Self-Sufficiency: Week Two Update

I'm a little late posting my update this week because of this:

Margaret bashed her face on the concrete on Monday, and she's needed plenty of attention and cuddles since then.

So, week two is complete. This week I made:

A dress from an old childen's XL t-shirt. (Yes, I agree the huge neon words are slightly tacky, but it's what I had on hand, and it'll make a fine play dress.  Besides, we must compensate for all the "Daddy's Girl" items she's so frequently sent. ;) )

This was a simple and fun project. I laid a sleeveless dress of Margaret's on the middle of the XL shirt, matching the collars together, and traced around it. I took the shirt in on the sides and cut out the sleeve holes (I didn't even have to finish them off, because the stretchy fabric rolls rather than fraying). Then I opened up the shoulder seams and tied the new straps together to shorten them. This shirt had a faux tank strap beside one of the sleeves, so I took it up slightly to make it the same length as the new straps.

On the baking front, I made whole wheat bread, pizza crust, and English muffins.

While the wheat bread was very tasty and we always love that pizza crust recipe (we make it with a mix of white and wheat flour and add some rosemary to the dough), the English muffins were the real stars this week.

Good thing, too, because they were a pain to make. January's baking challenges are doing nothing to endear me to the art, and the English muffins were much more work than this kitchen grump cares for. They taste great, though.

I don't own a biscuit cutter, so I used a heart-shaped cookie cutter. Kind of cute, no?

Whew, halfway there.