Makin' Plans, Makin' Paper

I'm starting my third quilt this week. At this rate, I'll do one quilt a month (that's the goal, anyways). I hope all my loved ones like quilts! I haven't posted the 2nd one yet because it's for my mom - don't worry, she already knows about it, just hasn't seen it - and I won't get to give it to her until Thursday. But don't worry, it's awesome!! I can't wait to share...

In the meantime, I made my first quilt pattern this morning. I got the inspiration from this website, but they didn't have measurements, and the picture was a baby quilt, which is not what I'm making. So here's my pattern:

I'm pretty sure you can click on the image to make it bigger. This size is for a lap quilt. If you're going to use it, don't forget to add a quarter inch to each side for your seams! This quilt would be nice with fabrics with big patterns, so that you can see the whole pattern.

I also found this link, which I find to be very helpful. I has references for different quilt sizes, and how much fabric you would get/need for various sized quilts/squares. Very useful.

Alright, time to get cutting!

Wreathify My Door

I've been meaning to post these for a while. I got a wreath from my dad for Christmas, and ever since then, I've been wanting to make a wreath for my front door. I saw this idea on Pinterest that uses burlap or something to make a ruffle wreath. I thought I would use old Ikea curtains, they are sturdy enough to hold up the ruffles, but soft enough to fold nicely. My idea was that I could switch out the decorations with the seasons.

The first one I made with grey curtains. I picked out a cute little bird to pin on that one for spring.

But that one didn't work because it was the exact same color as my front door, so it just didn't accent it quite as nicely as I had hoped. So I gave it away to a well-deserving family member. I think she is enjoying it, even though right now it is still stuck somewhere in a closet, I know it will get hung eventually.

So I set out to make a different wreath for myself. Good thing I have a lot of unused curtains. This one I made with my old brown Ikea curtains, and got this mad pretty flower at some craft store.

Yes, I live in apartment #2.

The wreath itself was super easy to make - you could really use any type of fabric. The tutorial linked at the top says to use a glue-gun, but I don't own one so I just used straight pins. I did 4 rows of fabric ruffles, starting on the outside, then the inside, and then the two in the middle. It didn't even take a whole curtain panel. For the wreath "frame" I used the straw forms you can get at regular craft stores. I like using the pins with the straw forms because you can just jam the pins in there and keep going, not worrying about whether the stupid glue is dry yet.

Here are some things that I have learned about wreathing:

1. Your wreath, unless it is made of pine boughs, should be a contrasting color from your door.
2. Silk flowers come in millions of shapes and sizes and are very hard to pick between. Don't get them all, your wreath will just look sloppy.
3. A 12" straw form is plenty big for a regular apartment-sized door.
4. You can change the flowers out as you please, fake birds also look quite nice.
5. The fake birds will not chirp back at you. They may make you feel like Cinderella or Mary Poppins when you clip them to your finger, but they will not eat food out of your hand or tell you what they want for breakfast.
6. There are a million different ways to decorate and make a wreath, but just remember, you won't want to throw them away if you make a different one, so you better have lots of friends with empty doors that will accept your cast-offs if you start a wreath-making hobby.

Happy Wreathing!

SEW

My friend Adam took this picture... I think it's cool.

His family is full of photographers... check out his mom's website!

Happy Monday!

How to Make a Quilt in 7 Days

I have a new obsession... quilting. I got bit hard by the quilting bee this month. Over Christmas, I decided to make a quilt, my first one, for my bestie Sarah, since she's having her first baby. I like how our two firsts are coinciding. Hers is much more monumental than mine, but who knows, maybe some day I will be some phenomenal quilter, and baby T will be the proud owner of my very first quilt. We can all dream.

So since I only work three days a week, I have tons of free time, and making your first quilt in 7 days was totally do-able. (Since all 7 days weren't consecutive.) This was also a baby quilt, so it was pretty small.

Here's a list of things you'll need to make your quilt lickety-split, in no particular order:

• Loud music (I prefer Lady GaGa, reggaeton, and the Garden State soundtrack)
• Roller blade (not the skating kind, the cutting kind)
• Ruler
• Cutting mat
• Fabric scissors
• Thread in matching colors
• Iron
• Towel (ironing board)
• Fabric
• Jack Bauer
• Quilt pattern
• Snacks
• Sewing machine

This is the pattern that I chose. The link will tell you all the measurements and quantities that you need for fabrics.

Here's what you need to do each day:

Day 1 - Wash and dry all your fabrics (unless you are buying very high quality fabrics that don't shrink much, this step is very important so that when you wash your quilt, the fabric doesn't shrink around the stitching)

Day 2 - Iron all your fabrics, measure and cut the colored squares. Here are my pretty squares!

Day 3 - Measure and cut all the white squares and strips, make the pink triangles (here's the best triangle tutorial I found - you will see this involves sewing the white and pink squares together twice and then cutting down the middle - actually pretty easy), then you have to iron all the triangles open, and if you are me, you will then crack the kitchen counter by ironing 26 triangles open in the exact same spot on the counter while watching the last few hours of Season 1 of 24.

