Blue Jeans

Maggie got a copy of Tangled for Easter.  As a result we've been watching the movie on a regular basis on these rainy afternoons when the kids have been restless and normal activities are not occupying their time.

Today, after swimming lessons, while Maggie is eating peanut butter crackers, we have this conversation:

Maggie:  Can I play Barbies in my room after Whitaker wakes up from his nap?


Me:  Sure you can.

Maggie:   Momma.  I need to get thin wire.


Me:  Um, Ok.  Why?


Maggie (in a haughty, you ought to already know tone):  You know!  For blue jeans.


Me:  Wait?  Who's blue jeans.  Why do you need thin wire for blue jeans?


Maggie:  For Rapunzel


Me:  Oh, you mean your horse?  Did you name her Blue Jeans ?  (here I was thinking I was cleverly catching on to her train of thought by remembering that in the Hannah Montana movie, she has a horse named Blue Jeans so I thought Maggie had named her Barbie horse Blue Jeans).  What are you going to do with thin wire and Blue Jeans?


Maggie:   I need Blue Jeans so he can marry Rapunzel


Me:  I still don't understand why you need thin wire!?


Maggie, thoroughly exasperated with me:  Mooooommmmmaaaaa!  Thin Wire is Blue Jeans.  That's hims real name in the movie.  When he's a stealer, he's Thin Wire, when he's gonna marry Rapunzel, he's Blue Jeans.




 Let me introduce to you Flynn Rider also known around our house as Thin Wire.  His real name is Eugene  or around our house he's Blue Jeans.

I'm so thankful I can count on my kids to provide some comic relief to my day.  I wish I could capture in printed word the frustration, irritation and exasperation in Maggie's tone as we were having this discussion.

I'm trying not to think about the fact that in just a few short years, she may be speaking to me in that tone all the time.

In case you were in need of some more clarification about the characters of Tangled and all things Disney:

 the horse in Tangled is named Mass-i-mus.  


Cinderella  has a fairy godmudder because fairy godmudders are good.  


It turns out that Mother Gothel, the woman who steals Rapunzel from her Royal parents, is a Fodder-god-mudder.  Fodder-god-mudders are bad.  


I'm glad we don't have any Fodder-god-mudders around here.  

Schwalmish

Our family is a little enamored with the Amish.  We are lucky to live in an area where there are still a few Amish communities relatively close and we take advantage of their proximity by visiting many of the communities and purchasing goods from them.  Walker's loft bed was made by a friendly Amishman, Christ Miller.

We got our play house at an Amish fundraising auction.  These types of auctions can be found almost every Saturday of the summer.  Most often, the auctions are used to raise money for Amish communities to use toward community needs - to raise a barn that had been destroyed by fire, to build a new schoolhouse, and most often, to raise funds to pay for medical bills for a family.  My mother in law first introduced me to these auctions and she was the one put in charge of finding the playhouse.  I frequently give her a list of items I'm looking for and most Saturdays I keep my cell phone handy waiting for a text asking how high I'm willing to go on a certain item.  The play house was an amazing steal - we got it for thousands less than we would have paid to buy one in a kit at a box store or to even buy the materials and build it ourselves.  Thankfully, Erik had the tools to get it home (a truck and large flatbed trailer) and we moved it right in pretty easily.  It's been a dominant feature in the children's play just about every day and it serves as a great dog house for our pack of farm dogs!

From applebutter to rag rugs, we turn to the Amish for a lot of things at our house.  One thing that I've become envious of as we drive around Amish country and visit the businesses in search of some goodies is their clotheslines.  Many of the women have extraordinary clothes lines that start at the back door and are strung up to a tall tree a hundred feet or so away.  The lines are on a pulley system so all the launderer has to do is step outside the door with the dirty clothes, pin them on the line and pull the opposite line to get the clothes to climb up the pulley and hang in the breeze.  

