Sugar Pie Dollies

I have some new little friends to share with you.

In my spare time I have been creating some more little friends. These little Dollies are for you. You can pick one up at My Byrd Nest.

We are calling these new dolls, Sugar Pie Dollies. They are homespun and sweet as pie and waiting to come visit you or a little girl you know. They have perfect manners and love tea parties, sleepovers, walks in the woods and keeping special secrets.

Meet the new Sugar Pie Dollies.

Aileen

Miss Aileen is just "a wee bit Scottish." Her dress is a sweet homespun plaid and she is wearing long bloomers. She is a hard working little farm girl with lovely copper colored pigtails. She is looking for a new home and a new set of friends.

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Gracie

Is a sweet little 1930's country girl with golden pigtails. She is always happy ready to help. She has clear blue eyes and sweet little smile. She loves to have stories read to her and is the best of listeners. She loves to bake cookies and gather the eggs from her chicken coop. She can't wait to go home with a new little (or big) friend and share secrets and giggles.

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Kirstin

Miss Kirstin is a Swedish Dairy Maid from Minnesota. She has a slight accent and can sing like and angel. Her hair is golden yellow and is put up in two little buns. So cute! She is sweet and wholesome like like the sunshine and sweet air on her farm. She can't wait to meet her new family and share many fun adventures with them.

Maid of Honor Cupcakes

I don't know where I had been hiding but this is an old treat that I had never tasted before. My dear friend Cheridyn and her sweet mama Lauralie shared this old time treat with our girls at a recent Girls Activity Day. Cheridyn shared a story about her great Grandmother Lucille Rawlins and shared this tasty treat that she used to make for her family each Christmas. I was lucky enough to know Lucille and she was a wonderfully sweet lady. She was always very pleasant and had a great sense of humor. She was really old when I knew her and I was only 12 or so. I remember her always being busy doing something.

This treat is a very old one. According to the story (as I remember it) this treat was a real Luxury for Lucille to make. It required using precious sugar which was rationed during WWII. It also has raspberry Jam in it which was a real Luxury because the berries were dear and because it required so much sugar to make it.

Here is the recipe as we got it.
Pie crust - from scratch, mix or ready made from the store.
Cake batter - from scratch or from a box (use a yellow or white cake)
Raspberry jam
Frosting - from scratch or a can

Directions:
Roll out your pie crust and cut out circles ( you can use a large glass or I use my biscuit cutter that is just under 3" in diameter)
Place the circle of pie crust in the bottoms of your greased muffin tins.
Place a small spoonful of Jam in the center of each pie crust.
Mix up your cake batter and pour some over the pie crust and jam. Fill the tins 2/3 full.
Bake at 350 deg F for about 20 minutes.
When they have cooled, remove them from the pan and frost them.
You can add half a maraschino cherry on top for fun.

These are really easy and so tasty. You can put any kind of jam inside these and I was thinking that raspberry jam with a lovely piece of chocolate on top of that baked in there. It could be something wonderful!

Basic Muffins

I just found this recipe and have to share it. It is so fast and easy and tastes fabulous. I have been looking for a recipe like this for a long time. Something that I can use for breakfast or dinner when we are out of bread but the meal screams for a tasty piece of bread to go with what ever we are eating. The recipe can be dressed up with additions if you want to also.

Whole Wheat Muffins

2/3 cup brown sugar (can use less)
1/2 cup butter
1 egg
1 cup sour milk (add 1 tbsp vinegar to a 1 cup measuring cup and then fill with the milk, OR you can use buttermilk.)
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups whole wheat flour (fresh if you can get it)

Blend the sugar and butter, stir in egg. Add the other ingredients and mix. Fill greased muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake at 375-400 deg. F. for 15 minutes.
Makes about 12 muffins.

You can add 1 cup dried fruit (raisins, dates, apples, etc.) to the batter.
You can also add grated cheddar cheese to the batter.
These are great plain with just butter.
They go well with soups on a cold fall or winter night.
Are you drooling yet? Go make some. You will have hot, delicious, and healthful muffins in about 30 minutes.

