This month the girls read Life with Lily by Suzanne Woods Fisher and Mary Ann Kinsinger. This book was a huge hit! The second in the series comes out in a few weeks, and they’ve already voted to add it to their reading list.
After talking about the book, everyone headed into the kitchen to make Pumpkin Cake like Lily’s mom did – only we didn’t roll ours up. After looking at pictures of pumpkin rolls online, the girls decided that it looked like a cinnamon roll – but they said they didn’t mind eating it in simple, unrolled fashion. We used this recipe. They used our e-reader to read the recipe off the ‘Net and worked together to assemble the bars for baking.
Next we talked about sewing and quilting. The girls have been wanting to learn to sew, so we combined this desire with Lily’s creative efforts to make gifts for her family. While she sewed potholders, we decided to quilt pillows in a semi-homemade fashion.
We began this project by examining my great-grandmother’s Singer sewing machine, purchased in 1933. After moving the treadle and the wheel, tracing the path of the thread from spool to needle, and having seen a similar machine on a Lancaster-County website yesterday, we decided that Lily might use a machine much like this one.
Then we moved back into our Englisch mindset and set about making pillows. Using pillow materials I had prepped in advance, the girls threaded needles and began stitching their way around special shapes on the front of their pillows. As they finished, then, I taught them the basics of how to use my electric sewing machine (namely, put your foot on the pedal, stay away from the needle, and go) and we sewed the outside seam. In about 9 years, we’re going to have some speedy drivers in this town! 😉
By now our cake had baked and chilled, so we took a sewing break and returned to the kitchen to make the icing. The girls (plus brother) took turns measuring the ingredients …
but then few could resist the lure of the icing, and so nearly everyone grabbed a knife and began to spread.
Our Pumpkin Cake – and Life with Lily – was a hit! We’re all looking forward to A New Home for Lily.
You can find more information about Life with Lily at my review here: “Life with Lily” by Suzanne Woods Fisher
