Kanzashi Flower Tutorial

Ooooo, oooo, oooo!  Pretty little flowers.  I love kanzashi.

Traditionally, Japanese Hana Tsumami Kanzashi is a beautiful art form of folding squares of silk into petals and gluing them together to be worn with the Japanese kimono.  Here's a list of what flowers are worn with the kimono during different times of the year: Seasonal Kanzashi  I know very little about Japanese culture, so I'll probably just stop there. 

Making westernized kanzashi is fun and easy! 

Select your fabric, and start out by starching your fabric pieces.  I like to work with strips, because it's easy.

Remember this from an earlier blog post?: Does your spray starch stick?

And the answer is, yes.  My spray starch sticks.  

I think that shirt and sweater warrants me a spot on a commercial for some mop or cleaner.  But hey, stay-at-home moms don't want to wear  t-shirts and sweat pants all of the time! 

Anyhoo...starch your pieces.  I don't know anything about starching, but I did read the label on the can.  Maybe I should call my grandmother, who used to starch my grandpa's underwear.  Nick says he'd like his starched...I still haven't decided if he's serious or joking.

Starch your pieces already!  Spray them evenly and let the starch soak into the fabric.  I find it best to iron the wrong side of the fabric so that WHEN your starch sticks and makes flakes, it's all on the side of the fabric you will never see.  Spray and iron about four or five times until it's nice and stiff.  The goal is to make your fabric act more like paper than fabric. 

Cut your fabric squares.  Your completed flower will turn out approximately the same size as the squares you use.  I cut eight 2 1/2 in. squares, but you can experiment with size and the number of petals on your flower.

Take a square with the right side down

and fold the top point down.

Take the left point and fold down to the bottom point.

Do the same with the right point.

It's completely okay if your points do not meet up exactly, or if you have fraying edges.  You will not see them.

Flip your square over.

Bring the left and right points to meet in the center.

Fold in half vertically like you're closing a book.


Ooooooo...that picture you can see where I stabbed my thumb with the drill working on the play kitchen.  :-P

Sew a stitch into your petal

Or, you could add a pin.  I like to use a small stitch since I never know how long I'll get to sit at any given time, and I also never know where little fingers might end up and poke themselves or undo my progress!

Pinned, I think they look like little locusts.  Maybe that's just me. 

Repeat this process with the rest of your squares.

Trim your petals in a straight line beginning at the lowest point of the diagnoal.

Next, double thread a needle...don't bother tying a knot at the end.  Begin threading your petals.  Needle should be placed about 1/8 in. from the cut edge right in the middle.

Continue stringing.

Cut the needle off your thread and pull the two sides of your string together so that the petals form a flower shape.  Tie a surgeon's not once your petals are nice and tight.  Tug a little...move some petals a little...fuss with it until you are happy with the flower shape.  Cut the thread.

Turn your flower over so the bottom side is up.  Cut a circle out of matching fabric and hot glue it to the bottom of your flower.  This keeps all the petals stable and in their place.

Turn it over again and add an embelishment for the center of your flower.  Tada!

You can see that I put this flower on a cilp.  To do so, trace the clip shape on some matching fabric.  Trace with about a 1/4 in. extra around it.  You will be turning this under to sew so as not to show any raw edge.

Cut.

Fold under and sew.

Hot glue to clip.

And hot glue your flower to your clip!  Bing.  Bang.  Boom.

The end.  :-)

And since the baby won't keep any cute thing in her hair...I had to find another, more willing, model.

And here it is on meeeeeee...

 And baby girl on the run!

 




Other blooms.  :-)





Such an easy model.







Bread Insanity

I might have a bread problem.

Actually...I didn't notice until Nick pulled four different bread bags out the other day to compare the labels.  There are lots of bags because if no one eats the heel, I process those slices into bread crumbs to freeze...eventually.  I get to it before it molds.  :-P  Also, things like bread, milk & juice are opportunistic purchases--so, wherever I am during the week, I stop and get some, which is why I have so many different kinds of bread. 

Anyhoo, with all the bread that is eaten in this house, I thought it was time for a nutrition comparison.  In the past, I always bought the cheapest wheat.  Which looks like this:

Not too much to get excited about.

I was happy that Wal Mart came out with a 100% whole wheat bread which gives you 3g of dietary fiber in two slices (the daily recommended value (DRV) for fiber is 35g!). 

But then, I found this stuff:

Yowza!  Less calories, 20% of your DRV for fiber per serving, 30% of your DVR for calcium (which us ladies and the kiddies really need), and no high fructose corn syrup.  The bummer is, I have not been able to find this bread again since I bought it.  I must have gotten it at Giant Eagle.

But I have found this at Wal Mart which is similar in calories, fiber and calcium, but has less B vitamins and protein:

From now on I will be buying Wonder Smart Wheat if I can find it...if not, then it's Wonder Smart White! 

