Recipe – Classic Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberries have a special place in my heart – not only are they delicious, but they also remind me of summers picking strawberries with my Grandpa. His sister lived on a farm, and every morning he would take my brother and me to the farm to pick a bushel of berries.

Most of them would be sold at the farm’s roadside stand (I believe we were paid .25 cents for each quart we picked), but he always brought at least one basket of fresh berries back home. My grandmother would spend the summer making homemade strawberry jam, strawberry pies, and of course strawberry shortcake. I never got tired of eating strawberries, but I sure did get sick of picking them!

In the spirit of family tradition, I introduced my son to the joy of picking strawberries. Of course, we only picked for about 20 minutes – not 2 hours :). He really enjoyed it, and was happy when I poured some of my berries in his bucket so he could have more than me (the things we do for our kids). We picked about 10 quarts and only paid 6 dollars, definitely a bargain.

BucketofBerries — Delicious Hand-picked Strawberries

And of course we had strawberry shortcake for dessert that night. In my opinion, you can’t beat the Bisquick shortcake recipe. I grew up on it and it still tastes the best to me! You have to use Original (full fat) Bisquick for the tastiest result, although I have made it with the reduced fat kind and it still tastes good. You also have to use REAL whipped cream. I like to add about 1/4 cup of powered sugar to my whipped cream to give it a hint of sweetness.

Classic Strawberry Shortcake
(original recipe from Betty Crocker website)

1 quart (4 cups) strawberries, sliced
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/3 cups Original Bisquick® mix
1/2 cup milk
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
1/2 cup whipping cream

1. Heat oven to 425°F. In large bowl, mix strawberries and 1/4 cup sugar; set aside.
2. In medium bowl, stir Bisquick mix, milk, 3 tablespoons sugar and the butter until soft dough forms. On ungreased cookie sheet, drop dough by 6 spoonfuls.
3. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Meanwhile, in small bowl, beat whipping cream with electric mixer on high speed until soft peaks form.
4. Split warm shortcakes; fill and top with strawberries and whipped cream.

What are some summer desserts you like to eat?

Keep it Thimble!

Tutorial – A Triple Threat – Teacher Gift, Tissue Holder, Stashbuster

School will be out in 15 days (!), and it’s time to think about end of the year teacher gifts. Teachers always appreciate a gift card, but it’s also nice to make them a little something just so the gift is more personal. I was trying to think of something fun and easy, since my son has lots of teachers, and then I remembered the good old travel tissue holder! You can tuck the gift card in the opening, tie a pretty bow around it, and it is the perfect teacher gift.

There are a lot of tutorials online on how to make these, so I figured it would be fun to share some of them with you and show you my finished results. For mine, I used a tutorial posted at Melinda’s Quilts, ETC (http://melinful.blogspot.com/2010/01/travel-tissue-cover-tutorial.html). The reason I liked this one is because it just uses two pieces of fabric (exterior and lining) and is sewn in a way that makes its own trim on the edges of the opening. It literally took me 10 minutes to cut out the fabric and sew it together.

After sewing the tube, I used my point presser and centered the seam on the top part so that the seam could be pressed open (see above).

In addition, the raw edges were cut with pinking shears to prevent them from raveling. This gives nice finished edge and you don’t have to mess with bias tape.

06_BackofHolder — Back of Tissue Holder – Fussy Cut

Lastly, on one of the covers I fussy cut the fabric so that the floral motif was centered on the back of the tissue holder. Also, these are great stashbusters – you only need 2 scraps of fabric less than 8″ square for each one (and a packet of travel tissues from Target).

Here are some links to some other tutorials:

Sew Much 2 Luv has a fun tutorial that uses 4 scraps of fabrics.
The Distracted Domestic has a tutorial that is a variant on the method Sew Much 2 Luv uses – but it uses just one strip of fabric.
Whimwham at Craftstylish posted a tutorial that shows you how to add some fancy machine embroidery on the front. This is a great way to personalize the gift.
Craftapalooza at Whipup discusses her LAB technique for making these. She uses trim around the opening for a nice contrast.

What are your ideas for teacher gifts? I’m always on the hunt for more fun and easy projects.

Keep it Thimble!

Happy Belated Mother’s Day!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there and an extra special hug and kiss to my dear mom! I meant to get this posted yesterday, but time just gets away. I also noticed it’s been two weeks since my last post – shame on me!

MothersDayCard — Mother’s Day Card from my son

Here is what I had waiting for me when I woke up on Sunday morning. On the other side of the card my son had drawn the entire lifecycle of a butterfly from the egg – too cute!

I’ve found some great picture at the thrift stores recently. The first one is a print from 1954 by Ken Davies called “Dearest Dolls”. From a bit of research, it seems as if this was a print commissioned by Family Circle magazine. This is painted in what is known as trompe-l’œil–painting something so realistic as to make it appear like it is actually a three dimensional object. All of his subjects involve some form of Americana and after looking at his website, I wish I could have a whole houseful of his paintings!

CrossStitchKids — Cross Stitch, Pam Jersey, 1975

Here is another treasure I found, stitched by Pam Jersey in 1975. Her name is signed on the back of the frame. I’d like to get this cleaned, blocked, and re-framed and am tempted to find some vintage floss and stitch her name and date on the front. What do you think – is that cheating? This is going in my downstairs bathroom.

CrossstitchSampler — Cross Stitch Sampler, maker unknown

Finally, here is an old-fashioned cross-stitched sampler, no idea of the date or who made it. I figure it must be at least from the 60’s or 70’s…any ideas? This is a good reminder that you must always sign and date your work. You have no idea who might find it years later and really appreciate it.

Keep it thimble!

Pattern Sale – Radiant Folded Patchwork Star

Happy May Day! To celebrate, the Radiant Folded Patchwork Star and covered box pattern is on sale for $2.99.

Radiant Folded Star Pattern — Radiant Folded Star and Covered Box

You can use the Folded Star in a variety of ways – table toppers, covered boxes, clothing and accessory accents, and more!

This pattern includes full step by step directions for both a fabric covered box and a table topper. Photographs of key steps are also included.
These Folded Stars are fat quarter friendly, great stashbusters, and useful for scraps! Use Christmas fabrics to create a festive holiday table topper. Use pastels or batiks to create a striking storage box. Make a scrappy star to complement your latest quilt. The possibilities are endless! The pattern is easy to make and requires little sewing. This is a great project for kids and confident beginners.

Buy Now on Sale! $2.99

Buy now, sew today!

You are purchasing a PDF pattern which will be available for immediate download after purchase. After your payment is processed, you will be e-mailed a link from which you can download the pattern.

Keep it Thimble!