Blocks and Bricks Quilt

This is my latest quilt. My mom's siblings are making quilts this year for the LDS Humanitarian Center instead of exchanging Christmas gifts, so this is my contribution. The blocks and bricks pattern is great for scraps. I like how nothing has to match, but it always seems to go when you put it together.

Making Ghosts

We've been getting in the Halloween mood around here. These ghosts were so simple to make and my little boy just loved it. I plan on making these every year and recording the date on the back. That way I have a cute little footprint of my kiddie every year, and you can compare how much they grow!

Step 1- Paint your foot white and make a print on black construction paper.

Step 2- Wait for them to dry.

Step 3- Draw a scary/funny face on the "heel" of each.
Step 4- Cut them out, punch a hole at the top, string a string through the hole, and hang them where you please.

The Ruffled Apron

A lady in my ward brought one of these home from the store so we could figure out how to make them. Here's what we came up with. I don't profess to be good at giving detailed instructions. Let me know if you have questions.

You will need:
6 ruffles: top row: 4.5" x WOF
row 2-6: (1.5)- 4.5" x WOF strips each
waistband: (2) 4.5" x WOF strips
back: 14" x 39" muslin

1- Since you will need 1.5 strips for rows 2-6 of the ruffles, you will begin by sewing these strips together to make one long strip. Roll hem all strips on all 4 sides.

2- To gather your ruffles, use a basting stitch on the largest length possible at the top of each strip.
Leave extra thread on the ends. Pull on of the threads and "ruffle" your fabric.
3- Next, take your muslin and roll hem all but the top side. Mark on your fabric with a pencil how far apart you want your ruffles.
4- Starting at the bottom, lay your ruffle along the pre-marked line and sew to the back. Repeat for each row. You will need to gather the muslin for the top row since that row only has one WOF.
5- For the waistband, sew together your 2 WOF so it is one long strip. Fold right sides together and sew all sides except where you will insert your apron (about 29" in the center). Turn inside out and iron flat. Insert apron into opening of waistband, pin, and stitch shut (turning raw edges under).

You are done!

Chewy S'mores Bars

Warning: This treat is popular and should, therefore, be hoarded.

Ingredients:
1/2 c. whipping cream
1 3/4 c. (11.5 oz. bag) milk chocolate chips
3 1/2 c. mini marshmallows
7 1/2 oz. (1 pkg. from box) graham crackers, broken into bite-sized pieces

1. Grease a 9 in. square pan.

2. Heat cream in a saucepan over medium-high heat for 1-2 min. or until bubbles appear around edges. Remove from heat. Add chocolate chips; stir until smooth. (You'll want to dip your fingers in at this point...be strong, it will be worth the wait.) Add marshmallows; stir to coat. Gently stir in graham cracker pieces until combined.

3. Spread mixture into prepared pan; press down lightly. Refrigerate for 2 hours (good luck waiting...your mouth will water for 2 hours straight) or until firm. Refrigerate any leftovers (don't worry, you won't have any). Makes 16 bars.

The Shannon Quilt

My SIL has been wanting to sew this quilt for about a year now. She has been gathering her fabric, and this week she came to sew it with me! The pattern can be found here.

Here's some pictures of our process...
sewing...
the blocks
the top (except for borders)

with borders

Homemade Salsa

We have had tomatoes growing out of our plant like CRAZY, so I wanted to make something that I could save for later and that both my hubby and I like.

I checked out a few recipes online and here's what I came up with:7 c. tomatoes
2 jalepeno peppers
2 pasillo peppers
4 cloves of garlic
6 green onions
1 large white onion
lime juice
salt
pepper

First, you have to blanch your tomatoes (peel the skins off) because home grown tomatoes have a thinker skin on them. I didn't get any pictures of this, however, I will explain. You core your tomatoes and put them in boiling water for about 30-60 seconds. Then put them in a bowl of ice water and the skins come right off. After your tomatoes are blanched, you chop everything up to chunky pieces to put in your blender. Blend to your desired chunkiness. Adjust seasonings to your liking. This recipe is a pretty mild salsa 'cause I took out all the seeds in the peppers.

You can eat it right away, of course...or
you can save it for a wintry day when you wish it were summer (can it).
makes 5 pints

Lucky Stars Update

Got the top together.

Little Barn

I found a tutorial to make a little barn/ doll house here and here. Obviously, I made mine a barn. I can see how this pattern is easier to make the second time around. I would have placed the elastics differently. I just need to move one on each side to the top of the barn and add a button to the corner at the very top. My boy still loves it though.

Lucky Stars

My newest project is to finish my Lucky Stars quilt. I have all the stars sewn. Now I need to trim them, add a border to each block and sew together!

Inexpensive Fun

My little one loves to paint. When we go to a craft store he likes to look at their kids painting section. This week we found a fabulous painting project in their clearance section. The wooden snake plus the paint and brush were a whopping $1.00. It's an entertaining afternoon for him while working on some fine motor skills, plus he can then play with the snake as a toy later. We both love these finds!

Black Bean and Corn Salsa

I made this recipe this weekend and really liked it. It makes a lot of salsa, so make sure you have a big group or cut it down for a few people. I found the recipe here.

You will need:
1 can of corn
2 cans of black beans
2 large tomatoes
1 avocado
1 to 2 jalepeno pepper
1 red or white onion
a small bundle of cilantro
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of redwine vinegar
3 to 4 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp of pepper.

