New Jellies at Our House

We've been expanding our jelly inventory this winter.  Pictured above is our brand new PINK LEMONADE JELLY.  It's a pretty pink with a delicious flavor.

Here is  our COTTON CANDY JELLY.  It tastes just like cotton candy and is a gorgeous teal blue color.

 

We've also added PEAR JELLY to our product list.  It's a light amber color with the taste of fresh juicy pears.

Bakery Style XL Chocolate Chip Muffins

We were contemplating changing up the products we offer from our kitchen to our customers earlier this week and I did a bit of recipe research online before settling on the addition of chocolate chip muffins to our bakery line.

Then the girls and I did some experimenting and this is the result:  Bakery Style XL Chocolate Chip Muffins.  We dressed up a basic recipe with some spices, secret ingredients, and the addition of chocolate chips.  We bought some 6 cup muffin tins and some sparkling sugar to add bling.  And we figured out how to get maxium height.

Of course, we had to do some taste tests.  :)

They look fantastic and taste heavenly!  We are very satisfied with our new product.

Cowboy Baby Shower

I recently helped host a baby shower for a mother in our church.  She chose a cowboy theme for her son, so we used the same theme for the shower.

I found a cowboy boot printable page online and printed the design on cardstock.  Then I cut out the boots, lettered each to spell out the baby's name, and hot glued them to a length of brown ribbon for a name banner.

We borrowed a cowboy hat from my boys, as shown above.

I made 5 table toppers using a red bandana fabric.  We used one on the food table.  I've given instructions on making these table toppers in another post.

The shower was held on a Sunday afternoon after a fellowship meal so we served frozen pies (wonderful on a hot day), a favorite of the mother, along with milk.  Cookies were provided for the younger children while the menfolk got slices of pound cake in another room.

Another topper was used on a side table which displayed a card explaining the meaning of the baby's  name along with a shadow box of arrowheads collected over the years by the baby's father.

We used additional table toppers on the gift table.  We also displayed a couple of pairs of  little boys' cowboy boots on a side table but I neglected to get a picture of that.

Simple Baby gift to Make

This is a burp cloth.  It goes across your shoulder to protect your clothes from baby spit-up.  They are super simple to make and several of them coupled with baby teethers, bath wash, etc make an excellent gift for baby showers.

The shape is essentially a rounded curve followed by a smaller curve.  After tracing the shape you desire onto paper, you cut out two of the pattern in your fabric and one of the pattern in batting, like is used in the middle of quilts.  You could also use flannel in the center if you'd prefer.

Layer these together with batting on the bottom, one fabric layer facing upward and the second fabric layer turned wrong side up.  Sew around all layers, being sure to leave enough space open at one end to turn the burp cloth.  Trim seam, clip curves.  Then turn, smoothing out the curves evenly.  Iron well, then sew the unfinished edge down.  If you like, you can do a top stitch all the way around.

I made this one for a mom who was using a cowboy/western theme for her new son.

Busy, Busy, Busy

I've not blogged in several weeks now because we've been super busy here! 

One week we spent putting creamed corn, cut corn kernels, and corn on the cob in the freezer.  Now we have a full freezer.  Putting up corn is HARD work, but oh, so worth it! during the winter months.

The past two weeks my daughters and I have been working on piecing together two quilt tops--one for each of them.  These are going to work up quite nicely when we are finished.

Here is a sample of Leah's quilt squares.  These are made using 5 inch squares of red fabric with a center square of white, embroidered in red.  The girls made these embroidered squares as they learned to embroider.  This technique is called *red work* and was quite common many years ago.

This is a sample from Lerah's quilt squares.  When all the squares are made, we will sash them with white fabric.  I will show each quilt top when it is finished.

This is a 9 patch block quilt square, named because it consists of 9 squares sewn together.

I have also been busy making gifts for baby showers and wedding showers--a total of about 10 in all, plus we have also had a birthday in the extended family.  I will try to show an easy baby shower gift you can make at home soon.

My Family

My children

My husband and I

My husband and oldest son

My oldest son and I

Homeschool Graduation

My oldest son officially graduated from homeschool this weekend.  We held a graduation ceremony and party at our home on Saturday evening.  I tried to make it special with decorations around the house.

We asked our guests to each write a piece of advice on an index card when they arrived.  When my husband gave a speech about our years of homeschooling our son and our desires for his future, he also read those cards.  The advice ranged from the importance of loving and following God to *Always wear clean underwear.*

My son also gave a short little talk about the two things I as his mama and teacher have given him through homeschool:  an education and love for reading and exposure to--in his opinion--*worthless* algebra.  :)

Afterwards, we shared a hamburger cookout and cake and visited with our guests.

And here is the graduate with his diploma.