Vanilla Update...and Smaller Recipe

Vanilla Update!

Well three months ago I made my first batch of homemade vanilla! I had been seeing recipes on the various blogs I follow for nearly a year....and I finally had the resources to start my first batch!

See I marked my kitchen calendar every month...so that I wouldn't forget to shake to jar (this was in my original instructions). However I have about decided that I need to put this notation on my desk calendar instead....I tend to look at that one daily...because I was busy outside all day I didn't get to it until today. I also need to put thing like when to water my plants down on that calendar! My Momma has this master list of things that she does on a monthly basis and beyond....I really need to start paying attention to stuff like that!

My jar of vanilla after three months! As you can see I have been marking off the months on my label when I go shake/check on my jar! That was one of my more brilliant ideas!

Now....for the new recipe! One of the rather daunting things for me about making this vanilla was finding vanilla beans that I could afford, that were good quality and would make the amount of vanilla that was required in my recipe....my recipe calls for 3/4 of a pound of beans! And when you go shopping the recommended beans are quite expensive! Another issue that I thought of...the normal person that cooks is not going to be able to use a GALLON of vanilla very quickly! I mean seriously....even me, a person that makes most things from scratch and cooks on a daily basis doesn't use that much vanilla in a year. The only reason I was willing to make this much was because I know I will be using it for Christmas gifts!

BUT I was reading the Ma/June 2011 issue of Cooking with Paula Deen...and looky what I found!

The same recipe cut down to just a cup of vodka and 2 or 3 vanilla beans!!! Woo Hoo...I was excited! It just never occurred to me to cut the recipe down to a more workable size! And that other up side...you can buy 2 or 3 of the REALLY good vanilla beans for a WHOLE lot less than you can buy 50 or so that the big recipe calls for!

The only real difference that I saw in Paula's recipe was that mine recommend the vanilla stay in a cool dark place for 6 months....hers says 2! Basically everyone says something different....and the truth of the matter is...the longer the beans stay in the vodka...the better and stronger your vanilla is gonna be! And even with this recipe you would have enough to share with a friend!!! So if you weren't to keen on the whole gallon of vanilla thing and just want to experiment before you commit yourself... try the following recipe!!!

Homemade Vanilla Extract
1 cup vodka (remember it can be the cheap stuff)
2 to 3 vanilla beans, split lengthwise (leave about 1/2" at top so bean stays together)

In a clean glass bottle or jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine vodka and vanilla beans. Seal and place in a cool dark place for at least 2 months before use.
Credit-May/June 2011 issue Cooking with Paula Deen

MMmmm...I am wondering if there are other extracts you can make homemade...gonna have to do some research! Anyone have any recipes???

God Bless,
Mama D

Mother's Day and A Day Working Cows!

Well Happy Mother's Day to all my fellow Mama's out there! I must say I had a great one!!! I spent most of the day Saturday cooking so that I could spend Sunday visiting and enjoying the day! My sweet hubby and baby Bear let me sleep in while they ran to Wal-Mart to pick out gifts and run by my favorite donut shop for breakfast! I then loaded up my van with all the goodies I had made on Saturday and headed to MY Momma's house to visit with her, my Grandma, Aunt Flossie, Uncle Monroe, Uncle David and cousin Billy Jack! We had lots to be thankful for and lots of people to fellowship with! It sure did help that Momma and I learned a long time ago to share the cooking responsibilities when we have lots of family in like that!

I even managed to wake up to an entirely clean kitchen on Mother's Day(I am not real good about keeping up with my dishes....I tend to clean Before I cook instead of After!), so waking up to all my dishes clean and them staying clean all day was really a treat for me! And I have some really cool pics...but I left my camera over at my Momma's house! I also took pics of all the cool things that I cooked on Saturday so that I could share them with you this week....and guess where all the pics are!?! So I will get my camera from my Momma in the morning and hopefully have some cool cooking posts to share with you the remaining of the week!

Today I had a entirely new experience.... I would describe myself as a girly country girl to most folks! I grew up with the mentality that when the menfolk were out working, I was to provide cold drinks and good hot food when they decided to come in the house...and otherwise keep myself in the house and out of earshot and harms way! Well things have changed around here and it is not like that anymore. I personally know one very amazing woman (whom I had the pleasure of working with today) that can work side by side with her husband and is not afraid of hard work. My own husband is slowly but surely encouraging me to be an active part of our family farm operation. Today I got to see first hand what all goes on vaccinating the cows and calves, as well as changing the bulls to steers!