Erik actually bought me the tools we would need to create such a line for Christmas.  The bag of stuff has sat on a shelf in the decorative Christmas bag for months until this past week when we had to take the old clothesline down in order for Erik to dig a large hole in our back yard to prepare for the installation of a fun summertime toy.  

Erik had borrowed an extension ladder from our neighbor, a general contractor, in order to plug a hole in our house pecked out by a woodpecker.  As he was filling the hole with expandable foam insulation, I said, "Hey!  While we have this ladder, why don't we put up the new clothes line?"  So he did!  He attached one pulley to a sturdy cherry tree out in the woods (after clearing some poison ivy off the left side of the tree - you can see in the picture that the trunk V's about  feet up).  

 He then attached a second pulley to the side of the house about six feet above the deck.

Thankfully, we had some beautiful days last week and I was able to hang some clothes outside.  The first day I hung clothes out, I didn't have enough clothespins, so I had to make do with what I had, but I have to admit I was very disappointed that I didn't have enough clothespins.  

I got more clothespins now and I think I'll have enough space to hang almost all of our bedsheets at once!  

I can't wait for the sunshine to finally arrive so I can test my new Schwalmish clothesline to the fullest!

Farm Fresh is ALWAYS Best!

I haven't had to buy meat from a grocery store in years (going on 5 years) now.  We get all of our beef, pork, poultry, etc., by raising our own or by purchasing it from a local farmer and having it processed at a local butcher.

I am low on beef and pork now and I saw in a local grocery store ad that they had pork tenderloins for $3.99 a pound which I thought was a good deal.  Given the rising cost of groceries in general, I was psyched to find such a good deal.  Add to the good deal the fact that I needed to have some pork on hand for some upcoming meals I was planning, it seemed like a win-win situation.  Normally, I am strict about buying locally, but I figured since we don't have enough cash on hand yet to buy and process the entire hog, I would get by with purchasing some grocery store meat.  Since I haven't done it in five years, it seemed like an OK plan.

I purchased the pork tenderloin on Monday.  The "sell by" date was 5-11-11.   I opened the vacuumed sealed pork the morning of 5-12-11 to find a slimy rancid piece of pork.

After sticking my nose into it a few times, hoping each time that I would come up with a different result, I had to finally admit that the meat was spoiled.  I grabbed a baggie from the drawer to put the meat back in so I could return the meat to the store and as I was grabbing the packaging to show the manager, I realized that there were actually TWO stickers on the package.  One was overtop of the other.  I held the package up to the light and was able to see through the label that the first "sell by" date was actually 5-5-11.

Infuriated that the store did that, I went online to research whether that practice was illegal and it turns out it IS NOT!  According to the USDA website:


What is Dating?
"Open Dating" (use of a calendar date as opposed to a code) on a food product is a date stamped on a product's package to help the store determine how long to display the product for sale. It can also help the purchaser to know the time limit to purchase or use the product at its best quality. It is not a safety date. After the date passes, while not of best quality, the product should still be safe if handled properly and kept at 40 °F or below for the recommended storage times listed on the chart (see below). If product has a "use-by" date, follow that date. If product has a "sell-by" date or no date, cook or freeze the product by the times on the chart below.

[Top of Page]

Is Dating Required by Federal Law?
Except for infant formula and some baby food (see below), product dating is not generally required by Federal regulations. However, if a calendar date is used, it must express both the month and day of the month (and the year, in the case of shelf-stable and frozen products). If a calendar date is shown, immediately adjacent to the date must be a phrase explaining the meaning of that date such as "sell-by" or "use before."

There is no uniform or universally accepted system used for food dating in the United States. Although dating of some foods is required by more than 20 states, there are areas of the country where much of the food supply has some type of open date and other areas where almost no food is dated. 