Hot Wheels Winner

Evander won a HUGE Easter basket last night at AWANA---first place for the Cubbies in their Hot Wheels race. 

Needless to say, when I picked up the boys, Evander was beaming with his basket surrounded by his friends, while Emory was on the verge of tears. 

It is sometimes hard to watch someone else get things that you desire, or feel you lack.  Of course, this is extremely evident in children, but it can be a struggle in an adult's life, too.  

envy: the feeling of displeasure produced by witnessing or hearing of the advantage or prosperity or others.

We know that envy rots the bones, but a heart at peace gives life to the body (Proverbs 14:30).  For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice (James 3:16).  Yikes.  It's not healthy to envy.

What can we do?  Know that there is a good God in heaven that loves you and wants good for your life (Psalm 145:9).  Set our affections on things above, not on the things on the earth (Colossians 3:2).  Love, love, love.  Love doesn't envy (1 Corinthians 13:4).  The more we focus on loving and serving others, the more joy we will experience.  Rejoice with those that rejoice (Romans 12:15).  Celebrate God's goodness to others as you celebrate his goodness to you.

I need to practice all of this often and especially now as I watch Nick prepare for yet another paid-for business trip to some place cool.  Sigh.  Of course I want good and fun things for him, especially with his job.  But, I also want them for me!  Ha.  Guess that's where the struggle comes in.  Setting my affections above...setting my affections above...

I tell you, it's a good thing for Emory that Evander won, because he would certainly get to enjoy the contents of this basket if it came into our house. On the car ride home, Evander kept saying he was going to share with Emory...and Marin...and Mommy...and Daddy! He even made up a song about "giving to the whole world." :-)

Awesome envy worksheet: Here!

Play Kitchen Preview

Helping Momma drill.



Checking out the oven.




Marin--the oven is not a good place for your babies. 



22 Miles on the Ohio & Erie Canal

And you need to SING that title to the tune of the Erie Canal Song--"15 miles on the Erie Canal."

I've been busy these past few days mostly preparing things to sell at a kids Resale Event.  Had to take a break from working on the play kitchen to concentrate on this thing...it was a lot of work, but it ended up worth my time. 

Today we went for an extended bike ride on the Ohio & Erie Towpath Trail in Summit and Stark counties.  I really enjoy history, so it was fun to once again ride along the canal and wonder what it was like during its prime.



She doesn't remember riding in this.



Ready to go!

We debated whether or not to allow Evander to ride his bike today.  We knew that being so young and on such a small bike, he would not be able to ride the entire trip, but he did ride his bike for three miles today!  Nick was able to strap Evander's bike to our bike trailer, and pull it with two of the children.

Glad I didn't have to pull the trailer this time!  We did this same trail about a year ago...Nick's innertube on his new bike tire was bad and broke, so I ended up having to pull all three kids for about eight miles!  Yikes!  Heavy.



Emory and the train tracks.  :-)

We switched the kids' positions so no one got too bored and both Nick and I got the joy of pulling 20-pound Marin.  :-)  The kids got a lot of attention out on the trail.  Evander ended up telling one guy that squirrels put butter on a bridge (the road is named "Butterbridge" and has a bridge that we crossed) and put their acorns on top...and when cars drive by, it makes peanut butter!  Ha.



Faith Family Church billboard

And we saw one of our church's billboards!  We bought 30 of them throughout Stark County to advertise for our Easter service.  That was fun to see since we really don't go driving in Stark County, we would never see one.  Of course, you could see it better if you were a car driving on the road.

The snack that smiles back is in her smiley mouth!

We made it to Massilon and to Ernie's Bike Shop and a DELI!  Food always makes these little adventures worth it.  :-)

It's a bike ramp.  No really, it's a slide.

One of our favorite parts of the trip was seeing Lock 4 just south of Canal Fulton.  I read that this lock is the remaining or one of the only remaining locks in Ohio that could still be operational today.  I think they should  move those locks sometime!

Closed

Open

And check out this little tid bit I found: Lock 4

Enjoying Lock 4



Loves her brother(s)

Much of the trail was quite rough as new chunky gravel had to be placed down where the trail was washed away from recent flooding.  One portion of the trail was completely closed because the flooding had destroyed part of it.  It was a flood that ended the operation of the Ohio & Erie Canal in 1913.  Of course railroads had really run it out of business, and there was too much damage from flood waters to make repairing it worth the while.

Twenty two miles.  I'm tired.  But it feels good.

And here's the song.  Did you know there was a reggae version and Bruce Springsteen and Captain Kangaroo did a version?  :-P




 


Spanakopita

Is this becoming a food blog now?  :-P

Mmmmmm...yum!  Just the thought of spanakopita makes me hungry.  They are spinach and cheese stuffed phyllo triangles. 

These were my pregnancy cravings with Marin---definitely don't get any thoughts in your head with that statement.  (With Emory, I craved waffles and McDonald's cheeseburgers which was really strange because I hadn't eaten one in about 12 years.  The craving I had with Evander was cottage cheese all the way baby.) 