This is one of our calves that got a little confused... I don't think he knew which way was up by this point!

I of course being 4 months pregnant was well protected while my husband, Daddy, and the couple that was kind enough to come and help us did all the hard work! I was given the task of keeping the paperwork from under a shade tree on a chair with a bottle of water! And my hubby and Daddy making sure I was okay ever so often! Everyone else did the hard work, while I sat on my tush! And then since it was supposed to hit over 100 degrees today I got sent in the house after about 4 hours! I also made it my job to make sure everyone stayed well hydrated! My guys tend to forget that little fact while out in the heat and then pay for it later...so whenever we had a break I put a bottle of water or Gatorade in their hands and made sure they drank!

When I got ran in the house I proceeded to set out lunch for everyone....sandwiches on homemade bread with all the fixing's! But I did find the whole process interesting! We (I say that very loosely) vaccinated all the cows, sprayed something in their ears and poured something on their backs! And that was the easy part! Then came the calves! Those had all that done to them, plus ear tags, and for all those little boys....well they got their minds changed for them....in the most humane way we possibly could! I am kinda glad I was pregnant for this round and just had to watch! It was hot, sometimes scary, sometimes frustrating work....and I had the easy job! And to think we have to repeat everything here in a couple of weeks!

And the adventures at our little farm just keep getting more interesting! I sadly lost six of my chickens this weekend due to a very well fed cat! Luckily we figured out what was happening before it got out of hand! And have now "fixed" the problem!

Hoping and praying everyone has a wonderful and blessed week!
God Bless,
Mama D

Mother's Day Gift!

Well as Mother's Day is coming in a few days...it's time that most people at least tell their Mother thank you for all that they are and have done in our lives! The older I get the more I appreciate and love my Momma! She is my best friend, my solid rock, my counselor, my greatest support system, my biggest cheerleader, my first love and so many other things that I would bore you to put them all on here! My Momma is very near and dear to my heart! We have had our normal family ups and downs, everyone does when somepeople have growing up to do (namely ME!) but through it all she is always there! So....that being said (wipe the little tear from your eye) I always like to do something special for my Momma for Mother's Day.

I will tell you my Momma is not an easy person to buy for! Run of the mill gifts just don't cut it with her! I mean cards, pretty flowers, balloons...she just looks at you and has this expression on her face like "I know I raise you with a more creative mind than that!" So my creative side tend to show and I always have to take my Momma's interests and hobbies into account when making her gifts!

I will tell you one thing...my Momma LOVES pictures! She was scrapbooking before scrapbooking was cool! She used to keep the wrapping paper from our birthdays and cut out cool things like Papa Smurf and Strawberry Shortcake to decorate our photo albums! And this year Momma requested that my brother, sister and I have group pictures made for her Mother's Day gift! Well due to life events and the fact that my brother lives 2 1/2 hours away....that hasn't happened yet.

She also loves flowers! But not the kind for in the house...she likes rose bushes for her flower beds around the house. And for the last couple of years I have bought her rose bushes for Mother's Day in different colors of course...I even put my brother and sister's name on the card (as Big Sis that's my job!). But this year I have already give her a rose bush for another reason...so I don't want to duplicate.

So what's a girl to do???

Well we wait for inspiration! And on Monday it came! I recieved a Mother's Day Gift Idea from the Pioneer Woman website!

This is a pendant called the Mother's Tree of Life. Each of the little beads represents your children and this is a pendant worn on a 18" chain. I thought this was cool...but not as jewelry...and of course my creative brain goes....I bet I can make that! I have wire, I have beads...all I need is a circle...mmmm....

So Mama D swings through the jewelry department at our local Wal-mart while grocery shopping and finds some really pretty bangle bracelets!

Now these came in a set...there were 2 wider and about 5 of the skinny one's like these...I went ahead and bought a little nicer set, because much to my delight I could actually fit my hand through the remaining braclets! (You discover cool stuff like that when you have lost alot of weight! It's really neat when it happens...I put them on and just jingled the rest of the day!)
I also went to my computer to do a little research! I knew just about everyone's birthstone in my family...but a couple of my guys! For some reason remembering my sister, mother and daughter's birthstone is easy....even my dads (mainly because it's also his favorite color!) But my brother and husband...I had never really thought about it! So...off I went!

Considering my Momma, I knew that just us kids would not be sufficent, #1 she would be insulted if I left off her grand babies, #2 my hubby Tool Man is just as much one of her kids as I am.....so I had to modify the concept of the Tree of Life. I made it more a family thing than a Mother's thing...but since I was making it...I could do that!

