And my favorite,
it's still today
But barely!
Had a great day; kids all back at school. Jim is on a business trip and I took the week off. It was a fabulous day of quilting; too bad it took me almost the entire time I spent quilting appliquing snowflakes on a spontaneous table runner lol.
Onto the last few Christmas projects I made.
For my sister in law Erica, this adorable owl pillow. This literally took 30minutes from start to finish. In fact, I believe it took longer to pick the fabrics for the owl than it did to actually put the pillow together.
Next, 3 primitive Christmas wallhangings.
I quilted these right after I did Cindy's pear quilt as you can see lol. These two I gave away and kept a third for myself.
All three are the same and were quilted with a loopy meander in the red border, a stipple around the appliques and a continuous curve in the 9-patches.
For tomorrow? More playtime with these,
Had a great day; kids all back at school. Jim is on a business trip and I took the week off. It was a fabulous day of quilting; too bad it took me almost the entire time I spent quilting appliquing snowflakes on a spontaneous table runner lol.
Onto the last few Christmas projects I made.
For my sister in law Erica, this adorable owl pillow. This literally took 30minutes from start to finish. In fact, I believe it took longer to pick the fabrics for the owl than it did to actually put the pillow together.
Next, 3 primitive Christmas wallhangings.
I quilted these right after I did Cindy's pear quilt as you can see lol. These two I gave away and kept a third for myself.
All three are the same and were quilted with a loopy meander in the red border, a stipple around the appliques and a continuous curve in the 9-patches.
For tomorrow? More playtime with these,
welcome 2011
Obviously I never got back here to post the Christmas quilties I had made. We had a small party New Years Eve(too much fun!) and than Saturday was spent recovering(we didn't even get out of bed until almost noon lol). Put away all the Christmas decorations and had my parents over for dinner; it was a lovely way to start the new year.
I didn't get as many things made this year as I had hoped but I did get everything completed.
My mom has always admired my fabric wreath, I had planned to have the boys do one for her for Christmas. Until I discovered that she made one. I quickly went to plan B and had the boys do one with a Christmas theme.
I can't tell you what fabric line was used; the fabrics are from a sample scrap bag. We used all the cream prints on the inside ring and than alternated red and green through the middle two. The outer ring is the darker cream/tan prints. I love how it turned out.
My favoritest quiltie I made this Christmas was for Cindy. Cindy loves pears and she has always admired a pear quilt that I have. In November I discovered a beautiful pear fabric that matched Cindy's kitchen; it was perfect!
I didn't think this would get finished in time. Monday of Christmas week, J got sick. The next day it hit B, than Wednesday morning was my turn, than Jim. That night A came down with it. Thankfully we were all better by Christmas Eve and I ran off to work to get Cindy's quilt quilted.
I stippled in the middle around the pears and did a continuous curve in the 9patch blocks. The black border got a loopy meander. Now I think I need to make a new one for myself.
Tomorrow, I'll show you a few more.
I didn't get as many things made this year as I had hoped but I did get everything completed.
My mom has always admired my fabric wreath, I had planned to have the boys do one for her for Christmas. Until I discovered that she made one. I quickly went to plan B and had the boys do one with a Christmas theme.
I can't tell you what fabric line was used; the fabrics are from a sample scrap bag. We used all the cream prints on the inside ring and than alternated red and green through the middle two. The outer ring is the darker cream/tan prints. I love how it turned out.
My favoritest quiltie I made this Christmas was for Cindy. Cindy loves pears and she has always admired a pear quilt that I have. In November I discovered a beautiful pear fabric that matched Cindy's kitchen; it was perfect!
I didn't think this would get finished in time. Monday of Christmas week, J got sick. The next day it hit B, than Wednesday morning was my turn, than Jim. That night A came down with it. Thankfully we were all better by Christmas Eve and I ran off to work to get Cindy's quilt quilted.
I stippled in the middle around the pears and did a continuous curve in the 9patch blocks. The black border got a loopy meander. Now I think I need to make a new one for myself.
Tomorrow, I'll show you a few more.
snack saturday
Yule Log Cake
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
¾ tsp baking powder
4 eggs
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
icing sugar for dusting
2 cups Creamy Chocolate Frosting (recipe below)
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Lightly grease a jelly roll or cookie pan, approximately 10 x 15 in. (25 x 38 cm) in size, with ½ in. (1 cm) sides. Line the bottom with a sheet of parchment paper or waxed paper. Grease the paper lightly.
In a small bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa and baking powder. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs with an electric mixer until foamy. Add the sugar and vanilla, and continue beating until the mixture becomes very light and thick and has doubled in volume. This will take between 5 and 7 minutes.
Gently mix in the flour mixture, taking care not to deflate the batter. When the flour is thoroughly mixed in (but not overmixed!), spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan (carefully smooth out any bumps). Bake for 8 or 9 minutes, until the cake is puffed in the middle and springs back when you touch it. Remove from the oven and let cool for 2 or 3 minutes in the pan.
Now... this is the fun part. Sprinkle a clean dishtowel (no really – do it) with icing sugar. Carefully loosen the cake from the sides of the pan and (quickly! carefully! watch out!) flip the cake out onto the sugared towel. Peel off the paper and, with a sharp knife, trim off the crispy edges (snack time!). Gently roll the cake up lengthwise, towel and all, and leave it alone until it is completely cool.
When the cake has completely cooled, carefully unroll it, spread it with an even layer of Creamy Chocolate Frosting, then reroll it (without the dishtowel this time!), as firmly as possible without causing the frosting to squish out. Place it seam side down, on a long serving platter.
Slice off the two ends of the roll on a diagonal. Save these pieces. Frost the entire outside of the roll with chocolate frosting, then arrange the two diagonal pieces as if they were branches trimmed off the main log. Frost them, too.
With a fork, score the icing to resemble tree bark. Don’t forget to make growth rings on the cut ends. Decorate the log with artificial holly leaves (real holly is mildly toxic)and candy berries.
Makes 6 to 8 servings.
Creamy Chocolate Frosting
1 cup unsalted butter or margarine, softened 250 mL
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder 125 mL
½ tsp vanilla extract 2 mL
2 cups icing sugar 500 mL
1 tbsp milk (only if necessary) 15 mL
In a large bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixer until creamy. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the milk, and beat on high speed until smooth and fluffy. Add the milk only if the frosting is too stiff.
Makes about 3 cups (750 mL). Enough to frost the cake generously with, maybe, a little left over for a batch of cupcakes.
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