pineapple upside down cake

 last Friday, I didn't have a chance to post but I made pineapple upside down cake.  Its a simple fool proof recipe by Better Homes and Gardens that I've used for years which you can make it in a pinch if you have the pineapple and the cherry available in your pantry.  ok you don't really need the cherry but pineapple is a must.. a can of pineapple, maybe an item you should always have stocked in your pantry just like the pear slices in case your in-laws or someone drops by without any warning and you need to make a quick something! My other quick fix desert is the pear tart, (click here if you haven't seen it yet) 

2 Tbsp butter
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 Tbsp water
8 oz can of pineapple slice
maraschino cherries cut in half
1-1/3 cups flour
3/4 cups sugar
2 tsp baking powder
2/3cup milk
1/4 cup butter softened
1 egg
1tsp vanilla

turn your oven and set at 350F, melt butter in your 9" round cake pan in the oven while you gather all your ingredients. 

once the butter melts, add brown sugar and water, melt well. 
Arrange pineapple and cherries in the pan how ever you like set aside

in a medium bowl stir together flour, sugar and baking powder, add milk, 1/4cup butter, egg and vanilla, beat with an electric mixer on low speed until combined, beat on medium speed for 1 minute.  Spoon batter into pan, bake for 30-35mins or until toothpick comes out clean.

 Cool in pan on wire rack for 5 minutes.  Loosen side; invert onto a plate, serve warm!

I'm really sorry, I forgot to take a picture of the cake inverted!! but you can pretty much guess how it turned out. 

Large hearth basket

 

This is a basket I made while back called Hearth basket.  you can add colors and or add basket charms or buckles.

its a simple basket to make so even if you don't have a lot of experience with basket weaving you can make this! 

Don't forget the D handles should not be soaked!! so if you need to wet the basket spray rather then dip in a tub of water!! I did that when I first started making baskets and was really sad when it fell apart and I was not experienced enough to figure out how to salvage it.  I now look back and think how silly, I could have shoved the handle back down and glued it !!! oh well, you learn from your mistakes right?

 

10X14 D handle

5/8 inch flat (stakes and weaver)

3/4 inch flat (rim)

1/4 inch flat (lashing)

No.2 round

Sea grass

Mark center of the handle

Cut 5/8” flat (mark all at center and write the length on ends)                                

                                                          9@ 27”

                                                          2@ 26"
                                                          2@ 28”

                                                          2@29”

                                                          2@30”

                                                          4@32”

 (you can cut all pieces 32 if you don't want to keep track of what's what but it be wasting lots of reed)

Lay 4 of the 27” stake horizontally space them evenly about 1-1/2” apart, lay the handle over them, lay the remaining 5 pieces over the handle in between the spaces of the 4 stakes under the handle.

 

(if you want a solid woven bottom use 3/8” flat  8@ 19” then lay the filler reed under the handle spaced evenly, then lay the stakes over the handle weave, wet the filler cut down the reed long way fold over and  V tuck the ends then twine twice with no2 round reed)

Weave in vertically starting with the longest piece on each side of the handle until all 12 pieces are woven in (6 on each side)

Base should measure about 9-1/2”X 14-1/2

Twine twice using no2 round reed

Spray it down well and then upset stakes

Weaving 4 rows with 5/8” flat 

Begin weaving only the long side, fold the end behind the stakes so the ends are hidden.  After each row drop the ends and continue to weave this way until you wove each stake next to the handle. The last stakes that sandwiches the handle should be woven on the inside and fold over the front hiding the ends behind the handle.

Cut and tuck, trim the outside corners of the tucked stakes to give it more of a angle and it won't stick out as much.

Rim using 3/4" flat , inside first, wrapping around the handle, then outside wrapping the handle, insert sea grass, lash with 1/4” flat. decorate if you like! 

if you want to braid the top, instead of tucking twine 3 times with no2 or 3 round reed. then tuck all stakes, cut 44 pieces of 22" of no 3 round or 30" of no2 round depending on the type of braid you want to do.  I have 2 different braid tutorial on here!

**if my instruction is not clear please feel free to send me a note, I'll try to explain it better or take pictures of the steps!

 Happy Weaving!

square scrap basket with braided top

Happy Thursday! (ok its really Friday, we went to the fair last night so I was not able to post last night!) Today I'm going to share my basket pattern I pulled out of my scrap bin.  what does that mean? well, its a simple square basket with braided top but I pulled out reed that looked long enough from my scrap bin and made this basket.  I had several different sizes so its a puzzling pattern but I think it works.  So if you have a big scrap bin like I do (I have 14 people making baskets in my basement so we have lots of scraps) dig in there and weave this basket!

5/8 “flat cut 8 @ 22”  (stakes)

1/2” flat cut 6 @ 22” (stakes)

3/8” flat cut 6 @ 13” (filler)

No2 or No3 round (depending on the braid you plan on doing)

 cut all stakes and filler, mark center of the rough side, then soak it.

laying out the stakes and the filler. 

lay out the stake 5/8", 1/2", 5/8", 1/2", 5/8",1/2",5/8"  making sure to leave about 1/2 inch in between each stake, take 1 of the 1/2" and lay it vertically over the center line.

take the filler 3/8" and lay it horizontally in between the horizontal stakes you previously laid down over the 1/2" vertical stake.

weave the rest of the stakes in this order on each side of the center 1/2" vertical piece. 5/8", 1/2", 5/8"

measure the base to 7"X7".  now fold the filler and cut down the center length wise and V tuck.

twine around the base with no.2 round once (natural or dyed your choice)

wet the reed and up-stake the side

Now we weave!

3 rows of 3/8” flat

1 row of 5/8” flat

 2 row of no. 2 round dyed double twine or you can just weave with round reed several times 

(its just like triple twine but using 2 round reed instead of 3 here is a triple twine tutorial)

1 row of 5/8” flat

3 rows of 3/8” flat

Twine twice no.2 round

Wet the stakes and tuck all (do not cut!)

we add the braid.  You can either do basic braided rim  or the other braided rim your choice.

if you are going to do basic braid use no3 round reed and no2 if you want to do advanced braid.

enjoy your basket!

Call me a slacker

Its Sunday again and I didn't post about my newest basket on time again! I do have lists of excuses but I'm sure you don't want to hear my excuses, you want to see the basket pattern right? I've been really digging Suzanne Moore's baskets lately and this week (well last week) I made Suzanne's Wrought Iron Curl Basket I really like the wrought Iron handle I think its really cool and somehow it make the basket feel sturdy not to mention it looks really nice.  One thing I didn't follow on her pattern is that I did not use the maple strip but instead I used very thin flat reed that I had saved for such occasion! When I open a pound of reed and find some that are thinner than average I save them for curls.   Not sure if you can find wrought Iron at your local craft store but Suzanne has them in different sizes and they are very reasonable priced! I always buy the Wrought Iron handles from her!