card friday

wordless wednesday

for sale

Anyone interested in the following books? 

All are in excellent, like new condition. Buyer pays shipping.

$10 each

black and white

With some red all over .

I love black and white quilts; they are just so striking.

Kaye made this lovely quilt for her grand-daughters graduation.

quilted with Bayside

Susan made this beautiful log cabin quilt.

quilted with Shooting Stars

And for me? I just couldn't resist a black and white Swoon.

You'll never guess what I love the most about this block. Not the fabrics, not the pattern. It's the fact that Jim could name the block. And recognize the quilt made from it hanging in the house.

quilt monday

One of my besties just turned 40. That resulted in a weekend away(hence the no snack saturday posting; just ran out of time trying to get out of here on time.)

I knew I wanted to make her a quilt; doesn't everyone deserve a quilt for turning 40?

quilted with Bluster 

I'm trying to use up my stash of fabrics so I pieced some together for the backing.

I should have lined it up better but I was scrambling to get this finished in time. 

As usual, the quilt ended up way bigger than I expected. But since her entire family has been battling to share the quilt since she got it, I think in this case that a bigger quilt isn't a bad thing.

card friday

bits and pieces

I'll admit that Civil War quilts just aren't my thing. I love the look of them but all those pieces? I couldn't do it! But when Hamels dropped off their latest Civil War quilt, I almost relented.

Just look at these tiny pieces.

The only quilting this one needed was a simple meander to finish it off.

Sharon brought in this beautiful log cabin quilt.

quilted with Dancing Daisies

I've always had a thing for log cabin quilts.

My favorite part, the daisy quilted right over one of the appliqued flowers.

I have one more week left of work and than I get to start slacking off for the summer. I can dream right? lol

wordless wednesday

i loves it so much

quilt monday

The second of the two graduation quilts I was asked to make this Spring. This is a newer line from Debbie Mumm, and when I saw it, I knew it was perfect for a guy quilt.

I find it so striking. I love the black! 

It was tricky sewing the blocks together; I was supposed to use 12 fabrics and only used 8 so laying it out was a challenge. And I got to the point when I just got tired of moving blocks around and just sewed it together lol.

I love the flannel backing; this quilt is so warm and snuggly.

I delivered the quilt on the weekend and it was a success. 

Wonder if I'll get the privilege of doing anymore commission quilt this year. It's just too much fun!

quilted with CircleLords swirls

snack saturday

Upside-down Rhubarb Cake

3 cups sliced fresh rhubarb or 300-g pkg frozen rhubarb, thawed

1 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/4 cup strawberry or seedless raspberry jam

1 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 cups  all-purpose flour

2 1/2 tsp  baking powder

1/2 tsp  each cinnamon and salt

2/3 cup  unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 eggs

1/4 tsp each almond and vanilla extract or 1/2 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup  milk

1. If using fresh rhubarb, slice into 1/2-inch- (1-cm-) thick pieces. If using frozen rhubarb, defrost following package directions. Pat dry with paper towels. Place in a medium-size bowl.
2. Preheat oven to 350F (180C). Generously coat bottom and side of a 9-inch (23-cm) cake pan or a 10-inch (25-cm) deep-dish pie plate with 1 tbsp (15 mL) butter. Place jam in a small bowl. Microwave on medium, uncovered, just until melted, 30 seconds. Pour jam over rhubarb and stir to evenly coat. Evenly sprinkle 1/4 cup (50 mL) sugar over bottom of cake pan or pie plate. Spoon rhubarb mixture overtop and evenly spread out.
3. In a medium-size bowl, using a fork, stir flour with baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat 2/3 cup (150 mL) butter until creamy, then beat in remaining 3/4 cup (175 mL) sugar until evenly mixed, occasionally scraping down side of bowl. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Then beat in almond and vanilla extracts.
4. Gradually beat in one-third flour mixture, then half of milk. Repeat additions, ending with flour mixture, beating just until blended. Batter will be thick. Spoon evenly over rhubarb to completely cover, then smooth top as best you can.
5. Bake in centre of preheated oven until a cake tester inserted into centre of cake comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. After 30 minutes, check cake. If top is a deep golden brown, cover loosely with a piece of foil. If not, check colour occasionally until it is fully baked, covering with foil to prevent any more browning, if necessary.
6. When done, remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes. Then run a knife around edge of cake. Invert onto a large cake plate. Great warm or at room temperature. Cake will keep well, covered, at room temperature or stored in the refrigerator overnight.

card friday

batik crazy

I have been on a real batik kick lately; I just can't seem to get enough.

 It started off a few weeks ago; we were invited to a dinner party and I wanted to bring a hostess gift. I found some batik scraps and ended up with this.

yes, more straight line quilting.