Refrigerator Storage of Fresh or Uncooked Products Product Storage Times After Purchase Poultry 1 or 2 days Beef, Veal, Pork and Lamb 3 to 5 days Ground Meat and Ground Poultry 1 or 2 days Fresh Variety Meats (Liver, Tongue, Brain, Kidneys, Heart, Chitterlings) 1 or 2 days Cured Ham, Cook-Before-Eating 5 to 7 days Sausage from Pork, Beef or Turkey, Uncooked 1 or 2 days Eggs 3 to 5 weeks

According to these guidelines, I should have had three to five more days to cook the meat based on the date that was clearly visible on the package!  


Obviously, I'm going to return the meat to the store and demand a refund and strongly  suggest that they stop re-labeling meat and selling it to the public.  When I think of the ways things could have gone wrong - what if I was an inexperienced cook who did not know that slimy, smelly meat meant it was spoiled? It's scary!  What if I had still had a head cold and hadn't been able to smell the putrid odor coming from the pork?  it is irresponsible for that grocery store to sell items that could be a health hazard.


One of the issues that modern day farmers have great debate over are situations like this.  It is only common sense that small farmers must practice ethical, safe and healthy ways of farming in order to build a reputable business.  Unfortunately, there are TONS of rules and regulations that small farmers must follow, hoops to be jumped through, and red tape to cut in order for a small farmer to have a successful and profitable business.  However, the government has less strict standards for larger industries.  If you boil it all down, what most farmers feel is that they are paying (literally) to be allowed to farm and larger farming institutions (and those related to those larger institutions such as grocery stores) are able to do whatever they want without the same standards.  Larger farming institutions are not hurt  if one of their product is substandard, but if one of our products is substandard, it hurts our reputation and our business for a very long time.  


Additionally, paying the fees required for certain classifications within the USDA guidelines are more than most small farmers can pay when they are starting up a business.  Most of the farmers I know practice many components of farming that would be considered "organic." However, having a farm certified organic is often such cost to a farm that any profit that would come from obtaining the certified label would be more than they could spare.  


Now, I'm not saying that buying organic is not a good option.  As I've said in other posts, these words are just my opinion, and should be recognized as such.  I am not an expert, I'm just telling you the experiences I've had as someone (relatively new) in the agriculture industry.  In terms of the purchases for my family, it is more important for me, right now, to buy products that are grown locally.  Especially beef, pork, and chicken.  Right now we are in the process of raising our own chickens again.  We have also purchased Berkshire pigs but the sows are being raised to be breeding stock, so it will be a while before we have Goodness Grows Pork available for our own consumption and sale, but in the mean time, we have a friend that raises beef  and pork so we will be purchasing beef and pork SOON!


If you are looking for a local farmer to purchase product from, talk to your friends and neighbors and see what they are doing.  Stop at a local feed store like an Agway or something like that and ask if they know of anyone who is raising animals for sale.  Produce farmers are a little easier to find because of the recent rise to popularity of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and Farmer's Markets.  Lots of times, if the farmer you contact doesn't have something you are looking for, he or she will know someone that they can refer you to.  And you can be happy because you are buying a product that is healthier for you and you are supporting your local community.  


My main motivation in purchasing the pork loin was that it was CHEAP. I have officially learned my lesson. I'll be taking my refund from the chain store grocery, running to my local butcher who only sells LOCALLY RAISED beef, pork and chicken, and buying a new piece of meat.  Sure, it will be a little pricier, but I will be getting the quality that I'm paying for.  And that is worth more than anything.  

Al Fresco

We did something tonight that we haven't done in a long time.

It was a little bit risky.  It was something we used to do all the time.  It didn't involve much clothing.

We even let the kids join us.

We finally got to eat our dinner outside on the deck!

No long sleeves, not coats, not hats, mittens or snow pants.  Boots were still involved, but boots are a staple of our clothing at the farm.  

It was amazing!

It was one of those glorious days where the temperature was perfect, the sunshine was so very welcome, and being outside was truly a joy.  The kids played outside all day, which made me VERY happy because I had forgotten how clean my house can stay when NO ONE IS INSIDE ALL DAY!  Woo-hoo!  I did a few chores with limited interruption, was able to start a few projects as well as enjoy a little time outside.  Hooray!

