Me, my four amazing sisters and my perfectly splendid Mommy

(Left to right) Me, Elaine, Mommy, Eliza, Zelie, Olivia....I think we're a pretty cute bunch. ;-)

Birthday Gifts:: A boy and his hat...

Anthony l-o-v-e-s this hat. He put it one when he opened it, and hasn't taken it off since...to the extent that he slept in it all night!
I made up the pattern for this one too, an improvement on the last hat (fit wise at least), and I think I have the pattern worked out now! I'll be sure to let you know when I get it posted! The yarn is Jelli Beenz, I normally wouldn't have gone for the acrylic yarn, but I got this yarn a few years ago when I was still scared of wool. It is pretty soft though, and he loves it, so it's all good. I'm considering making him socks with the rest of it, since I got 3 skeins and this only used most of one.
My doodle bugs reading new birthday books this morning. Aren't they just the cutest things? Oh, and in case you couldn't tell, my camera is MIA, so these are from my iphone...I need to get a better camera app!

Birthday Gifts:: Part 1

My little boy is two today! So hard to believe that it has been two years already... Over the next few days (I hope!) I'll be sharing the little gifts I made for him. I also have several little dresses for my Jenny-loo in the works, so there should be finished objects all over this blog within the next week! Okay, so onto the first hat...

I love, Love, LOVE this hat. It's a bit wonky in a few of it's design features but since I made up the pattern (!!!) I was expecting to need a bit of tweaking. He chose the yarns and I am so glad I went for the stripes. I'm not a huge fan of knitting stripes, but they are one of my very favorite things so I knew it would be completely worth it. The pattern makes a simple beanie that fits a head between 20" and 21"; now that I've worked out the kinks I'm hoping to make up a pattern for it, so keep your eye out for that!

He was busy watching me make this, so he got it as soon as it was finished. :)

This is while we were at my sister-in-law's the other day...I think he was making eggs. ;)

Thanks for looking; more to come in the next few days...

Love,

Tilly

Cinnamon Rolls

A few weeks ago I had decided that my personal mission for the summer was to find a go-to, simply amazing, cinnamon roll recipe. Two recipes in and I've already got it! :) My friend Sarah Jane over at Romantic History shared this recipe here, and they are every bit as good as she makes them sound! I made them whole wheat, and they did beautifully. My only advice is to not skimp on the 10 minutes of kneading (although my arms sure wished I would!!), the dough becomes magically soft and elastic when you're approaching the ten minute point, it completely effects the whole process. :) Since my Grammy asked, I'm re-posting my own cook book's version here...

Sarah Jane's Maple Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients:

1 and 1/3 c. milk

2/3 c. maple syrup

2/3 c. soft butter

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp. salt

6 c. flour (I used white whole wheat)

2 pkg. yeast

Filling:

1 c. packed brown sugar

4 TB flour

3 TB cinnamon

1 stick cold butter

In a saucepan, warm milk, syrup and butter til butter is melted - do NOT boil. Cool to a warm temperature beneficent to yeast. When nicely warm to the touch, put in yeast. Stir in eggs and salt. Mix in 3 cups of flour. Add enough remaining flour to make a stiff dough. Turn out onto board or floured counter and knead for 10 minutes. Pat dough into ball, place in greased bowl and cover with a towel.

Let rise for 1 hour.

Punch dough down and divide into two. Roll each ball into a rectangle, appx. 12" x 18". Combine filling ingredients in bowl, cut in butter to make a crumbly mixture. Spread filling evenly over rectangles of dough. Roll up each rectangle into a fat log. Cut each log in half, then cut each half into 5 rolls. Place 15 rolls on a baking sheet. The remaining 5 rolls put into a separate baking sheet. Cover and let rise for forty minutes.

Preheat oven to 375. Bake rolls for 25-35 minutes or until golden brown on top. Remove from oven and top with a clean towel. (if you don't do this the rolls will get hard on top). Let rolls cool beneath towel while you make the icing.

Icing:

1 cup powdered sugar

3 TB butter, melted

3 TB maple syrup

1 to 2 TB milk

Combine the powdered sugar, melted butter and syrup in a bowl. Add in enough milk for desired consistency. Spread over warm rolls and let rolls cool, uncovered, completely. When cool put into an air tight container.

These have been a HUGE hit over here, so I think they will become our Saturday breakfast. I can make them up on Friday afternoon, so there's not any coin flipping for who has to make breakfast (vs. sleeping until b'fast is done), which I'm sure Joseph will like, since *somehow* he always draws the short straw on that one... ;-)

WIP Wednesday:: A special hat

This is my current WIP (work in progress), a hat for my Bobby's birthday next week. He is out growing his current favorite, and since he about wont go outside without his hat on, I thought I'd make another before we had a problem. :) The colors are showing up allot lighter in this shot than they actually are, but you get the idea. What looks to be a light spruce green is actually quite dark, and the navy and plum fall into the same boat. I'll get better pictures once it's finished! I'm making the pattern up since I had some difficulty finding a plain, simple beanie pattern on ravelry that used worsted yarn and was free. I'm hoping to turn it into a pdf. file when it's done so that it's available should anyone else want to try it. Other things you should see finished for his birthday include a teddy bear, and his quilt. :)

Sisters

This is a picture my mom took of my sister Eliza and I...it might be my most favorite picture ever. Well...at least top ten. :)

Our May Crowning

Before we lit the candles (there are twelve for the stars in Our Lady's crown)

Jenny crowning Our Lady

I'm not sure if I have ever seen a May crowning that didn't first have the crown backwards ;)

One side...

And the other...