The Hungry Caterpillar

Jonas loves to play with strings, threads, and any little bit of fuzz that he can find. Therefore, I decided I would make a caterpillar for his first birthday with lots of strings attached.

As you can see from my absence the last month, it took me a lot longer than I had anticipated. Between having my German in-laws stay with us for three weeks and morning sickness, I just didn't get as much done as I had hoped for. But, thankfully, I did finish just in time for Jonas's birthday on October 14.

How to:
I really wish I could give a how to on this one, but I think it is almost impossible. This was a work in progress from the beginning. It started out with some pretty material and the bottom dangly strings from an old curtain (which I washed and to my surprise came out nice and white and in really good condition).

1. First, I sewed the curtain by hand into a yellow hem ribbon so that only part of the curtain was hanging out. I cut this into five pieces.

2. Then, I cut out 12 circles of material, 6 green ones for the bottom of the caterpillar and 6 colored ones for the top. I then took the colored circles and cut them in half. The yellow ribbons (with curtain pieces) were then sewed into the middle of these halves. After that, I sewed the green circles to the colored ones, leaving spaces at both ribbon ends for stuffing.


3. The legs were by far the simplest of the whole project. I took red satin material, sewed together and stuffed 10 legs, and then sewed two legs each between two pieces of yellow hem ribbon.

4. Now the fun part, the face. I took pieces of felt and sewed on the eyes. The pupils of the eyes are black ribbons tied in knots. The mouth is a piece of red rickrack. The antennas were made by braiding a thin red shoelace. I figured, my son would also like chewing on them.

5. Finally, I had to sew the whole thing together. This was really really hard. I ended up having to sew the leg pieces into the body pieces by hand. If I were to do the project again, I think I would do it all differently, in order to make this end part easier. Nevertheless, I did get it finished and I was proud of my achievement.

Jonas loves his caterpillar. Just as I thought, he loves to suck on the curtain strings or the antennas. Since he is still cruising and needs both hands to walk, he puts the caterpillar in his mouth and then cruises along the table. It's nice to know that the work has paid off. Nothing is better than a happy child.

The Nursing Mother's Muffin

Nursing a 10 month old sure can make me hungry. So that I don't reach for sweets too often, I try to bake up a bunch of healthy snacks as often as I can. These muffins are a good combination of sweet and healthy. The fiber also helps to keep you going, which I need since my baby is now learning how to stand up and walk.

Here's the recipe:

The Nursing Mother’s Muffin
Banana, Walnut, Chocolate Chip, Grape Nuts

1 C flour
1 C Grape Nuts
¼ - ½ C Sugar (depending on how sweet you like it)
4 t baking powder
¼ t salt
1 t cinnamon
¼ C oil
1 egg
¾ C milk
1 ripe banana
1 C walnuts
1 C chocolate chips

1. Mash ripe banana with a fork in a large mixing bowl.
2. Add egg and mix well.
3. Add sugar and oil and mix thoroughly.
4. Add flour, Grape Nuts, salt, cinnamon and baking powder. I like to mix the dry ingredients a bit on the top before I mix it into the liquid underneath.
5. Add milk (add more if needed) and mix well.
6. Add chocolate chips and walnuts.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes. Makes 12 muffins.

Yummmmmm!!!!!

Thunderstorm Quilt - A little Donnerwetter

Rain. Rain. Rain. As a child, I always liked rain. It felt good, it smelled good, and it meant that my dad didn’t have to work on the farm. I remember seeing the horizon turn white in the distance as a storm approached. We only had about three minutes to get inside before we all would get terribly wet. Often, we kids would just make it inside and my mom or dad would get drenched only 30 seconds behind us. That was rain!

I loved the colors and sounds of a good thunderstorm and often spent hours sitting and watching the clouds build. You could often see extraordinary lighting storms while the sky above you was bluer than the sea. Other times, the dust turned the clouds brilliant colors in all directions. A Kansas thunderstorm is always breathtaking.

Later, when I moved to Germany my feelings about rain changed. I got tired of drizzle and days without sunshine. I realized, that it wasn’t so much the rain that I loved, but the storms that carried it. When I got pregnant, I decided that I wanted to make a quilt for my unborn child which also told a story. This thunderstorm quilt is the result.

The How to:

1. For this quilt, you need lots of old jeans! I saved up mine for a while and was amazed at all of the different shades of blue and black to be found. The only non-jeans material, is the sun. This is an old tablecloth.

2. For the pattern, I laid out a piece of brown packing paper and drew the design. Then I laid my jeans down on the paper and started cutting pieces to fit.

3. At this point, I just started sewing the pieces together. Then I would lay them back on the pattern, cut out some more and sew again. I’m not too much of a planner when I sew, and often change my pieces as I go.

4. The sun was made with an old tablecloth and yellow ribbons. I only added it later, because I thought the quilt needed some color. Thank goodness I did!

5. I used a large piece of blue fleece for the back of the quilt and some polyester backing. My friends at my sewing group helped me to tie the quilt with blue thread. Then, I used the rest of some yellow material for the edges.

6. Finally, the cloud details were quilted at the end with blue thread. This is still a work in progress. Maybe, I will quilt some more at a later time.