Breakfast Meal Plan

Those of you that know me well know that organization is my bain. I am about as scattered as you can get (at least I hope no one is more scattered than I am.) This past month I had a brilliant thought that might just save me some confusion and stress in the morning. With 5 little and now big Byrds to get up and ready in the morning I can't face my kitchen stove at 7:00 a.m. in a panic thinking "what do I feed them this morning??" I don't have time for that. So I have taken a leaf from the books of several organizational gurus and have set up a weekly Breakfast plan. Each day of the week has a set aside breakfast so I know the day before what I will be fixing for breakfast. It is making life so much easier for me and there is a lot less parental stress before the bus gets here. I planned the week according to our time and mood constraints.

If you want to do it too look at:

• What is easiest for you to do in no time flat?
• What are you willing to eat? (that sounds weird but if you can't deal with cereal than don't think of it as an option)
• What can you fix in advance to make breakfast a snap (ie. freezing and warming up stuff)
• What can your family help do when time permits? (Saturday or Sunday morning traditions that everyone participates in, learning great self help skills)

So with that in mind here is what I came up with:

• Sunday - Cereal/granola (busiest day of the week for me with church so we need a no stress breakfast)
• Monday - Cereal/Granola (we are all dead heads on Monday so we can slide into our day without too much stress.)
• Tuesday - Toast and Cocoa - (this changes according to what is on hand, homemade whole wheat bread, muffins, bagels, cinnamon rolls, etc. and from scratch cocoa or homemade mix cocoa)
• Wednesday - Oatmeal
• Thursday - Biscuits, eggs, sausage
• Friday - Eggs and Toast
• Saturday - Pancakes, waffles, or something fun like that

Now each of these meals has many variations. I might stick muffins in place of biscuits, or we might have biscuits and sausage gravy instead of eggs. The egg and toast day could be any kind of bread (bagels, muffins, etc) and any way of fixing eggs (boiled, scrambled, fried, toad in the hole, etc.) The oatmeal is always from scratch with old fashion oats and we add things we have fresh on had to it.

I have lots of different recipes I use and have posted many of them here under good food and breakfast.

Tatting

I found a new obsession.

(Like I need one!)

I picked up a tatting needle several years ago and have meant to give it a try, well now I have. My good friend Robbie at Bittersweet Quilt Store showed me how to use it again. It was addicting.

After looking at a couple of tutorials on the net I figured out how to do some of the basics. It was a lot of fun and didn't take too long. I thought I would pass along the links and let you get obsessed if you choose. hee hee Sorry!

Here is the tutorial I used. Actually she has a written tute and a video tute of the same thing. Watching, reading, doing and watching again really helped. It really wasn't hard once you the the rhythm down. You have to check out her Etsy shop.

Here is a link to a place you can get supplies. The needles are hard to find.

Soap Day

August afforded some much needed time to make soap. I have finally had a chance to re-stock my sad soap supply.

This is all 100% natural, hand-made, Lye Soap Goodness.

If you have never given your skin the treat of a bath with good old fashion lye soap, you have been really missing out.

I got started making lye soap about 12 years ago when my daughter Sarah was born. Her soft sweet baby skin was so sensitive we couldn't you any commercial soaps or detergents or even wet wipes on her. She would break out in a bright red lumpy rash.

So my friend Vea taught me how to make my own soap and we have been making our own soap and laundry soap ever since.

Lye soap is PH balanced very similarly to your skin so it is very gentle on your skin. It takes away the dirt and germs without drying your skin out like commercial soaps.

During the soap making process, you take a weak acid (the oils used are fatty acids) and a strong base (the lye) and mix them together. When measure properly there is a chemical reaction that converts the lye and oils into new product = soap and glycerin molecules.

The soap does a great job of cleaning you while the glycerin moisturizes your skin.

Commercial soaps remove the glycerin and then re-package it in lotions to help sooth your skin that is dry from using the commercial soap. Tricky huh!?!

There have also been studies done of lye soap and have found it to have better anti-bacterial properties that the liquid soaps without the harsh chemicals that are bad for you. Lye soap seams to repel the germs better and longer.

