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