I could really get used to this.

The only drawback of the day?  An annoying woodpecker pecking the side of our house waking us up early!   As Maggie said, "Yeah, that woodpecker kept me up ALL morning!"  He sure did make sleeping difficult, and I am afraid he may have done some damage to our  lovely exterior.  Obviously, he couldn't damage the look of the house, but I do think he managed to put a good hole in the insulbrick.    Of course, it had to be on the side of the house where reaching the 2nd floor  is all but impossible without some sort of bucket truck.  I have a feeling he'll be visiting us again tomorrow morning and then my day will include a trip to Agway to see if I can buy one of those silly plastic owls to hang out of Maggie's window in the hopes of scaring the woodpecker away.  The frustrating part is that it's not like we aren't surrounded with 20 acres of woods, some of which we specifically avoided timbering so that we could provide an ecosystem for the variety of animals already in residence on our property.  We have on tree in particular that we've seen many redheaded woodpeckers utilize but not this guy.  

It looks like tomorrow will shape up to be very similar to today.  I can't wait.  I'm hoping Erik will have time to finish this big hole he started to dig in the back yard.  Details regarding the hole to come soon!

Lyrics and Lessons

I listen to Country music.  That's probably fairly obvious given my lifestyle.  But I mostly like it because the lyrics usually tell some pretty in depth stories in just a few short verses and I LOVE a good story.  Also because it is a "mainstream" genre where artists/writers are able to inject their stories with their beliefs without being rejected as "wacko" and without them being overly religious.  I'm sure there is more to the process than what comes out on the radio, but as a general listener, I'm pretty impressed at how many songs with beliefs make it to radio.

Having said that, one of the songs that has been getting a lot of air play lately is Keith Urban's "Without You."   Although not one of the aforementioned types of songs, it is a sweet love song.  One of the lyrics of this song is "And people that I barely knew, they love me 'cause I'm part of you, Man it's tough to figure".  This lyric has been resonating with me a lot in the last few weeks, thinking about how I've been so embraced into our new church home because the people there that I barely knew, knew or knew of my husband and just accepted me because of him.  It's happened within my book club with girls, some I knew very well, some not so much, who have just clicked and bonded in a way I could have never dreamed.  In a matter of a few months, we've become an additional support system for each other - one that feels like it's been there for a lifetime, not just a few months.

Tonight, it was personified for me - people who love me just because were there for me, so I could in turn be there for a friend.

It shouldn't be surprising that this lyric resonates, because at it's core, it is part of the gift Christ has given us with His sacrifice dying on the cross and His resurrection.  I'm part of a larger family because of my belief in Christ.  I shouldn't be surprised when someone I barely know does something out of love for me, because it is a reflection of Christ and his love for us.  It seems very strange for me, as a girl who grew up in the church, to finally be "getting" this, but it has been resonating so deeply for me of late.  I don't know if it because of my age, my life experiences, or just becoming more educated in the Word, but I'm so thankful for this insight.  The understanding is allowing me to be more generous with my time and energy and also to be more accepting and thankful of other's gifts of time and energy.

The thing I needed to do tonight would have never happened if people I loved hadn't been there for me to take care of the things I needed cared for while I helped a friend, that they barely knew.  My belief is that it all fell into place because God had his hand on the situation opening the doors that needed opened and filling us all with His love so that we could show His love.

So Proud

Today was report card day.

I'm so proud of my boy!

Back Yard Jelly

Many years ago I was introduced to violet jelly.  Someone brought it to work and it was a tasty little jelly with the most amazing violet color.  More recently, a local craftswoman I met mentioned she makes the violet jelly and sells it at farmers markets and specialty stores and it demands what I thought to be a rather high price.  The wheels started turning in my head and I thought maybe I should try my hand at making the jelly and if it turned out, maybe I could market "Goodness Grows Farm Violet Jelly."

