern. I bought it from Etsy here. Despite making mistake after mistake (my fault, not the patterns fault) I still loved almost every minute of it. The only minute I didn't like of sewing was when I accidentally sewed the whole thing into a jumbled mess. Luke came inside from playing basketball and found me crying under the covers. Hero that he is, he sat down in front of a football game with a seam ripper and 10 minutes later had my apron fixed!
As a present to my cousin I sewed a tote bag. I used this tutorial. I had fun using the bag to wrap the rest of the gift, which was a book. I pinned the back around the book and tucked in the handles so that it had more of a gift kind of look.
Reading
A sign of a good book may be when you give it away before you finish reading it so that someone else can enjoy it as much as you are! This happened to a friend of mine with the biography "God's Smuggler" by Brother Andrew. My friend then tried to borrow the book from me, so that she could finish reading it, but I had lent my copy away. The next person she called had also lent his copy away! Needless to say, I recommend this book about a Christian man worked with God to smuggle Bible's into communist countries. Actually, it has been some years since I have read it, does anyone have a copy I could borrow?
Cooking
Fruit Crisp
The recipe for this month is from my favorite food website, 101 Cookbooks. In this recipe she uses plums and peaches. I like making it with peaches and blueberries (two fruits I often have frozen in my freezer). Luke describes the topping to be like an oatmeal cookie. This is a nice dessert without be too sweet, a quality I am trying to teach my sweet tooth to appreciate. (picture to be uploaded Monday)
Fruit:
1 pound peaches
1 pound blueberries
1/4 cup natural cane sugar (or brown sugar)
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoons arrowroot (or cornstarch)
Crisp:
3/4 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup white whole wheat flour (all-purpose flour)
1/2 cup natural cane sugar (or brown sugar)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
big pinch of salt
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup yogurt
Special equipment: 8x8 square baking dish or equivalent
1. Preheat the oven to 400F degrees.
2. Cut the peaches bite-sized, 1-inch pieces. Place the chopped fruit in a medium-sized bowl.
3. In a separate small bowl whisk together the 1/4 cup sugar and the arrowroot. Sprinkle over the fruit and stir. Transfer the fruit to an 8-inch square baking dish.
4. To make the topping combine the oats, flour, sugar, and cinnamon together in a medium bowl. Stir in the butter, and then the yogurt and mix until everything comes together in a dough-like texture. Sprinkle the crumble evenly over the fruit mixture.
5. Place the baking dish in the oven, middle rack, and bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until the topping is golden. Sprinkle a bit more sugar on top as it comes out of the oven.
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| Is this how baby's play in Alaska? |
