This photo does not due my most recent project justice. But here it is anyway.

I made it with some blocks my sister gave me and I'm giving it to a friend. Luckily Carrie was sweet enough to let me borrow her sewing machine so it could be done in time for the baby shower on Saturday. Thank Carrie!

And here are some of the cookies I made for our ward's talent show this weekend.

Polk a Dot dresses

I decided to get some family photos done last month. I knew I wanted my husband to wear his uniform, but I didn't know what I wanted my girls to wear. Luckily my Mom had given me some cute blue fabric with bold white polk-a-dots on it. So I pulled out some patterns and made some dresses for my girls. I used Newlook 6473 to make the dresses and I wanted them to have a sleeve on them, so I used the cap sleeve on Newlook 6448. And I added a bow to tie around the waist.

They turned out great, as you can see...

I measured the girls and the dresses fit. But I forgot to check the length on Gwen's and it was a little too short. (It looked fine for the photos, but she won't be able to wear it for very long.) Also, my machine is still broken, so this was another by hand project. It went fine, but I am really ready to stop doing everything by hand. I like to do some things that way, but not everything.

Also I was so tired of the project that I did a really sloppy job on the buttons so I could get done faster. I used those clear plastic rubber bands for hair as button holes. It did the job, but I think it would have been better if I had just done it right.

Another funny thing about making do in a bind is that this photographer lives near our old base, so we scheduled the photo shoot for a time when we were there for the weekend. Sadly I forgot some of the things I needed for the project and the material I used for the tie around the waist is actually material from a pillowcase I stole from the hotel. I guess I should call them and make sure they charged the missing pillowcase to my room. :)

Rachel's Whole Weat Bread

Here is a yummy bread recipe I got from a friend in Ridgecrest, CA. It makes 2 delicious loafs of bread. (This used to be posted on our family photos website but I needed to move it here for convenience.)

2 1/2 Cups Warm Water
1/4 cup sugar
1 TBSP Yeast
1/2 cup Powder Milk
3 TBSP Oil
2 1/2 tsp Salt
3 cups whole wheat flour

3 cups bread flour

1. Mix water, Sugar and yeast together. Let sit for a minute.


2. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. If you don't have a stand mixer you'll need to get your hands dirty because it's too thick to do this just with a spoon. (This is the California recipe, but while living in Maine I've been needing to add an extra cup of flour for it to pull away from the sides of the bowl.)


3. cover dough with a towel in a warm place and allow to rise until double in size, about 30 minutes.


4. grease your hands and a surface to kneed the dough on. Kneed dough for just a minute to make sure the airbubbles are out. Form dough into 2 loafs and place into greased loaf pans (I ALWAYS use shortening to grease with because the bread NEVER sticks when I use it.) Put loafs in a warm place, cover with towel and allow to rise until double again (about 30 minutes.)


5. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes and let cool. (If using a glass pan decrease oven temperature to 325 degrees.)


6. When bread is cooled, place in an airtight bag. Store in the fridge to prevent premature molding.

Deployment projects

When My hubby is away I spend most nights celebrating that the kids are in bed by curling up on the couch with a project while I watch my way through a TV series on DVD. Here are some of the projects I did over the past year while Sam was gone.

A counted cross stitch Tinker Bell blanket that I gave to a lady I visit teach for her new baby.

A stamped quilt top. I LOVE this one so much that I am keeping it in hopes that Sam and I finally have that boy we've been wanting some day.

And pillow cases. One of these I did while he was away, the other I did with my Sister in-law the last time I was home visiting the family.

Right now I have 2 projects going that I hope to finish soon. A baby blanket done with some quilt blocks my sister gave me a few years ago for my birthday that I have finally put together into a blanket. And another set of quilt blocks from my other sister.

Oh, and for those of you who love to watch TV series like I do, here is a list of some of the shows I have devoured over the last year on my lonely night at home and LOVED.

• Lois and Clark, The New Adventures of Superman



• Robin Hood- BBC series



• The Office



• Outsourced



• Sherlock- BBC series

A real garden

someday I will have a real garden. I am hoping that when we move at the end of the summer our new home it will be in an area that is better for growing stuff. I've been trying to grow produce for the last 3 years, but I just have not had much luck.
Fist I blamed it on the fact that we lived in the desert and at the house we currently live in I blame it on the fact that 6" into the ground it is all just rock. I have a feeling that no matter where we live I will always find a reason that I can't grow food. However, I have made some progress. While living in our current home I have been able to plant several bushes and flowers and they seem to be doing very well. I am so happy with them and it gives me hope that someday this will be me...


