Bonnet Oh Bonnet!

My daughter, Amanda, asked me if I could make her a bonnet for Frontier Day they were having at her school.  For once it wasn't the night before and it was also something I thought would be quick and fairly easy to make.

Instead of buying a pattern I would probably only use once I decided I would Google free bonnet patterns, to my surprise there were several free patterns.  After looking through them, I picked the one I thought would be the fastest to make. The women who shared the pattern said the instructions were for a small bonnet. Knowing my daughter has a big head I added several inches to the pattern. Once I got started I realized how easy this pattern was and agreed to make one more for Amanda's BFF, Abbie. Abbie's I made a few inches smaller than Amanda's because I knew she had a smaller head.

Happy with days accomplishments, I took the bonnets to school to give to the girls. They were so happy to have matching bonnets they put them on right away. Well to say the least, they were huge!!!  I decided the smaller one would work for Amanda and I would make Abbie another one. So what started out a a quick bonnet project ended up being a 3 bonnet project.

I also made Amanda a quick skirt and apron to go with her bonnet.

Not the best picture, but you get the idea.

Now, can I get back to quilting.....please!



Okay, it's out there now!

I did it, I put it all out there.

I finally went into my sewing room and took a inventory of all the projects I started and put away before I finished. In the quilting world they are know as UFO, unfinished objects.

When I first started quilting I would complete a project before starting another one, but here is where the excuse comes in. When I started to work at our local quilt store, every time and new and exciting line of fabric came in I would have to buy it and start making something with it while the excitement was still fresh.

That is how I came to have so many UFO's, that's my story and I am sticking to it!

Now, those are just a list of projects I actually started, by no means are those the number of patterns, books, fabric collection I bought to make a project. That's a whole other list!

I brought my husband over to a friends house who just got a new fancy longarm machine. He saw her fancy room and all of her fabric, books, patterns and quilting supplies. When we got into the car he said to me "Wow, she must have a $1000 worth of stuff in that room." I said to him "Well she might but she has been buying over time."  He said, "You don't have that much...You have proably around $200 right?" With that I said, Yup! and changed the subject very fast.

Sometimes it is best to keep them in the dark, after all a happy wife is a happy life.....right!



Lemon Curd Cupcakes.

Yesterday I made Lemon Curd Cupcakes and posted a picture of them on my Facebook page. Several of you asked for the recipe, so here it is.

These yummy cupcake have a lemon pound cake texture with a yummy pop of lemon curd. I got this recipe from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book.

The recipe calls for Meyer Lemons but I used fresh lemons off my Dad's tree.

3 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, sifted

2 tablespoons lemon zest, plus 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

1 3/4 (3 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp.

3 cups graduated sugar

8 oz cream cheese, room temp.

7 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Confectioner's sugar for dusting.

 Pre-heat over to 325. Line muffins tins with paper liners.

Whisk together flour, zest baking powder and salt.

With an electric mixer on med. speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in cream cheese.  Reduce speed and add eggs, on at a time . Beat in lemon juice and vanilla. Add flour mixture in three batches until combined. Bake for 28 minutes. When cooled dust with confectioners sugar.

Lemon Curd.

2 whole eggs plus 8 egg yolks

1 cup sugar

2/3 fresh lemon juice( about 6 lemons)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into small pieces, room temp.

Combine whole eggs and yolks, sugar, and lemon juice in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water.

Cook, whisking constantly, until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.  This take a while so don't get discouraged.

Remove from heat, add butter a few pieces at a time, whisking until smooth.

Strain through a fine sieve into another bowl and cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly on surface to prevent a skin. Refrig, until chilled and firm, at least 2 hours.

Using a pastry bag, insert tip into cupcake and squeeze some curd into cupcake and lift tip to create a small mound on top of cupcake.

Now this seems like a lot of work and it is, but these are incredible and well worth the time.







Foo Foo Pillows!

I have finally finished the decorative pillows to match my new bed quilt.

Every now and than I get obsessed with a fabric line. Okay maybe a little more than now and then.....

Martinique is one of those lines, I just love the colors, flowers, and paisleys  in this line. When I bought it I knew it was going to find a new home on our bed.

 The funny thing about quilting is you usually cut up the fabric into smaller blocks and lose a lot of the fabric design. I knew with this line I wanted to see larger sections of the fabric so I made our quilt with 10 squares of each piece in this line.

I had lots of fun making pillow cases, pillow shams and decorative pillows. Foo Foo pillows and my husband would say. He still doesn't understand the idea of, they are to look at, not to actually use!

I have had a hard time finding a bed skirt to match, I would just make one but unfortunately I didn't buy enough of this fabric and it is no long available.  I will find something that will work, when I do I will post it.

UFO's no more!

As I mentioned in my last post, I joined Sandra and her linky party to help keep each other motivated and complete UFO's.

Here are just two of the many UFO's I will be working on.

This first one is for my daughter Amanda.

It is a strip quilt made with a Jelly Roll.

I just have a few more strips to add and then I will use the purple as a stopper border and binding and the Paisley as a outer border.

I really need to finish this, my daughter keeps asking when will it be done???

The second one I would like to finish is a BOM I started maybe 4 years ago.

The sad part about this one is that the blocks are all complete, all I have left to do is the sashing and border.

This Block of the Month I did with my Mom, she passed away two years ago from Breast Cancer, so this was put away because it was too painful to work on. But if you knew my Mom, you will understand when I say, she is in my ear telling me to get this darn thing done already!!!

I have added a link to Sandra's UFO project on my blog, please feel free to join us and get some of your UFO's completed.



So many quilts so little time.

Finishing up all my UFOs. What a lovely thought.

I hope this will give me the inspiration to get several of them done.

My first priority is my daughter Amanda's quilt. It is a simply Jelly Roll quilt but it just keeps getting push to the back of the list. Just a few more row and border and it will be ready to quilt.

The second UFO I would like to complete is a Block of the Month I started several years ago. Now the blocks are all finished, I just have the shashing and borders to complete.

I am only going to list two for right now, if I list them all I might get overwhelmed.

It is also 3:40 in the morning so I will come back and load pictures in the daylight.

A few of the projects I have been working on.

As promised here are a few on the many projects I have been working on.

The first is a decorative pillows.  Just a quick back story, I made a new quilt for our bed, the last one we had I made with my husband in mind. It was darker colors and not feminine at all. This new quilt is all me, florals, soft colors and just down right pretty. I explained to my husband that I am making decorative pillow that are just for looks, not to ever rest you head on! I will let you know how that works out.

I saw this cute pillow on Pintrest, it was posted by Justanotherhangup.blogspot.com.

I thought it was very cute and would be easy to make with the new Bernina Ruffler foot I have been experimenting with.

Here is a picture of the original one from Pintrest.



Here is my version of this pillow.

It looks really nice with the other pillows I have made, just waiting to finish two more and I will post a picture of all of them, including the quilt.

Next is a cute shirt I made for Amanda. I saw this made at Scrapbooks ETC and knew Amanda would just love it.

First picture is a plain white tee from Old Navy.

Here is the after picture, I embellished the tee with a cute ruffle fabric.

As you can see, she loves it!



Amanda's new hat.

I just finished this hat for my daughter Amanda.

She has been waiting for me to make her this hat for a few months now.

You know the saying, the shoemakers kids......

She is so happy to have it, that she didn't even wait for her hair to dry before she began wearing it.

Big smile!

Front view of hat.

Better view of the flowers.

The fabric is from Kate Spain's collection called Terrain.

I just love all of her fabric, the colors are so rich.