Another interesting thing we have noticed with our own use of the lye soap, is that the bugs around here (namely chiggers and ticks) don't like it and you get less bug bites, and when you do get bites, they seem to heal up faster with the use of lye soap.

We have also had a lot of success in treating our poison Ivy with the scrubby Oatmeal soap. My husband gets Poison Ivy really badly and now only uses the oatmeal soap. When he knows he has been exposed to the plant, he comes in and takes a cool shower with the lye soap which helps close the pores and removes the poison ivy oils. This usually prevents the rash. If that fails though and he gets a rash, he scrubs it with the oatmeal soap which opens up all the blisters quickly and dries them out and the rash is usually gone in a couple of days instead of lingering for weeks. He hasn't had to take the steroids in years now. He used to puff all up and look like a lava monster before he broke down and gave the soap a try.

We also use the soap for laundry. The plain lye soap bar works great as a stain stick. You just get the stained clothing wet with warm water and scrub the stain with the soap and wash as usual. It takes out most stains. My husband got out mud from my daughter's brand new white and rainbow striped leggings once. He had allowed her to scoot around the garden in them while he was working one day (I was not at home) and to my horror on returning home they were covered with our lovely red brown dirt. He scrubbed those pants with a bar of plain lye soap and washed them and they came out white with bright rainbow stripes. He was so lucky!

We also grate up the soap and make our own laundry soap. It works great for getting the cloths clean and costs so much less than commercial soaps and is better for you and the environment.

Oh..... one more thing. Lice don't like lavender soap. That was a wonderful find with three daughters. We wash their hair with bar soap and rinse it with a little lemon juice in water and they have soft, clean, sweet smelling hair, free from lice and the chemicals in shampoo.

Have I convinced you yet? Hee hee

Sorry, I love hand made soaps and love to share the wonderful information I have learned about it with others.

If you would like to get some of my soap for yourself, check out my Etsy shop.

My Little Byrd House

****edited to add the list of scents for convenience *****

Oak Leaves & Acorns

Orange Mint

Goat's Milk and Oatmeal

Morning Bliss (citronella, lemon, Lavender and Cedar)

Mint Magic

Facial Blend (Peppermint, Lavender, Tea Tree, and Patchouli)

Lavender

Peach Nectar

Gardener's Blend (citronella, lemongrass, lavender, etc)

Spearmint & Eucalyptus

Basil Lime

Red Clover Tea

Rosebud

Desert Sage

Plumeria

Cucumber

Sweetgrass

Fudge Berry Brownies

Almond Biscotti Scrub

Tropical Fun

Pineapple

and

Plain Old Lye Soap

Rescued Orphan Blocks

My Little Byrd Nest

I have been "Rescuing" Orphaned quilt blocks and vintage fabrics for several years now from all over South West Missouri. I have to say I have a pretty descent collection now. I love seeing quilt blocks made by other women. It is interesting to see the ones that don't make the cut and end up in odd boxes and drawers because they just don't fit in. Some of these blocks are odd sizes, not square, won't lay flat, made with odd color combinations, have glaring mistakes, or are damaged in some way. I love the snap shot of human nature captured in their tiny stitches. I believe that these blocks should all be given a life and should be enjoyed. I have taken several orphaned blocks that I have found and even made myself and given them a home and a purpose in quited Handbags. Here are some of the bag collections I have finished.

These are made from vintage blocks and my collection of vintage fabrics. These fabrics date from the 1930's feed sacks to 1960's wild, bright, prints.

These are made from my hand dyed fabrics and some orphan blocks of my own that just didn't make it into a finished project.

These are a set of five chicken blocks that I made last year but never worked into a project. They are sashed and backed with fabrics from my 20 year stash of homespun fabrics gathered from many of my favorite quilt shops.

Bag backs.

This set was made from a couple of vintage table cloths in need of rescue and re-purpose. They are lined with 1930's reproduction fabrics.

I love these wild fabrics. The colors and patterns are fabulous!

**Sorry this one is Sold**

This poor block is made from lovely fabrics but the poor thing just wouldn't lay flat and didn't have a single straight edge. I love the prints I had to mix with it.

