Farmhouse Doll beds and a mattress pattern

They're done! Aren't they so cute? I'm very happy with how they turned out. Ana White's doll bed instructions are really well done. Easy to follow and they build up quickly. Well once you've got the sanding done anyway. I didn't get full feeling back in my right arm for about three hours after sanding all this wood with a hand sander. It probably didn't help that I was using B grade lumber. It's cheap, just like me. And apparently, just like me, it's got some heavy duty rough spots.

I decided my girls needed mattresses for the beds so I sketched up a pattern for those.

Just a quick aside: if you want to make something and you aren't quite sure where to start, start with a sketch. Draw up what you want to make and put dimensions on it. It helps you picture the parts you need and know how big everything needs to be. It's also great for knowing how to put it together. I always start with a sketch.

Ok, so here's my sketch for the mattress:
I decided that I wanted to sew this out of one piece of fabric. I used the dimensions on the sketch to figure out how big of rectangle I needed to cut out of my fabric. However, my first mattress was a bit skimpy. Don't cut your fabric that size.

cut your fabric 33"x22". not the numbers in the sketch there. The larger piece will make a nicer fitting mattress for the bed.
Big rectangle. I use quilt cutting tools for projects like this. I get perfectly straight lines and square corners. So much easier. I almost never quilt but I use my cutting mat and rotary cutter all the time.

Next step is to fold the fabric in half so it creates a rectangle 16.5"x22". Sew a 1/2" seam all the way around, leaving a 4" gap on one side. I left the pins in the following photo so you could see the gap.
Trim your corners.
Now for the trick. The mattress stands about 1" tall. Match the seams together at the corners so the seam is directly in the center. Like this:
Then measure with a measuring tape 1/2" from the seam to the edge of the fabric on each side. This should create a straight line. (It's hard to explain, but the picture shows pretty clearly how to do that step.) Then draw a line along the measuring tape. This is a seam line.
Sew across that line. Now do this on all four corners.
Press the seams open and turn the mattress right side out. If you want the tufting to be perfectly even, measure and mark out six spots on the mattress to tuft. They should be evenly spaced across the mattress. Stuff it and sew the gap closed. I like to sew it closed by hand, but you can top stitch if you don't mind visible stitching on that section.

Next you get to tuft the mattress. I did a simple stitched tufting, but you can use a fabric covered button if you wish. On each mark, go down with a needle and thread all the way through the mattress. Pull through just enough thread to make a single 1/4" stitch (slip a button on if you wish) and send the needle back through the mattress. You should come up about 1/4" from where you went down. This will take a bit of maneuvering. Don't push the needle through until you've got that right.

Now, slip the needle between the threads right near the knot like this:
Pull it tight. The thread is now looped and will hold. The look of the mattress depends on how tightly you pull the tufting. You can leave it a little loose or pull the top and bottom fabric right up against each other. Tie off the thread and cut it close. Do this on the other five marks.



finished tufts. And you're done! How easy was that?

Canning Turkey

One of my favorite things about November is the super cheap turkey. I never actually have to roast a turkey for Thanksgiving, but I buy several turkeys anyway just so I can do this:

Canned turkey and broth! It's like having my own soup starter in the pantry waiting for some noodles and carrots. It's also super cheap to do it myself. The turkey costs me 39 cents/lb this year. I got a 12lb turkey and ended up with 12 cups of meat from that. I can it in 3 cup jars so each jar costs me $1.17. It's the perfect amount for one meal for my family. The broth is basically free because I have to boil the carcass anyway to get all of the turkey off the bones. You will probably want to use pints for your turkey meat unless you have a large family, then quarts might be more useful for you. If you are lucky enough to have pint and a half jars like I do, then those are perfect. (Pint and a halfs are rare because they are no longer made. You might be able to find some around, but don't stress about it. The other sizes are fine.)

Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that turkey is of course a low acid food and that means it absolutely no questions asked must be canned in a pressure canner to be safe. You can not safely use a water bath or steam canner to do any kind of meat. I use one like this: Presto 23 quart pressure canner. Please follow the instructions on your particular canner. I will not be giving specific numbers because it's important that you follow the time/pressure rating/water amounts for your elevation and equipment. All of that can be found in the instruction manual for your canning equipment or at the Ball Home Canning website. You can also use the Ball Blue Book as a reference.

OK, done with the warnings. Just so you know, as long as you follow directions, canning is perfectly safe and a great way to preserve foods. Don't be scared by your equipment or the process. Just read your instructions thoroughly and don't rush through the process. You'll be fine.

