Sunday, October 31, 2010

Quilted Halloween Banner Tutorial!

I've got a new tutorial over at Moda Bake Shop! It's a bit late in coming as it's for Halloween, but hey, you can get a jump start on next year! :)

Blogger's Quilt Festival Fall 2010

I am so excited to submit Heidi's Quilt for the Blogger's Quilt Festival! This has truly been a labor of love for me. My dear friend, Katie asked me to make a quilt for her beautiful daughter, Heidi's special birthday. Heidi picked the basic design and colors and then I went with it!
It is a twin size bed quilt made with in a Disappearing Nine Patch with two strip borders, a patchwork border and a ric rac trim.
 The main fabric line is Pillow & Maxfield's Whimsy by Michael Miller. The brown & white polka dot is Michael Miller's Dumb Dot. There is also some Ta Dot by MM, Paula Prass' Flights of Fancy, and a Jennifer Pagianelli print.
 I put a beautiful aqua minky on the back so it would be warm and cuddly. This is the first time I had a quilt long-arm quilted. Grammie Roylane did a beautiful job and the minky quilted wonderfully!

 I also made a matching sham and four throw pillows. This was such a challenging but rewarding project and I know that it will be loved. XO Katie!

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Heidi's Pillows

I am so excited that Heidi's bed set is complete! I am saving the quilt to show for the Blogger's Quilt Festival in a few days. But I wanted to share the pillows that I made for her bedding set.
 This pillow FREE pillow pattern is from a wonderful Australia designer at the Don't Look Now blog. They have wonderful applique quilt patterns. I've been dying to try the pillow and I'm just tickled with how it worked out.
This pillow I just used four squares and then added a couple of applique flowers from the above pattern. Then I covered two buttons and put them on either side.
I combined two fabrics for this pillow and added some jumbo ric rac trim and a pretty little embroidered accent. All the pillows are backed with aqua minky like the quilt.
The pièce de résistance is a cute little personalized pillow with her name. I got this pattern from The Polkadot Chair blog.
 I'll be delivering the set this weekend and hope Heidi will love it. It has been a labor of love for sure :). 

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Homemade Oreos

I thought I would make one of my kids favorites today, Homemade Oreos! Super simple and simply scrumptious!

Here is the recipe:

HOMEMADE OREOS (Cakesters)

2 boxes Double Fudge Cake Mix (actually any chocolate variety should work)
4 Eggs
3/4 cups Vegetable Oil

That's it! Mix all together and roll into uniform balls (I use a cookie scoop), and place on a cookie sheet.
Cook at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.
They should come out looking like this! Cool completely on a cooling rack.
Now the best part, frosting! Use one jar of store bought frosting in Buttercream or Vanilla. Or you can make your own buttercream. I colored my Find too cookies that are similar in size, frost one side and put them together. Voila!

Soft and and oh so yummy, enjoy!

The fun thing is that you can use ANY kind of cake mix. My next favorite is Lemon. We call them Lemon-Os. Use lemon cake mix and lemon frosting. Also really cook with carrot or spice cake and cream cheese frosting, yum!

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Meet Rodon


When my brother Matt was in 2nd grade he wrote a book called "The Robot That Was Built on Earth". It's about a robot named Rodon. We all love Rodon and he is definitely part of our family lore. (if you'd like to see the actual book, it's on YouTube, here is the link: :)

 Matt's Rodon

Since Matt and his wonderful wife, Jenny are about to have their first together, a baby boy, I thought it would bring Rodon somewhat to life! I appliqued him on a t-shirt for their little guy. I cut him out of fabric, used Steam-a-Seam and then free hand appliqued around all the edges a couple of times. I wanted him to have a "hand drawn" look. I love the way it turned out and Matt says he wants one for himself. I think I can do that. :)