You can find these bags at my Etsy Shop

My Little Byrd Nest.

Harbingers of Fall

It has been the coolest Summer that I can remember in 20+ years of living her is Missouri. We had one week or so of really hot humid weather. The rest of the time has been very tolerable.
Well now we are starting to get the tale tale signs of Fall. The little trees in the fence rows are turning orange and red and that never happens till the first of October or late September at the earliest. Makes me wonder if we are going to have an early winter too.

Here are some shots of life here in the MO Zone this month.

My brother Sam planted a bunch of seeds I bought a couple of years ago. Well the grew!

I can't wait. I can smell baked squash with butter and salt, pumpkin custard, pie, bread, and muffins. I think our skin is going to turn orange from all the pupkinness that is going to happen around here.

The garden as also yielded a bumper crop of Zucchini this Summer, as usual, so I looked up some recipes and made a tasty zucchini quiche. I used Joyful Adobe's recipe and added some onion and ham.

We have had the most rain this summer that I can remember in 20 years. This is a picture that my 10 year old daughter took after a big storm last week.

With all the rain this year it has been the year of Frog and Toad. We have seen at least 100 of these this summer. Who knows how many we didn't see around the house.

This is another of Caroline's photographs.

School started this month too.

Isn't that Cherry Red truck of my neighbor's the sweetest ride ever! He used to have it painted yellow with purple trim. It looked pretty fabulous then but now I have to admit that my heart skips a beat when I see that truck.

With school back in full swing come early breakfasts and home lunches. These are our favorite breakfast muffins. They are banana oatmeal muffins. They are super tasty and they fill you up. We have set a breakfast schedule for the week to help cut down on the chaos in the morning. I have a hard time thinking of what to fix and so now each day of the week has an assigned breakfast to help us cope with the morning rush. Muffins is one of them. I will have to post the schedule for you and the recipes that go with it. There are several things that I bake and freeze in advance to make the week run smoothly. It is really helping us get a good start to the day and get on our way on time.

Miss Jane

I find it interesting how characteristics of my children are finding their way into the dolls I am finishing up for them.
Today I finished up Miss Jane for my third daughter Hannah. Hannah came bouncing into the kitchen with the unfinished doll this morning and informed me that her doll is named Jane after Jane Eyre. Hannah has never watched the movies (nor will she till she reads the book herself). She knows it is my favorite book of all time thought and knows that anything I love that much has to simply be wonderful.

Miss Jane is perfect from her wispy yellow hair to her dainty little linen bloomers.

She also came with a lovely white petticoat trimmed with lace.

Her bright blue eyes match those of her mistress and sparkle with humor and affection.

I have to show you a Jane Eyre treasure we found while emptying my mother's house for her.

Marvelous isn't it!

1907 edition

This book was given to my Grandmother on her 18th birthday in 1913 by her favorite "Cousin Aunt".

Effie Cooper Russell was the first cousin of my Great Grandmother, Zina B Cannon. Effie's mother died when she was a baby and her mother asked that little Effie be raised by her sister Mary Turpin Bennion. Zina B was older than Effie and was raised like her little sister. The family always lovingly called her "Aunt Effie". She never had any children.

I can only imagine what delight my grandmother, Zina Lenore Cannon Wood, took in reading this wonderful book for the first time. The volume is falling apart and is held together by some very old tape.

I can't wait till Miss Hannah and her sisters are old enough read Jane Eyre themselves.

Adeliza

A young lady came into our lives this afternoon

with a hand full of luck,

a heart full of hope,

flaming red hair, and a tiny smile.

Miss Adeliza totally and completely won our hearts.

She came with real linen pantaloons,

and with her apron

ready to lend a helping hand and get the work done.

It didn't take long before our tall dark and handsome friend noticed her.

Who can resist a handlebar mustache.

He dismounted long enough to make her acquaintance and then rode off into the sunset with his trusty steed.

Will he come visit again?

Her little heart flutters.

(Yes I have finished one more UFO!)

Ol' JEB

I finished another UFO in my sewing room. I made dolls for my kids about a year and a half ago and didn't get around to making them cloths. Well today I finished one.