Monday, the two youngest asked me what I had made for teacher gifts this year. Um... A quick trip to the fabric store and an hour later we(I) had these.

now I need to find time to quilt them

I had some playtime on the weekend(seriously, are we EVER going to see summer here?) and ended up with this.

love

I absolutely love how the straight lines look on this. I wanted to really flatten the runner out; it was a success.

pretty pretty

But before I get those runners quilted, I have a special gift to make for a special someone.

I hope she likes it.

wordless wednesday

quilt monday

Earlier this spring, I was approached about making two college graduation quilts. The only requirement was the size and one being for a man and one for a woman. 

I've been on a batik kick lately and had seen a fat quarter stack at Hamels that I had loved. And I knew there was enough batik fabric at work that I wouldn't need to buy a border.

So one morning, I started ironing and cutting. By the next afternoon the top was finished.

I love this turtle fabric most of all.

I delivered the quilt this afternoon and it was an absolute success. These are the sixth and seventh commissioned quilts I have done this year so far.  I'm just thrilled, honored and amazed by that.

quilted with Bright and Breezy

snack saturday

Pizza Buns


1 can pizza sauce
1 can tomato soup
dash of worcestershire sauce
diced onion
diced green pepper
chopped pepperoni
shredded cheese
12 hamburger buns

These have quickly  become our favorite weekend lunch. Or after school snack. You can go crazy with the choice of toppings, I just listed the ones we do most often.

Simply mix all the ingridents together. Place the buns on a cookie sheet crust side down.

Spread the mixture on the bun. Top with some extra shredded cheese if wanted(it's fun to mix up the cheese flavours).

Bake in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes. Just keep an eye on them, they burn easily.

They taste even better the next day as lunch!

card friday

heather

Heather is a snowbird. When she returns to BC every spring, she brings a bunch of quilts. She finds the neatest fabric down in Arizona.

This first one is easily my favorite of her last bunch. I love how Heather always makes large size quilts.

quilted with Flirtacious

Pretty, pretty.

A beautiful stack and whack.

quilted with Morning Glory

I love how she created some extra blocks for the backing.

Lastly,

quilted with Timeless Hearts

If any of these quilts strike your fancy, Heather has them all for sale.

wordless wednesday

quilt monday

I have a love/hate relationship with Thangles quilts. The first one I made, I enlarged it to a king-size quilt. And it drove me nuts lol. The second one I gave away. I swore I would never do another. Well, guess what? lol.

This time I really struggled. Once I got the quilt together, I discovered I would have to add just under 30 inches of borders to make it big enough for our bed. And I was oh so sick of this quilt. Fast forward to this past February, I had a lap version on my quilting machine when I had someone comment that they would love to have a quilt like that.

A few days later, I had this.

Quilted with Kiss Curls

I love how it turned out. I always put the same panto on the Thangles quilts, it was nice to do a different one.

Now to finish the last few inches of binding, add a label and mail this off to it's new home.

snack saturday

Strawberry White Chocolate Mousse Recipe

• 1 ½ pounds of strawberries

• 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice, divided

• 8 ounces white chocolate, finely chopped

• 1 ¼ teaspoon unflavored gelatin (about half a small envelope)

• 2 cups heavy cream

• 2 Tbsp powdered (confectioner's) sugar

 Clean and hull the strawberries. Starting with about half of the strawberries (3/4 pound), quarter them and purée them in either a blender or food processor. Then press the purée mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl. You want to end up with 1 cup of purée. Stir in 1 Tbsp of the lemon juice and set aside. With the remaining 3/4 pound or so of berries, slice as many as to fill up 2 cups, and set aside. 

 Melt white chocolate in a double boiler, or a stainless steel bowl set over simmering water (make sure the simmering water doesn't actually touch the bottom of the bowl.) Stir until smooth, set aside.

 Put ¼ cup of cool water into a small bowl. Sprinkle the gelatin powder over the water and let sit for 5 minutes.

 Stir ¼ cup of the cream and the 2 Tbsp of powdered sugar in a small saucepan, bring to a simmer over medium heat. Add the gelatin mixture and stir until the gelatin has dissolved. Pour into the bowl of melted chocolate, and stir until smooth. Whisk in 3/4 cup of the strawberry purée. Reserve the remaining ¼ cup of purée.

 Using an electric mixer, whip the remaining 1 3/4 cup of cream. (Note I usually use a blender to whip cream, but in this case an electric mixer or hand beater is preferred, you have better control over the amount of whipping.) Beat on medium-high speed until medium peaks form. Whisk one third of the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture. Using a large rubber spatula, gently fold the remaining whipped cream into the mixture. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

 Stir the remaining 1 Tbsp of lemon juice into the reserved sliced berries. Fold the sliced berries into the mousse. Spoon mousse into serving cups and refrigerate for at least another hour, preferably several hours, or even over night (cover with plastic wrap).

 When you are read to serve the mousse, pour a dollop of the reserved strawberry purée onto each serving. Add a few slices of strawberries as garnish.

 Serves 6-8.

card friday