Popcorn Stitch Hat

I've taken a small break from quilting to work on a crochet hat for the kiddo. I've found that crocheting is a lot easier to manage with an active 4 month old. I can do a few stitches and then put it down whereas sewing takes a lot more to pull everything out, get everything situation, and then start.

I'm actually not much of a crocheter. I know two stitches...and I used them both on this hat.

I also ended up making the hat a bit to big. But I figure that's better than too small. At the rate our daughter's growing, she'll fit into it in no time at all.

Quilt Binding

A friend recently asked me about how to best bind a quilt to finish it off. I couldn't remember if I had posted a link to these directions or not, but decided it was worth re-posting. http://www.heatherbaileydesign.com/HB_QuiltBinding.pdf

I'm always constantly amazed at how the binding can make or break a quilt. I've noticed this especially at the Quilt Expo. There can be the most beautiful quilt on display with perfect patchwork. But if the binding is somehow off, the whole quilt looks a bit funny. It's amazing how such a small thing can make or break the quilt.

I guess if the quilt is not hanging on the wall, it doesn't matter as much if the binding is straight or not. But I think it's worth it to try and get the binding right. All that being said, I'm still trying to get the hang of continuous binding. Good think I still have some quilt projects lined up.

Baked French Fries

So I was watching Cook's Country on PBS the other day and they were doing a segment on the perfect baked french fry. The secret according to them was to soak the potato in water for 10-30 minutes. I thought that was ridiculous and so counter-intuitive. But they tend be spot on in their recommendations so I thought I'd give it a try. What do you know. It actually worked. The fries were way more crispy than anything I had tried before.

I found a similar recipe online and thought I'd link to it in case anyone else wants to give this strange tip a try: http://annies-eats.com/2010/02/25/baked-oven-fries/

Owl Quilt

It seems now a day's I'm consistently being asked two questions: 1) How are you feeling, 2) Are you making a baby quilt?

I'd actually been a bit undecided about making a baby quilt. There are so many cute ones already out there that in some ways it just seemed easier to buy one instead of make one. And I tend to take way to long making quilts so I wasn't sure I could fit in another project.

However, I reconsidered after seeing this quilt:

It looked really simple and for some reason I liked the owls (must be all that Harry Potter influence coming out). So I took this on as a three weekend project. And here's the result:

Since I wanted this to be a quick quilt, I decided to machine stitch it all (which was a first for me). I still like the way hand stitching turns out over machine. But for something like this, the machine worked just fine. The other challenge was I wanted to use fabric that I already had. It turns out I have a lot of blue fabric which isn't necessarily the go to color of choice for a baby girl. But I think by using the flower print and a white fabric that has a little more of a lacy feel...it has a bit more of a girl flare than a boy.

Either way, I like how it turned out. So now when people ask if I'm going to make a baby quilt, I can say...been there done that.

Tote Bag on Steroids

About 2 years ago I found a pattern for a simple tote bag (above) and tried making a few. In general I liked how they turned out and they work well as a simple quilted tote. However after being married 5 years to a man who is never happy with any bag he owns and who is always want to alter it somehow...I've been pondering how to modify this simple pattern into something a bit more exciting.

And tada! My version of a simple tote bag that is no longer so simple.

I started with the original pattern but then added in 3 extra pockets (2 on the outside, one on the inside), a zipper on top, and a water bottle pocket on the side. I also used a heavier canvas fabric (courtesy of the free table at work) instead of cotton.

I'm amazed at how well it turned out. I really like how sturdier the bag feels due to the canvas. And the pockets really added a lot to the overall feel of the bag. In putting the two bags side by side, I don't think I ever would have guessed they came from the same pattern.

Sunflower Quilt

The only upshot of catching a cold from my husband over the weekend was that it gave me plenty of time to sit and mindlessly finish a quilt I started in October.

