A Twirly Easter Dress

The clever girl LOVES twirly dresses.  I suppose there may be girls her age that aren't as in to twirly dresses, but this girl loves them.  So when I fell across a tutorial for a halter dress with a full circle skirt, I knew I had found the clever girl's Easter dress.  I basically followed the tutorial, with some minor changes. 

For one, the tutorial suggested basing the top of the dress from an existing halter or tank top.  Instead, I measured the clever girl in the following places:

• chest circumference
• approx. distance from shoulder to top of bodice
• approx. distance from shoulder to underarm
• distance from top of bodice to waist
• distance between straps/top of bodice length

I added in a bit of give so the bodice would not be skin tight, and drew out the pattern for the front.  The back of the dress is pretty much a rectangle that is gathered with elastic thread, and I based my pattern on  the tutorial for this one.  The other thing I changed about the top is that I added a lining.  I like a lined bodice.  I used french seams throughout the dress. 

the back

The skirt of the dress is actually based on a circle skirt pattern created by Dana of Made.  She tells you exactly how to measure and cut the skirt and it worked out perfectly! 

The dress is really quite simple.  You create the top front and edge the top of the bodice with bias tape.  Then add bias tape to go from the underarm up the bodice, which turn into straps to tie behind the neck.  The back of the bodice is gathered with many rows of elastic thread, which is actually pretty fun to use.  I love that you sew with it, and it kind of starts to gather...  Then if you spray it with water and hold a hot iron over the thread without actually touching it, you can see the material gather even more!  Fun!   Then the skirt is one gigantic circle, which you sew to the bodice.  Edge the entire bottom of the skirt with bias tape (probably the easiest way ever to finish the edge of a circle skirt) and it is done!

The best part is the twirli-ness of the dress.  It just makes you want to dance!  The clever girl loves this dress so much she wanted to sleep in it and wear it every day!  I will probably make some variations of this dress so we have more for the summer.  It is a hit!

Stamped Gauze/Muslin Snuggle Blankets

When the clever girl was born, I received a couple sets of "muslin baby blankets" that have since become treasured objects in our home.  We call them "snuggle blankets" and we always have at least 2 in her bed, one at school for naps, and one in the car.  Thus, there was no question that "Button" would need his own set of snuggle blankets.  No baby can be without!

Instead of purchasing them (they can be fairly expensive) I decided to make my own.  That's just how I roll, as you have probably figured out by now!  I read a tutorial that Dana of Made created, and got inspired.  I knew I wanted to make 8 blankets (that is the number the clever girl has), and I wanted to dye half of them.  The next consideration was decorating them.  Should I applique something onto them?  Hmmm...  Then I thought of using stamps and fabric paint.  Decision made.  That is what I would do.  I wouldn't say that stamping them is faster than applique - they both take some steps to complete, but I like how my stamped blankets turned out!

TWD: Baking with Julia - Rustic Potato Loaves

This week's recipe for Tuesday's with Dorie is Rustic Potato Loaves, on pages 138-139 of Baking with Julia.  I have to say, if you have any interest in baking bread, this is one to try!  It is fairly quick to make (just two rises of 20 minutes each) and the end result is simply delicious! 

Tangy Lemon Bars

I love a good tangy lemon bar, so when I found this recipe, I thought it was definitely something I needed to try!  The recipe is from Alice Medrich's book, Pure Dessert, and according to Ms. Medrich, a food critic at one point claimed that these bars were "too sour".  Too sour?  Definitely sounds perfect to me, as I like my lemon treats to be very lemon-y.

Very Tangy Lemon Bars
adapted from Pure Desserts

Crust:
7 TB unsalted butter, melted
2 TB sugar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour

Topping:
1 cup + 2 TB sugar
3 TB all-purpose flour
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice, strained

Preheat oven to 350.  Line the inside of an 8x8-inch baking pan with foil or parchment, or butter the inside of a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. 

Crust:  In a medium bowl, combine first 4 crust ingredients (all except flour).  Add the flour and mix until just combined.  Spread the dough evenly in the bottom of the pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the crust is browned at the edges and golden in the center.  Turn the oven down to 300F.

Topping:  Start the topping while the crust bakes.  Stir together the sugar and flour.  Whisk in the eggs.  Add lemon juice and lemon zest and stir until combined. 

When the crust is finished baking (and still in the oven), slide out the oven rack, pour the filling on top of the hot crust and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the center no longer jiggles.  Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack before slicing.  If the top comes out looking a bit frothy, gently blot it with a paper towel.  Slice with a sharp knife into 16 large squares or 25 smaller squares, or whatever size you wish.  Dust the top with powdered sugar if you wish.

NOTE:  If using Meyer lemons, reduce the sugar in the topping to 1/2 cup plus 2 TB.
Printable Recipe

I used Meyer lemons and found that the recipe was not tart enough for me.  I think it is an issue of me preferring regular tart lemons to Meyer lemons, nothing about this recipe.  Reviews of this recipe claim that it is wonderfully tart, so I will definitely make it again with regular tart lemons. 

Give it a shot!

Birds Nest Cookies

The clever girl has an Easter party at school tomorrow, and of course I signed up to bring cookies!  I wanted to do something that might look like Easter eggs, and after some brainstorming, I came up with birds nest cookies.  A good friend of mine makes "haystack" cookies for parties, so I took what she does, changed it up a tad, and made it into birds nest cookies!

These are perfect cookies to make with a kiddo.  There is no baking involved, thus no hot oven and no waiting to see the finished product!

Fuzzy Baby Blanket Tutorial

I have been making these fuzzy baby blankets for a while, and finally decided to (a) get them onto the blog, and (b) make one for Button (my little one due very soon)!  They are super easy and fast to make, so get ready...

Supplies:

What you see here is enough for 2 baby blankets.

You need:
1 1/4 yards of a novelty cotton fabric (above it is the birdy fabric, in the top photo it is the one with blue and green animals)
1 1/4 yards of fuzzy "minky"-like fabric.  At Jo-Anns, this fabric is called "Soft and Comfy", "Ultra Cuddle" or "Soft and Fluffy" or something like that.  This is a good item to use a coupon for, as it can be a bit pricy!
1 package of Blanket Binding
matching thread

A Birthday Surprise - Tiramisu!

A very good friend of mine (I'll call her B) recently had a birthday!  Prior to her actual birthday, her mother (who lives out of town) called me to see if I would help plan a surprise girls night out dinner for B to celebrate.  Of course I would!  Over the course of a couple of weeks, the mom, husband, and I deviously planned a get-together for B.  The best part, other than the dessert, which I promise I will get to, is that the surprise dinner gave me the excuse to spend an afternoon with B.  My strategy for getting her out of the house was that I was totally stressed out with being pregnant and building a house and having way too much stuff on my plate (which is unfortunately all true!) and needed some girl-time.  So we spent an afternoon together and then I took her to dinner, where another 6 of our friends happened to be waiting!

Honestly, if you are a busy mom like we both happen to be, how often do you get to spend an entire afternoon hanging out with a girl-friend?  Extremely rarely, in our cases.  So it was a beautiful gift to spend the day with my friend!

Anyway, in the planning of this happy event, B's mother mentioned that B's favorite dessert was tiramisu.  Mmmm.  We happen to share that favorite, I must admit.  And it just so happens that for Thanksgiving I had dinner with some friends who served the best tiramisu I had ever eaten (and honestly, I have eaten a LOT of tiramisu) and I had gotten the recipe!  A perfect opportunity to try out this recipe for myself!