Crinkle Taggie Blankie

As a bit of a back story to this post, I bought my son a small crinkle blankie from a seller at our local farmer's market. I loved it because it had small ribbons on it, a different texture on each side, it was nice and small for his little hands, and it made just the right amount of noise when he played with it. Sadly, we lost it when our family went to get sandwiches at our favorite local place =(. I know she has a website from which she sells everything, including her blankies (here), but I decided that instead of buying one I would make one special for my little man.

I had the fabric on hand and purchased about 1/2 yard of each of the ribbons from the local craft store, so this little project really wasn't all that expensive. It did take me forever to find the right material to make it crinkle, but ended up using the big shopping bags that I get from said craft store- I found it had a better sound than anything else I could find. I think cellophane would work well too.

Anyway, on to the project. Here's what you need:

1 10"x10" piece of flannel fabric
1 10"x10" piece of minkee
12"x12" Crinkle material
Assorted ribbon scraps

I liked the size it ended up- you can make this bigger or smaller if you'd like.

First, I positioned and pinned into place all of the ribbons into loops around the flannel piece. I really like having lots of different sizes and textures to explore. If you use a really thin ribbon like I did (the red one), make sure to tie a knot below where you're going to sew so it doesn't easily pull out.

After you pin everything down, sew the ribbons in place. I stitched 1/2" from the edge of the fabric.

I skipped the areas without ribbon and trimmed the threads. Then, layer your blankie as follows:

Flannel with ribbon right side up
Minkie right side down
Crinkle material

Then, sew around the outside with a 5/8" seam allowance, leaving an unstitched space about 3" wide for turning right side out. I found it a lot easier to sew with the crinkle on top. After you stitch, clip the corners and turn it right side out, using a point turner (or I used the tip of my scissors, lol) tp bring the corners out so they look nice and sharp.

I then picked a decorative stitch to use around the perimeter and made sure that I turned the raw edges of the hole in. Then you're done!

How fun is this??? I wrapped it up and put it under the tree as my special gift for my little boy. Maybe there's someone you can make one of these simple gifts for too! They are very easy and I loved making this one. I can't wait until Christmas so he can play with it!

Cranberry Pop Cake

Merry Christmastime, everyone! I have a bit of a story to go with today's recipe, Cranberry Pop Cake. I'm sorry I don't have a pretty picture to go with this one- next time I make it I'll have to post one!

Seven years ago I was on my Church mission in Oklahoma. It was my second transfer (meaning I had been out for about 2 months) and my first companion had gone home. My "stepmom" was a sister named Sister Woolley- she was fun, energetic, compassionate, and a great cook. It was approaching Christmas and I was kind of having a hard time with it- the weather was cold, there weren't a lot of receptive people, we were in Woodward, Oklahoma an hour and a half away from any other missionaries and it was my first Christmas away from home and family. We spent a lot of our lunch time baking all manner of delicious comfort foods to give to the people we were teaching and to eat a little ourselves.

Anyway, this is one of the Christmas treats that stick out above the rest. The cake itself is mildly sweet and the berries give it a nice flavor and festive color. The thing that does it for me though is the butter sauce that goes on top- it really brings out the flavors of the cake. Besides, what's not to love about something called Butter Sauce?

When I made this for my church congregation's Christmas party I first made it way to big. Sister Woolley didn't write down how big the pan should be, and it sounded like it wouldn't make that much batter, so I doubled the recipe and ended up with a HUGE cake that took forever to bake. I luckily had enough ingredients for another cake so I ended up with a lot of it, haha! Anyway here is the recipe, clarified just for you:

Cranberry Pop Cake
by Stephanie Woolley

Cake:

3 tablespoons butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup evaporated milk
2 cups whole cranberries

Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare a 9x13 pan by greasing and flouring it. Cream butter and sugar together. Mix in egg. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in separate bowl. Add flour mixture alternately with evaporated milk- I used a hand mixer for this and it worked well. Fold the cranberries in the cake batter. Pour in prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes. It's done when a fork inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Butter Sauce:

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup heavy cream (or milk- I just used milk and it turned out just fine!)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Boil the butter, sugar and cream (or milk) together for 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add vanilla.

When you're ready to eat, pour the butter sauce on the cake. Yum!!!