So I started out with about 10 pieces of sliver wire, cut about 12" long ( I wanted plenty of leeway) Now in my crafting I have found that you can't go wrong with a spool of silver floral wire. I can't afford to go the "real" sliver route, most of my stuff is what I can find locally, and considering it's not going to be worn, I really don't think it matters. However if you choose to make something similar...use what every you like or have available to you!

Sorry I forgot to turn the flash off on my camera...so the pics are not that great this time!

What is showing in this pic is that I started about 3" from the bottom of my wire and started wrapping one piece of the wire around the rest to form the trunk.

Not that you can see it...but I then separated my wire into twos, spread them out and wrapped them tightly around the bottom of my bangle bracelet. If you refer to the inspiration picture you will see the "roots" of the tree kinda spread out and it has all been wrapped as two pieces. Well I tried that, and thought it looked tacky, I tried doing two or three together and that looked tacky...I finally settled on just one strand at a time, working from the center out! the wrapping over lapped just a little, but not bad and I was able to control where my "roots" layed.

Okay...I now have my "roots" and my "trunk" all I need to add are the "branches"! First I strung beads representing my Momma and Daddy onto the trunk of the tree (because they are the base). Then I branched out with me and my hubby, on one set of branches, and our children on another, with my brother and sister completing the other side of the tree! This is were the creative part comes in...you try to make wire look like tree branches...doesn't really take skill...but it helps if you mess up a couple of times so that the wire is not straight! What you end up with is something that looks like this!

Now I left my wires in a manner that if Momma wants me to as we add members to our family we can add their bead! I already added the bead for our new little munchkin (due oct 17th)...but you know how kids are he/she may come in September or he/she could wait till November! Both kinda scary concepts for this Momma....but you never know???
The orginal inspriation piece was a piece of jewelry...as I used a bangle bracelet as the base...mine is a little big for that...so mine is meant as something to hang on a mirror or in a window! I am gonna let Momma decide what she wants to do with it and I will add the appropiate hanger! I see it with clear fishing wire hanging on her bathroom mirror so that she will see it everyday...or maybe suspended over the kitchen sink!

Now as my Momma is my biggest fan...and always reads my blog posts...I had to tell her she is not allowed to read this one till after Sunday lunch! It never fails that she and I cook together on Mother's Day! You would think our guys would have pity on us one year and cook for us!

Hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day Weekend! Oh this project only took me about 30 minutes to put together...so it would be great for one of those last minute gifts!!! Use your imagination and let what you have inspire you!
Total cost to me...not counting the materials I had on hand...about $8...but...I also got some really cool bangles out of the project!


God Bless!
Mama D

Proud Day For My Home Town

Today was a red letter day for my hometown! We were proud to host the First Lady of Texas Anita Perry! She was here to welcome us into the Texas Main Street Program. Something for which our town has been striving!

I was honored to play a small role in welcoming out First lady. I was asked to provide a tray of food for the reception held in Mrs. Perry's honor. After much deliberation and advice from family I decided on a tray of mini muffins. A smaller version of what I normally sell. I made Mini Banana Nut Muffins, Strawberry Nut Muffins and Mini Rolls.

After arranging and rearranging my tray and labeling everything I failed to take a photo....but I am sure that my friends here in our little town will let me know how it all worked out! I also intended on attending the ceremony, but this being Texas...the wind decided to blow all day! And my allergies being what they are ...even stepping outside to water my garden and feed and water the chickens gave me a terrible headache! So I decided that it would be best if baby bump and I just stayed home! I am looking forward to reading a full report in our Sunday's newspaper though!

Linky to Story

Above is a link to the story! Hope you enjoy!
God Bless,
Mama D

Updated Garden Pics

Well I have been super excited this week because my garden is just sprouting away!!! I got out tonight and took some more pics because I am so proud! Also my Daddy bought me some tomato and pepper plants to replace those that I lost last week due to my lack of knowledge and the wind/sand storm we had! We took extra care and placed 5 gallon buckets with the bottom cut out around each little plant! Looks kinda funny but both my Daddy and Daddy In Law say that it will do the trick!

My Corn and Squash!!! Daddy planted the squash with the corn??? Said they could grown in the same row....I just think I am gonna have a lot of squash!

Green Beans ....aren't they sweet?

Corn and green beans....theory is that pole beans will grow up corn stalks??? I am such a novice...I just do what I am told!

