I used one of my precious Heather Ross fabrics for the feature print.   These long underwear made me think of sick days.

I thought about sewing the words “Be Well” and then I decided that it might be fun to change it up by just stamping it on.  It was a lot faster and I think just as swell.

Here’s the back with some of the handmade buttons from my stash.  I think I would have rather put the buttons on the front side, but didn’t realize that until after I was done.  All well.

A good question might be why I would ever make something like this that will sit in the medicine cabinet for most of it’s life??   (ah-hem…Tony.)  I guess it just doesn’t matter in the world of handmade for me–I love the design process, the construction, and most of all–the finished product!  There will be an extra dose of mama’s love when my boys have to use this heating pad.

1/2 cup butter

2 1/4 cups milk (I used the whey from my homemade yogurt)

2 tsp. dry yeast

1/2 tsp. salt

2/3 cup sugar

2 tsp. ground cardamon

5 1/2 cups flour

Melt butter in pan; add milk and heat to 98 degrees.  (I wasn’t exact…just until warm but not hot.)  Mix in separate bowl the salt, sugar, cardamon, yeast, and about 3/4 of the flour.  Add milk and butter; mix well.  Add the rest of the flour gradually until dough does not stick to the bowl.  (No need to knead!!)  Cover bowl; let dough raise to double in bulk, in a warm and draft free place.  (About an hour for me.)  Form into buns.  (I got 24.)  Put on a greased cookie sheet.  Cover and let raise again to double in size.  Bake at 375 degrees for 15-18 minutes.  Brush with melted butter after baking if you want.

In other baking news, I totally made a flop of a cake yesterday.  Tony was so excited about it and even made the frosting himself while the cake baked.  He was very disappointed.  I think the problem was that I used whey from my homemade yogurt instead of milk.  Not sure why since everything else I have baked with whey has turned out perfectly.  After one bite, Tony declared the cake inedible and pushed it away.  I’m still eating it.  Go figure.   It’s gone.  ah-hem…

Homemade Vanilla Extract:  Vodka+Vanilla Beans

Untitled from Ingrid Barlow on Vimeo.

Couple things I forgot to mention:

–Store in a dark area while you let it “cook.”  I’m going to store mine under the stairs for 3 weeks and then check it.  It will be dark colored and smell like vanilla when it is ready.

–Once you start using it, you can just leave the vanilla beans in your container–no need to take them out!

–Some people say to split the beans before you put them in the vodka, others don’t.  I’m trying mine without splitting the beans first.

–My comments about alcohol…me just saying I really don’t think it matters what kind of vodka you use.  I think you can use whiskey or rum too??  (I just don’t want you to think I’m a teetotaler snob!)