Do go to the Ball website and read through the process of canning low acid foods before you start your turkey canning. Be familiar with the steps because there are some basic canning steps I will skip in these instructions. I will only be giving instructions that are specific to canning turkey.

To start you need to have a thawed turkey. Plan ahead just like you do for Thanksgiving because even a small turkey takes several days to thaw. I like to put my turkey in a pie plate while it's thawing so it doesn't make a mess in my fridge. Once your turkey is thawed, open the package in a clean sink and remove the neck and little sack of nasty turkey parts. Save those for later. Next, place your turkey on a kitchen towel on a large cutting board. My cutting board is 2' square, yours doesn't have to be quite that big; I'm just bragging. It's a pretty awesome cutting board.

With a sharp boning knife, remove the skin from the turkey. I like to start at the back. Pull the skin away from the bird, cutting the connective tissue as you go. It's a pull-cut, pull-cut motion. This is easier on some parts of the bird than others. I completely skip skinning the wings.

(I want you to know that I did take pictures of this whole process. I had pictures of raw and skinned bird on my camera. I didn't think anyone really needed to see pictures of this. You're welcome.)

Now get your big chef's knife out. It's time to cut the breast off the turkey. Cut right down next to the breast bone cutting down along the skeleton of the bird. You'll cut down and then curve under the breast. This will mostly separate it. Then pull up and cut off the rest. Wrap the breast pieces in plastic wrap and set them aside in your fridge.

It's time to cook the rest of the turkey. It's very hard to get all the dark meat off the bone while it's raw, so you get to boil it off. You'll need a large stock pot. Drop the bird and the neck and other turkey parts in the pot along with some carrots, an onion, celery, and whatever herbs you like including salt. Follow the recipe for broth in your favorite cookbook if you aren't familiar with making it. You may have to increase quantities because you're making such a large pot of broth. (Most poultry broth recipes are sized for chickens.) Add enough water to the pot to cover the bird. Well as much as you can. My stock pot is just slightly small so the ends of the legs stick up out of the water just a tad. It's not a big deal. Get the water boiling and then turn it down to a simmer. Let this cook until the meat is falling off the bone. Remove the carcass from the broth and let it cool for 10-15 minutes.

Now get your turkey breast out of the fridge and cut it into roughly 1" cubes. They don't need to be exactly the same size, but they should be close. Stuff these into the jars. When the jars are full with one inch left at the top of the jar, pour in some broth from your stock pot. You'll need to run the wooden handle of a spoon around the inside of the jar. Just gently shift the meat back and forth in different places to work the broth down into the jar. The top of the jar will have about an inch where the lids screw on. At the bottom of this is a small ring of glass. This ridge is used to lift your jars with jar lifters. Fill the jars only to this ring, both meat and broth. You may need to add a bit more broth at this point to fill them to the right level. You can also add in a little more salt to your breast meat, maybe 1/2t-1t depending on how much salt you use in your cooking and how much salt you put in the broth.

When the turkey is cool, pull the meat off the bones and stuff it in your sterilized jars. You can cut the bigger pieces at this point but you don't have to. Most of it will come off the bones in bite sized pieces. Fill your jars in the same way you filled the breast meat jars.

Most canners will fit 7 quarts and some will fit two layers of pints. Fill (within 1" of the top edge of the jar) as many sterilized jars with broth as you need to make a complete batch to process. I was able to do three more quarts and two pints. Use whatever sizes of jar you have. What's best depends on what you want to use it for. If you want to make soup with it, then quarts are nice. If you use it in other recipes in smaller amounts, you might want to do pints. (Whatever you have left in the stock pot at this point you can either turn into tonight's soup or you can put it in freezer bags in 1-2 cup amounts. To fill freezer bags, set open bags in a 2 cup measuring cup and then pour in the broth. The measuring cup holds the bag upright.)

Top your jars with sterilized lids and rings. Process the jars according to the directions in your canner manual. Do not leave the canner unattended. Keep a good eye on it. You should start the canner on high and then turn it down to medium high after it's vented. Turn it down again when it reaches the proper pressure. You may have to turn down the stove gradually to maintain pressure. Don't just turn it down to low right off. Keep an eye on the pressure. It's ok if it goes a little over your target PSI, but it is not ok if it goes below. You will have to start the processing time all over again if it does drop below that PSI (you won't have to start all over with the proccessing. Just turn up your stove, leave everything else the same, and restart your timer.)