Day 4 - Start Season 2 of 24. Make green triangles the same way you made the pink triangles, iron the green triangles - if you had previously cracked your kitchen counter, this step will take extra long because you have to make sure your kitchen counter cools off completely every once in a while. The next step is maybe the most fun because you get to lay out your green zig-zags of your quilt. Play around with the patterns and see what works best. Remember that you have to make 2 zig-zags, so you want to ensure your fabrics are evenly distributed. Then go ahead and start sewing the squares together!!

Day 5 - Lay out your pink zig-zags and start sewing those. Once you have all 4 zig-zags done, the most tedious part is to press all your seams. Up until this point, I did not find any part of the whole process awful. The pressing of seams has to be the worst part of quilting. After you have pressed all your stupid seams, you are ready to sew. Follow the pattern listed on the website - green zig-zag, white strip, pink zig-zag, white strip, blah blah blah.

At this point, you can celebrate because you have done the hardest part!!

Day 6 - Call in reinforcements in the form of your personal quilting expert Leigh. Leigh will teach you how to layer and tack your quilt. Then she will take a nap on your very tiny couch. After that, she will man-up and show you how to bind your quilt. Binding is the process of adding the edge around the quilt. It's not that hard, and it adds such a nice touch, holding together all the parts of the quilt - the top, the stuffing, and the back. This is the binding tutorial that Leigh and I used.

Day 7 - Finish up your binding, cut all the extra threads off, and check all the edges around your binding. Sit and admire your work. And smile at your pretty quilt.

Sarah, I can't wait to give you this quilt. I can't wait to meet your baby girl, I hope she loves it!

My Pride and Joy

For many years I've been wanting an Advent Calendar of epic proportions. Last year I came up with the idea of having a wooden one in the shape of a tree. I wanted it to have little drawers and it had to be cute. I found one on Amazon but it was out of stock and also too expensive. So I had one commissioned. That's just how I roll.

This is how it arrived to me:

I had to get started by painting all the drawers.

I wanted the knobs to look like little ornaments, in all different colors, so my good friend Joel helped me paint the knobs. (Thanks, Joel!) Once all the ornaments/knobs got screwed on, I painted all the numbers on to the drawers.

When it all got put together, it looked like this:

The final step was to give the tree a glossy shine. 'Cause everybody loves a glossy shine. And stage it for a stylized photo. Fancy.

This advent tree is one of my favorite things that I have ever crafted. It was a lot of work to make, but I loved doing it and seeing the fruits of my labor. And in the end, I gave it away as a gift... I hope the recipient loves it as much as I do!!

Sew Me a River

So I promise that I've been baking a lot... I just haven't been taking pictures, and my camera is really crappy, so even when I do take pictures they don't come out very good. I've also recently been given a sewing machine, so I started doing a lot of sewing. I sewed almost all of my Christmas presents this year, which was actually pretty fun, and I'm about to embark on a new, secret sewing project that I'll post about when I'm all finished with it. :)

This is the first project that I made:

They are napkins, and I gave them to my aunt Tricia for her birthday. She loved them. There was no specific pattern, I just found two super cute fabrics that matched and sewed them together inside out, flipped them right-side-out, and then finished the seam. Here's a picture of all four napkins.

I also made infinity scarves as Christmas gifts. I got the pattern and idea from Pinterest (my secret love).

This was the blog that I used for the "pattern"

Here's two that I made, I added a little flower for decoration. I also did some plaid flannel and a jersey one.

I've been bit by the crafting bug, people, this is only just the beginning...

This Was Worth the Wait

I first saw the recipe for this about two years ago. I liked everything about it... the name, the ingredients, the blueberries... but for some reason I never baked it. For shame, Cara, because this is delicious. I don't want to waste any more time writing about it, because it's still warm out of the oven and I want to eat more before it cools down.

Blueberry Boy Bait

(adapted from the smitten kitchen)

2 cups plus 1 tsp all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp table salt
2 sticks (softened)
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (or, if you are lucky enough to have a friend named Ian, you should use the fresh Maine blueberries that he picked and sent down to Portland from the northern wilds of Maine)

Topping
1/2 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (do not defrost)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

For the cake:

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350°. Grease and flour 13" x 9" baking pan.

Whisk two cups flour, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl. With electric mixer, beat butter and sugars on medium-high speed until fluffy, about two minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until just incorporated and then scrape down the bowl. Reduce speed to medium and beat in one-third of flour mixture until incorporated; beat in half of milk. Beat in half of remaining flour mixture, then remaining milk, and finally remaining flour mixture. Toss blueberries with remaining one teaspoon flour. Using rubber spatula, gently fold in blueberries. Spread batter into prepared pan.

For the topping:

Scatter blueberries over top of batter. Stir sugar and cinnamon together in small bowl and sprinkle over batter. Bake until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool in pan 20 minutes, then turn out and place on serving platter (topping side up). Serve warm or at room temperature.

*(Cake can be stored in airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.)

and to answer my mom's question... no, there aren't any boys knocking at my door... yet ;)