Rhubarb Time

Today I was at my sister's acreage and we harvested the rhubarb. That means that I can make my three favorite rhubarb things.
The first is rhubarb sauce.  I simply cook 4 cups of rhubarb in 1/3 cup water and 1/2 cup sugar.  Sometimes I add a tablespoon of lemon juice but not always.  Cook for 5-10 minutes until the rhubarb is tender.  Serve warm over pound cake or the very best is to serve it over chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.

The other two rhubarb things includes a favorite cake that my friend Cheryl Kolar often made. It was a signature dish that she enjoyed making.  The crusty sugary topping made the cake unbelievably good.  Whenever I make it or eat this dessert, I think of Cheryl.  I have renamed the recipe in her honor - CK's Rhubarb Cake.

The cake is quick and easy to make.  It is delicious made using either fresh rhubarb or frozen. Moist and great made into muffins and served as a breakfast pastry.

Jellies and jams are quick and easy to make and make great gifts for the holidays.  And nothing beats the taste of fresh jams or jellies.  So much more flavor than commercial products.

And check out the recipe for rhubarb crisp that is a family favorite and another quick easy recipe.  

Rhubarb - 'Tis the Season at  http://bit.ly/rhubarbtime2

And then while we are at it read a book or two about strawberries (can't find any about rhubarb).

Cook-A-Doodle-Doo by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel.  And you may wish to make the magnificent Strawberry Shortcake.  http://mcbookwords.blogspot.com/2011/12/little-red-hens-magnificent-strawberry.html

Other books include: 

The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood

 and
Little Sister and Month Brothers by Beatrice Schenk deRegniers, with illustrations by Margot Tomes. -- in this book Little Sister is sent out to gather strawberries during the month of February.  This is a Ukrainian folktale that includes motifs similar to those in the Cinderella tale.

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Cite this article:

McElmeel, Sharron. (2018, May 17). Rhubarb Time. Green Frog Gifts (Blog). http://bit.ly/rhubarbtime

 Visit Greenfroggifts on Etsy 

Spring Time Is Just Ducky: Sewing and Books

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One of my favorite classic titles is Ducky by Eve Bunting with illustrations by David Wisnewski (Clarion/HMH, 1998).  I actually have the original art work for the cover of this book, in my "art gallery."  The title is still available in paperback.  Two of my other favorites are by my friend Toni Buzzeo, Dawdle Ducking, with illustrations by Margaret Spendler (Dial, 2003).  There is a sequel, Ready or Not, Dawdle Duckling (Dial, 2005).  If you are interested in ducks you may want to go to Toni's site and download her "Teaching About Ducks" list of sites about ducks https://www.tonibuzzeo.com/EDUCATORS_files/teachingaboutducks.pdf 

But meanwhile these books gave me inspiration for transforming a set of plain white towels into a housewarming gift for a family with a small child.  This set is child worthy.

This is a standard set of towels: two bath towels, two hand towels, and two wash cloths.  I got these at Target.  They are soft and the bath towels are generous in size (30 inches x 54 inches) and 100% cotton.









We have a pattern that you can access here.
There is a list of items needed, on the graphic to the left.  The large (JUMBO @ 1.5 inches wide) rickrack is difficult to find but you can order it from the Ribbon Retreat in a variety of colors.  You might find it locally for less.

Using the HEATnBOND LITE® we stabilized a piece of yellow plush large enough to cut out two ducks and two wings.  Remove the HEATnBOND from the back of one wing, iron it on one duck.  Do the same for the orange beak. Then position the duck on the towel, and press the duck onto the towel.  Use a satin stitch (orange thread on the top and match the towel color in the bobbin) to go around the beak.  Replace the orange thread with yellow and satin stitch around the wing.  Then while the yellow thread is in the machine use that thread to blanket stitch around the duck (skip sewing around the beak as that is already adhered to the towel.

Once the duck is on the towel we are ready to add the bubbles and the water (rickrack).  I used the ends of three different sized thread spools as the guide for cutting out three different sizes of circles.  Before beginning I stabilized a strip of blue plush (the width of the piece of fabric), approx. 44 inches long and 2 inches high.  On the white backing of the stabilized fabric I drew the circles and cut 2 large ones, 2 medium, and 2 small ones for each towel.  I cut four circles for the hand towels, and three for each of the washcloths.  Place the circles randomly, in an upward stream - largest at the bottom.  Once the placement pleases you, remove the adhesive backing, iron the circles/bubbles onto the towel, and then stitch them down, using matching blue thread as the top thread, and the towel matching color in the bobbin.  Use a blanket stitch to sew these circles/bubbles down onto the towel. Then sew on the circles/bubbles onto the wash cloths and the hand towels.
The final sewing step is to sew on the rickrack.  You will need approximately 1/2 yard for each bath towel.  Sew the light blue rickrack first - seam it on one side, turn and pin horizontally across the towel.  The rickrack should be positioned in such a manner that the duck appears to be swimming in the water.  When you reach the other side, Fold a piece of the rickrack under and top stitch so frayed edges do not show.
Then replace the light blue thread with dark blue to match the dark rickrack and sew on the dark rickrack in the same manner that you did with the light blue rickrack.  Position the dark blue rickrack in such a manner that it almost interlocks with the lighter piece.
The final sewing item is to create the eye on the duck.  Put black thread in the top and use a stitch that you would normally use to sew on a two-hole button.  Repeat the stitching so the black thread makes a significant eye on the duck.  Repeat with the second duck.  Finally...

