Valentine sandwich cookies and a sweet purse

We made up a quick batch of sugar cookies last night, using Martha's sugar cookie recipe, which follows here. I eyeballed a quick frosting and tinted it pink for Valentine's Day. We, oh who are we kidding, I then wrapped them up and personalized them with some little stamps. Jack will be bringing some to friends at his preschool.

 Valentine Sandwich Cookies

• 4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract, or 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice and zest of 2 lemons
• 1/4 cup fine sanding sugar, for decorating (optional)

1. In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.
2. Use an electric mixer to cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs.
3. Add flour mixture, and mix on low speed until thoroughly combined. Stir in vanilla or lemon juice and zest. Wrap dough in plastic; chill for about 30 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. On a floured surface, roll dough to 1/8 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes. Transfer to ungreased baking sheets; refrigerate until firm, 15 minutes. Remove from refrigerator, and decorate with sanding sugar, if desired. Bake until edges just start to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Cool on wire racks.      Yield Makes about 16 large cookies or 30 2 1/2-inch cookies

In other news, I recently realized that the makeup bag in my purse is waay too big and takes up too much space in my bag. Rather than go out and buy one, I figured I'd make a quick pattern and whip one up. From start to finish, this little purse took all of two hours to sew--and the ribbon is sewn on my hand. I love quick, rewarding little projects.

 

Here's what I did:

First, I cut out long rectangular pieces from two fabrics. I used my quilting ruler to help make sure they were square, especially the point at the one end for the closing flap.

Then I sewed the layers together, right sides together, leaving the short, straight end open. I snipped the corners, then turned it out carefully.

Then I turned the open end in neatly and sewed that closed, sewing all around the perimeter of the piece, with about a quarter inch seam.

Then I folded it in threes, with the lining fabric on the inside. Mine is tan muslin. I also place the ribbon down, wrapping the ends in at one side.

 Then I ran it through my sewing machine and used short, strong stitches up the two sides.

Next, I pinned the ribbon around the base where I wanted it. (The ends were already sewn in when I stitched up the sides.) Then I hand sewed it on with dark blue thread.

And voila! Done.