When making sugar cookies, or in this case, shortbread cookies, too much flour can make the dough tough. But how do you get them rolled out without having the dough stick to the surface of the counter and rolling pin?
POWDERED SUGAR!
Yes, sprinkle your surface with a combination of flour and powdered sugar for ease of rolling. This never makes my doughs tough.
This morning I baked some easy and delicious shortbread cookies and packaged them in an adorable tin complete with tissue paper, cookie cutter, and a gorgeous bow.
Then I sent them off with Abigail to her piano lesson. I'm hoping that her English piano teacher will enjoy them with a cup of hot tea!
We're a family that loves to play games. Weekends or weeknights, you can often find us gathered around the dining room table. I love to buy at least one new game for the family at Christmas. I'm stumped this year, so I'd like suggestions from all of you. What's your favorite game, and why?
Some that we already own and enjoy:
Pictionary
Othello
Sequence
Trivial Pursuit
Taboo
Cranium
Apples to Apples
Scrabble
Upwords
Monopoly
Yahtzee
Boggle
Clue
Uno
Risk
Racko
Rummikub
Squint
Thanks in advance!
Looking for a gift for the crochet/knitting enthusiast? Try my Crochet Hook Case. It goes together in a long afternoon or evening.
I adapted this one to fit long knitting needles and standard crochet hooks. Don't be afraid to lengthen the body of the case to accommodate your needs.
My adaptations were as follows:
Instead of cutting the fabric for the main body 20 x 34, I cut it 20 x 42. The fusible fleece for the main body was then cut to 20 x 20.
The large pocket fabric was cut to 20 x 30 instead of 16 x 20. The fusible fleece for that pocket is cut to 15 x 20.
The only other adaptation that I made to this case was to close it with three buttons rather than two.
When I started putting this one together I thought it was going to look dull with the plain blue and brown fabrics, but a few adorable buttons and some satin ribbon dressed it up nicely!
Have fun!
We hosted a 5k race this past weekend, with all proceeds going to send the local Boy Scout troop to Philmont next summer. Verne bought loads of bananas and oranges for the finish line. It was a really cold day, and we only had 42 finishers. Guess what that means? Lots of leftover fruit!
I got it into my head that I was going to try my hand at making Orange Marmalade, since I had the oranges anyway. I searched cookbooks and the internet for a recipe, and found that most people have trouble with the marmalade setting. I combined a few recipes, and spent 5 hours in the kitchen last night. I made a triple recipe, and had no idea that it would take me that long to cut up all of those peels!
It's so exciting to hear your lids popping on your jars after all that work! And this morning, I was even more excited when I found my marmalade to be set up, just right!
This was definitely sunshine in a jar on a cold November day! I got 26 half pint jars of marmalade, and a lot of oohs and ahhs over breakfast. Now I need to use up those bananas!
Baby afghan for Lydia draped over the cradle that my dad made for my babies
I made myself a crochet hook case last month, and my daughter Autumn has become obsessed with it. Finally I asked her, "Would you like for me to make you a case of your own?" Without blinking she nearly shouted, "Yes!" I asked her what she wanted it to look like, and she said, "I want it to be groovy." Okey, dokey then! Off I went to the fabric store, and brought home some groovy fabric. She was thrilled.
And so, to make your very own crochet hook case that will be coveted by people everywhere,
you will need:
♥ Two fabrics: one main fabric, and a complimentary fabric for the pockets
♥ quilt batting or fusible fleece
♥ complimentary ribbon
♥ two buttons
Let's get started!
Cut a rectangle from your main fabric 20 x 34 inches.
Cut a rectangle from your quilt batting or fusible fleece 20 x 32 inches.
If you are using fusible fleece, fuse the fleece to the wrong side of the main fabric according to the manufacturer's directions.
If you are using batting, baste it to the sides of the main fabric. Your batting or fleece should be flush to the one end of the main fabric, and two inches short on the other end.
Cut two rectangles from your complimentary fabric. One rectangle should be 11 x 20 inches. The other should measure 16 x 20 inches.
Cut one piece of quilt batting or fusible fleece 5 1/2 X 20 inches.
Cut a second piece of quilt batting or fusible fleece 8 x 20 inches.
Press the rectangles of complimentary fabrics in half, making one rectangle 8x 20 inches, and one rectangle 5 1/2 x 20 inches.
Open the rectangles, and fuse or baste the lining to one side of the rectangle.
Press the rectangles closed once more.
Place the rectangle of your main fabric, right side up, so that the end with the batting flush to it is facing you. Place the complimentary 8 x 20 inch rectangle on top of it, with the open side towards you, 2 inches from the edge of the main fabric. Pin in place along each side.
Now take the remaining 5 1/2 x 20 inch rectangle of complimentary fabric, placing it on top of the first one, but only 1/4 inch from the edge of the main fabric. This will create two rows of pockets. Pin in place.
Take the whole thing to your machine, and stitch the sides that you have pinned using a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Do not stitch along the bottoms of the pockets.
Now you get to decide how big you want to make the sections in your pockets. It's a good idea to vary the sizes to accommodate scissors, a stitch gauge, crochet hooks, or circular knitting needles. Divide the width of your case in thirds, and mark that. From there, you can mark stitching lines to suit your needs. Marking the thirds is imperative, as your entire case folds into thirds.
Stitch along the marked lines, making sure to back stitch at the beginning and end of each line.
Press. Fold the entire project nearly in half, right sides to the middle. Remember that you have a two inch section with no batting or fusible fleece? Only fold to the end of the fleece.
Pin the sides, so as to make your project look like a pillowcase. Stitch each side, from the folded end toward the open end, using a 5/8 inch seam allowance. Do not stitch on the fabric with no lining.
Turn your fabric so the right side is out, making sure the corners are nice and square, and not bunched up. Press.
Press the extra fabric without lining so the the bottom edge meets the bottom of the pockets.
Fold it up over the bottom of the pocket to create a nice hem.
Pin and stitch.
In order to make the flap that will fold down to keep all of your tools from falling out lay nicely, you may machine or hand quilt it.
In this case, I machine-quilted flowers to match the fabric.
Do not quilt the pockets!
Fold the flap down, and fold the right side of the case in toward the center. Find and place a pin in the seam that falls there to mark it. Cut two lengths of ribbon, about 18 inches long. Place the ribbons flat on your work surface, and lay the case on top of them in a way that the ribbons are about 1 1/2 inches from the top and bottom of the folded case. Pin the ribbon in place, and stitch from the inside following the lines that are already there.
click to enlarge
To close your case, simply bring the ribbon around the button, and tie it closed!
