catching up

Week one of spring break is coming to an end and it's been a great week. I even got to spend some time in my sewing room and started something new.

I have completed a few embroidery projects as well this week.

A late Valentine's Day stitchery.

still need to wash my tracings out

And I finally got my Birdie Stitchery blocks finished!

Today a girlfriend and I went to the Creative Stitches show. It wasn't as good as years passed but I did find something to bring home.

Tonight during family movie night, it feels right to start another little something,

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

PS-sorry that I had to put word verification on my blog posts. the spam comments I have been getting was out of control. I will take it off in a few days.

spring break

Finally spring break has arrived. Looking forward to spending some time with the kids and just relaxing over the next two weeks. As a result, I won't be blogging as regularly as usual. I do have a list of quiltie things I hope to get finished; hopefully that will still happen.

I did get some sewing time yesterday and got my Twister quilt sewn together.

I've ordered some yardage to finish it off so this will have to wait a bit longer to be truly finished.

I also had a charm pack of Comma. I spent way too long yesterday searching online for something to do with it and ended up going with my first thoughts, a disappearing 9 patch.

I used some of the leftover charm squares and did the 4patches in the corners. I wish it was more rectangular than square; I might add a thin black border on the top/bottom to uneven it out a little bit.

Last night while watching The Bible series on History, I finally got the binding on my Christmas quilt.

must blog before this Christmas

Now I'm assembling blocks 15-25 of Granny Square quilt #2. I love lazy days.

card friday

google reader

As you may have heard, Google reader is sadly on it's way out :(. I found what seems to be, a pretty good alternative, bloglovin. You can sign up to follow my blog with the button in my sidebar.

Now I'm back to moving all my followed blogs over from GR to bloglovin. I think I follow too many blogs :p

And one question, anyone know if Google Friends Connect is going to be gone too? 

wordless wednesday

success!

From this

To this

To this.

Love!!

today

I get to spend it with these. 

I've had the Lil' Twister for so long I can't even remember when I bought it. Time enough that I use it!

quilt monday

Early January #scrappytripalong took over Instagram. I quickly jumped in and finished my quilt top in 3 days.

I finally got the binding on this past weekend so now I can really enjoy it.

quilted with a large meander

I pieced together a crazy backing.

Because the quilt is so busy; I kept the quilting simple and went with an overall meander.

So what does one do when you finish a scrappy trip along?

You start a second.

I've finished 20 blocks. And have a crazy 40 more to go.

I may have gotten carried away.

snack saturday

Milky Way Cupcakes

3 Milky Way bars (2.05 oz. bars) (Buy an extra bar if you want for decoration.)
1 3/4 cup milk, plus 2 tbsp.
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
4 oz. butter (1 stick), room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs

Buttercream*
25 caramels (I use Kraft)
1/4 cup milk
4 oz. butter (1 stick), room temperature
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/4 tsp. vanilla

*This buttercream recipe is enough for about 36 cupcakes. Double it if you prefer to make the layer cake.

1. For the cake: In a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the candy bars with 2 tablespoons milk. Stir until smooth. Remove from heat and cool for 10 minutes.

2. Preheat the oven to 350 and lightly butter and flour your cupcake pan (or two 9-inch round cake pans).

3. In a medium bowl, combine the cocoa, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

4. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla on high until well blended.

5. Add the eggs one at a time and beat for 30 seconds on high, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition.

6. Add the Milky Way mixture and mix for 30 seconds on high.

7. Add 1/2 of the four mixture and 1/2 the remaining milk to the butter mixture and mix well, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add the remaining flour mixture and milk. Mix thoroughly until incorporated. Pour the batter into prepared cake pans.

8. Bake for 28 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

9. Cool the cupcakes in the pan for 10 minutes. Invert the cupcakes onto a rack and cool completely before frosting.

10. For the buttercream: In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the caramels, stirring often. Remove from heat and stir in milk until smooth. Set aside and cool to room temperature.

11. In a medium mixing bowl, cream together the butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla for 3 minutes on high.

12. Add the cooled caramel and mix on high for 2 minutes. Frost your cupcakes!

card friday

would you believe me

If I told you that they followed me home?  

quilt shows

March 1st signals the start of the quilt show season. Hamels keeps us busy getting quilts ready for the shows they will be attending. As a result, I have a quilt show to show you.

quilted with Daisies and Loops

I love the backing on this one.

I'm working on a wavy straight line; felt this was the perfect quilt for it.

Could use some improvement but not bad.

I love this one.

Quilted with Erin

I don't use this quilting pattern a lot which is a shame; I really like it.

I love this quilt pattern.

Quilted with Daisy

A few Pine Needle quilts.

Kept the quilting simple with some stippling and my favorite water stitch.

There are sooooo many pieces in these; I doubt I would ever finish one lol.

Love the owl.

A lovely Civil War quilt.

You can never have enough French General fabric.

Quilted with Starflower

And lastly, my favorite.

Quilted with my water stitch.

Love these umbrellas!

wordless wednesday

quilt monday

Way back in the summer of 2011 I bought 8 jelly rolls and some yardage of a pretty spring line from Connecting Threads. Out of that fabric I ended up with 3 twin/double quilts and a baby quilt(blogged here). 

I had quite a few blocks leftover but I was so done with the fabric I put it all in a bag and left it.

A few weeks ago, I dug it all back out and decided to see what I could come up with. 

To my surprise, I had enough fabric to make 2 more baby quilts.

I can not get over that I got all these quilts from that fabric. 

I almost didn't have enough fabric for the borders. And I love a pieced binding.

both quilted with Linna's Charm

 This quilt has another pieced binding in the pink and teal fabrics that match the border fabric.

Can't remember the last time Whiskers got in on a quilt photo.

I love the quilting pattern with this quilts; so soft and girlie!

As much as I love this fabric; I am so glad to see this quilts finished! And if you are interested, both of these quilts are for sale and will one day be listed in my Etsy shop lol.

remember me?

Well, that was an unplanned break :) Had a crazy busy week last week; kept meaning to sit down and blog and it just didn't happen. 

This is the current state of my sewing room; when I last used my sewing machine I really have no idea.

All those quilts piled on the ironing board are still awaiting the binding(it's on, just needs hand sewn down). 

My table is covered with some recent purchases that followed me home.

15meters of Kona and Bella solids.

I finally gave in and picked up this kit; a very late purchase with some leftover Christmas money.

A charm pack I bought on a whim

And a Bail pop package from Hamels as a thank you gift.

I would like to say that life will be slowing down soon so I can spend some time playing with all these new goodies but Jim is travelling again and we have another exchange student arriving next week. Spring break is at the end of the month; I predict a lot of sewing room time than.