This quilt was a kit that I picked up at last year's Quilt Expo. I really liked the colors and loved the way it turned out. The only change I made from the pattern was instead of making quilted triangle blocks for the four corners, I embroidered a decorative medallion type thing. I think that worked a lot better with the quilt. I'm super happy with how square I got the inside block...still need to work on getting the boarder and my binding a bit straighter. My only debate now is to figure out what wall to put it on.

Christmas Cooking

Started out the holiday backing with Nutty Biscotti. I made this a few years ago from a Better Homes and Garden recipe and liked it well enough to keep the it in my recipe box. However, I decided I'd tweak the recipe a bit this time to see if I could make it more tasty. I was pleased with the result:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 teaspoons finely shredded lemon peel
1-2 tablespoons lemon juice (start with 1 and add more if dough is not sticky enough
3 cups all purpose flour
1 cup coarsely chopped lightly salted pistachio nuts
1/2 cup of dried cranberries

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper. Beat butter with mixer on medium to high speed 30 seconds. Add sugar, soda, baking powder, and salt; beat until combined. Add eggs, lemon peel and juice. Beat until combined. Add flour; beat until combined. Add in more lemon juice if to dry. Stir in nuts and cranberries. Divide dough in half. Shape each into a 12-inch roll. Place at least 3 inches apart on baking sheet. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until beginning to brown (logs will spread). Cool completely on a rack. Use a serrated knife to cut each roll into 3/4-inch slices. Place, cut sides down, on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in 350 degree F oven for 5 minutes. Turn slices over; bake 5 minutes more or until dry and crisp.

Cool on rack. Dip 1 end of biscotti into white chocolate; sprinkle with nuts. Dry completely. Makes 36 biscotti.

Elna Carina Sewing Machine

One of the unfortunate side effects of going to the quilt expo each year is that I leave wanting to upgrade my sewing machine to a fancier one that can do cooler stitching or better quilting.

My current sewing machine was built in the 80's and is a hand me down from someone in our family. I've used it for the past 15 years or so and it's always done the job. But after helping out with one of the quilt workshops I was even more convince that I should maybe start saving for a new machine.

There were just all these nifty attachments that made quilting so much easier!

However, this past weekend I pulled out this little container with attachments that came with my sewing machine. I started playing around with some of the attachments and discovered that I can actually do many of the techniques that these fancier machines can do!

The two attachments I'm most excited about is that I have a quilting foot (this lets you do free motion quilting) and then a seam guide (this attaches near the foot of the machine and adjusts to whatever seam allowance you want).

Who knew? I've had these attachments for years but since I didn't have an instruction manual...I never took the time to research what all these attachments can do or how to even attach them to the sewing machine.

That was kind of nice to find out because I really didn't want to start saving $2,000 for a new sewing machine.

So my hand me down sewing machine that is 30 year's old is actually pretty cool.

Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice

Pumpkin Spice Latte....check
Apple Picking...check
Apple Sauce canning...check
A little bit of fall cleaning...check
Curl up with a blanket watching the rain...check
Pull out the fall brown boots to wear with my brown plaid skit...check
Start a fall quilt...check
I think I'm ready for fall.

Quilt Expo Favorites

As I mentioned last week, I helped out as an exhibit docent at the quilt expo. One think I enjoy about this volunteer position is that it forces me to be around the quilts and study them a bit closer than I would other wise. These were some of my favorites from the show.

These were the most interesting and something about these quilts caught my attention. But they are probably a style I'd never try to make:

Quilt Expo 2011

I love the quilt expo. I secretly live for this event each year (ok, this may be an exaggeration...but I do enjoy it).

This year I volunteered again as an exhibit docent which was quite fun and then I tried something new - I volunteered as a workshop assistant. That was a lot more fun than I anticipated. I helped out with a Cotton Theory workshop. In short Cotton Theory is a way to make a reverseable quilt and a way to quilt as you go. So by the time all your pieces are sewn together, you're done. I've seen these types of quilts before and but haven't figured out how to make them. We'll after helping 25 other ladies make a small sampler, I think I got it down (picture above). I was pleasantly surprised with my first go at this small quilt. I need to work on my stitching on the machine...but I think it turned out ok.

