Foodie Blog Hop - My Day!

Welcome blog hoppers!  I am thrilled to be participating in a blog hop again after 3 years, oh holy cow that went by quickly.  Thank you so much Carla for letting me join in again!

I absolutely love to quilt but when I'm not quilting, I am in the kitchen baking and occasionally cooking too.

John and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary by cooking together this year, it was great!

This last weekend I made some specially decorated sugar cookies for my aunt's bridal shower, they were Strawberry Lemonade flavored with lemon royal icing and were a big hit.  I absolutely love the joy I get from seeing people enjoy eating something I have made.

I also really love aprons, and as you can see I have a couple here:

L to R: Easter apron from mom, houndstooth apron I made in high school home ec 18 years ago, 2 Pampered Chef aprons I earned when I was a consultant, summer/fall double sided apron mom made me, and Christmas/blue backed apron Grandma Linda made me.  I rotate through them all throughout the year!

Then I came across this incredible kitchen-themed fabric at our LQS about a month ago (Kiss the Cook by Michael Miller) and I just knew it would be perfect to make another apron to add to my collection, and I am really excited with how it turned out!  I love that it's double sided too.

I made my apron as a large nine-patch made with 10" squares, then changed my mind and cut the side squares in half to make it closer to the usual apron shape.  We made a similar one for my mom a few years ago but with 9" squares but left the pieces whole and she loves how it wraps around her. The pieced blocks I used are Colored Wheel blocks from the Quilter's Cache website.

If you've never made an apron before, there are a couple ways to go about it.  The method I used for this one creates a double-sided apron, which you CAN add pockets to before sewing the two sides together, but I completely forgot on this one.  I can always add some after the fact if I decide I need to, but I rarely use them.  Here are some photos of me pinning the pieces together before sewing:

Remember to pin the ends of your apron strings to the center before trying to sew around the edges!  I also baste the apron strings in place by sewing back and forth across the strings 2-3 times inside the 1/4" seam allowance.

I found that by taping my solid piece of fabric to my cutting table I eliminated shift while I was pinning them together, which was amazing for when I went to sew around the outside edges.  And I pinned about 3/4" in from the edges so I could leave the pins in until I was finished sewing.  Then just turn it inside out and topstitch 1/8" around the outside edge to close the hole you turn through and give it that finishing touch!

Cookies anyone?

I had a few scraps leftover from piecing my blocks for the apron so I also put together a cute little hotpad!  I may have a hard time using it though, it's so pretty...

Thomas kept a watchful eye over all the activity until I took notice of him, then he fell asleep.  He also enjoys keeping tabs as we cook, you know, in case wayward chicken pieces find there way into his mouth.

Thank you so much for stopping by!  I hope you feel inspired to go out and make yourself a new happy apron to wear in the kitchen while creating goodness to share with others!

Please be sure to visit the other bloggers posting today and see my previous post for the list of the whole week's worth of bloggers.

Thursday, May 26th

MooseStashQuilting

Beckys Adventures in Quilting and Travel 

Ms P Designs USA

Pampered Pettit

Homespun Hannah's Blog

Beaquilter

Have a wonderful day!

Stitch It and Gift It Blog Hop - Hotpads

Hello and welcome to my stop on the Stitch It and Gift It Blog Hop!  I am so excited to see all the great ideas that everyone is sharing with us this week, and I hope you enjoy seeing my projects.  Thank you Carla for the opportunity to participate!  I encourage you all to visit Carla's website by clicking on the image above, and enter into the drawing for a gift certificate to Fat Quarter Shop and be sure to visit the others today too!

Wednesday, November 13th

MooseStashQuilting

Pampered Pettit
Mary Mack Made Mine
The Quilted Snail
Days Filled With Joy
Melva Loves Scraps

Limeleaves

I created/finished up a couple hotpads that will be gifted on Christmas Eve to an unknown recipient.  We do a form of White Elephant gift exchange in our family, the only rule for the item is the item can't cost more than $15.  So I am pairing my two potholders with a big bag of monster cookies and apparently my sister has already decided she will fight for these.  She actually tried to sneak one out of the room earlier this week, LOL!

This hotpad was actually a 6 year old UFO!  It is also the very first thing I ever quilted feathers on, and it was quilted on my Bernina.

This block was really fun to make, so much so that I actually made 2 blocks, but one is going into a future Christmas sampler.  (I like to make sample blocks with Christmas fabric when testing a block, eventually I will have a king size Christmas quilt!)  This is also the first time I have purchased a book and actually made a block out of it!  I had pre-ordered Lori Holt's Farm Girl Vintage 2 from Fat Quarter Shop earlier this year because I felt like I would definitely use it, and see, I was right.

The block in the book is the Evening Star, isn't just amazing how the colors make a block so different?  Also, look at how many other blocks I have marked in here, they will all make awesome potholders...

Isn't this little tag super cute?  One of our LQS (Stash of Walla Walla) has them and I just love the added little sentiment!  Also, I obviously was not going to hand stitch the binding down on this LOL.

You might notice how puffy my hotpad is, I like to use 2 layers of Insulbrite, or one layer of Insulbrite and a layer of cotton or 80/20, which ever is more available at the moment.  I also find that I prefer to use the couple of 12 inch hotpads that are in my kitchen drawer over the smaller ones since most of my pans are pretty large, so I figure the bakers in my family will also enjoy larger ones.  Or, you know, my sister will, since apparently she is willing to take on the family for these... (I am making extras for her Christmas stocking so she will have some no matter what).