...A cute, happy, thin, woman carrying the bounty of her garden home to enjoy for healthy meals and snacks. (Picture found on the sunset website)

I have been thinking about this mostly because it is expensive to buy healthy produce and to keep it on hand and fresh. Also we had a farmer who grew up in Idaho talk to us at a church meeting and he had a lot of good very random gardening advice that I wrote down in my phone and wanted to jot it down here so I don't loose it before I can use it.

Planting

• If you buy a starter and transfer it to another pot, make sure the new pot is at least 3 times the size of the old one so it has room to grow.


• Don't buy a big starter, it won't take off as fast as a little one.


• Plant potatoes a foot apart


• Plant carrots 10" apart


• Any non root plant, plant 6" down


• Any root plant, plant 12" down

Soil perfection

• Amend is a great brand of soil additive


• Don't use potting soil on it's own. Instead mix it with dirt, and soil additive.


• If you plant with seeds, use quick start when it sprouts


• After sprouting use fertilizer or manure once a week.


• use 20/20/20 fertilizer or manure between when it sprouts and when it blossoms


• Use 60/20/30 fertilizer after it blossoms


• But DON'T over fertilize fruit trees or berries. Just fertilize the heck out of them when the first bud comes, then leave it alone!

Planting boxes

• Do not paint the inside of the box


• Do not use pressure treated wood, use redwood or bricks for your planter boxes.


• You will want there to be feet on your boxes to prevent erosion and help with drainage.

So what do I hope to be able to plant? and what will I use it for?

• Celery-salads, Ants on a log,


• spinach-salads, I did grow this successfully already, but they were so small I never picked them until it was too late :( lesson learned)


• zucchini- spaghetti squash, salads, to shred and hide in food


• Potatoes


• Tomatoes-spaghetti sauce, salsa, salads and sandwiches


• peppers-salsa


• lettuce- salads, sandwiches


• Cauliflower- side dishes, cauliflower rice, snacking


• Broccoli- side dishes, snacking

I think I should probably start small, and no try to tackle all this in the same year. But I know I am going to need some good gardening advise. Does anyone have a favorite gardening book or website they like to go to?

Minnie Mouse out fit

We went to Disneyland this week for my oldest daughter's birthday. When we went a few years ago, we saw a little girl in the tea cup line next to us wearing a pillowcase dress made out of red and white polk-a-dot material. It was so cute because she looked like a modern Minnie Mouse. So I wanted to do the same thing for my girls this trip. But my sewing machine was broken, so I figured I would just get a simple pattern and try sewing it by hand. I found this one for $1.99 and it went great.
I cut out 2 sets of pieces for a size 4. I made the first one the way the pattern said except I lined the bias tape right up to the edges on the neck and arm holes. It fit my 2 year old great. But I could tell that even with putting the bias tape 3/4" in on the neck and arm holes it would still not fit over the older one's head. (She has big poofy curly hair :) So I made some alteration to widen the opening for the head. And I also made the side seems a little smaller since she is a size 5 now.
Here is what I did to widen the neck hole.

1. Cut the back/top pattern piece in 1/2


2. Use bias tape on the raw edges that you just cut.


3. use some 1/4" elastic to make a button hole at the top. When you add bias tape around the neckline it will cover any extra elastic and stitches you make here.


4. Sew a button on the other side of the opening.


5. continue with the pattern as indicated.


6. When sewing the bias tape for the neck line, begin with the tape at one edge of the opening and end at the other instead of beginning at the shoulder seam like suggested in the pattern.
   

Here is the finished product. I think they are ADORABLE and I love them so much. And we will probably wear them again for 4th of July with some blue jean shorts or something.

eagle scout cookies & Baptism cookies

A boy in my Sunday school class earned his eagle scout award last month. So I made cookies for him so we could all celebrate with him in class. They turned out great. (Sorry the pic is sideways.)

This is how I did it.

First I cut the cookies out with a round cookie cutter. Before they got cooked, I make a paper template of an eagle and lightly traced it into the dough with a paring knife. Make sure that you don't go all the way through the cookie dough to the pan. Now put the cookies in the oven for the time indicated on the recipe.

Next use brown royal frosting to pipe along the marks you made with the paring knife. After that has set for a little while, fill in the center of the eagle with runny royal icing (flood frosting)

After that I did the stripes. I was worried I would make them all wonky, so I used some edible markers to make some lines ahead of time and they were a nice guide. But you don't have to do that. I filled one side in red, the other blue and left the middle blank. Once they were dry, I put them in bags and everyone loved them.

Baptism cookies-

Another cookie cookie that I did recently went unphotographed but was cute. A different boy in my class got baptized and he asked one of the other students to baptize him. (I know, my students are awesome!) They are both Mexican, so I did gingerbread men with little white jumpsuits. They were cute, but not as yummy as they could have been because with my time constraints I had to use frosting from the store.