pumpkin gooey butter cake

Happy September!  While this month doesn't spell fall weather for Santa Barbara, I've got that autumn bug ... especially when it comes to food.   Bring on the pumpkin!

Gooey Butter Cake is a buttery, cream-cheesy cake that is traditionally baked in St. Louis, where I grew up.   You'll find it at any well-stocked picnic or pot luck event.  While on Pinterest the other day, I saw someone had made a pumpkin variety - be still my heart.  I had to try it out.   The recipe is the same as the traditional style, with a can of pumpkin and spices added.

Gooey Butter Cake (my friend Megan's recipe)

Crust:
1 Yellow Cake Mix
1 Egg
1 stick of butter, melted

Mix with fork, and press in bottom of 9x13 pan.

Top:
1 pound powdered sugar (4 cups)
1 package cream cheese, softened (8 oz)
1 stick of butter, very soft or melted
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Mix and pour over base.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes, or until set.  The center should still be slightly gooey.

Cool and serve topped with powdered sugar.  Delicious!  But not diet friendly.  :)

To make the pumpkin version, add one 15 ounce can of pureed pumpkin (plain pumpkin, not canned pumpkin pie), 1 tsp cinnamon, and 1 tsp nutmeg.

apron in an hour

Next month, the woman's organization at my church is having a retro-homemaking themed evening of activities.  Among the classes, I am leading a sewing class to make an easy apron.  These are my test runs ...

We are using the Apron in an Hour tutorial by Stop Staring and ... Start Sewing.  True to its name, it really only takes about an hour and is so cute (love the long sash for a front bow!). 

These two aprons are made with quilting weight cotton, so they are more for looks than function.  I'm going to look for some heavier fabrics for the real aprons.

Speaking of fabric, I can't tell you how much I love this print.  It is called Spring Street by Carolyn Gavin. 

If you are looking for homemade gift ideas for this Christmas, this apron is a great place to start -   thanks, Jona, for the fun pattern!

WWYM: mommy & me pajama pants

I'm excited to post today about a project I made for Lil Blue Boo's, What Would You Make series!  Ashley sent several bloggers two yards of a gorgeous floral print, and we were allowed to use it however we liked.  I loved the freedom of the challenge.

Does your fabric ever speak to you?  When I opened Ashley's lovely package, the pretty print told me it wanted to become pajama pants ... a pair for me, and a pair for baby Ruby.

I used a Made by Rae's Big Butt Baby Pants pattern for Ruby's pants and drafted a pattern for the mama-sized pj's from a pair I already owned.  For a comfy waistband on my pants, I opted for elastic thread.  There may need to be some adjustments here, since when I was attempting a little photo session, Ruby kept repeatedly pantsing me.  Apparently, a shirred waist is a little too flexible for my lifestyle with two busy toddlers.

Sweet pajamas, just like my girl.

Check out what the other talented bloggers made with this beautiful fabric:
Fabric Coasters by Ashley Ann of Under a Sycamore
Little Girl Romper by Ashley of Make It & Love It
Art on the Go kit by Julie of Joy's Hope

Visit Lil Blue Boo for a chance to win two yards of this gorgeous fabric.  What would you make?

getting settled

Are you still with me?  Sorry for the prolonged absence ... we moved to a new place over the weekend and life has felt very crazy.

The kids were busy scaling mountains of boxes in our old apartment ...

And I have been busily trying to get us unpacked and settled at the new house.  It is a lot of work!

Luckily, we have a pretty little backyard to explore, excavate, and keep little ones entertained.

We are all really tired, and more than just a little bit cranky, but this is how Oscar (all of us really) feels about our new digs:

Yesterday, Jared and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary.  Aren't we cute?

I was a child-bride, only 20 years old, and I thought Jared was spectacular.  Still do.  I love you, sweetie!

Check back tomorrow to see what I contributed to Lil Blue Boo's, What Would You Make series.

a special request birthday shirt

My sister-in-law asked me to help with a birthday shirt for my niece's Jessie-themed birthday party.  How could I resist?  While her only request was to have a big number two, I couldn't help but try to create a Jessie-style t-shirt.

I used the Sienna Dress Pattern by Lil Blue Boo, shortened to t-shirt length.  The yellow top of the shirt is appliqued by machine, I added some blue hand embroidery to the border (you can just barely see it on Jessie's shirt, but the stitching is there), and the red swirls and number are flocked Silhouette heat transfer material.

Very Jessie, don't you think?  I looked everywhere to find that swirly pattern for my shirt, but came up with nothing.  In the end, I just sketched it out myself.  After getting the shape right on graph paper, I traced it using a thick black sharpie and scanned the image into my computer.  Then I imported the graphic into my Silhouette software and traced the outline to get the perfect cut.

You have no idea how this t-shirt has the wheels in my head turning for Halloween.  Thanks to a hilarious suggestion from my husband, Ruby is going to be rocking an awesome costume this year (fingers crossed).

viva la fiesta outfit

This weekend, the good people of Santa Barbara are enjoying Old Spanish Days, a.k.a. Fiesta - a celebration of the city's Spanish heritage.  Jared asked me to make Ruby a little outfit for his work party, and this is what I came up with:

It is not the traditional Fiesta dress he was hoping for, but I thought something casual would get more frequent wear.  Besides, it does include all the three most important elements of a great Fiesta outfit:

1.  LOTS of ruffles - the more the better
2.  vibrant color, especially red
3.  pretty flowers

check, check and ... check.  Mission accomplished!

• The bloomers were made using Ruffle Fabric in Candy Cane and Dana's Perfect Diaper Cover pattern.  Before I sewed any seams, I serged all the cut edges of my Ruffle Fabric.  It really helped those wily ruffles stay in place and I didn't have to pin nearly as much.
• I made the top from part of a men's t-shirt, using guidelines from Dana's Summer Vacation Dress pattern (notice a trend here?  I may have a favorite blogger).
• The flower on the top and hair clip are made from the same t-shirt.  I cut long strips of connected scallops, and hand stitched them together in circular layers.

I'm off to eat copious amounts of churros.  Have a great weekend!

shirred bloomers (a.k.a. not a very exciting post)

I have a new favorite way of making bloomers/diaper covers:  elastic thread!

Do you hate making elastic casings, or is that just me?  Instead, I've been making bloomers out of jersey fabric and shirring the waist and leg openings with elastic thread. 

I use Dana's Perfect Diaper Cover pattern to cut the fabric (old t-shirts work great for this).  Before sewing the front and back pieces together, I sew two lines of elastic thread on the leg and three rows to the waist.  Then sew together at the sides and crotch and they are done, lickety-split.  You don't even have to fold over the seams on the openings, because jersey won't fray.  They take literally 10 minutes to make.  As a bonus, they are super stretchy, so I think they'll fit a long time.  Hurray for that.

That's all for today.  Hope you're having a great week!