The very last thing you should do is to find some great ducky books to tuck into the package.  In addition to the classics I cited above here are a few more that you might consider.

 

Additional titles suggested by readers

Of course the very popular and classic title, winner of the 1942 Caldecott Award.

If you have a great ducky book to add to this list, please cite it in the comments section.

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Visit Greenfroggifts on Etsy for the latest choices.

Order cookie cutters, aprons, and baker's cloths from Green Frog Gifts -- unique gifts -- many $10.00 or under.

Gingerbread - just in time for the holidays

Gingerbread

Here is a centuries-old favorite recipe for gingerbread.  Share the gingerbread and these books.

Brett, Jan. Gingerbread Baby. Putnam, 1999.
Brett, Jan. Gingerbread Friends. Putnam, 2008. 

Galdone, Paul. The Gingerbread Boy.. Clarion, 1979

Aylesworth, Jim. The Gingerbread Man. Illustrated by Barbara McClintock. Scholastic Press, 1998. 32 pages. ISBN: 0590972197; Cartwheel Books (Storyplay) edition, ISBN: 978-1-338-18734-2.

For more information about sharing variations of the Gingerbread Boy or Gingerbread Man story go to author Jim Aylesworth's website and his curriculum connections page for The Gingerbread Man -  http://www.ayles.com/gingerbread2.html 

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Order cookie cutters, aprons, and baker's cloths from Green Frog Gifts -- unique gifts -- many $10.00 or under.

Cranberry Thanksgiving (Recipes)

I love the 1970's classic title Cranberry Thanksgiving by Wende and Harry Devlin.  The book includes a wonderful recipe for Cranberry Bread.  Right now PURPLE HOUSE PRESS www.purplehousepress.com  which has reissued this classic is offering a free tote with the purchase of either a book from the Cranberry series or an Old Black Witch title (my favorite there is the Old Black Witch and the Polka Dot Ribbon which includes the recipe for Magic Nut Bread.)

Meanwhile here are two more great cranberry recipes... 

Connecting - Books with Baby Gifts

Owls and Bears and Elephants

A few weeks ago my friend found out that her nephew and his wife were expecting their first children - twins, a girl and a boy.  Now I don't normally subscribe to the idea of pink for girls and blue for boys but the mother-to-be was going to decorate the joint nursery using an owl decor and I found just the right fabric.
On the back side of the pink and grey fabric I used a pink rosette minkie and on the backside of the blue and grey fabric I used a grey velour smooth minkie.  Both were soft and cuddly.  I lightly quilted each of the blankets and bound each with a variegated binding of either pink or blue.

I made two cloth bibs to coordinate with the pink blanket and two more to coordinate with the blue blanket.  I appliqued larger owls on each of the flannel bibs.  Since I thought burp cloths would not be child specific I created four burp cloths that used pink, blue, and grey fabrics with an applique of owls that mimicked the owls appliqued on the bibs.

The final piece for this package was to identify books that would contribute to the overall theme.  I did not want to chose stuffed owls or books about owls - that would be too obvious.  So I selected two books each by Philip C. Stead (author) and Erin E. Stead (illustrator).  The first book was A Sick Day for Amos McGee which was award the Caldecott Award in 2011.  In that book a small owl appears as one of the animals that follows the zookeeper home, and later follows the zookeeper's wife back to the zoo.  The second book is Bear Has a Story to Tell.  While an owl does not appear here the fall tree certainly seems to be a perfect home for an owl to spend its days or nights.  Erin E. Stead actually uses an owl as her logo on her website.

Stead, Philip C. (2012) Bear Has a Story to Tell.  Illustrated by Erin E. Stead. Roaring Brook Press.
Stead, Philip C. (2010) A Sick Day for Amos McGee.  Illustrated by Erin E. Stead. Roaring Brook Press.

With the Amos McGee book I added a stuffed elephant with a blue ribbon around it's neck; and the stuff bear received a pink ribbon around it's neck.

Arranged in a wicker basket the gift basket was ready to give.  The last item to be inserted was the Read Aloud brochure that is the standard insertion for all gifts created and given to young families.


The goal of the brochure -  http://mcbookwords.com/resources is to encourage parents to read to their children – regardless of age (Read Aloud brochure) and to encourage young parents to make their house a “book house.”