The April showers have brought a plethora of violets to our yard here at Goodness Grows Farm, so I decided to try my hand at making it.  This little section of yard is what inspired me.  It was dotted with the tiny purple violets that are so pretty but so fleeting.

I did what probably a lot of American farmwives do now a days and I Googled "Violet Jelly."  The first site that came up was Prairielandherbs.com  .

Under their recipe section I found:  Prairie Land Herbs Violet Jelly.

The recipe is as follows:

2 heaping cups of fresh violet petals (see note below) 2 C boiling wter 1/4 C well-strained, clear lemon juice 4 C sugar 3 oz liquid pectin (Certo) NOTE: Look for fully opened flowers, not partially opened buds, for better color and more intense flavor.

Wash petals well, drain and place in heat-proof glass or nonreactive bowl. Pour boiling water over petals and let steep from 30 minutes to 24

hours. It usually takes about two hours for violets. Strain through a fine sieve, reserving the clear, purplish liquid or infusion. If not using

immediately, refrigerate up to 24 hours.

Place jars and lids on rack in pan or stockpot deep enough to cover them with about two inches of water, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer, keeping the jars hot until ready to fill.

To make the jelly, stir lemon juice and sugar into reserved infusion in a two-quart nonreactive or stainless steel pan. Bring to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down. Add the liquid pectin and continue to boil two minutes, skimming any foam that may rise to the surface.

 Ladle quickly into jars to within about 1/8 inch from the top; clean each rim and threads of the jar as it's filled, and place flat lid and ring on each before filling the next.Place the jars in a hot-water canning bath and boil for 10 minutes (or the appropriate time for your area). After canning, carefully check to make sure the lids have all sealed. 

Sealed jars will last up to one year in a cool, dark place. Put any unsealed jelly in the refrigerator. it should keep about three weeks. Makes four or five half-pint jars.

 I photographed this little patch of violets to show you how bountiful it was: 

and how quickly I plucked the heads off the stems and put them in my colander.

This is a little section along my driveway.  This 2' x 4' section was all I needed to pick in order to get a colander full.  I say that with a bit of sarcasm because although it was a very small section, picking violets is very tedious.  I had bribed offered my children money to help me, but they tired quickly.  Clearly they have not received the memo that suspends child labor laws for farm wives trying to force their children to pick violets.

I had several stops and starts to my picking process, so it took me over two hours to complete my task - and since it was a warm day and the violets started to wilt a bit once I plucked the flowery head off the stem, so they began to compact in the colander.  When all was said and done, I had four heaping cupfuls of violets.

As I was picking violets, I noticed the dandelions that are also growing so bountifully in our yard.  The amount of dandelions and the fact that under the violet jelly recipe on the prairielandherbs.com website was a recipe for dandelion jelly had me thinking I would try my hand at dandelion jelly.

 So I also picked a colander full of dandelions.  I rinsed them thoroughly and followed the directions of cutting as much of the green sepals off of the yellow petals.

 I ended up with some green still attached, but overall, my measuring cup looked like this.

 I was quite dubious about the methods, but I followed the recipe.

I boiled the water, placed the thoroughly rinsed petals in jars and poured the boiling water over the petals, capped the jar and let the mix steep for 24 hours.  As you can see, as soon as the boiling water was poured over the petals, the violet color began to seep from the petals - just like tea.

I had enough for two jars of violets and one jar of dandelions.

The violet mixture eventually gets VERY dark.  Like, royal purple dark.  You can see that the violets actually start to lose their pigment and the petals turn white.

The dandelion water gets very dark - almost a dirty honey color.

 After steeping for 24 hours, I lined my mesh colander with cheesecloth and emptied the jars.  The violets were saturated with the water and when I poured the water out, I only had one and a quarter cups of liquid.  I was glad I ended up deciding to use the cheesecloth because I was able to squeeze the remaining liquid from the violets to get the recommended two cups of liquid.

 See how dark the liquid is?

I repeated the process because I was going to double the batch.

