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

Fabulous Tiramisu

My current favorite dessert is tiramisu. Who wouldn't love it? Coffee, liqueur, and creamy goodness. I always want to order some when we go to an Italian restaurant, but I'm always so full from dinner that I can't even think about it. So this year, for my birthday, I decided that I'd make tiramisu at home so I could enjoy it for days instead of one bloated evening!

Happy Birthday to me!

This recipe is from kraftrecipes.com. Look up "Philadelphia Fabulous Tiramisu." It's a cheaper version because it uses cream cheese instead of marscapone (can you say, "ridiculously overpriced?") but it's still extremely tasty. I'm sure if you really wanted to use marscapone you could substitute it for the cream cheese.

Tiramisu

2 pkg (3oz each) ladyfingers

(or one recipe of my homemade ladyfingers)

2 Tbsp instant coffee

1 tbsp sugar

1 c. boiling water

2 pkg (8oz each) cream cheese, softened

1/2 c. white sugar

2 Tbsp almond flavored or coffee flavored liqueur

2 c. whipped topping, thawed

1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder

Dissolve instant coffee and 1 Tbsp sugar in boiling water.

Arrange half the ladyfingers in the bottom of a 13x9 dish. Brush half the coffee mix over the ladyfingers.

Beat cream cheese with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add 1/2 c. sugar and liqueur, mixing until blended. Gently stir in whipped topping.

Spread half of the cream cheese mixture over the ladyfingers.

Top with remaining ladyfingers; brush with remaining coffee.

Spread remaining cream cheese mixture over ladyfingers.

Dust with cocoa.

Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.

Voila! Sweet deliciousness.

Happy Birthday!

Print this recipe

Ladyfingers, Ooh La La!

One of my favorite desserts is tiramisu. The first time I wanted to make it, I looked around for the ladyfingers and couldn't find any! Granted it's been a while since that first time and even though I live near the not-big-city, I'm sure they have them now. However that first time I decided that I could make my own. Ever since, that's the way I prefer to do it.

This recipe came from joyofbaking.com. I don't have the exact link but I'm sure you could find it if you did a search.

Ladyfingers

1/2 c. flour

(the original recipe calls for cake flour but I just used regular flour)

3 egg yolks, room temperature

2 Tbsp white sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

3 egg whites, room temperature

1/8 tsp cream of tartar

3 Tbsp white sugar

Powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or wax paper.

In electric mixer, beat the egg yolks and 2 Tbsp sugar on high speed for 5 minutes or until the mixture becomes thick and pale yellow. Beat in the vanilla.

Sift the flour over the batter but do not fold in.

In a new bowl, whip the egg whites until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form.

Gradually add the 3 Tbsp sugar and whip until stiff peaks form.

Stiff peaks!

Fold the whites into the egg yolk mixture in three additions.

Mix only until incorporated.

You can use a pastry bag, or for a quicker solution, just snip the corner off of a gallon ziploc bag.

Transfer the batter to a pastry bag.

Pipe ladyfinger-sized wafers at least 3 inches long on the parchment paper.

Once you've piped all the cookies, sprinkle the powdered sugar on top if you'd like. I didn't because I knew I'd be using them in tiramisu.

Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the ladyfingers are firm but barely browned and are still spongy when touched. Place parchment paper on wire rack for a few minutes, then remove ladyfingers while still warm. Ladyfingers get stale if not used immediately or soaked in liquid, so freeze them if you want to store them.

Print this recipe

Butter Me Up!

Have you ever had homemade butter spread on homemade buttermilk biscuits?

It's awesome. Trust me.

And we all know there's nothing like buttermilk pancakes.

So let's make some butter already!

To do this, you'll need one gallon (at least) of raw milk. Raw milk can be difficult to find, but I hear that many farmer's markets have someone there that usually sells it. We're fortunate enough to have a farm up the road that sells amazing raw milk.

Now, normally you'll need to let the milk sit in the fridge for a little while to allow the cream to separate from the milk, say a day or so. But as you can see...

I got a little excited to make the butter and kind of jumped the gun on the separation process. It had separated, but it wasn't easy to tell where the line was.

Now we have to somehow "skim" the cream off the milk. Ha, skim. Instead we will let the milk drain out from underneath the cream. You'll need a container large enough to accommodate about three quarts of milk and one for the cream. Place the future milk container in the sink. Using an ice pick or something else sharp and pointy, poke a hole in the bottom of the gallon (note: it will drain quicker if the lid is off the top). I don't recommend using a knife to poke the hole, it won't make a hole but a slit and that can make a mess. 

You should be able to watch the line of cream go down as the milk drains. Once it appears that all that's left in the gallon is cream, pour it into your prepared cream container.

Here's your milk.

Here's your cream. Pour the cream into a blender.

Run the blender on low to medium low. You don't want to go too fast or you'll have whipped cream, which is good but not what we're trying to achieve. The time varies on your blender and how concentrated the cream is,  but it usually takes about 5-10 minutes. The main thing is you'll run it till you hear the blender change its tone. This is usually an indication that you're getting close to being finished.

But the real indication is this, chunks floating on the top that are a nice buttery color. You have made butter!

Now we have to scoop the chunks out.

Then we have to squeeze all the excess milk out. There are a couple of ways to do this, either strain it into a cheese cloth or just squeeze it out in a bowl. I prefer the bowl method.

The milk that's left over is buttermilk (yea!). If you so choose to save it, have a container prepared, and a sieve over the top. Pour it through to catch the last few butter chunks.

You can drain the excess milk in to the buttermilk if you'd like, but there won't be very much to save.

Continue to squeeze that milk out.

You can squeeze forever trying to get all the milk droplets out, but it's up to you how long you want to stand there. The more milk that's in it, the quicker the butter can sour. I'm anti-perfectionist so after a couple of minutes, I'm done squeezing. Once you're happy with the consistency, this is when you'd add some salt if you like salted butter. The amount varies on your personal taste.

BUTTER!!! It may not seem like much for such a process, but it is really good butter. I'm not much of a butter person normally, but I use it when we have homemade stuff!

So now we have buttermilk...

And butter! AWESOME!

Distressed Red Dresser Changing Table

I'm back!!

The morning sickness seems to have passed and I'm looking forward to getting back into the game!

This is a dresser that I worked on quite a while ago, but only recently put the final touches on it. I got it at a thrift shop for - oh yeah - $5! It did have termite damage, but it's solid wood and it's the perfect height for a changing table. I was needing one for my son's room upstairs. So I decided to fix it up and make it awesome!

It was pretty rough.

Nick filled in the termite damage so the top is now smooth.

I started out by putting on a gray primer coat. You want to use gray for a primer when you're planning on painting something red.

 

Ta-da! The finished product!

(Apparently I didn't take pictures when I did the rest of the painting.)

I gave it two coats of red paint before doing the black wash. I watered down black paint and brushed it on. Almost immediately I wiped it off with a rag. You almost have to do a feathery sponge-like motion to keep it from making lines.

Add some beautiful knobs, a changing pad, and a nifty wipe holder and you've got the best changing table/dresser ever!

I found the little wood caddy at a resale shop for $2. I had Nick remove the handle, then I gave it the same finish as the dresser. He screwed it on, and bam! Perfect wipe holder.

Close up of the finish.

Before and After.