more sheet

I think maybe I should learn to sew the right way after all. I made the pattern for this little dress, fully lined, but didn’t have enough wits to sew it together in the right order. Which meant it was very fiddly and involved using the seam ripper just a tad more than the actual sewing machine. To top it off, there was a bad pucker by one armhole, and I think I made it too short! Other than that, it is lovely because it is being worn by The Sweetest Baby in the World and makes her look just like a little Hobbit.

Note that it is made from that old sheet so it will match the pockets of everybody’s shorts when they are finally all finished (two more to go, at which point I will most likely be Done Sewing For Awhile.)

We are really saving the planet today! Not that it matters, because this past week the planet is working overtime to uglify herself despite my efforts with the sheet. Wild fires in the hills surrounding us have turned the pastoral landscape into the blackened cliffs of Mordor. The night breeze blowing in smells like the monsters under the kids’ beds have all taken up chain smoking. It is sweltering hot and dusty and smokey, the perfect time to fire up the oven! (Well, the heat may have hastened the ripening of those bananas.) This especially good recipe makes one moist, golden loaf. But if you can’t take the heat, please stay out of the kitchen!

Banana Bread

• 1/3 cup shortening
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cup sifted flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup buttermilk

Mix first five ingredients. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and add, alternately, with buttermilk. Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake at 350° F. for about 1 hour.