I poured the liquid into my cast iron enameled pot and whisked in sugar and lemon juice.

Once the sugar and lemon juice are added to the mixture, the liquid gets lighter in color.

 I also boiled the jars and lids, prepped them and kept them warm to pour in the jelly.

So now is the point in the story where I tell you that while I doubled the liquid portion of the recipe, I forgot to double the sugar and lemon.  I got all the way through of boiling the liquid, adding the pectin, pouring the mix into jars, putting the lids on the jars, boiling the jars for 10 minutes BEFORE I realized I had forgotten to add the extra sugar and lemon juice.

So, what did I do??  I tried looking up a solution on the internet, but didn't find any fast answers, so I poured the liquid all back into the pot, added the sugar and lemon juice, brought it back to a boil and repeated the process.  There was a bit more foam to skim this time, but it all seemed to work out.  The jelly gelled and I had eight jars of jelly instead of just four.

I then cleaned all of my pots, utensils, etc., and repeated the process for the dandelion jelly.  I heeded the advice from the recipe and I added yellow food coloring to get a more yellow color and got a really pretty color.  I do think next time I make the jelly I won't and see how the color turns out.  The only reason I added the food coloring was because I had the sneaky suspicion that my children would be confused when searching for the honey because the colors of the jelly and our natural honey are so similar.

As I was looking at the jars, I remembered the Christmas gift I had received from my sisters.  An embosser from Williams Sonoma.

 The embosser has an engraving plate that says, "Goodness Grows Farm."  To be honest, I'm not sure if the design in the middle is supposed to be an "S" or if it is just a symbol of some sort, but I'll play it off and pretend it is an "S."

The stickers were the perfect size for the lids of the jelly jars.

My dozen jars of jelly.  All in all, the process took me about 3 hours due to jar sterilizing and the mix up with the violet jelly.  However, I am going to look into the dishwasher processing of the jars - where you time your dishwasher cycle to end just as you are ready to pour your jelly into the still warm jars.  From what I have read, it is just as sterile and as easy.  I'm torn about the final processing aspect - whether I need to boil the filled jars the additional 10 minutes or if I can just let them seal on their own.  Most of my jar lids actually "popped" before I even put them in the hot water for final processing, which means it was sealed properly and should not spoil.

Additionally, I am going to break down the cost of making the jelly.  I happened to have lemons on hand, but I am going to investigate purchasing certified organic lemons and sugar to see what the cost for producing an "organic" product would be and if the cost would be worth even trying to sell.  I'm also going to look into getting my kitchen USDA certified so I can sell the jellies at local farmers markets and specialty stores.  Keep you eyes out!

 My second sister graduated from Pitt on Friday with her MBA.  So I packed these jars for her and gave them to her as a little gift.  I told her even if she didn't want to eat them, she could put them on a shelf and they would look pretty.

Now I just have to convince Erik that I need to buy a jelly cabinet to display all my beautiful wares.

Pillowcase dresses

With the warmer weather approaching and spring consignment sales picking up, I am obsessed with finding quick, easy sundresses for Maggie.  Unfortunately, they are priced more than I want to pay for something that is either going to be worn through mud and manure or only as a bathing suit cover up.  So I started searching the web, and came across these "pillowcase dresses."  

The original design for the dress is centuries old I imagine - made literally from old pillowcases.  Ones I saw online are typically made of those charming vintage cases with the lovely embroidery on the open side.   After looking at several sites, I decided I could probably make the dress myself.  And I could do it without a pattern.  

I wanted some color and pattern to my dresses so I headed to JoAnn for a look-see.  I fell in love with HUNDREDS of fabrics.  But I limited myself to just a few this first go round.    I ended up with a watermelon print, a sweet turquoise and celery paisley and I grabbed this strawberry fabric because it has the elasticized top that makes a really cute dress, and would be so easy to make!  I also picked up coordinating green satin ribbon for the straps/neck ties and 

some ribbon and embellishments for coordinating hair bows.