Baby Okra! Now my Carrots didn't come up...and this has happened another year...Don't know what it is about carrots....does anyone have any idea???

Tomato Plant in a bucket! All nice and protected!

All my buckets...with a plant in each one. Tomatoes and Bell Peppers and one Sweet Banana plant....I'm so proud!

Now this is Tool Man's experiment tubs...he took the extra seed that we had and put them in these syrup tubs (you have cows like we do....you have lots of syrup tubs). He got dirt....really good cow dirt aka cow poop...from the calf lot and used it pure. Not sure if this is too "hot" but we will see!

Hope you enjoyed the pics!
God Bless,
Mama D

Lemony Deliouciousness!

Lemon Delight!

As it is Easter weekend and time for family celebrations I have decided to share my super easy Lemon Delight recipe.

In my family everyone has a favorite dessert, Grandma likes cobblers, Daddy likes pies, Momma likes Chocolate cake, cookie bars or just plain ol' My Man Cookies, the teenager likes anything chocolate...and the list just goes on! I was asked to make the bread and dessert for today's lunch. And considering I am pregnant and have weird cravings I decided to indulge myself instead accommodating everyone else! I wanted something light, lemony and delicious!

So out came the recipe for my Grandma Edna's Lemon Delight! Now let me tell you, with just a little forethought this can be turned into an almost sugar free recipe....so dieters don't give up on me...this is one that you can make!!! You can also change the Lemon part to chocolate, butterscotch, pistachio.....whatever flavor of pudding you like!

Now here's what you do!

First start with a package of grahman crackers....I happened to have the kind with cinnamon on the tops of them but you can use plain or the kind that is already crushed in the box. (you'll need between 1 1/2 to 2 cups) I broke all of my crackers up and placed them in my food processor with about 2 tablespoons of sugar. Pulse until merely crumbs then add 1/4 cup of melted butter or margarine. Pulse to blend. Press into the bottom of a 9 X 13 casserole dish and bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.
Note*** Now ladies if you don't have a food processor and your a needing to work off a little frustration....just put those crackers in a Ziploc bag a go to beating the crap out of them....and as an added bonus you'll burn some extra calories...if it's your hubby your frustrated with take the roll pin to the bag...it seriously helps! My men folk know not to mess with me when I start banging stuff on the counter tops....I am generally miffed at one of them!

This is what it should look like after being baked and cooled completely!

Now you want to start on your next layer....while the crust is being baked and cooled set out one or two 8 oz. packages of cream cheese to soften. Now as high as cream cheese is right now ($1.99 at the local grocery store) you might want to catch this on sale and have it stocked in the freezer! When crust is cooled....place cream cheese in bowl with 1/2 to 1 cup of powdered sugar (depending on weather you use 1 or 2 pkgs. of cream cheese) and a small container of whipped topping. Now I use two packages of cream cheese, 1 cup of powdered sugar and the whole container of whipped topping...but I like that layer a lot and had all the ingredients....however you can half all that and come out just fine!
Note*** This is one of those variations times...you can use reduced fat cream cheese and fat free sugar free whats the point in eating it whipped topping and you could use splenda instead of powdered sugar....but really folks if you are making dessert....MAKE DESSERT!
Also you can stop here and top it with a can of Cherry Pie filling and call it an Easy Cheesecake....but be sure to double everything like I did or your cheesecake layer will be kinda skimpy!!!

Spread Cream Cheese mixture over your crust...try to get a smooth as possible for the next yummy layer!

Next you need two small packages or one large package of your favorite pudding! Yes you can use sugar free and skim milk! I used what was in my pantry! I personally can't tell the difference in sugar free pudding and regular....so I generally buy the sugar free variety! Mix your pudding according to the PIE directions and pour this over your cream cheese layer!
Note***to save washing another bowl I used the same bowl I mixed the cream cheese up in .....beaters and all...because I don't like doing dishes and don't mind those little bits of cream cheese floating in my pudding....but you do what you want!

At this point I put plastic wrap over it and placed it in the fridge for the pudding to set. I left it in there overnight and didn't put the final topping on till right before serving. This normally the best way to transport this dessert...because the pudding won't stick to the plastic wrap the way whipped topping does!
However if you are serving it at home....or soon after making you merely need to let the pudding set and top with whipped topping (a whole small container) before cutting into squares and serving!