When the jars have processed for the specified length of time, take the canner off the stove. It will be heavy, so have your hot pads/trivets/whatever ready right next to the stove. You can just pick it up and shift it over a couple of feet rather than trying to carry across the room. Leave the canner alone until the pressure gauge reads 0. Do not attempt to open or remove the pepcock until this point. Removing the pepcock will cause a pressure difference between the inside of the jars and the inside of the pot, sucking half the broth out of your jars. It's not good. It can take over an hour for the canner to get down to 0 PSI, so be patient and don't try to rush it.

When the canner is cooled down to 0 PSI, you can open it. I like to use a jar lifter to take my jars out. If you don't have one, you can use a standard pair of tongs, but they will be slippery. Be sure to support the jar on the bottom with a hot pad so you don't drop it. Set the jars on a kitchen towel to cool. When they are cool, test the lids to be sure they sealed tightly. The lid should be concave and not pop back when you press on it. If any jars did not seal, put them in your fridge and use within three days or freeze the contents in a freezer safe container.

When the jars are cool, they are ready to store. You may remove the rings before you store them or leave them on. Your choice. Enjoy your turkey and broth! I love having mine ready to use at any time.

Monsters Again

I'm still working on my my monsters projects. I've finished seven. Two got given away as gifts before I could get pictures of them sadly. These two are going to cousins on Christmas Eve.

The fin on the orange guy was sewn the same way I sewed the fins on the turquoise dude. After I stuffed the monster, making sure to lightly stuff the fin thing, I sewed the dividing line between the fin and the body. Then I sewed down toward the body several times to create the fin definition lines.

I think the green slug guy is my favorite monster yet. I'm pretty happy with the monsters my kids have drawn for me. They are pretty easy to work from.

Quick Tip: Paint Samples

If you're making a small wood item, it's hard to want to buy a quart of paint when you have no plans to use the rest of it. I've recently discovered that the Martha Stewart Living paint at Home Depot has a paint sample that's nearly a full cup of paint. The paint department will mix any MSL paint color you want in the sample. It costs $3 and is enough paint to cover a smallish shelf or two of those cute Ana White doll beds.

I've got several big posts coming. I'm in the middle of about four projects right now and I want to finish them before I post. Coming up: storage for video games, what to do with an extra frozen turkey (besides roast it), chocolate caramel shortbread cookies, English Toffee, and the finished doll beds! (The doll beds are darling!)

By the way, the whole being in the middle of multiple projects at once is what earned me my nickname as a kid. Project Princess indeed.

Candy As Gifts

You've probably noticed that I make quite a bit of candy this time of year. I like to give hand made gifts because they aren't something that anyone can just buy somewhere. Also, my hand made gifts tend to save me money during a time of year when money needs to stretch as far as it can go.

When giving candy it's important to make sure that the candy is properly packaged. It's easy to find cute containers to put them in, but the candy should always be wrapped in something else before it's put in the cute container. If properly packaged, candy can last for weeks, unlike cookies and bread which must be eaten right away and prepared right before they are gifted.

All candies do best when put in air tight containers. Soft candies should always be stored separately from hard candies. Otherwise the moisture from the soft candies will migrate into the hard candies. Your soft candies will dry out and your hard candies will soften. Neither is palatable.

Caramels need to be individually hand wrapped in candy foils or waxed paper. Those can be put in your packaging as is or you can put them in a zippered top plastic bag before packaging. Fudge should be gifted as a block and not cut into individual pieces. Air dries fudge quickly, so wrap it either in several layers of plastic wrap or in a zippered baggie with all the air squeezed out. You want the plastic touching the fudge all the way around. I prefer baggies because it makes it easier for the recipient to keep the fudge air free while they get into the packaging.

Hard candies can be placed in plastic baggies as well, of course. Disposable/reusable plastic food storage containers make great containers for hard candies, too. The lids are tight fitting and easy to get into and seal up again. It also allows the candy some breathing space in their packaging. If you are going to put the hard candies in a paper or other non-air tight container for gift giving, like a take out box, do put it in a baggie first.

Remember that candy is very rich and dense. While you would give a large plate of cookies as a gift, hand made candy can be given in much smaller amounts. A pound of fudge may not look like much, it's a generous amount to give as a gift. The recipe I have for chocolate fudge and my other fudge recipes make about 2lbs of candy. That's enough for two gifts.

