Baby quilt finished!

Well I actually finished this one about a week or so ago but have been so busy baking (amongst other things).... that I hadn't gotten around to photographing it. So what do you think? I'm very glad I took the plunge and decided to quilt this one myself.... even if it's not the most adventurous quilting pattern, I think it suits perfectly!

Now..... I think a matching pillowcase is in order before I send this one off!

Until next time....

More cake - warts and all

I whipped up another cake yesterday afternoon for Master 8's birthday.... since almost all the muffins went to school with him! The idea of having a birthday without a party has been a difficult concept for him to grasp, so as a compromise he had a friend over for a sleepover for the first time. As is usual in our household the Birthday boy/girl gets to have their choice for dinner which meant nacho's..... he chooses the same thing every year! Overall... he had a great day and was one very spoilt boy.... which is what birthday's are all about... isn't it??

I kept the cake fairly simple.... a plain Coconut cake and once again used my piping bag to pretty it up:

While it may look pretty.... I can't say it's a recipe I'll use again (which is why i'm not giving it to you). I guess you'd say it was a bit tough and the kids weren't all that impressed so they traded their pieces for the last couple of muffins.... the cream cheese icing on the other hand is always a winner.

So there you have it..... not everything I make I is a success! lol

Until next time........

A productive Evening/Morning!

With Master 7 turning 8 today I spent last night baking a batch of Muffins for him to share with his class today. As per his instructions, they were to be Chocolate Mud Muffins with peppermint icing and peppermint crisps on top. I used a new recipe (prob not the best idea in hindsight as there was no time for a re-do) but to my surprise it worked perfectly.... every muffin was even exactly the same size which never happens for me! I also splashed out and bought a piping bag..... I'M. IN. LOVE! Why did no-one tell me to buy one of these years ago??? It made the job soooo much easier and they look prettier too (Not that Master 8 cares much for pretty)!

The Recipe was from Australian Women's Weekly "Easy Cupcakes by Colour" which has some gorgeous cupcake creations in it.... and after trying this recipe I'm keen to use some of the others in the book.

Dark Chocolate Mud Cakes

Ingredients:

60g Dark Chocolate (chopped coarsely)

2/3 Cup (160ml) water

90g Softened Butter

1 Cup (220g) Brown Sugar (firmly packed)

2 Eggs

2/3 Cup (100g) Self-rasing Flour

2 Tbsp Cocoa Powder

1/3 Cup (40g) Almond Meal

Method:

• 
  
   Preheat oven to 170oC (150oC fan-forced) and Line 12-hole muffin pan with paper cases (mine made 15)
• 
  
  Stir chocolate and water in small saucepan over low heat until smooth.
• 
  
  Beat butter, sugar and eggs in small bowl with electic mixer until light and fluffy. Stir in sifted flour and cocoa, meal and warm chocolate mixture.
• 
  
  Drop 1/4 cup of mixture into cases. Bake about 25 minutes. Stand cakes 5 minutes before turning top-side up onto wire rack to cool.

I iced mine with a butter cream icing that i'd added Peppermint essence and green food colouring too but they would also be great with yellow icing and honecomb on top.

Yummo!

Until next time.....

Charm Squares Baby Quilt

Club quilt again today, and I managed to put together this little "Charm Squares Baby Quilt" top using the PDF tutorial over at "Sew Mama Sew".  The nice bright fabric I used was "Snorkel by Cosmo Cricket"  and I just cut my own squares from fabric I already had rather than buying charm squares. I also made the quilt a little larger so that it is cot sized instead of only 33" x 40".

I've been itching to make this quilt ever since I first laid eyes on it at "Willow Grove Quilting" and then I spotted it again at over at "Stillmeadow Quilting" and especially loved the bright and colourful one that Kim made...... I just had to wait for the special little person to arrive to finalise my colour choices.....and arrive he did, 5 weeks early!

Well, I'd best stop hanging around chatting and get on with the quilting (yes I am actually quilting this one myself.....shock horror!).......and it's almost done!

You can find instructions for the changes I made here.

Until next time......

Sweet Finish - Well almost!

My "Sweet Menagerie" quilt also made it off to the quilters earlier this week. The photos really don't do the fabrics justice as the colours are really lovely.... I had a lot of trouble getting good light to take these!

I also did a pieced back which I'll show you when it returns..... can't wait!

The pattern is from "Moda bake Shop" and was designed by the lovely Ros from "Bloom". 

Fabric used is "Hushabye".

Until next time......

Off to the quilter!