My Momma took this picture of her piece before happily devouring it at lunch today! Then she found the spoon that I spread the whipped topping with and enjoyed that too....but was "too old" to just lick the spoon! Snicker Snicker! Makes me want to go dig into the extras....but I told myself there was enough left that we could have it for dessert tomorrow too! And that would save me from making Buttermilk pies!

My Easter Menu this year is....Ham (cooked in the crock pot with a apple juice and brown sugar glaze), Candied Yams, Green Beans or Broccoli and Cheese?? and Homemade Rolls! With my lovely left over Lemon Delight for dessert! What are you making or eating....whatever the case may be???

God Bless and Happy Easter!
Mama D

$5 Easter Dress for the Bear!

Hi Folks,
 Well let me tell you a little something about my Bear....she is chunky! Yes I am working on this....I do have her on a sort of diet...I watch her portions...try to make sure she eats healthy....I control her intake of sugar...but she is still chunky! And added to that she inherited her Daddy's chest! My 6 1/2 year old has a 38 inch chest! And it's not fat it's just that she is that thick in that area of her body. So pair that with the chunky factor....it is nearly impossible to find clothes that fit this child! I have had the hardest time the last two years find just basic school clothes! Now she is chunky enough I can't buy from the girl's section and the Junior department just scares me!

So......yet again I am grateful that I have a Crafty Momma that passed on her smarts and her genes when it comes to making stuff! My 6 year old loves to dress up on Sunday's! Now we go to a come as you are, dress up if you want to...but Jeans are fine kinda of church. So fancy dresses are not required. I normally get away with letting her wear a cute skirt and tee shirt on Sunday mornings....but this year the Easter Dress bug has hit my little girl! And she wanted a DRESS! I guess Momma did too because I started looking a good two months ago with no success! I finally decided that I would just have to make her one!

Unfortunately we live 50 miles away from the nearest fabric store and gas prices are high. So when I happened to be near a fabric store I was low on cash and when I had the cash I couldn't justify the gas money to get me there and back! Sigh! So what did I do....well I started digging in my material box! See one of my teenagers USED to be my little sister...and my Momma did sew for her occasionally...and when she got to big I got the leftover material that Momma didn't use..... But she only sewed for her when she was 3 or 4 years old and most of the pieces of material that I had were less than 2 yards!!

Yet another issue....mmm...what's a Mama D to do??? Well you start searching for patterns that use multiple pieces of material or ones that use less than what you have.....considering my chunky kid....I really didn't think that I would find one that took less than 3 or 4 yards of fabric.

Then the light bulb went off! I have always liked making my girls those tee shirt dresses! When the Bear was a little toot I made her several! All you need was a tee shirt and a yard of fabric that matched! Easy Peasy!

But I wanted to do something a little fancier for Easter.....so I decided to mix my tee shirt dress idea with a tiered (some people call them broomstick) skirt! And because my kid is chunky and we like to camouflage that as much as possible I wanted it to be high waisted (or empire waisted).

First off you have to do some math for your skirt. I measured my daughter's chest/bust line and used that as a substitute for the waistline measurement.
OK let me back up a bit ....if you make the skirt a separate piece you have to allow for a casing for the elastic and you measure from you person's waistline....I made a empire waisted dress and attached a premade tee shirt to the top as a bodice...so I started at her bust line!

You take your bust line/waistline measurement and double it. Bear's was 38 inches so it came out to be 76 inches. This is how big you want your first tier. For the second tier you double that first tier's measurement and the same for the third.

Now to get how wide to make each tier, you want to measure your person and find out how long you want your skirt. I wanted a 30 inch skirt so my tiers were 10 inches each.

I started with this tee shirt that I found at Walmart for $5! It fits my daughter well across the chest but is a little tight across the belly. So I decided a high waist that deemphized this area would be best!

I laid the tee shirt on my Rotary mat and measured three inches down from the bottom of the sleeve. That gave me plenty of seam allowance for attaching the skirt! Now just set that aside till later and save the bottom of the tee shirt for another project!

I found three pieces of material that I could use for this dress. I had a little less than a yard of this white piece and a little over two yards of a yellow piece and a green. Now the process and steps are the same for each piece of material so I am only going to write out these instructions once instead of repeating my self. If you have any questions please leave a comment and I will be happy to answer!
This first pic is showing that I cut just a little off the bottom of my piece of material to make sure it was even. This is always the first step I take anytime I use my rotary mat and cutter....if things are even in the first place it will save you a headache in the long run!