 My pattern choices

 My trusty Brother sewing machine.  I haven't used it in years but she always comes in handy!

 My mom got me this sewing box back when I was planning on a blue and yellow theme for my living room.

 This is my Grammie Foster's sewing basket.  I love the red paisley quilted top.  It is still full of stuff of hers.  I don't know what to do with most of it, but I keep it.  The spools of thread are marked 5 cents!

 This is a dress I picked up at a consignment sale for Maggie for about $2.  I decided to use this dress to fabricate some sort of pattern for the pillowcase dresses.

First I folded the fabric so that it was basically turned inside out.  Right sides facing each other.

 Then I traced around the dress with one of the kids washable markers.

 I measured across the chest of the red dress, then divided the number in half and added another 1/2 inch or so to the measurement for seam allowances.  Then I folded the fabric in half so that the chest portion of the dress was in half,

 then I cut the dress out.

 When you unfold it, it will look like this and the top of the dress is still attached .

 The one yard of allowed me to cut three dresses from that particular fabric.  This will vary depending on the width of your fabric.

 I then took a piece of felt and traced the dress pattern again.  Now when I go to make more dresses, I just have to fold the fabric in half, lay the pattern on top and cut the pattern from the felt.  I did it with felt A) because I had felt lying around and B) I thought felt would be more durable than paper.

 To give some character to the dress, I decided to make the hem in a complimenting pattern.  I cut fabric slightly longer than the length I wanted to achieve, pinned "right' sides together and sewed the hem fabric in place.

 The most difficult part of the task was the arm holes.  Thankfully, I had the red dress to use as a pattern. Many of the designs I saw online suggested using bias tape to finish the arm holes.   I do not know how to use bias tape, so I just folded the arm seams over once about 1/4 of an inch, ironed it well, folded it over again about 1/4 of an inch, then used a zig zag stitch to sew the seam.  It came out looking pretty good if I do say so myself.  Of course, in my focus on figuring out how to make the dress, I forgot to take thorough pictures of my process.

This is the first version of the dress I made.  I didn't add anything to the chest of the dress, just folded down the top of the dress about 1/4 of an inch, ironed it, then folded it over again about 1/2 an inch and sewed it straight across.  Then I took green ribbon, attached a safety pin to one end and threaded it through the front and back "yoke" of the neck.  The ribbon can be tightened to accommodate almost any size.

 The second dress, I folded the green ribbon over the "yoke" of the dress and threaded a gossamer organza ribbon through it.

 The third dress, I got a little fancier and made a "yoke' to match the hem.  It was relatively easy.  Cut the strip of fabric to fit the "yoke," fold in the top and sides about 1/4 of an inch and iron.  Make sure to sew the sides before you fold the entire thing in half because you'll stitch your openings shut!  Fold the fabric in half, iron then fit it close to the top of the yoke and stitch very close making sure you have the patterned fabric inside your complimentary yoke or it will fall apart or miss catching the fabric.

 I found this fabric a few days later at the fabric store and since some of the dresses were for presents, I had to pick this Hello Kitty Easter fabric up for one of the girls as Hello Kitty is one of her favorites!

 I also made coordinating hair accessories for the dresses.  This little number got a cute silver headband with a green flower accent.

 The headband up close.

 This is the watermelon pattern.  I gave it a turquoise yoke, but did not make a matching hem.  This dress I cut a little wider than the others because I wanted it to be shorter  and a little blousier than the others.  I got coordinating celery green leggings to be worn with it, so hopefully, it turned out cute.

I also made a matching headband for it with the little pink and white polka dot flowers.

I'm still experimenting with technique, but overall, it's been a rewarding process.  I'm not sure if I'm saving that much money as fabric is still rather price, but I guess if you factor I'm getting on average two dresses per yard, and I only am spending $3.99 a yard, the dress prices out under $5.  Not bad for a novice seamstress.

Now, here's hoping Maggie likes all the dresses I make!