A few weeks ago I took a paper piecing quilt class with my mom. Now paper piecing is right up there with the “A” word for me (applique). Something that looks a little more complicated and involved than I’d really like to get. BUT I’m happy to report, I liked it. Or at least this method of it.
I have more stars completed and am almost done with my table topper, but here is a sneak peek.
My friend Sharla came into town and helped with a TON of things around the house. Not only did she make food for our freezer, but she also helped draw the tree, turtles and snails on the walls. Thanks Sharla!
Paul and I did the painting.
Paul did the detailed outlining and I did most of the painting on the shells and snails.
The closet.
Above the doorway leaving the room.
Being 38 weeks along, it was difficult to work on the few crawling along the baseboards.
Changing pad cover I made.
And a quilt I made.
On Wednesday I bit the bullet at started a quilt. I am trying hard to get past this rut of no sewing I have been in. And what better way than to make a baby blanket for my little cupcake coming out of the oven in June.
The baby room is going to be bright colors – no pastels here.
The two main fabrics are these…
I LOVE turtles and this fabric was perfect!
Another print I love and will probably be curtains.
So of course a quilt to match from the entire fabric line…
Found a pattern in this book that will show off the fabrics wonderfully....
I laid the quilt out last night. And let me tell you… crawling around on the floor, moving things into place now that I’m 27 weeks along, was harder than I thought it would be.
Here is a sneak peek.
Now I’m off to sew it all together….
I finished the Vicksburg quilt tonight. It took me longer to finish than I thought it would. But I have had a lot more to do at work and been too tired to do much with it in the evenings. So having to get it to the quilter was the kick in the pants I needed.
This photo doesn't do it justice.
It is official!! I am a quilt teacher. My name has been put on the calendar to teach my very first class. I even have one student already. Who paid. Money! To learn from ME! Can we say nervous?
I will be teaching this quilt. It was a pattern by someone else, but had Y-seams all over the place. If you don’t know what that is – they aren’t that much fun. So, my mom figured out a way to have fewer Y-seams and now it goes together much easier!
The class is September 19th and the closer it gets the scarier it is. What happens if I run out of time and don’t get all the steps taught? What if they give me a bad evaluation? What if I get a student without a clue and I have no idea how to get them to understand? What if. What if. What if?! I shouldn’t let my mind wander this much, but these people (well, person) are paying money to learn something from me.
*Breath Robin. Breath!*
Okay. I’m back.
I’ll have to get my act together. Make lots of samples (as suggested by a wise friend of mine), and just jump in. (I’m saying these things to convince myself I can do it as much as I am explaining my thought process to anyone reading!)
A wise train once said, “I think I can. I think I can. I think I can.”
I completed my weekend goal. I finished all the blocks to the new quilt I started on Wednesday. After a final press and a quick photo op, here they are.
I would say, about half the quilts I make, I’m not so sure about at this stage. This one included. I love the block and the finished setting, just not sure about this particular one as a whole yet. I will keep an open mind…
Things have been busy around here. This weekend I was working on the quilt I started a few weeks ago. I had finished sewing on the spinning stars and was ready for the next step.
Instructions for spinning stars.
Take two pieces of fabric (right sides together) and sew along the dotted lines of paper. Then cut on the solid lines…
After removing all the paper from the 1024 half square triangles, pressing them open and some time (lots of time) piecing the blocks together, they are ready to take their place.
Here is what it looked like on the design wall today. There were a few blocks missing. "Eaten" by the dogs... sewing machine feed dogs. 
On Sunday Paul and I went to Joyce, Brett and BB’s house. BB is their bird aka Bilbo Baggins.
BB was on his best behavior and quite entertaining.
BB likes to give kisses
We had lots of fun eating and chatting. Joyce made a delicious chicken and shrimp coconut milk dish.
And I made dessert.
Raspberry Summer Sensation from Kraftfoods.com (recipe below)
Look what we got…
Maple syrup from their recent travels to Minnesota.
(It was delicious on the pancakes Paul made the next day)
And after some fun recipe conversations
A bottle of Vodka to make Vanilla. This is day one after adding the vanilla beans.
