My Own Cookie Recipe

I like to just throw things together when I cook/bake. I saw Martha Stewart just dumping vanilla out once and was truly inspired! I NEVER measure vanilla anymore cause Martha doesn't do it so I don't have to! This non-measuring technique can get carried away sometimes.
I was so hungry for oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and couldn't find a recipe. SO I just threw a bunch of stuff together and ended up with a DELICIOUS cookie! BUT this backfired because there was no recipe and it took about a half dozen attempts to recreate them perfectly. I finally got is, so here is the new recipe!
My Cookies
1 cup softened margarine
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups quick oats
1 bag chocolate chips (I prefer Hershey's Special Dark)
Blend together sugars and margarine. Add eggs and vanilla. Stir in peanut butter and mix until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients and lastly, the chocolate chips. Drop in spoonfuls on cookie sheets and bake at 350 degrees until the edges start to turn lightly brown (do not overbake) about 10 minutes.

I hope you like them! You definitely need some milk to go with these

Wedding Cake Topper

Sometimes it is so nice to create something on a whim and just let creativity flow! My mom's cousin got remarried and since the family couldn't attend her wedding, they got a wedding cake made for them to surprise them at our family reunion. I got to make the cake topper! I told mom to just "trust me." :)
I snapped pictures as I went so you can see how I put together whatever popped into my head.

It had to be 8" around to fit the top of the cake. That was my only guideline. For the base, I cut the edge off of a paper plate.I wanted to use these pretty silk flowers I had on hand. I had to make the center flower bunch flat to glue it on, yet keep some height, so I bent the stem in a square.
I took all the leaves I had and spread them around evenly. (I NEED symmetry!)Glued the purple flowers around. (Hydrangeas are my FAVORITE!!!)

Of course I had some help!I was in the mood for glitter. So, I cut out some butterflies from glitter paper, and glued them to paper with wire sandwiched in between.
Cut them out and wrapped the wire around the flower stems.
I wanted them to stick up from the flowers and look different on each side.It still needed something, so I played around with the wire and made this:
I added a few more flowers here and there to even it out and this is the final result:

They were really surprised!

Naomi's Quilt

Not my best quilt ever, but it is FINISHED!!! AND I got it done BEFORE her first birthday (with 4 hours to spare). I originally wanted to machine quilt this one, but since I can't lower my feed dogs, it was a failure. :( So, rip, rip, rip it was.
Then I hand quilted the cow blocks, but I couldn't figure out how to quilt the red blocks, so I gave up and tied them instead. The back is a cute farm print that I had and the reds are all leftover from a red tractor quilt I made a few years ago (I pieced this top in my "pre-baby rearranging use it or move it sewing stage"). I love the little "moo" fabrics on the border and the red binding, too.

Another project finished! YAAAAAAAAY!!!!!! Only about a million more to go... :)
(Notice the cow in the background looking at me like I am completely crazy!)

Pineapples!!!

My son went away to camp for the first time ever! So, since he was being really obnoxious about how cool the word "pineapple" is (even though he doesn't like them) and he just generally deserves a little something special for being such a little bugger lately, us girls gave him a lovely pineapple-decorated room to come home to! He was completely surprised to say the least!

Besides being an outlet for our creative insanity, it kept the girls busy! I am talking pineapples EVERYWHERE! We made paper pineapple garlands, giant pineapples to hang on the wall made out of yellow posterboard, lots of green crepe paper, yellow balloons (there should have been a lot more, like 20 more, but the girls got to them first), a yellow tablecloth curtain in the doorway, with the leftovers for a bed canopy, and even pineapple sheets! I cut out a pineapple and a top from fun foam, glued it on a block of wood, and painted on an old white sheet. They came out pretty sharp!

Just a whole lot of pineappley fun! A camo-loving, hunting, fishing-type boy's dream room- NOT!(Ignore the non-matching tropical fish dresser - it matched his room at the old house. I haven't gotten there yet. We have only lived here for over 5 years now.)

His sisters missed him, even if they won't admit it! :)

Sneak Peek Friday- Girls' Week!