Combine in a small bowl your olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Whisk. Set aside.

Drain your corn and black beans. rinse your black beans.
Chop up your tomatoes, onion, avocado, cilantro and jalepeno.
Combine in a large bowl corn, black beans, tomatoes, onion, avocado, cilantro, and jalepeno.

Pour over your ingredients your olive oil mixture, and stir in.

Enjoy with chips, or as a side dish.

Apple Crisp

I love apple crisp! I made it on Sunday for our 4th of July dessert. I got the recipe out of the Lion House Classics cookbook.

Placemat Turned Pillow

I had seen others make placemats into pillows, but never saw one that I really wanted. That changed this week. I found this really cool "We the People" placemat that goes well with my bedroom set. The placemat needs to have two layers (a front and a back). You simply make a cut on the back side big enough to stuff. Stuff. Whip stitch shut again. It's that simple. And I love it.

Baby Toys

I've recently learned to make a few baby toys. They are really easy and great baby shower gifts. The baby block I found here. You can find the pattern and everything at that link. Her instructions are really great. You use a charm pack to make them. Since you only use 6 squares per block you can make 6 or 7 blocks per charm pack. I found a charm pack that had both boy and girl colors in it so I only had to buy one.


The baby lamb I found here. This website is a great place if you like embroidery or redwork too, which I have been into lately. I will post about that later. This little lamb is harder to make than I thought it would be. Not bad, but a little harder. They have the pattern and instructions at the link.

Quilted Bag

Okay, so I don't have great instructions for this bag, because I started to make it before I knew I was going to do this blog, but I still wanted to share it. A lady in my ward holds a quilting class in her garage on Wednesday mornings. We do a lot of charity quilting, but recently she's been teaching me how to do other things too. You pick out a 12"x12" quilt block for the middle and sew a 5" border around that. The block I chose represents the pioneer wagon wheels. This woman also has a long-arm quilting machine that she has so kindly let me use..what a treat! I got to pick out my quilt pattern and quilt the sides before I constructed the bag. We also made a lining for the inside (about 1 yd of fabric) so we didn't have raw edges, and we could add pockets. We also added quilted handles. I use it for my church bag, and I love it! The fabric I used was Martinique by 3 Sisters for Moda.

Black Apple Doll

I saw these dolls about 6 months ago in the blog craft world and wanted to make some for birthdays, Christmas, etc. Then last week a girl taught a class on how to make them for Relief Society, so I got some more tips and new ideas for them.

Here's what you do. Click here and download the pattern and instructions. Then visit here for more ideas and inspiration from the creator, Inside a Black Apple. You can design so many ways! At first, I used buttons for eyes and designed the "dress" with more detail. At the class I just took,the teacher had fabric markers to use for the face, kept the "dress" plain, and made a shawl to go over. There's not a pattern for a face, you can be as detailed or simple as you want. I played around with the size of legs and arms. I wanted them a little bigger that the pattern showed. I might even go bigger next time I make them. You can change the color of the legs to make them look like panty-hose or socks. You can also make an all nude body and construct a pioneer like doll wardrobe! So many possibilities...

When Your Tree Hands You Lemons....

Make Lemonade!One of the things we love about our place here is that we have a lemon tree. We collected quite a few this week and decided to make lemonade. We juiced 8 lemons (varying sizes) to get about 2.5 cups of lemon juice. We put that in our gallon pitcher and added 1.5 "ish" cups of sugar. Then filled it almost up with water and stirred. Yum!

Birthday Cake

My favorite cake EVER is Wacky Chocolate Cake. It's moist, not to rich, and still good days after you make it. It's "wacky" because you don't use egg. Here's the recipe.

3 c. flour

2 c. sugar

2 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
6 Tb. cocoa
2 tsp. vanilla
2 Tb. vinegar
3/4 c. oil
2 c. cold water

Mix everything and put in a greased 9x13. Bake at 350* for 35-40 min.

I frosted with cool whip and chocolate pudding this time.

Reversible Super Hero Cape

Since my little one is turning 3, I made him a super hero cape for his birthday. I wanted one that he could put on by himself (using Velcro).

Here's what you need:

• 1 yd green fabric

• 1 yd blue fabric

(I used a broadcloth for the fabric.)

• 4 pieces of different colored felt

• a strip of Velcro

Lay out one of your fabrics with the fold still in it (like on the bolt). Draw with chalk the shape you want. I measured my boy's shoulders as well as the length from his shoulders to just above the ground to help with the shape. The neck end measures 11" wide, and it's 32" long. After you cut your basic shape, use that to cut the other fabric exactly the same.

Then design 2 super hero logos out of the felt. Cut them out.
I sewed the letter to the shield first.
Then pin it to where you want it on the cape and sew around the edges.
After you have each side with the logos sewn on, put the right sides together and sew around the edge of the cape, leaving the neck seam open to turn right side out.
Turn right side out , iron the seams flat, and top stitch around the same 3 sides.
From your leftover fabric, cut a 3" by 22" piece. This will be the collar. Center it on the neck part of the cap and sew along that side.
Then, iron a seam on the top and sides of the collar.
Fold in half and iron.
Sew along all sides of the collar.
Sew the Velcro at each end of the collar.
And you're done!