Grandma Margaret's Rolls

My great grandmother Margaret was a great cook. I never got to meet her myself, but I heard many fond memories from my parents. She had a roll recipe that she shared with many family members; my mom being one of them.

 
I grew up with this recipe, and now it's the one I make for my family. We always called them grandma rolls, but I thought since I was sharing it with the world, I would give it a proper name.

Grandma Margaret's Rolls

2 Tbsp yeast

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 c. milk

1/2 c. butter, melted

2 eggs, beaten

1 tsp salt

2 3/4 c. flour

Sprinkle yeast over sugar and milk. Let stand about 10 minutes.

Add eggs.

Add salt and 1 3/4 cup flour. Beat mixture with electric mixer until smooth.

Add 2 cups remaining flour.

Add butter, but make sure it is cool; never add hot to dough. Mix until thoroughly blended; you may have to use your hands.

Let rise for a few hours or until doubled in size.

 

The original recipe calls to divide the dough into three parts, but I always just do two. Roll out the dough into a big circle.

Quarter slice the dough until you have 16 slices.

Roll each slice from the outside edge in to make a crescent type roll.

Arrange on greased cookie sheet. Cover and let rise until about double in size.

You can now do the same thing with the other half, or you can make them into sweet rolls! To do this, roll out your dough in a long rectangle.

Spread butter all over dough. Sprinkle a nice layer of brown sugar over the butter, then sprinkle cinnamon over the sugar. The amount of butter/sugar/cinnamon is all up to you and how much of everything you'd like on it.

Roll the dough up.

Slice roll width slices.

Place on greased cookie sheet and allow to rise until about double in size.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.

You have the option to make a batch of frosting to ice the sweet rolls.

This is a really simple recipe and quite a crowd pleaser. It makes plenty so be sure you're ready to chow down on them!

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Working the Earth

It's hard to believe that it's already planting time again. Even though by the end of summer/fall I'm usually ready for a break from gardening, I'm always excited for the new planting season in February. In Texas, our "rest" period is pretty short. Winter is mild and we only get about 3 months of a break. But I'm still raring to go when it comes time to plant.

This year Nick built me some mini greenhouses. They'll be great for starting seeds. He built them out of some old windows my parents had sitting on their property. They'd gotten them discounted (or given, I'm not sure which) when they were building their house, but now they've decided they won't be using them. The original idea was to build an actual greenhouse using the windows and storm door, etc. like my mom's, but Nick thought maybe I could get use out of them this year if he built these smaller versions.

I'm still going to want a full size greenhouse someday, but this will definitely work well for now.

Nick's talking about extending the garden area up the hill, but more than likely it will not be utilized this year.

Looking forward to little green sprouts speckling the dirt!

Little One Shoes

I posted pictures before of these awesome little shoes.

Since then I have made several pairs for all the new little babies that have been entering the world. While I used a pattern and tutorial that I found here, there are a few modifications I made, and I thought I would explain them in more detail.

What you need:

About 1/4 yard main fabric and lining fabric

Coordinating buttons

Velcro

*Modifications in bold.

First, using the pattern, cut out two of each piece in the main fabric and lining fabric.

On the larger pieces, put right sides together. On the sole piece, put right side out.

Now, sew a seam where the red line is on the above picture on both shoes.

Turn the larger pieces inside out and press flat. Now sew closed where the red line is in this picture, just enough to keep the two pieces together.

Now time to do the topstitching. I somehow didn't get a picture of this, but you can use the guideline from the previous picture (the one where it's inside out) to sew the topstitching. That's where you want to sew, but just do it right side out.

Now it's time to pin the two pieces together. You can use the markers that come on the pattern, or, just eyeball where you want the little flap to be. Right sides need to be inside, make sure the little flap is underneath.

Hand stitch the pieces together. (Make sure to keep the existing stitching on the inside of the shoe.)

Turn inside out and voila! You have shoes!

Sew your preferred button on the flap.

Velcro time. I usually sew the soft side on the flap.

Scratchy side on the shoe.

Done! Awesome!

Once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy to do. And they are so cute!

3 Months

I've made it past the first trimester!

Yea!

 I'm amazed how quickly this baby is growing. Or, more like, I'm surprised how fast I'm growing this time around. I already feel big, and I've only begun the growing process. I'm hoping to start working out again, which should help with the feeling big-ness.

 

Ryder has been such a good boy lately, and every day he becomes more and more of a kid, instead of a baby. We're already indoctrinating him to like the coming baby. This video shows him with a little 12 week model of a baby we got from our midwife. He's so cute!

Car Organizer: A Tutorial

It's easy to have a messy car with kids.

I have only begun in this adventure.

But there is help for the clutter that goes along with extended periods of time spent in the car.

A car organizer.

It may not look very glamorous, but it looks a lot better than toys, books and food all over the floorboards and seats.

What you'll need:

An over-the-door pocket shoe organizer (about as wide as a car seat)

Ribbon (and fray check)

1 thin wooden dowel, cut the width of the organizer

Eyelet kit

Coordinating thread

2 large pony beads

Note: one shoe organizer makes two or three car organizers.

First you'll cut the organizer to your desired length. As you can see, I only went two pockets down. You can make it however long you want it. Cut as close to the bottom of the pockets as you can.

Now, you're going to fold down the top to make a casing for the wooden dowel. Pin in place and check to make sure the casing is the right size.

Sew the casing, then run the dowel through.

Here's where the picture guidance kind of ends. I took pictures of the process, but somehow I deleted the pictures before uploading them on my computer.

If using the very top piece of the shoe organizer, there will already be eyelets to run the ribbon through.

But, if not, you'll need the eyelet kit. Mark a spot that looks good to you, and install the eyelets.

Cut a piece of ribbon at 25 inches. This leaves enough room to slip it over the headrest of the car seat. Fray check the ends.

Run the ribbon through the eyelets with the ends coming out the front. String the beads on and tie a knot around them.

And there you have it. A car organizer that is simple, inexpensive, and custom.

Car Seat Blanket: A Tutorial

My son was born in the heat of the Texas summer (and when I say heat, I mean 105 degrees). Needless to say, blankets weren't heavily used for several months. But my sister-in-law just had a little girl in January, so I thought that a blanket would be a nice gift. A blanket with ties that can stay on the car seat/stroller easier? Even better!

This project is so easy, I don't see why they aren't more common. Even a non-sewer could pull this off. You don't even really need a machine.

What you will need:

Baby blanket

(the measurements I give are based on a basic baby blanket you buy at Babies R Us)

Ribbon

Fray Check

Coordinating thread

Start by marking the spot for the ties with a pin. I went 9 1/2 inches down,

and 6 inches across from the edge.

So the spots will be about where you see the ribbons in this picture.

 Now trim your ribbons to the right length. I did 35 inches so there would be plenty of ribbon to have some pretty bows when tied. Make sure you fray check your ribbon so there's no fraying.

Place the center of the ribbon right in the spot you pinned. Now just sew a straight line up and down two or three times.

DONE!

Easy, right?

So simple and so useful.

Ryder had to check it out.

Along with this project, I had a few other things I made for my new niece that I thought I'd share.

Hooded towel. This was a quick project. I think I might make one for Ryder because he's already kind of outgrowing the little baby hooded towels. This one is a full-sized towel so kids can use them for a long time.

I used this tutorial:

http://prudentbaby.com/2009/10/baby-kid/diy-hooded-baby-towel/

Crochet ankle sandals. These look so cute on and are one of the quickest crochet projects I've ever made.

I used this tutorial:

http://misadventuresofhandmade.blogspot.ca/2012/02/barefoot-baby-sandals.html