Colorful Burp Rags

Before I had a baby, I was told that babies produce a lot of laundry. I couldn’t imagine that such a little thing could produce a lot of dirty clothes… until I had my own baby. I hadn’t realized that babies could spit up so much and so often! It wasn’t just my baby’s clothes that needed washing, it was mine as well. Therefore, I got accustomed to bringing along a lot of burp rags with me at all times.

I found the best burp rags to be cloth diaper material, since it was soft, absorbent, and bigger than most you can buy at the store (These rags were bought in a department store over in Germany). In order to make the rags a bit prettier, I began stitching around the sides with bright embroidery thread. I used the same stitch that my grandmother had used on a quilt that she once made. I’m afraid, I don’t know its name. My mother-in-law also helped me out a bit, so that in the end, I had a whole supply of colorful cloths.


I still always have a couple of these burp rags with me, even though Jonas is already almost ten months old. They have proven to be useful for more than just cleaning up small spills. I lay one on the carseat when I go shopping, so that it doesn’t get too hot. I hang one in the window so that the sun doesn’t get too bright. I throw one over my shoulder when I want to nurse in public. I put a piece of ice in it when Jonas was teething. Finally, Jonas uses one as a comfort rag and loves to suck on it and hold it until he falls asleep (see photo). I love these rags and never leave home without them.

This stitch is also pretty easy, so no how to is necessary. Just look at the pictures and stitch away.

Homemade Crispy Crust Pizza Dough

Last night I decided to make some homemade yummy pizza using the great pizza pan that we got at our wedding reception from Rachel Epp Buhler (Thanks again!). Having often ended up with dough that wasn't done in the middle or crispy enough, I was so excited for it to finally turn out the way I had hoped. This time, it turned out so good, that I thought it would be a shame not to post the recipe.

The how to:

Pizza Dough:

circa 2 C flour
3/4 C warm water
3 T sugar
Plenty of olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Garlic powder
Parsley flakes

1. In a big bowl, mix yeast, sugar, and water and let stand until foamy.
2. Drizzle some olive oil over the top and lightly mix in.
3. Add spices.
4. Add flour. Knead until you get a soft semi-sticky dough. You may need to add more flour, but don't add too much or your dough will get too dry.
5. Form into a ball, cover, and let stand until twice the size.
6. When dough is ready, flatten, pull or do what you need to do to get it to cover a medium pizza round pan or baking pan.
7. Let rise again if possible for about a half an hour.
8. Bake in 350 degree oven for 10 minutes and take out.
9. Using a barbecue brush, brush entire surface of crust with olive oil. Let sit.
10. Now add your tomato sauce (I used leftover ragu yesterday and it tasted great). Here's a little tip. If you buy the already portioned pizza sauces from the store, use only half. If you use it all, your dough gets too soft and doesn't cook through.
11. Now add your favorite toppings and bake at 375 degrees for about 20-25 minutes.
12. Enjoy!!!

Red Rocking Chair

I’ve always wanted a rocking chair, especially the old fashion kind that people used to sit on while on their porches like in those movies about the deep South. When I started nursing, I decided it was high time to get one, since I was probably going to spend a lot of time rocking a baby and I wanted to be comfortable.

Since we didn’t have a lot of money to go out and buy a new rocking chair (I hadn’t realized that they could get so expensive), we decided to look around at local thrift shops. To our surprise on half price day at the Salvation Army, we saw an old wooden rocking chair on sale for only 20 dollars. The finish had worked its way off most areas and it was wobbly in places, but with a little work it would do.

The how to, or how I got it too look like what it does today:

1. After buying sandpaper, brushes and some paint, I got started sanding down the old finish. It took me a bit longer than I had figured sanding around all of those round edges, but not as long as it would have taken if I had completely sanded off the varnish.

2. Then I washed off the dust left from sanding, let it dry completely and got ready to paint. The paint I bought was a bit translucent, which meant that I had to paint the whole chair about 3 to 4 times. In the end, I liked the look of the wood through the paint. Nevertheless, if you want to save time, make sure you buy paint as opaque as possible.

3. Finally, I added a seat cushion I bought at IKEA. Someday, I’ll sew a new one and post it. For the time being, I like the cushion I got and the reds match great.

I put Jonas in the rocking chair to take a picture, but it was hard to get him to sit still enough to take it. I wouldn’t advise putting a nine-month-old baby in a rocking chair without a lot of supervision. However, as an adult, they are the best and if you are nursing, you have to have one. I’ve put myself to sleep nursing in mine a few times.

Beef Jerky and Teething

Beef jerky for teething? I'm not kidding.

The other day I was at the pool talking to another mom about how my son was teething. She told me that she just gave her kids all cold beef jerky out of the fridge and it worked every time. ??? Yeah, that's what I thought, too. Somehow, I don't want to know what she did for colic or diaper rash.

Either way, it's amazing now that my son is getting his teeth what ideas people have for how to ease his pain. From frozen carrots to beef jerky and from Tylenol to homeopathics there are a lot of opinions out there.

Here is a cute little pic of my son's two bottom teeth. He is currently getting three teeth on the top at the same time. Poor little guy. If you have any tips for me on how to ease his distress, please let me know.

Thanks.

Here is an update for those of you following along.

July 20, 2010

As you can see from the pic on the left, the top three teeth are making their way through. Keep up the good work Jonas!