baking with apples

i was in a baking mood today. after my last not-so-good attempt, i decided to go for a previously successful recipe: apple muffins. this time, no icing. i also baked a bit longer, so the top edge is slightly crispy, exactly the way i like it.



i also tried an apple loaf recipe:
http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/apple-loaf/Detail.aspx



i overbaked the loaf a little; there's a thick crust now. next time, i should bake for 50 mins. it tastes good. i was a bit too liberal with the butter, so it feels a bit heavy.

bisquick apple pie

i went apple picking with my friends last weekend. now, i've got a bunch of cortland and macintosh apples.

the next day, i was making pancakes with bisquick, and i saw a recipe on the box for "impossibly easy french apple pie". so i tried it out.



eh. it turned out kind of soggy. kind of underbaked too. maybe my sliced apples were too watery. it tastes good. but the soggy texture in the mouth ruins everything.

it was definitely easy to make. but the results are meh.

fancy party dress

for a friend's birthday party, the theme was to dress up. it was the perfect occasion to make a new dress.

i re-used a pattern that was bought previously to make my convocation dress, mccall's 5881. this time, i went for view a, a halter dress with a contrast band.

in mom's sewing closet, i found a floral pattern fabric. for the contrast band, i used some burgundy-coloured fabric. i also found an invisible zipper of the same colour. i'm glad i didn't have to buy any supplies for this dress.

the pattern size 4 fit me, except the bodice was too tight. i wonder if it's because i did not follow the grain of the interfacing; after ironing, the bodice pieces seemed to have shrunk. my mom was able to alter the bodice front by playing with the seam allowances. but i had to re-cut the bodice back, adding 1 inch on the top and bottom edge, when the pattern piece was placed on the fold (so an addition of 2 inches total, on each edge). this means that the contrast band had to be lengthened (by about 3 inches, just to be safe).

when putting the skirt pieces together, we realized that the dress fit so much better when we switched the front side and back side pieces. not sure if this is a mistake in the pattern, or if my body is shaped weird or something.

anyway, it took my mom two nights to make this dress (since we had to re-do the bodice, and it took us a while to figure out that the front and back side pieces should be switched). by the end of the second night, when i tried it on, i found that the top of the bodice was too loose. now i know that i should have altered the bodice back piece to add half-inch to the top edge, and 1 inch to the bottom edge. but there was no time to make these alterations that night. in a 'make it work' moment, my mom sewed an elastic along the top edge of the bodice, which resulted in some unwanted shirring. fortunately, the contrast band along the top edge hid most of this.

the party ended up being a lot of fun. at least the dress was held together. some day, when my mom will have some free time, she'll have to rip apart the bodice, and remake it to have it fit me properly.

[photo to come, maybe.]