I figured I would start with the youngest and work my way up.

I asked Bubby if he wanted a doll?

YES

What kind?

A Boy

Did he want a pirate, cowboy or something else?

COWBOY!

What do cowboys wear?

Yellow shirts, blue pants and hats

He kept running in and out checking on the progress. He really enjoyed the details.

You gotta have a pocket of a hanky.

He couldn't wait for me to finish but insisted on a horse for Ol' JEB to ride. Then he had to show me how it all works.

WooHoo another guilt project finished and one happy boy to boot!

Hot Fudge Sauce Recipe

Oh in Honor or National Ice Cream Month in July, I am adding my hot fudge sauce to the plethora or recipes out there in blogdom.



Last night for our big family gathering I bought buckets of vanilla ice cream and wanted to try the Magic Shell recipe at Skip To My Lou. It looks so lovely and chocolaty BUT last night I needed the Hot Fudge Sauce to do what Hot Fudge sauce can do and I wasn't sure it Magic shell would cut it so I fell back on my old favorite. hee hee So here it is so you can celebrate National Ice Cream Month for your self.

Aunt Lucy's Hot Fudge Sauce

1/4 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 (5 oz can) of evaporated milk (can use whole milk if you have to)
3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Boil the butter, sugar and milk together for about 6 to 8 minutes. Watch it so it doesn't boil over. That is the worst mess ever and a very sad waste.
Remove from heat and add the chocolate chips and stir till smooth.
Enjoy!

If there are any leftovers, store in an air tight container in the fridge.

*** Variation ***

I like to add about 1/4 cup peanut butter to the sauce right before I add the chocolate chips. That is most tasty on vanilla ice cream, let me tell you!!!

Some of my friends and family have asked for this recipe and so I am posting it here. Well you can't post without a picture so I had to dish some up this afternoon so there would be a picture and you don't put your best stoneware bowls your big brother makes for you in the freezer. SO..... I had to take one for the team and eat it. I wanted you to know how much I DO sacrifice for you, my loyal peeps.

Great Grandma's Raisin Loaf

This is the only recipe I have the belonged to my Father's Mother. My Bennion cousins talk about her great cooking but my older siblings didn't. They grew up with my grandma Wood and she was a most excellent cook. So the recipes I have are hers.

I found this little treasure when I was digging through a recipe file my mom was getting rid of. It is written in my mother's hand writing and she said she must have copied it when she first was married.

Raisin Loaf

Boil for 15 minutes:

1 1/4 pkg of raisins (I think a package was a pound)

2 cups sugar

3 1/2 Cup water

Add 1 Cup Shortening (I used butter or lard) while mixture is still hot.

When cool add:

3 eggs well beaten.

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 heaping sieve flour (you gotta love measurements like that - it is 5+ cups) (you can use white or wheat flour)

Bake 1 1/2 hours in a moderate oven 325 deg in loaf tins.

ENJOY!

This loaf is very yummy (If you like cooked raisins). Even my husband, who hates quick breads like banana bread and zucchini bread, loved this bread.

Sour Cream Lemon Pie

One of Bryan's favorite pies is Lemon Pie. (I never noticed before that I treat pie names like proper names. Aren't they?) Well I can't eat much Lemon pie because it has so much sugar in it, it makes me sick. It tastes great but is overwhelming, and I am not a fan of meringue. When I was little my brother worked for Marie Calender's and would bring home leftover pies all the time. I discovered that meringue was NOT whipped cream and that it was made from eggs and that grossed me out. I haven't liked it since.
This pie recipe is one that I picked up while living with my brother Joe and his wife Lee. It is a favorite of mine now. It is sweet and sour, lemony and creamy. It is just heaven on a plate I'm telling you!

Sour Cream Lemon Pie

1 Cup sugar

3 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch

1 Tbsp grated lemon rind

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

3 egg yolks, slightly beaten

1 cup milk

1/4 cup butter

1 Cup Sour Cream

1 9" baked pie shell (you can use regular pie crust or I bet it would be great with a graham cracker crust)

1 Cup Whipping cream

Combine, sugar, cornstarch, lemon rind, lemon juice, egg yolks, and milk in a heavy saucepan or double boiler. Cook over medium heat until thick. Stir in butter and cool mixture to room temp. Stir in the sour cream and pour into prepared pie shell. Cover with whipped cream and garnish with lemon twists. Store in the refrigerator.