I'm very much in a quilting mood now. I found three new patterns I want to try which is making me anxious to finish up a smaller baby quilt I'm making for a friend. I'm grateful that it's fall now and that the garden is just about over. I can turn my attention now to this fun stuff.

Finished Crazy Quilt

Finally finished the crazy quilt this weekend. I decided to do a simple binding and not do any borders since it seemed to distract from the craziness of the quilt. Overall, I'm quite pleased with how this turned out.

For detail shots of individual squares, see:  http://kirkynews.blogspot.com/2011/07/crazy-quilting-2.html

Crazy Quilting 2

 

 

 

So after learning how to do a small crazy quilt block, I thought I'd try something larger and use up some old scraps of fabric I had been hanging on to for far to long. You can see some of the blocks for this quilt up above. These are 15x15 inch blocks and there are nine of them total. I just pieced them together today and am working on quilting, binding and finishing the quilt this week and probably next.

I have to admit that I've cheated a bit on the quilt. I found these old embroidered roses and lace from thrift stores and an old table cloth that someone had started in our family but never finished. I liked how they worked into the crazy quilt and the roses added much more to the overall look than anything I could have done on my own.

We'll have to see how long it will take me to finish the binding and tacking. It's supposed to be around 100 degrees all week and warm weather and quilts do not go super well together. 

Crazy Quilting

Back in March I mentioned how I was experimenting with making crazy quilt blocks. This experiment was initiated when I learned how to make a crazy quilt block from a few ladies at church. The instructions that we followed can be found here: http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art23942.asp

I then taught a class this past spring at work for our annual Art Festival on how to create a crazy quilt block. The idea was to make a 9x9 inch block out of scrap material that I had. The block could be turned into a hot pad or small wall hanging (see pictures above). The class itself went fairly well. The only thing I would do differently would be to have more sewing machines in the room. We only had one machine in the room and with 10 of us attempting to make a block, the sewing part backed up fairly quickly.

I think the biggest thing I've learned about crazy quilting is that the quilt is more about the thick top stitching than the actual quilt pieces. When I first pieced a block together, I thought it looked ok. But after doing the top stitching...wow, it looks so much better.

I've enjoyed crazy quilting so much that I started a larger lap quilt. I'm in the final stages of that quilt and will post some images of that later this week.

In the meantime, here's some more picture of the class.

Headband Update

I got a chance to try those headbands I noticed last week and they turned out ok. I tried two different versions and here's the report:

The Wide Headband (http://www.alteredcloth.com/blog/2007/07/how-to-make-a-headband-version-2-the-wide-headband.php) - this was the more complicated one to make but I think turned out better. Or at least I like how it fits on my head better. This is the red and white one above. For the main part I did a 6 x 16 inch square. I think style and stitching of this one looked closest to what I saw in the store.

Reversible Headband (http://www.kcquilts.com/blog/2006/09/reversible-fabric-headband-tutorial.html): I also tried this version of the headband. The blue and pink ones above are this version. It turned out ok, but the lengths were a bit odd. I felt like I was either making it to large or to small for my head and I don't think they fit as well as the Wide Headband version.

So there you have it. A $20 headband for probably about $2 each.

Next Quilt Project

Now that I finished my last quilt project it's on to a new one. I saw the pattern for Pathway to the Stars a few years back and have been wanting to try it for a while now. I think I'm going to use browns and reds as the main colors instead of the lighter colors show in the pattern. All in all it should be an easy project.

Pathway to the Stars by Sarah Maxwell and Dolores Smith Pattern

I'm also doing a little experimenting with crazy quilting for an upcoming quilting class I'm doing for our yearly Art's Fest at work.

Recipe of the Month: Blueberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

I got this recipe a while ago from Sunset Magazine but had forgotten about it until recently. It's really yummy (and not the healthiest). Even my non-fruit eating husband likes it.

Blueberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake
Elaine Wing Hillesland, owner of Alegria Oceanfront Inn and Cottages in Mendocino, CA, serves this cake to her bed-and-breakfast guests.

