Catnip Toy: Bag of Feathers

Ginger loves feathers. She will usually pounce on and try to kill anything with feathers. She also loves catnip toys.

Ginger is a lucky cat, because, along with a large amount of scrap fabric, I have a bunch of feathers. I recently decided to make her a "bag of feathers". It only has a few feathers, but it looks like an open bag stuffed with them!

What you need
a piece of fabric that is about twice as long as it is wide
needle and thread
pins
fiberfil stuffing
feathers
catnip
scissors

What you do

With the wrong side facing out, fold the fabric almost in half (leave an inch or two free on one end)  and pin along the sides. Hand sew the two sides together. Turn right side out. You should now have a small bag with a flap that has raw edges.

Make a small hem along the top of the flap. Sew it down.

Fill the bag with a mixture of fiberfil and catnip. Pin the raw edge of the bag down with the edge tucked under. Place some feathers between the pins. Hand sew the bag closed.

You should now have what looks to be an open bag of feathers!

This toy has been inspected and approved by Ginger: (the color is off because I'm still not sure how to use this camera!)

Wordless Wednesday: Rose of Sharon Hibiscus

Evil Mini Muffin Variation

I believe that the only way to properly investigate the evilness of mini muffins is to consider every possible (good tasting) form these muffins take on. Today, we will take a look at streusel cake (aka coffee cake) mini muffins.

These turned out well and nothing strange happened during the baking process. Everyone seemed to enjoy them except for my boyfriend. He kept telling me how terrible they were, yet he couldn't stop eating them. I do believe that is a result of the pure evilness of the mini muffins! I offered to just throw them away for him, but he said he would do it later.

Streusel Mini Muffins (Printer-friendly PDF Version)

The base of the muffin is the same as before with a few minor variation. First, don't add the banana. Second, add 1/4 C more milk and 1t more vanilla. Mix according to the instruction.

Streusel topping:
1/3 C flour
1/3 C brown sugar (packed)
1/2 t cinnamon
2 1/2 T butter (chopped into bits)

Combine the flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Mix well. Add the chopped butter. With a fork, cut the butter into the sugar mixture until well combined. It will be crumbly and kind of moist. Set in refrigerator until ready to use.

Grease the mini muffin pan. Place a spoonful of batter into each cup (fill each cup 3/4 full). Place half a spoonful of streusel topping on top of the batter in each cup. Add more if you want to. Gently press the topping down.

Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes. The tops won't brown, but the sides and bottom will.

This makes approximately 44 mini muffins.

Reintroduction to Quills

I found my quill pen set today. What? What do you mean not everyone has a quill pen set, multiple colors of ink, and two different shades of parchment paper? I think you are confused. That is a very common set of objects for people to possess.

Unfortunately, all but three colors of ink are dried up. I have black, green, and purple. The green is a bit dry, making it difficult to write with. Writing with a quill pen isn't the easiest thing to do to begin with, so non-optimal ink isn't a great way to reintroduce yourself to the writing utensil.

Anyhow, I pretended to make some greeting cards. They are rather plain since I don't own any stamps and I didn't feel the desire to attempt to draw anything on them.

The entire process made me want to learn calligraphy. My "fancy" handwriting is just the writing I use when decorating cakes. 

This was a nice and simple way to start off with the quill set. I can't remember what the different nibs do to the writing. I suppose I will have to do some research on that at some point.

If you are interested in obtaining a quill pen set, here are a few places for you to purchase one:

These are also a neat and non-feathery version: Glass Dip Pens

Wordless Wednesday: Sleeping Zoo Animals

Aren't sleeping animals just adorable? These pictures were taken at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. Visit them at www.clemetzoo.com Click the images for a larger view :)