For my first article with Sandbox Press, I wrote about this great activity to do with your kid! This is the original post:

This may be a small spoiler for family, but I had to post about these cards I made for St. Patrick’s Day! Ethan is pretty good with doing crafts with me – as long as it takes less than 15 seconds of his time. I had to force him to stay a little longer but the end result made it worth it!

I started with each blank card and put the shamrocks wherever they landed! I later added detail with a green thin sharpie and used a glue gun to attach the green ribbon. I had enough left over ribbon to line the flaps of 2 of the envelopes.  You can see the little fingerprints detail that made each of the 3- or 4-leaf clovers:

I think you can do this project with any age kid – as long as you can hold them down for a few minutes! I was able to get 9 cards made with Ethan. I wish I could have done a few more but I think at least the family will enjoy them! Happy Shamrock Day!

Doing some virtual spring cleaning and came across this photo of a quilt I made back in 2003 for my older sister’s birthday. All the fabrics were used to make a baby quilt and I used the rest to make this one (the benefits of over estimating the fabric needed).  I don’t seem to have any photos of the baby quilt – need to do some more digging and maybe one will turn up (think I may have still occasionally used film back in those days). I’ll try and share more of these quilt photos – it is fun to see how my style has evolved over the years, although I love this rail fence pattern, and I’m sure I will make another again someday.

Happy Sunday!

Have you ever made a pie from scratch? I mean the whole thing! Crust and filling? It’s not as hard (or as easy) as you may think! I’ve been called “The Cake Lady” (and didn’t enjoy it) but I think I may have found a new calling in pies as well!

One of my old college roommates came down for a visit and during naptime, we decided to go for it. Let’s make a pie!  We used the Joy of Cooking’s deluxe butter crust recipe (because it called for the least amount of Crisco and I like to keep that to a minimum) and Apple Pie recipe. We made the crust, chopped the apples, added some delicious spices and threw it in the oven! Here is Kristin adding the finishing touches: cinnamon sugar on top!

Once baked, it had to cool for 3-4 hours. That is not fun. I prefer to eat my creations moments after they exit the oven and by the time it was cool, I wasn’t hungry anymore! So we had some for breakfast!  Here is the finished pie:

Look at that delicious goodness inside!!!

Let me know if you’ve ever tried to make a pie from scratch! If you haven’t – go try and let me know how it goes!

Since I had a request for the bread recipe from the second Blizzard and Baking post, I figured I’d post it here!

This recipe is adapted from the Master Recipe in Artisan Bread in Five minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg, MD. To make 4 1-pound loaves (the same size as the one in the photo), you’ll need:

3 Cups lukewarm water

1 1/2 T yeast (2 packets)

1 1/2 T coarse salt

6 1/2 cups flour (you can use up to half whole wheat)

Cornmeal for the pizza peel

1. Add yeast and salt to the warm water in a 5-quart bowl. If you plan on saving it to bake later, use a resealable plastic food container if you have one big enough. (This is when you can add fun stuff like flax seed, sesame seeds, or other spices and grains you like. See * at the bottom!)

2. Mix in the flour. Add it all at once and mix with a wooden spoon. When it gets too hard, wet your hands and press the mixture together.

3. Best part of the recipe: No need to Knead! Leave it in the bowl and allow it to rise for about 2 hours (you can let it sit up to 5 hours though!)

From here, you can either store it in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or use the dough now.

When ready to use the dough:

4. Prepare a pizza peel with a thin layer of cornmeal. Sprinkle the dough with flour. Pull off 1/4 of the dough using a knife. Flour your hands (or wet them, which I prefer) and rotate it into a ball. This should take you only 30 – 60 seconds. Repeat for as many loaves as you wish to make.

5. Rest the dough on the pizza peel for about 40 minutes. 20 minutes into this, preheat the oven to 450. Put a pizza stone in the oven to preheat with the oven.

6. When the 40 minutes is up, dust the bread with flour and cut slits into it in any pattern you desire with a serrated bread knife.

7. Slide the dough off of the peel onto the stone. Optional step – you can put a dish of water in the bottom to use steam to cook the bread. I did this twice and my oven stopped working after both tries (I know – why did I do it again?)! I now cook it without the steam and have noticed no difference in taste or texture.

8. Bake for about 30 minutes. The bread will be browned and firm to the touch. Allow to cool for a few minutes (if you can resist it!) before slicing.

*I’ve also made this herb bread version: Add 1 t dried thyme and 1/2 t dried rosemary to the water mixture before adding the flour!

Enjoy!

I’ve decided I need to learn to knit or crochet so I have something portable when I travel, but until then I fulfill my need for crafting by visiting locally-owned fabric, arts and crafts, and book stores in the new cities I visit.

Recently in Washington state I went to two great fabric shops, Stitches in Seattle and Esther’s Fabrics on Bainbridge Island (photo at the top is from the waterfront trail on the island). I got some fun fabric at both stores to use in some projects for babes arriving this spring. I took this photo in the evening, so it doesn’t really do this cute shop any justice, but the decorations were so sweet.

Books and coffee were abundantly fantastic in Seattle, as well, and I bought a few used books at Arundel Books. One is about sewing clothing and the other is about handmade books, which are two things I want to try someday. I hope I’ll have the time to show some things I’ve made from those books here someday.

Do you check out fabric stores when you travel? Even if I take up a travel-friendly project, I think I will still want to support independent fabric shops.