PREP AND COOK TIME:
About 1 hour Yield: Makes 10 to 12 servings

Ingredients
1 cup fresh blueberries, rinsed, or frozen blueberries
1/4 cup apple juice
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1/4 lb.) cold butter, cut into chunks
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
3/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs
6 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 cup sliced almonds

Preparation
1. In a 1- to 2-quart pan over medium heat, bring blueberries and apple juice to a boil. Lower heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until blueberries have released their juices, about 3 minutes. In a small bowl, blend cornstarch and 2 teaspoons water. Add to blueberry mixture; stir until it simmers and thickens, about 1 minute. Let cool to room temperature.

2. In a bowl or food processor, mix or whirl flour and 3/4 cup sugar. Add butter to flour mixture. Cut in with a pastry blender or pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Reserve 1/2 cup; pour remaining into a large bowl. Stir in baking powder, baking soda, salt, and lemon peel.

3. In a bowl, mix yogurt, vanilla, and 1 egg until blended; stir into flour-baking powder mixture until incorporated. Spread batter in a buttered 9-inch round cake pan with a removable rim.

4. In a bowl or food processor (no need to wash from step 2), beat with an electric mixer on high speed or whirl cream cheese, remaining 1/4 cup sugar, remaining egg, and lemon juice until smooth. Spread over batter in pan, leaving a 1/2-inch border bare. Gently spread blueberry mixture over cream cheese mixture, leaving some visible. Stir almonds into reserved flour mixture and sprinkle over cake, concentrating most around edge of batter.

5. Bake in a 350° oven until center of cake barely jiggles when pan is gently shaken and top of cake is golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes. Let cool on a rack for 15 minutes, then remove pan rim. Serve warm or at room temperature

Recipe of the Month: English Cottage Pie

I have to admit the first time we tried this it was a bit bland.  So the second time I added in a whole can of tomato paste instead of 2 tablespoons, doubled the mushrooms and carrots and used fresh herbs, put salt in the mashed potatoes...and it was much more yummy.

It takes a bit longer to make than I'd like for a weeknight...but it's a nice dish if you have more time.

English Cottage Pie Recipe from Cooking Light: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=50400000107447

The Arts

The arts have been a bit more on my mind lately. We recently attended a lecture by an artist called Makoto Fujimura (http://www.makotofujimura.com/) which was excellent. He shared about how good art often is an estuary between two worlds...the world as it is and the world as it could be.  Interesting idea.

We then went to the Chicago Art Institute and saw great art.

Then this past weekend we went to a conference at a local church about art and worship in the church. I came away from this weekend reminded again of the role of tension in our lives. One of the speakers pointed out how often the best works of art, or our best learning moments in life, come out of times of tension. He expanded on that by suggesting that as Christians we will always live in tension. We live in the reality of how the earth is while at the same time knowing the reality of what is yet to come which equals tension (this reminded me of the estuary idea again).

Anyways, don't think I'll become a master artist any time soon.  But it's been fun focusing a bit more on the idea of art.  If anything it is inspiring me to try and finish a quilt that has been on the shelf for 1/2 a year now.

Recipe of the Week: Puffed Apple Pancake

So in honor of it being apple season and having gone apple picking this past weekend:
Puffed Apple Pancakes! (originally in the 2002 September Bon Appetit magazine)

1 cup whole milk
4 large eggs
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2/3 cup all purpose flour
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
12 ounces Golden Delicious apples (about 2), peeled, cored, thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 425°F. Whisk milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla, salt, and cinnamon in large bowl until well blended. Add flour and whisk until batter is smooth. Place butter in 13x9-inch glass baking dish. Place dish in oven until butter melts, about 5 minutes. Remove dish from oven. Place apple slices in overlapping rows atop melted butter in baking dish. Return to oven and bake until apples begin to soften slightly and butter is bubbling and beginning to brown around edges of dish, about 10 minutes.

Pour batter over apples in dish and sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake pancake until puffed and brown, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired. Serve warm.