My son was away at camp for the first time this week, so it was just the girls! (And my poor, outnumbered husband) So here is some of what I did...
I am not sure who took this picture of me, but it shows this growth on my arm that I seem to have all the time. ;)When she is finally chillin’ out on her own…I have to get stuff done like this:which is now more difficult to clean up after because of this:
Hope we can get a new one soon, especially since it is soon the heaviest part of "canning season" here. Plus, I cook and bake A LOT and now I just don’t have the ambition since clean-up will take longer. But, hey, maybe I will lose a few pounds this way!

The girls and I did a lot of girly and kid craft stuff this week, like the mermaiden softie I showed off yesterday. I tried to do some hands-on crafts with the girls to keep them occupied, so we made soaps...

I tried searching online for a trick to get them out of the molds (couldn’t find any, but the freezer for a few minutes worked, FYI).

Meanwhile my 3yo got into the pink food coloring and she turned her hands pink. We called her Pinkalicious!So much for a "clean" craft!

We are also working on a BIG surprise for my son when he comes home and I will be posting LOTS of pictures of this stuff next week. Here is your hint:

So, that is my sneak peek for the week. Check out the link-up HERE to see what everyone else is up to!

Mermaiden Softie Doll

My girls LOVE mermaids, just like their Aunt Loni. :)

I came across this mermaid softie free pattern from Hilary Lang of Wee Wonderfuls. I have never finished a cloth doll, so I wanted to try this cutie out!I had to use felt for the hair (who has corduroy or velvet on hand?) and I think it is a little thick and stiff with 2 layers. Plus it was a pain to work with, so I have some ideas for what to do different next time.

Free-motion quilting is super tough if you can't lower your feed dogs, but I managed. I also need to learn to ladder stitch, and I might shrink the head width a teeny bit on the next one, but it came out pretty good overall.

I am actually going to give this one to my niece, since my girls saw me make it. I plan on making them some for Christmas, which is closer than you think!

Mermaid Maternity Top

My sister LOOOOOOOOOOOOVES The Little Mermaid! She never outgrew it.

When I saw this fabric at Walmart I didn't see a cute little girl dress- I saw a maternity top (does that make me weird, too?) So, here is the tutorial on how to make a women's halter maternity top from girls' pre-shirred fabric.

1. Buy the fabric! How much? Well, after standing in Walmart wrapping it around myself and looking like a weirdo because I was surrounded by little girls, yet measuring Little Mermaid fabric on myself, I decided that I would get 34". She is a little broader than I am- probably about 36" and I wanted it to be snug on the chest anyway. You will need something for straps, too- about 1/4 yard, depending on how wide you want them.

2. Sew it in a tube, WRONG SIDES together in a 1/4" seam!3. Fold the seam to the inside and then sew right sides together with a 3/8" seam allowance. I pinned this in place before sewing to make it easier. TADA! A French seam! Eat your heart out, 7th grade home-ec teacher!4. Now to start on those straps. I would have made them thicker, but I was using up some leftovers from an apron that I made for my sister years ago. So, I cut 2 strips 2 1/2" wide by 36". Feel free to cut yours wider.5. Iron each strip in half and then press the edges in 1/4" towards the wrong side, being careful not to burn your fingertips. Then fold it back in half again. It's a little like bias tape.6. Sew 1/8" along the edges of both sides, and fold one end in twice and sew down to get a finished end. (Yeah, I know mine isn't that great.)

7. Last step! Attach those straps! To get the placement, I put her shirt on, considered keeping it for myself, decided my girls would me too jealous, and placed pins where my bra straps were. So, about 3" from the center on each side. Fold the ends up and sew it to the inside below the first row of shirring. I sewed it in a little box to make it sturdier and hold the ends down, too.(Ignore that extra line of stitching on the side there. Little mess-up.)



So, that is it! Since it is a halter you are done!!! Just tie it up!

Cute side-view! I made her do it. I just like seeing a pregnant belly on someone else for a change!

She says it makes her look bigger than she really is. (I disagree and it is my blog- HA!)



So, I hope I didn't terribly confuse or bore you to death with this little tutorial. I guess if you wanted to, you could make this as a halter style little girls' dress, too. But where is the fun in that? :)

I will be linking up at some places listed up at the top there!