Thank you Joyce and Brett for the wonderful goodies. I look forward to sharing the vanilla. Paul said it should be ready in October.
Well, I am off to make some cupcakes for someones birthday celebration tomorrow. Pictures to come soon.
Raspberry Summer Sensation
Prep Time:
15 min
Total Time:
3 hr 30 min
Makes:
12 servings
What You Need!
1 pt. (2 cups) raspberry sorbet, softened
1 cup cold milk
1 pkg. (3.4 oz.) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding
1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed
1 cup raspberries
Make It!
LINE 9×5-inch loaf pan with foil. Spoon sorbet into prepared pan; freeze 10 min.
BEAT milk and pudding mix in large bowl with whisk 2 min. or until well blended. Gently stir in COOL WHIP; spread over sorbet in pan.
FREEZE 3 hours or until firm. To unmold, invert pan onto plate; remove foil. Let stand 10 to 15 min. to soften slightly before slicing to serve. Serve topped with the raspberries. Store leftovers in freezer.
This weekend has been filled with some of my favorite things!
I went to a baby shower on Saturday. So Friday night, I made frosting and chocolate chip cupcakes.
Saturday morning I frosted them…
The card I made…
Saturday evening I went to the local scrapbooking store and scrapbooked with a friend. I updated a simple album I keep of the cakes I decorate and then I made a few cards.
I got this idea from a blog, but I can't remember whose!
I found the elephant at a scrapbook store, I didn't make it.
Same as the elephant, I didn't make the lion.
If I make cards ahead of time, to have ready for an event, I don’t usually put a sentiment on the front until I know the final purpose.
Lately, I have had creative block to scrapbooking other photos besides my cake creations. I think I need to get all my photos a little more organized, and that might help. That will be another project for another weekend.
Yesterday and today I have also been quilting. I have been working on the quilt I started the other day. New pictures to come soon.
I almost forgot… My husband took me to see the new movie, Julie & Julia. It was fabulous! I laughed a lot. I am sad I hadn’t read the book before hand, but I do plan to still read it. It was very inspiring… but no, I will not be cooking through the cookbook in the next year. I might however, try some new recipes. Harder recipes!
I love to start a new project. There is something about the newness. New materials to play with. Something new to look at. New directions. New accomplishment. And hopefully, I’ll finish it before the newness wares off.
The fabric for my next quilt.
The down side to starting a new quilting project is, there is a lot of cutting.
448 squares, cut and ready to go.
It is interesting that cutting is my least favorite part of quilting; as that is what I do at work every day, and most days, all day.
This pattern is almost all half square triangles. I am hoping the use of the papers shown in the next picture will make all of them come together seamlessly. ha ha. A pun and I didn’t even mean for it. Okay. It’s late. Moving on.
Using “Spinning Stars” (read: quick method to the dreaded half square triangle) makes things go a lot faster. It also means I didn’t need to cut 960 smaller squares, to start with. I will, however, need to cut all these papers in to 8 triangles and press them open to get my half square trianges. BUT the idea is that all the triangles will be the exact size I need without further trimming (again read: much easier).
About half way through the pile.
Today is the last day of our Retreat. I am so happy with all that I got completeled these last few days.
I completed the center of my 9 patch quilt. This was a block exchange I did with my sewing group back home. We had to make two hundred 3 inch 9 patch blocks. 20 different fabrics, 10 – 9 patch blocks of each fabric. Then we had to make our own hour glass blocks. So, today I had to make five 9 patches and a bunch of hour glass blocks. I thought I was done with this quilt a month or so ago and then when cleaning my studio I found a baggie of 9 patches. I just had to add them. (Believe me, I thought of leaving them out) And now, it just needs the border. I might even do the “A” word. (Applique)
My second project of the day didn’t get as far as I had hoped. The general consensus was to have colored setting triangles instead of white. I only brought the white, so it will have to wait till I get back and find some fabric (which shouldn’t be a problem!) to get sewn together.
We had a great time getting to know each other. Way too much sugar was consumed and we stayed up much too late. I wouldn’t have had it any other way!
