I have not bought any coloring books or otherwise invested in the Adult Coloring trend, but with the seemingly endless rain and darkness that is Hurricane Harvey, suddenly coloring something bright sounded like a good idea. An exhaustive Bing search eventually led me to these "Count the Love" designs, available in PDF format with either one or four images per page. These cards the smaller size, cropped as close to the edges of the curlicues as possible. The card bases are 5 1/4" x 4 1/4" (cut cardstock to 5 1/4 x 8 1/2 and score in the middle of the long side), and the coloring pages are attached with foam squares to make the whole thing a little more exciting.
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The most recent Food52 e-mail included a recipe for Whole Grain Sweet Potato Muffins. I altered the recipe slightly (and will probably tweak it again next time), and this is the result. There is a link to the original recipe above. My version is below. Sweet Potato MuffinsDry Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour 3/4 cup brown sugar 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1 tablespoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ginger 1/4 teaspoon cloves Wet Ingredients: 1/2 cup (one stick) butter, melted 1 cup mashed roasted sweet potato 1 egg 3/4 cup buttermilk Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Mix the wet ingredients together in a separate bowl, then gently blend into the dry ingredients. If your sweet potato is especially dry, add a little more buttermilk. The dough will be fairly thick. Fill 19 muffin tins about 2/3 full. Bake at 350° for 15 minutes, or until they pass the toothpick test. Note: We must have extra-powerful cloves, because that was the predominant spice on the day I baked these. After chilling in the refrigerator overnight and reheating, the muffins had a more balanced flavor. Another time, I might leave out the cloves and/or add more ginger. Sometimes, one just needs a cinnamon roll. My mother taught me how to make the world's best cinnamon rolls, but when I saw this no-yeast recipe, I was intrigued. I used whole-wheat flour instead of white, because it's healthier and this was my lunch, after all, and used some of my free Wholesome! Organic light brown sugar, because it is the best brown sugar ever. The rolls tested done after 12 minutes, rather than the suggested 15-20. Conclusions:
I have never bought any Paintbox Yarn, but I have downloaded several of the free patterns designed for it. The Tropical Swing Tank looked like a perfect gift to make for a friend's baby who turned one year old today. It was fun to raid the yarn stash for three skeins that would work well together. The pattern was created by a British designer, but it had American terms in parentheses in case of confusion. The only one that was a surprise to me was "YRN", which looks like an abbreviation for YARN, but actually stands for "Yarn Round Needle" -- what we colonists generally call a yarn over or "YO" for short. This was a fun, easy project, and there is more yarn in the stash for the next first birthday party!
Red Heart sent a look book full of cute 18" doll clothing just when I was ready for a break from my very complicated fingering-weight white cardigan, so I raided the yarn stash and found some oddments to use. Abby loaned me Princess Petunia for a few days and was surprised to see her modeling a new outfit when she was ready to go home! Love My Doll was a fun pattern, especially the heart on the front of the sweater. I knit the messy bun hat in the round with double-pointed needles, which worked well and saved me a seam. The only problem with this outfit is that Abby thinks she needs a matching messy bun hat for her birthday, despite the fact that nobody wears hats in Texas! The baking ensemble is crocheted, but the stitches are simple enough that I didn't have any problems. The pattern has several more pieces, but Princess Petunia only needed these ones! The toque is just a little loose on her head, but it's very cute and works okay for playtime. The yarn I used (Caron Natura from a clearance order several years ago) is pretty stiff, so a more pliable yarn might work better.
The little doll clothes were so fun to make. . .maybe Princess Petunia will have more outfits to try soon! |
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