ENJOY!

Sorry there isn't a better picture. I snapped that quick before dinner the other day and there wasn't a scrap left to take pictures of when dinner was done.

Sewing Room Makeover

I know it has been a few months since I promised to post monthly updates to my sewing room. Well..... I had some crazy busy sewing projects going on in there with birthdays, pattern design, ren fest sewing and quilt guild.

This past week my husband "decided" to help me with the sewing room.
You have already seen the before picture......

We have been redoing our side of the house (my mom lives on the other side in a gorgeous new home.) However, our budget died in January when my husband lost his job and we went for months trying to squeeze by on our savings until he got a job again. We we are almost in job land, (the postal service isn't the fastest at finalizing jobs). But our house still needs the changes and so we have had to rethink what we wanted to do. IE... the floors we have gone from considering hardwood to tile, to carpet to just painting the concrete and living the simple life. :o)
I grew up with the simple life and I am happy to have that in my blood and we are going back to it with our children. Life isn't all about getting gain and living in a magazine styled home. If you think about it your best memories aren't about money or possessions or furnishings, they are about family, love, and time spent enjoying simple things.
So I looked at my sewing room and thought about what I could do for less than $100 to improve the place. The flooring had to go. I had shag carpet put in there and the room used to be my children's bedroom. Well with 12 years of kids crawling, puking, dribbling food and who knows what else on it it was a little skanked out! Also the surface of the carpet had become like Velcro with all the years of washing and vacuuming. That does not make the best flooring for a sewing room. All the treads and scraps stuck to the carpet, NASTY! It was a vacuuming nightmare.

See what I mean?!? SKANKED!
So we decided to rip out the carpet and paint the concrete underneath. I had a painted floor in my room growing up and actually loved my simple country room.
So here is what we did.


Monday we emptied the room.




This is when we made a lovely discovery. Due to a very weathered backdoor we had water damage in the interior wall and now have Black mold damage in that room. We had to get that all cleaned up and sealed. Lucky for us it was a very tiny bit of damage.



Tuesday - Saturday I spent painting. The colors I picked were aqua, warm white and red. So with about $65 worth of paint, the room got a sweet makeover.


I am loving the closet. I want to put some of my selves in there (I know "Happy thought, selves in the closet". If you don't get that reference then you need to watch more Jane Austen.)

I was worried about the floor color. It is very bold but I love it. Red is my favorite color after all.


Interesting discovery, due to the placement of the closet, this room has marvelous acoustics and is really fun to sing in. My husband even noticed it. I used to sing all the time and haven't for a long time. He caught me singing in there as I painted and commented that it reminded him of when he met me 17 years ago. I worked in the deli/bakery of the grocery store he worked at and at night when I was cleaning the place up I used to sing all the time to make the work go faster for myself. He kinda liked hearing my voice across the store. He wanted to know who the new girl was that had the laugh that would float across the store to the meat shop where he worked. (We just celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary this week so those memories are kinda on the surface right now.) I wasn't like the other girls he had met. I guess he liked that. hee hee

All I have left to do now is put in the baseboard trim which I need to learn how to cut and my Friend Jill's husband is helping me trim out the window with a wide sill. I can't wait. It will be lovely and white.
It is amazing how exciting a new coat of paint make the simplest things.
Tomorrow I get to start the arduous task of sorting through the stuff that was in there and putting back what I want to keep.
I am teaching my oldest children how to weave some rugs and will let them use up the fabric I don't want to see come back into the room.

Oh I do need to put curtains up. Any Ideas?? I want something very vintage. It needs to keep the light out of my eyes. That room gets a lot of morning sun and I can only sew early in the morning before the kids get up or late at night after they go to bed.
I want the light to fill the room but not hit me right in the eyes.
And the rule is CHEAP FIX. I want something that isn't going to be really expensive. I don't ask for much do I? :o)