For labels, I love printable labels I download off the internet. Just Google printable gift tags. They are all over the place. You can also check out One Pretty Thing and Tip Junkie Printables for collections of tags to print. Just print, cut out, personalize, and attach to your cute container with a ribbon. Done and ready to gift.

Good luck with your gift giving. I'm working on some batches of fudge myself today. My husband asked for gifts for his coworkers and our local librarians need some fudge as well. I love giving candy and it's always well received.

Be the Hero Apple Pie

Isn't it pretty? It's also one of the very best apple pies you'll have in your life. I know. I'm bragging. It really is that good. The secret? nah. Not yet.
Well one of the secrets is the dough has half shortening, half butter. The butter alone adds more flavor than your average pie. If you've got a thing against shortening, use lard. It's easily available in most grocery stores these days. Well, it is in my area anyway.

Ok, so your going to measure out 10 tablespoons of shortening a tablespoon at a time. Then cut up 10 tablespoons of cold butter into small pieces. Put both of these on a plate in the freezer for about 15 minutes.
Yeah, the freezer. Meanwhile, measure 2 1/2 cups flour into the bowl of your food processor. You have one right? If you don't you're going to have to do your dough the hard way. I'm very sorry.

So anyway, 2 1/2 c flour then add 3/4 teaspoon of salt and 2 tablespoons of sugar to the flour and give them a quick pulse so they are mixed together nicely. When the shortening and the butter have cooled down, scatter them over the flour in the food processor.
Pulse the fat with the flour about 12 times (one second pulses.) The mix should be a creamy white and all pebbly. You may have small pieces of just butter. Don't worry about that. That's what it's supposed to look like.
See? Pebbly. If you don't have a food processor, you'll need to grate your butter with a cheese grater while it's frozen over the mixed dry ingredients. Then blend it together with a hand pastry blender. Keep going until it looks like this picture. You may want to start with a cold bowl because this is going to take awhile.
Now you get to mix in 8 to 10 tablespoons of ice water. Luckily for me, it's winter so my tap water is pretty darn close to ice water. You'll carefully sprinkle the water a tablespoon at a time over the flour/fat and gently mix it in with your hands. Don't squeeze. Just lightly mix and toss with your fingers. When you have the 8th tablespoon mixed it, it will be pretty thick. gently begin pressing the dough together to test it. If it's still dry and not holding together, mix in another tablespoon of water.
A lot of dough recipes will get a testy about the water. They'll tell you that adding too much water is evil and will ruin your dough. Well, sure, if you add in way too much water. However, a little too much water is a ton better than not enough. Dry dough is impossible to work with. The dough needs to be able to hold together and stay together while you're rolling it out.

So, all the water is in. Gently press the dough into a ball and flatten it slightly. Do not over work the dough. All of this should be handled gently and quickly. No kneading. Divide the dough into two pieces, wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and put it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Personally, I like to make my dough a day ahead of time, so pie making goes more quickly the next day.

Now we get to the secret ingredient to my pie. Are you ready? Here you go:
That pile of apples probably looks a bit different from most apple pie apples. Your grandmother probably told you to use only Granny Smiths and any other apple was bad for pie. Here's the thing: the best apple pie uses more than one kind of apple. It's just like any other apple food, juice, apple sauce, all of that. Commercially made juice tastes so good because they use several different varieties. Same goes for the apple sauce. The different flavors blend to create a wonderful complexity to the flavor profile. Granny Smith apple pie is good. But granny smith, fuji, and rome apple pie is wonderful. It really doesn't matter that much which varieties you choose, but try to mix your flavors, sweets, tarts, firm flesh, soft flesh. Mix it up and you'll be amazed.

Now get your oven preheated to 500 degrees. You read that right. Put a rimmed baking sheet on the lowest rack.

Ok, back to your dough. Here's another secret: a bath towel. I use one as a pastry mat. Keep it floured and your dough won't stick at all. It's really easy to roll out dough on one. Doesn't my pie dough look ready to go to the beach?
When you are rolling be sure to work with a light hand. You don't want to stretch the dough. I'm still working on this one. Stretched dough will shrink back when it's baked and pull away from the side of the pie pan. It's more noticeable when making baked shells.

Roll one ball of dough out into a large circle. fold it in half and carefully place it in the pie dish without stretching. Lift the edges of the dough and let it settle into the corner rather than just pressing it down.

