I grew up in the Midwest, went to school on the East Coast, and then moved out to the West Coast. I have loved every place that I have lived, and have loved the people that I lived there with even more. It has been incredibly hard for me to move from people that I love so deeply, even though I know that I’ve always made the right decisions to move.

Luckily we live in a digital world, and I haven’t had to completely lose my close friends. I know there is a lot of talk about how the internet divides us and takes away from real relationships, but I have not found this to be true. The internet has allowed me to maintain extremely close friendships with my very dearest friends even though I can only see them in person once/year.

Even with my full support of the internet and social networking, I will admit that I laughed out loud when my best friend’s parents invited their daughter and son-in law and my husband and I to a virtual dinner a few weeks ago. I accepted, not really sure what I was getting into. My best friend proceeded to email us a menu, complete with recipes and a wine selection so that we could all eat the same meal.

So last Sunday we signed onto iChat at 5 pm Pacific time. Sara and Chris signed on at 7 pm Central time. Sara’s parents, Christie and Mark, signed on at 8 pm Eastern time. We all pulled our Chicken or Eggplant Parmesan out of the oven, served it over organic pasta, and toasted with Cabernet Sauvignon. It was awesome. The three-way video chat worked even better than I could have hoped for. We got to try new recipes and discuss them. We got to joke and talk just like if we were all eating in the same room.

Because of the success of the first virtual dinner, Sara and I planned a girls dinner with another close friend for this evening before the Oscars. The menu: Soup, Salad, optional Sandwich, and Cake. See below the cut at the end of the post for the recipes.

I foresee many virtual dinners in my future. Thank you to the amazing people who made the internet possible!

To plan your own virtual dinner:

• Email out invitations well in advance with a full menu so that all participants have time to get the ingredients.
• Choose interesting and new recipes that you can try out together.
• Do a trial run on iChat in advance to be sure everyone knows how to use their camera and join the chat.
• Don’t try more than 3 locations. We added a 4th one for a few minutes, and everyone’s video turned into Monet paintings.
• Have headphones handy in case there is too much feedback/echo happening.

Have any of you had virtual dinners before? What have you found to work well? What doesn’t work at all?

Read the rest of this entry »

Whew! Christmas is over and it’s halfway through January! How did that happen? We finally got our Christmas tree out of the house today and are now starting to enjoy some of the great gifts that we received. My brother-in-law gave me the amazing King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion cookbook for Christmas. I would highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn more about baking bread. It’s such a well-written cookbook and I want to make every recipe in it! I’ve made a few so far, and the recipes are super easy to follow and so delicious.

With all of the bread I’ve been baking, I’ve been struggling to find a container to store and carry the bread in. I wanted to bring it places to share with people and none of my tupperware containers were the size of a bread loaf. So I decided to fashion a convertible, washable, colorful, portable, fabric bread box! And lucky for you, I took pictures throughout the process so that you can make one, too!

I made it to fit a small cutting board in the bottom so that I can just untie the straps, open it up, and cut right there. Then when I’m done, all I need to do is retie the straps. All of the crumbs are contained within! And if the fabric needs washing, I can just remove the cardboard inserts and throw the whole thing in the washing machine.

Here goes nothing! Please let me know if anything is unclear. I can try my best to clear it up for you!

Step 1: Cut out your fabric.

Outside fabric (1/2 yard total):
(2) 22” x 6” (tops)
(1) 18.5” x 22” (main piece)

Lining fabric (3/4 yard total):
(1) 12″ x 8.5″ (center piece)
(4) 6″ x 6″ (corners)
(2) 12″ x 6″ (long sides)
(2) 8.5″ x 6″ (short sides)
(2) 22″ x 6″ (tops)
(1) 4.5′ x 3” (long strap)
(4) 12″ x 2” (short straps)

Step 2: With right sides together, line up long edges of the main piece and top pieces of your outside fabric. Measure 5.5″ in from each corner and pin. Sew between pins. Set aside.

Step 3: Hem one edge of the lining center piece and each side piece (Iron down 1/4″ and then another 1/4″ and sew). These hemmed edges will be the entrance slots to slide cardboard inserts in and out.

Step 4: Baste one edge of each corner square down. (Iron down 1/2″ and baste.)

Step 5: Attach a corner square to the unfinished end of each side piece as seen here, lining up raw outside edges. The basted edge of each square will line up with the hemmed edge of another side piece.

Step 6: Attach long sides to center piece, lining up with the hemmed edge of center piece.

Step 7: Attach one short side to center (along the non-hemmed edge of center piece). The other short side will stay separate until you attach the lining to the outside fabric (next). Speaking of that separate short side: go ahead and baste down 1/2″ on the edge that will lay next to the hemmed center piece.

Step 8: Attach top pieces to long sides. (Only to the long sides, don’t sew the top pieces to corner squares. I didn’t take a picture of that step by itself, but you can see it attached in this photo.) Lay lining on top of outside fabric with right sides together. Pin. Sew around the whole thing, as shown here. It’s a little tricky to sew around the top flaps, so take it slow. Trim corners and flip right side out.

Step 9: Top stitch 1/4″ around the outside edge. Top stitch along all seams, tacking down all those places that you previously basted 1/2″ under. Be careful to leave the hemmed edge of each of those cardboard insert slots free.

Step 10: Iron strap pieces in half. Sew, trim excess fabric. Flip right-side out and iron again.

Step 11: Turn under strap edges and sew.

Step 12: Line up the center of the long strap with the center of the outside fabric. Attach at top-stitch lines (see circled areas above). Attach side straps to corners as seen above.

