I'm a quilting

This is what I've been doing for the past two days...quilting Rose's Quilt.

I stitched-in-the-ditch around each block. Next I'm stitching diagonal lines through every other block. This is how I'm doing those...

I use painter's tape to mark the quilting line. I pin it because otherwise I find the tape tends to shift when I'm shoving gently running the quilt through my machine. On darker fabrics, I like to use my chalk pencil, but since it's white I can't really use it on this quilt. I'm doing it now so that I can have it completed by Thanksgiving and I can deliver it personally. Not to be opened until Christmas, of course!

Be back soon!

♥ Jen

Tyler's quilt

Good morning! It's chilly, drizzly and gloomy here...but that's okay with me! I don't mind these kind of days at all. Gives me a good excuse to stay in, sew, cook, and light candles. Right now I'm working on my niece Rose's quilt for Christmas. I'm in the home stretch...it's pinned and ready to quilt. I'll start that later today. Yesterday I made a pillow to go with it...I seriously think it's the cutest thing I ever made. I'll have to wait to show it to you though, until the quilt is done too. But for now I can show the quilt I made for my newest nephew, Tyler! He was born on October 6th. His parents didn't want to know if he was a boy or girl before he was born, so I made a gender-neutral quilt.

It's from a kit put together by the wonderful Sharon at Daisy Cottage. I love love love the vintage-y duck print. I used a variegated blue/red/yellow thread for the quilting.

The back is one of my staples...a polka dot from Holly at Lakehouse Drygoods.

Here are just a few more looks at it.

I used a 30's-inspired fabric for the binding, I think it goes nicely. And of course there's my embroidered label. I never have success writing labels so this is the easiest way for me.

 

I wanted to tell you a funny story about cupcakes. A week or so ago, I needed to make cupcakes to bring into Mason's class for a late-birthday celebration (he called in sick for the original one). So I baked a batch from a yellow box cake mix. And I BURNED them! Seriously? How does that happen? I didn't let them bake longer than the box said. I think I crammed too many pans on the top shelf and that threw my oven off.

Bad cupcake!

I only had the one box, and I was not about to go to the store to buy another one. So I did a quick internet search for yellow cupcakes, and I found this one from Wilton.

Good cupcake.

These were really good. I watched them super-closely! I'll be hard-pressed to bake from a box next time. I had everything in my pantry, including cake flour which surprised me. Don't they look so much nicer than the ones in the background? Anyway a quick batch of cupcakes turned into an all-afternoon affair. LOL

Speaking of being sick, I'm taking Mason to an ENT for a consultation tomorrow. He's had strep several times over the last year, he snores, and his tonsils are huge. We're thinking it might be time to get those suckers out. I'll keep you posted!

Well thanks for reading, and I'll check back sooner next time!
♥ Jen

Love me a newborn!

Hey there! How is everyone? Last weekend, we took a trip down to my sister's to see baby Abigail. It was so good to hold a newborn again! She is adorable and such a good baby too. She sleeps, eats, looks around, then repeats. Her big sister is happy as can be and her parents are super proud (as well they should be).

This is my sister and Abby. Kathleen was doing great after her c-section...she was a great hostess and made us FABULOUS food.

Annabelle looks so grown-up, holding her little cousin! I don't know what Mason's thinking here. LOL He had a little cold so he couldn't hold her this visit.

This is their dog Tucker...he is such a sweetie. I'm more of a cat person but some dogs I really like, including him. He doesn't slobber all over me and he's very loving.

I made a Pumpkin Pound Cake for our visit, and I think it came out really good. Would you like the recipe? Just click here. It was really moist and delish. We ate it for both dessert and breakfast!

Speaking of recipes, I wanted to pass along another crockpot dish that I got from Better Homes and Gardens. It's called, "Smoky Chicken and Cheesy Potato Casserole."

I couldn't find Cream of Chicken with Herbs soup, so I just used regular Cream of Chicken soup (actually the reduced-fat version), and added Basil, Oregano, Garlic Powder and Onion Powder. I found Smoked Cheddar at my grocery store; if you can't, feel free to substitute another smoky cheese, such as Smoked Gouda. Anyway this is delicious...we ate it as a main course, with biscuits and veggies; but I can see this as a side as well.

I went to Hobby Lobby this morning...isn't this turkey adorable?

I have no Thanksgiving decorations, so I thought it was time to add something to the mix.

I also got a few spools of ribbon, they were 50% off.

I had a 40% off coupon so I bought next year's Gooseberry Patch calendar...I love these for the kitchen!

We have another addition to the family! Dave's brother and his wife welcomed their third child last week! They have two girls already, and this time they had a son. So I'm working on a little something for him, I'll show you when it's done.

I hope you have a great day!

♥ Jen

Candle Mats

In between big quilt projects, I like to do a little instant-gratification something. Whether it be handwork, or a small quilt, it gives you something to say is Done while the quilts are looming in your sewing room. A friend of mine did a big favor for me so I wanted to do something nice for her. She and I are both very into tarts/candles...candle mats seemed like an obvious choice! I made two, a fall one and a Christmas one.

The fall one is from the Saltbox Harvest line by Deb Strain for Moda. I quilted it by stitching-in-the ditch, and then one big criscross through the center.

The Christmas one is made from the 12 days of Christmas line by Kate Spain for Moda. I quilted this with an allover meandering stitch. You can't really tell, but the quilting thread is a nice minty green. Both of these were made from nine charms...I sewed a simple nine patch, which made a mat about 14" square. No cutting! A part of a fat quarter for the back, a couple strips of fabric for the binding, and voila! Done in an afternoon.

The backs are Harvest Town by Jacqueline Paton and Holiday Happy by Monica.  So if you have some charm packs laying around, and you want a cute project, wouldn't this be nice? You can include a festive candle, and it's a perfect hostess gift!

Have a great day!

♥ Jen