Of course, if Aladdin's was open in Oberlin two years ago, I would have frequented there for their Fatayer which basically has the same filling as spanakopita only wrapped in pita bread.  Aladdin's Eatery Menu 

Spanakopita is time consuming to make---you have to plan ahead for thawing the phyllo dough, and then wrapping them all up takes some time.  But it's so worth it!  I freeze most of the batch so that I can just pull them out, pop them in the oven and eat them for the weeks to come.

Here's the recipe for the filling courtesy of Penzey's Spices :

SPANAKOPITA
1 10-oz bag fresh spinach, washed & chopped
1 8-oz package of feta cheese, crumbled
2 tsp dill weed
2 TB chives
1 c chopped fresh parsley
2 eggs
1/2 t black pepper
Phyllo dough

1 stick butter, melted (for preparing the triangles, not for mixing into the filling)
1/2 package of Athens Phyllo Dough

Thaw the phyllo dough according to the package directions, either overnight in the fridge or 2 hours on the kitchen counter. 



I have to start with this picture.  Look what's growing outside already--fresh chives!


Put all your filling ingredients in a large bowl and mix.



This smells so good...dill, chives, feta = mmmmm. 



My helper today.

Marin worked hard to push the chair over to the counter to help.  That's feta cheese in her mouth.  Girl after my own heart.  She was eating the chives, plain, too.  :-)

Working with one sheet of phyllo at a time, cut the sheet into six equal strips.  A pizza cutter works the best for this.  Brush each strip with butter or margarine.



Triangles in different stages of folding.


Place a tablespoon of filling at the bottom of each strip.  Begin to fold one strip into a triangle...fold to the left, then up, then fold to the right, then up...repeat until the strip is completely folded. 

Place on a cookie sheet.  Brush both sides of the triangles with butter or margarine.  Bake for 20-25 minutes in a 375 degree oven. 

Spanakopita ready to freeze.

Freeze whatever amount you desire in a single layer on a cookie sheet.  Don't forget to brush these with butter on both sides, too!  Once frozen, place in a Zip Loc bag.  This way, you will be able to grab three, five, seven, nine, or any amount at any given time and cook them, and enjoy!  :-)

For this batch, I made 42 spanakopita triangles, using seven sheets of phyllo (eight including one sheet I used for repairs).  It took me half an hour to fill and fold the triangles. 

Notes:

• Making one batch, you won't use a whole roll of phyllo dough.  Store the rest in the fridge or make some other fillings!
• You can use fresh or dried herbs.  You generally would use three times the amount of fresh as you would dried.  For example, if a recipe calls for 1 Tablespoon of fresh herbs, you could use 1 teaspoon of dried.   
• Phyllo dough has a reputation for being difficult to work with.  It's really not if it is fresh.  It can dry out fast, which leads to tears.  Follow the package instructions and cover what portion you are not using with a damp towel.
• With that being said, it's also a little forgiving when you're making your triangles.  If you find your end product has a major hole from the spinach being too soggy or too much butter, just wrap it in another phyllo strip to repair. 
• Don't forget to butter both sides of your stuffed triangles!

Another favorite filling, also courtesy of Penzey's:

TRINOPITA
2 8-oz packages feta cheese, crumbled
1 c cottage cheese
2 eggs
1/2 t white pepper
1 T melted butter

Other fillings I want to try:

SWEET POTATO PHYLLOS
3/4 c mashed sweet potatoes
3/4 t vanilla
1/2 t ground cinnamon
4 T chopped pecans

Serve drizzled in pancake syrup.


And THIS ONE!  Oh my, this one!  Chicken-avocado-sundried-tomatoes-feta-stuffed-phyllo-triangles

Oh yeah, this one, too.  Spinach-feta-sun-dried-tomato-phyllo-triangles

MmmMMmmMmmmmm.

Felt Food Obsession

As I am greatly anticipating the completion of Marin's play kitchen (first coat of color drying right now!), I think it's a good time to debut my...errrrr...the kids' felt food collection.

I've been sewing play food since last summer, so what you see is not the work of one evening after the kids go to bed.  The hand-sewn pieces are a bit time consuming but all are super cute!!!  You can find lots of patterns and tutorials online.



Lunch, anyone?



How about some sweets?



Roll and cut!



And don't forget the farfalle.

I don't let Marin play with the farfalle or the potato chips as they are kind of tiny...and so is she.  No tiny things in the tiny mouth! 

And what's super fun is that the boys absolutely LOVE playing with the play food and the kitchen sets.  We are calling the play kitchen project "Marin's kitchen," but the boys will probably play with it more for now.

Who doesn't love IKEA?  The next pics are IKEA play food.

Come on paint!  You must dry quickly!



Lilo has her paws all over that egg.  Sorry, Kitty Baby, it's just pretend.