Then I cut as many 10" strips as I could out of each piece of material.
**Note....Most of you can skip the next step or two...since I was using what I had and didn't buy what I needed I didn't think I would have enough of each color to make my tiers so I was going to mix them to get enough....however when it came down to it I had enough to do each tier in a separate color....so I added some work to myself...but learned a neat trick in the process!

I then cut each strip into as many 10 inch by 11 inch squares that I could. As I said earlier I thought I was gonna mix them all up and the figured out that I didn't have too! I ended up with 16 white squares, 32 Yellow squares and 28 Green Squares.
***Note...OK I did make a mistake here....I should have made all my Green squares a little bigger to allow for the hem...I didn't so I just made do...I knew that if it looked too funny I could always add a little lace to the bottom! Mama D is NOT a perfectionist!!

OK now that I have all my cutting done....we need to start sewing. I have already explained how you figure out big around you need to make each tier. And since each of my squares was 10 inches wide....that made my job pretty simple. I just used 8 squares for my first tier (that's 80 inches and pretty close to the 76 that I needed...this is a gathered skirt so a little extra material just makes it fuller!), 16 squares of the yellow and all of the green!
**Now if you didn't cut all your strips apart like I did...you would just have to measure each strip and use as many as you needed to make your tier. Sew each strip together until you made a circle and follow the rest of the steps.
And yes I realize that 16 plus 16 is 32 and I had 32 yellow squares and only 28 green ones....but it just didn't look right with the green in the middle....and as I pointed out before...it's a gathered skirt...it will just be a little less full on the bottom...and it turned out plenty full!

I then sewed each square together to form my tiers. When all my tiers were formed ....I started assembling them. For this type skirt it is easier to work from the bottom up. And for those of you who have sewn in the past I did something entirely backwards....I started with my hem.

This is my Momma would shake her head, my Grandmother would be horrified and my Home EC. Teacher would have flunked me Hem. I am a lazy sewer....and I don't like handwork...if I can't do it on my machine I would really rather not do it at all....so I have come up with the following method of sewing a hem. First you run a Zig Zag stitch around the bottom of the garment. Heat up your iron and ironing board. then I take said garment and press the zig zaged portion of the hem up all the way around (about 1/4") then I go back and press a second time to get the depth of hem I need for the garment I am makings....this one I did about a 1" hemline. Now you can use your measuring doohickey and get this even all the way around....I just eye balled it...because in all my moving I have misplaced my measuring doohickey and my seam ripper! Then I take my garment to the sewing machine an straight stitch all the way around the top of my hem!  Quicker, Easier and much less time consuming than doing it by hand! You however create your hem however you would like!

Now you want to run your basting stitches (two of them) across the top of your tier. I learned the hard way that you want to do these in about 18" stretches....if you try to go half way around like I did on the first one...you will be pulling your hair out before you get them all gathered and pinned!
After basting you want to start by gathering you material just a little and pining it to the next tier. This is where mine being in 10" squares came in handy....it made getting everything onto the next tier easier because it was premeasured. I generally start by pinning the sides together, then I divide that in half and pin it at the half way mark...I continue doing this until I have my material in manageable sections. I then gather and pin each section as evenly as possible and when I get done it generally requires little adjustment!
When everything is pinned to your liking....sew a 5/8" seam all the way around the tier and finish the seam by Zig Zagging right next to it on the inside. Also remove you basting stitches.
You will repeat these instructions for tiers #2 and #1. #1 of course will be attached to the tee shirt! I also finish all my seams with a zig zag and trim each as needed to cut down on a little of the bulk around the tiers!
When I was done this is what my very happy little girl twirled around the kitchen with her proud Daddy looking on!

Please excuse the wet hair ....she had just gotten out of the bathtub!
Did I mention that this dress only cost me $5 for the tee shirt?? Well it did...even if you didn't have the fabric stashed away like I did it would only cost you a couple of yards of material and a little imagination. Of course the bigger the person the more material you will need. But my little one just loves her new Twirly Easter Dress that Mama made her...and Daddy just loved the price!

If you have any questions feel free to contact me....I am sorry for the lack of pictures on some of the steps...I got busy sewing and forgot to take pictures! Now I have to go get busy on some short for this kid! All the shorts I have found this season are too short....if they don't come down to her knees my 6 year old is not wearing them....but I am not gonna make her wear pants all summer! So I guess that BIG piece of denium I found the other day (I think I was gonna make a maternity dress out of it way back when) is gonna make my little girl some much needed shorts!

I hope you all have a very blessed Easter weekend!
God Bless,
Mama D