 Thomas says to remind you how wonderful and comfy pillows are too. (Football block from Cluck Cluck Sew's Touchdown pattern.)

Belle learned the beauty of a tied fleece blanket this last weekend, so quick and cozy!

And finally I leave you with a little parcel that I am gifting to my longarm quilting clients this year.  I am so thankful for the people who are supporting my business (Blue Spool Sewing Room) and look forward to giving them their little gifts!  I will share later what I am gifting them, it's not a sewn item and it's a surprise.   But I am making the bags to put their gift into!  Selina shared some cute bag ideas on Monday, in case you missed them definitely go check her's out.

Thank you so much for visiting today, I hope you all have a wonderful time exploring all these great gift ideas and have fun making gifts for the holidays!

~Brandy

Halloween Hop 2015 and Giveaways!

*Edit: I have linked this up to http://quiltshopgal.com/2015-free-motion-quilting-challenge-october-challenge-with-lori-kennedy-of-the-inbox-jaunt/ in order to join the linky party.  Party on!*

 

 

Welcome!  I was SO happy to receive the email from Marian of Seams to be Sew inviting us to join in the blog hops again, I could barely contain my excitement!  Thank you Marian.  And then I saw on The Inbox Jaunt's site that Lori was the featured quilter on Quilt Shop Gal's FMQ Challenge, and that the theme was a pumpkin.  I figured it was a sign.

 

I spent the next two weeks practicing my doodling, and when I finally settled on a pattern I liked I sat down and made it happen.

 

Starting the pumpkin, I used a 40 wt Aurifil thread pack I found on sale.  I was hoping the heavier weight threat would show more, and it does a bit, I would like to experiment with others now that I've tried this one out.

 

Loving the checkerboard!  Also, rather proud of my feathers :)

 

I took this photo before adding the back flaps to make a pillow sham, I figured it would be a good idea to get a picture of it flat, and it seems to show off the quilting very nicely!

 

I wanted to make the pumpkin fall-ish so I added oak leaves and acorns, as well as the wheat stalks below

 

 

It is currently supporting me as I write this post, good pillow!  I backed it with some flannel, so when it gets snuggled it will be cozy.

 

So then, there I was, minding my own business, when suddenly:

*cue creepy music*

 

Arrrgh!  An infestation!

 

 

They were everywhere!  So I threatened them with my rotary cutter, no one messes with the rotary cutter...

*By the way, I NEVER leave my cutter open, I opened it specifically for this photo, making sure the cats were elsewhere, and closed it immediately when I was done.  Safety always.*

 

I saw these spiders on a Google search I did last year and just had to make some.  I got the suckers at the Dollar Store, there were 9 in the bag, and that was enough.  Spent a couple dollars on pipe cleaners, made the eyes with my hole punch and a marker.  I love low cost crafts, and this would be such fun to do with kids!  Although, I could see my family sitting down and doing this too, and everyone is over 18... hahaha!

 

Lastly, I woke up yesterday morning with this idea stuck in my head and it dogged me until I finally just made it.

This is a mug rug, and the first I've actually finished I believe.  Also the first time I have made a rail fence.  The idea was that the gray part represents lightning bolts, and the bat is flying through a dark and stormy night.  I was inspired to do the mini dresden bat after hearing Susan Marth on Pat Sloan's podcast.

A wonderful lady in my guild gave me a Halloween kit that had this fabric in it, and it's so much fun.  You can see I outlined the "lighting bolts" for the quilting.  As it's only 6.5" x 6.5" I didn't figure it needed all that much.  Also, I used 2 layers of Insul-Bright for the batting, so it can function as a hotpad as well.

 

The Halloween hops signal my blog anniversary, so that's kinda fun too.  This is my third Halloween hop, so that means I'm entering my third year of blogging and 4th year of quilting.  Hmmmm, doesn't that mean TIME FOR A GIVEAWAY?!  Of course it does.
 

Follow the link below to enter my blog anniversary giveaway.  I'll be sending one lucky winner a homemade bag with some goodies in it!
My giveaway will be open until next Monday, November 2nd, and a winner will be chosen soon after.
It is open to US Residents only (sorry, international shipping is rough these days).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you so much for stopping by, be sure to visit everyone else and see what amazing ideas they've come up with!

Featured Haunts On Monday October 26
Beads & Birds
Needled Mom
Fun Threads
Pampered Pettit
Vrooman’s Quilts
Grandma’s Stories


Follow the link below to enter into today's $25 Fat Quarter Shop giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway



Hotpads

I gave my Great Grandma her puzzle hotpad/potholder on Mother's Day, and she was really impressed.  Everyone loved the colors, I had to point out the quilting.  My family is still in training...

 

 

And I finished my sister's Christmas/birthday present hotpad, I still have a pen case on the books for her.

 

The quilting in progress.

Making a flanged binding for Jen's hotpad, my first flanged binding.

Still trying to figure this part out, it's fine on the inside!

I love the framed look!



You can see the quilting really well on the back, I tried to vary it to look like the cup is on a table.

Very nice!  Slow and steady, really important.

This is my next project, finishing this wall hanging from Connecting Threads.  I was able to get two of them because they were on clearance in January.  Not sure yet what will happen with the second, probably someone will come along in our lives who's obsessed with fish or has a nautical-themed nursery.  We'll see

Love the fish block!!

 

Alright, off to work now.  Have a super sparkly day!

 

~Brandy

 

Thomas and Belle want to remind you to take it easy and enjoy the sunshine!