You may remember this one that I put together a while ago but was unsure how to finish it......
After all the lovely suggestions I recieved I finally decided on making the top and bottom borders a little wider and adding some applique.... what do you think?

I love that it now looks so different from the one I made with the pieced border and that both little girls will have their own special quilt that is uniquely theirs!

Fabric range was "Sent with Love" by Deb Strain (minus the reds) and the pattern is "Stacked Coin Baby Quilt" from the "Moda Bake Shop".

Until next time.......

6 years in the making!

While at my friend Cath's place to celebrate her birthday yesterday.... it was mentioned that the quilt I helped her make at least six years ago was still sitting there with the binding half sewn. We were making the little quilt for baby number three who has now just turned seven a few weeks ago (you might remember the little apron I made for her birthday). Cath now has five children....and I couldn't see her getting it finished any time soon so I took it home and hand-stitched the rest of the bind last night. It really is the sweetest little colourwash quilt and will be just perfect for Cath's newest addition!

Until next time.......

Clever little Miss

My Miss 11 has finally finished hand-stitching the binding on her very first quilt.... and she couldn't be happier! It's a beautiful "Stacked Coins" Quilt she made using the "Moda Bake Shop" tutorial and so far has made an appearance in nearly every room of the house with Miss 11 often seen walking around wrapped in it.

Why not pop over to her blog "Little Miss Thimble" and let her know what you think of it.... she would be delighted to hear from you?

Until next time......

Is it possible to have too many bags?

With both Hubby and Miss 11 away last night I thought it would be the perfect time to start a little project just for me... one that I've been meaning to get to for quite some time now but with all the Bagalicious bags I've been trying to keep up with it just wasn't happening (we're not going to talk about Bagalicious Bag no. 3 that is still sitting in my cupboard).

Anyway, I had been admiring a lovely bag of Janellybelly's over at "Threads of Friendship", which I bought the pattern for but couldn't find the silver rings to use in the handles. I emailed the lovely Janelle to find out where she got hers and she offered to post some over for me (gotta love bloggy peeps), which she did along with a little extra something. I finally set to work and this is what I ended up with:

Unfortunately it was one of those projects that didn't go smoothly for me.... and I've come to the conclusion that Janelle must be a much more talented bag-maker than I am. I think most of my drama came from the fact that I didn't have enough interfacing on hand so I used some canvas type lining fabric which worked well for the body of the bag but gave me grief when it came to the handles, which I'm going to re-do as they just look untidy because of the bulk where the ends are turned over. Overall, it's a lovely bag but doesn't really look like this gorgeous one of Janelle's that was my inspiration:

Must go email Janelle and find out what I did wrong!

Until next time.......

We have Winners!

It's taken me all day.... but I finally managed to print out a list of all the entries I received and drew a couple of winner's for the gorgeous Verna Jelly Roll and the Beaufort Bag that I made to celebrate my 100th blog post......

Here are all your lovely little comments..........

As you can see, it was a very technical method I used to draw the winners..... Miss 11 and Master 7 were my ever so annoying helpful assistants! Hmmm

drumroll please......

The Jelly roll will be making it's way to:

Linda from "Madamquiltsalot" who said:

"I would love to win the lushes fabric jelly roll, but I also love the bag. Congratulations on 100th posts. Love this blog, only just found it."

And the bag will be heading over to:

Janellybelly from "Threads of Friendship" who said:

"Happy 100th blog post, it has been lovely to view all your gorgeous creations. As a bagaholic, I have to put my hand up for the bag - especially because it's made by you."

Congratulations ladies... and thankyou to everyone for entering and for continuing to read my blog.

Until next time....

Almost there!

Another lovely day at Club quilt today, which meant I finally got a chance to do a bit more on the quilt I started at our retreat in May.... I hadn't done any on it since as I've been busy working on smaller projects:

The pattern is "Sweet Menagerie" by Bloom and you can find the tutuorial at Moda Bakeshop.

I've used "Hushabye" fabric.

So now all I have to do is put the borders on and I can send it off to the quilters.

I'm really looking forward to drawing the winners of my giveaway tomorrow morning.... hope you've all put your names in!

Until then....

Another tunic!

This was my last OPAM finish for June..... bringing my total for the month to 8 finishes! Yay!

It's another School House tunic like the ones I posted about earlier in the month except I made this one shirt length to wear with jeans.... the fabric was some that I had leftover from another project years ago and has some stretch which makes it very comfortable! Have I mentioned that I LOVE this pattern???

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and don't forget about my giveaway on my last post.... if you haven't already entered that is!

Until Next time......