When your dough is in the pan, get your apple filling ready. You should have 3 1/2-4 lbs of apples. That's about 3 of each variety. I like to use a peeler/corer/slicer thing to cut them up. It makes quick work of the apples. My kids love to help with that part. After I get the apple off the machine, I cut it in half so I have nice slices of apple. If you slice the apples by hand, make sure you slice them evenly so they bake evenly.
Then add 2 tablespoons of flour, 3/4 c sugar, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 teaspoon lemon zest (this is optional. leave it out if you don't like lemon in your apple pie), 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon.
Quickly mix everything together then dump it all into your pie shell. Roll out the second circle of dough so it will cover the pie. Cut the dough that hangs more than one inch over the side of the pie pan. Fold the dough back under itself on the edge of the plate and pinch it together.

(yeah, no pictures of that. I know, I know. I have pictures of a pile of apples, but not the pinching the edges. Sorry. I was working by myself and couldn't get that one.)

Make small slits all over the top of the pie so the steam can escape. I also like to cut a letter in the top, usually an A, just because that's what my mother does. This time I did an S for my nephew. He has food allergies and the apple pie was the one pie he could eat.
Now carefully brush 1 1/2 tablespoons of cream all over the top crust. It will make it brown nicely. If you don't have someone with egg allergies you're serving to, you can also brush it with egg whites and sprinkle it with 1 tablespoon of sugar.

Put your pie on the hot baking sheet in the preheated oven and turn the temperature down to 425. Bake for 25 minutes or until the top crust is just barely golden. Turn the oven temperature down again, this time to 375. Continue to bake another 30-35 minutes. The crust should be a deep golden brown with juices bubbling up through the vent slits. Like this:

Doesn't that make you hungry? (You may notice that my top crust shrunk a bit. Like I said, I'm still working on my rolling out technique. I think I should make more pies and practice.)

There you have it. The apple pie that will make you the hero of your next holiday dinner.

Be the Hero Apple Pie

for the crust:
10 T butter
10 T crisco
2 1/2 c flour
3/4 t salt
2 T sugar
8-10 tablespoons of water

Freeze the butter and Crisco for 15 minutes. Mix the dry ingredients in the bowl of a food processor. Add the cold butter and Crisco. Pulse 8-12 times until the dough is pebbly and light creamy yellow. Dump out into a large bowl. Drizzle the ice water onto the dough 1 T at a time, gently tossing and mixing with your hands. When the dough is holding together nicely and is no longer dry looking, press it into a ball. Divide the ball into two pieces. Press them into thick discs and wrap in plastic wrap. Refridgerate for at least 30 minutes. Roll out one disc large enough to fit into a 9 inch pie dish. Carefully transfer to the pie dish.

For the Apple pie:
3 1/2 to 4 lbs of Apples, about 3 apples of each of 3 different varieties
3/4 c sugar
2 T flour
1 T lemon juice
1 t lemon zest (optional)
1/4 t salt
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 t cinnamon

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Place baking sheet on bottom shelf. Core, peel and slice the apples into even slices. combine with the other ingredients. Pour into the prepared pie shell. Top with another circle of pie dough. Trim and crimp the edges of the pie. Cut steam vents. Place on hot baking sheet in the oven and immediately reduce oven temperature to 425. Bake until the crust is just barely golden, about 25 minutes. Reduce oven temperature again, this time to 375. Bake for another 30-35 minutes until the pie is deep golden brown and the juices are bubbling. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Christmas Stockings--A love/hate relationship

This is my Christmas stocking display:
I can put it on this blog because those stockings were hand made by me. They look lovely and I'm very, very happy with them. I finished the last of these five about two years ago and treated myself to the stocking hooks then so I could display them properly. They are always the first decorations to come out and the last to go down.

Well wouldn't you make the most of these? I did put over 300 hours into making them. Yeah. Not exaggerating that. Maybe underestimating. That's where the hate part comes in. I like quick projects. By the time I finished my youngest's stocking I was ready to never, ever pick up a cross stitch needle again. Then my husband told me he wanted one too. So I would have to have one as well. You know, so we matched.

I have spent two years on my husband's and it's still not done. I can only get motivated to pick it up and work on it in November and December. Mine I pawned off on my mother who loves cross stitch.

When I started these, I had no earthly idea how long it would take to make them. No idea. I had no clue that I would stop liking cross stitching after about two of them. I did start them when I was 20 though, so you have to give me a little bit of a break. Have you ever met a 20 year old who wasn't idealistic and naive?

Since my children alternated perfectly by sex, that means the stockings can be hung in a perfect pattern and age arranged. It makes my type A heart pitter patter.
BTW, I made the shelf too. If you want the instructions on that, let me know and I'll put a post together.