Step 13: Cut cardboard to fit in slots. Slip in. The cardboard is removable so that you can wash the fabric in a washing machine at any time.

Step 14: Fold up, tie short straps along long side to form a box. Tuck in top flaps and tie long strap across the top. Carry bread wherever you please!

Let me know if you make one! Happy bread making and sharing!

With the weather getting colder outside, is there anything better than a warm pie fresh from the oven? When I was growing up, my dad would always buy frozen pies when they were on sale so that we would have an endless supply of pie during the winter months. Now I strive to always make my pies homemade, and it’s not that hard to do with this super simple and extremely delicious pie crust recipe.

Best Pie Crust

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2/3 cup chilled unsalted butter
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 8 tbsp. cold water

Directions

1. Sift together flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.
2. Cut the butter into small chunks and mix it into the flour mixture with a pastry knife or your fingertips until it resembles a coarse meal.
3. Combine the vanilla and water in a cup.
4. Gradually stir it into the flour mixture with a fork until it is moistened and forms a dough. (You may not need all the water)
5. Refrigerate in plastic wrap until ready to use.
6. Roll out on a lightly floured surface while dough is cold. The warmer it gets, the harder it will be to work with. Makes both top and bottom crust.

Eeks, I just set up my very first item for sale on esty! If you didn’t win a calendar in my contest last month, you can buy one in my brand spanking new etsy shop.

My father-in-law also recently set up an etsy shop. He is making these awesome Euchre counters! (I know, who knew there was a fancy way to keep score in Euchre besides using a 4 and a 6?!) These would be a great gift for any of those Midwestern Euchre fans out there. You can find them in his etsy shop.

My good friend from high school recently had her second baby, so I was finally able to put Pretty Partridge’s World’s Easiest Applique Tutorial to use. I decorated a onesie for the new baby and a shirt for her big (little) sister. Pretty Partridge’s tutorial is super easy to follow and I love the results! I would recommend this tutorial for anyone looking for a simple, thoughtful, and adorable gift for a baby/kid this Christmas.

Congrats Sandy and Matt! I can’t wait to meet your new little one!

Remember that great organic cotton fabric I won back in May? It moved across the country with me and has been sitting on top of my fabric pile, guilting me daily for not putting it to good use. Well, I finally found a perfect use for it! I used Sparkle Power!’s great Super Easy Removable Pillow Cover Tutorial to add some decoration to our couch. It really was the simplest project – no zippers or hand-sewing seams closed. Just a few straight lines and then shoving a pillow inside. Thanks Sparkle Power!

My husband tried to throw out a pile of old sweaters that have been collecting dust in the closet. Luckily I caught him before the sweaters left the house, and they got added to my pile of fabric scraps.

My first project with them was to make these cute little pocket warmers. They can be heated up in the microwave and slipped into your (or a loved ones) coat pockets in the morning before heading out to brave the cold weather. Even though Oregon isn’t quite as cold as Wisconsin was, it’s still nice to have a little warmth for my cold fingers while waiting for the bus!

Step 1: Cut off a section of the sleeve. Repeat with the other sleeve so that you have 2 pieces that are the same size. I cut mine ~5″ long, but you can make yours bigger or smaller, depending on the size of the pockets that they will go into!

Step 2: Turn the fabric inside-out, and sew up the openings, leaving an ~1″ opening on one end.

Step 3: Turn the fabric right side-out through the opening that you left. Fill with dry beans, lentils, rice, pie weights, or whatever you have on hand that will withstand microwaving.

Step 4: Hand sew opening closed.

Step 5: Now you have two soft and cute bean bags! Microwave for 2-3 minutes.

Step 6: Slip into your coat pocket and enjoy the warmth!

Commenter #16, Amanda, said:

My favorite holiday is Christmas because I get to decorate the house any way I like and my husband just keeps mum about any decision I make.

Congratulations Amanda! I’ll be emailing you for your address so that I can mail off your calendar to you straight away. And everyone else should check out Amanda’s super cute blog, sasikirana handmade.

Thanks to everyone for participating!! I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving and didn’t get trampled today at Black Friday sales.

It’s a month of firsts for me! My first wedding anniversary, first blogiversary, first craft sale, and first CONTEST!

I made these letterpress calendars to sell at the craft sale this weekend. For the holidays New Years, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, there is a cute little holiday picture instead of the date. They fit into an empty CD case for display. I think they would be perfect for the office!

To win a calendar, simply leave a comment by Thanksgiving Day telling me your favorite holiday and why. I will pick one comment at random to determine who the winner is! Be sure to leave some way for me to get in contact with you. I am happy to ship internationally.

Here’s to another year! Thanks for reading!

Dave and I headed to Bend, Oregon this weekend to celebrate our first wedding anniversary. We had to drive through the Cascades to get there from Eugene. It was a beautiful drive, until we suddenly hit a blizzard. Eeeks! We are used to winter driving from Wisconsin, but Wisconsin doesn’t have very many curvy roads on the sides of mountains. Even though the snow was kind of scary, it was gorgeous in that first snow of the season kind of way. Or maybe I just say that because we made it safely through and enjoyed a relaxing mini-vacation in Bend before returning home on snow-free roads.

I broke out my gocco tonight to print up some snowflake Christmas cards. In Eugene, I just have to enjoy the gray rain outside and make my own bright winter snow!

Thanks everyone for your encouragement about my first craft booth. I have a lot of work to do in the next two weeks!! My goal is simply to have enough items to fill up a table. Maybe some day I’ll make the goal to sell something.