My Bed is a Chevron

I wanted a headboard.  I needed a headboard.  The pillows kept falling in that crack behind the bed, and it was driving me nutty.  I thought "I'll have Ian help me make a headboard.  It will be easy!"  So I pinned.  And we brain stormed.  And this is what we came up with.  I don't know how I lived without a headboard for so long. 

Can you tell it's a chevron?  It was pretty easy to make.  The hardest part was figuring out what length to cut the boards so that they would fit.  Here's a quick picture tutorial of how to make it.

Supplies you'll need:
A bed (duh)
A work space (In this case, it was an orchard store house.  And it was cold, that's why I'm wearing a hat)
2 posts for the side
1 post for the middle
1 plank to go across the top
many boards to form your chevron
3 (or more) boards to run across the back to support your chevron boards
1 wide board to attach it to your bed frame (sorry there's no pictures of that part)
tools (like a saw and such - that's not my department)
screws, bolts, la la la
music

Once you have all your posts and top shelf measured out, you'll need to notch the posts so that your back support boards fit into them.

Girl's got skills with a hammer

If you don't have goggles, you can wear sunglasses.

Screw your support planks into your side and middle posts.

Here's your frame from the back!

Start measuring out your chevron boards.  We found that the best way to do this was to start in the middle with the longest board, cut it, screw it in place, and then measure from there.  If you have this fancy saw that's pictured there, you can line up a 45 degree angle, and so most of the measuring is done for you.

As you go along, screw your boards into the three boards in the back. 

We ended up adding a board across the top to hold all those little midge boards in place, and then as you can see, a few other little pieces to hold things in place. 

From the front!

Sand the whole thing down.

And then start staining!  The beauty of this design is that you can pick out any stain you want, you could paint it, or you could leave it just plain wood. 

I think Ian's proud of our handiwork.  

The slanted ceilings in my loft make it difficult to photograph, but I think it looks great!

Cowgirl Cookies - Just Hold the Nuts

I wanted to make something new.  And I wanted to do something with these chia seeds that I bought a few months ago with high self-expectations of becoming healthy.  (Before all those New Years Resolutions popped in...)  And then I also figured out this holiday season that I'm no longer allergic to coconut.  So it was pretty much a trifecta pointing me in this direction. 

Have you ever had Cowboy Cookies?  They are awesome.  Like, I saw them at this bakery yesterday, and I wanted to move in there and just eat Cowboy Cookies all day long, awesome.  JFGI.  And since I always think I can do things better, I attempted.  Here's my attempt... 

Cowgirl Cookies are like Cowboy Cookies, except healthy, and nut-less.  (Like Cowgirls)

Recipe:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

2 sticks (1 cup) butter - softened to room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar

2 eggies
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats (don't waste your time with instant or stuff like that)
1/8 cup (I think that's like 2 tablespoons) chia seeds (they're good for you, JFGI)
1 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup butterscotch chips
3/4 cup shredded coconut

As you would with all cookie recipes,  mix together your butter and two sugars.  Once they are creamy, add in the eggs and vanilla and mix that up until they are just incorporated. 

In a separate bowl, whisk together your dry ingredients - flour, baking soda/powder, and salt.  Slowly (in 3 parts) add this to your butter/sugar/eggs combo.  Mix them until they are just combined.  

With a wooden spoon add in, one at a time, the oats, chia, chippies, and coconut.  This part takes some elbow grease, so get your guns out.  (Not literally, just figuratively.)

Scoop them onto a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet with a tablespoon or cookie scoop.  (Just a side note - the rationale behind making these into huge cookies is that they have so many great parts, the oats, the chia, the chips and coconut, that if you made small ones, you might miss something.  So huge it is.  Bigger is always better.

Bake at 350°F for about 11 minutes, until the edges are browned and the tops are tan-ish.  If you want them crispy, bake them for longer.  I like my cookies soft, so I tend to under bake.  Let them cool on a wire rack then enjoy!  

Makes approx 2 dozen large cookies

(can you see those cute little chia seeds?)

Put a Skirt Around My Christmas Tree!!

Hey y'all!  It's been a crazy few weeks.  I've been working mad hours lately, having minimal time for crafting.  But, I managed to get this done, and I love it.  I can't wait to get my first real big-girl tree to put it around!!

My Hexie Tree Skirt!

The hardest part of this was figuring out the measurements.  I like to do my patterns on graph paper, I'm old-school like that.  It's a little hard to see.  But, you have to cut each piece of fabric  into a triangle.  If you have a triangle shape form, your angles will be 30°, 60°, and 90°.  I found it easiest to trace it on to a piece of poster board, and then I could cut my fabric off that pattern.  

The measurements of each triangle are: 24" x 13.86" x 27.7" - that's why it's easiest to measure out your angles. If you're not good at math... you might have to rewind your brain to high-school geometry.  I just knew that I wanted my final measurements to be 48" across.  That's how I got the 24".  Don't get crazy worrying about the math... there's lots of websites that will calculate lengths of sides for you, you just have to plug a couple numbers in. 

So obviously the hardest part of any project is to pick out your fabric.  For the tree skirt you will need: 

• 6 different matching fabrics for your top pieces (I wish I could tell you how much you will need of each.  I always just buy a yard of everything, so it's hard to estimate.  You want these pieces to be at least 14" wide, so a 1/4 yard wouldn't work, but a 1/2 yard would, or anything bigger than that. 
• Fabric for your binding (probably 3/4 yard or more, depending on how wide you want it)
• Backing fabric - because the final size is 48" around, you'll need 2 yards to piece it all together
• Matching ribbon - I used a 1" width, but you could go wider.  If you're buying by the yard, you'll just need about 1 yard. 

If you've sewn/quilted before, the rest is pretty self explanatory... but in summary:

• Cut out all your triangles
• Sew them together with a quarter inch seam (don't worry about the centers, since you'll be cutting them out for a hole for your tree) 
• You want to make sure to leave one side open, which will go in the back of the tree, as you can see in the final product pictures.  It may seem as though your sides don't match up on your open seam, but don't worry, once you cut out the center and add the binding up the side, it will be just right.
• Make your backing piece
• Make your quilting sandwich, putting your backing fabric right-side down, then your batting, then your top.  Pin it all over to keep all the pieces in place.
• Quilt it together.  You can use a walking foot if you have one.  I don't, and it manages to come out okay.  
• Once you have the whole thing quilted, find something round and the right size for your opening in the center.  Trace it, and cut it out.  At this point, I zig-zag stitched around the center and just left it like that.

As you can see, I quilted a quarter inch off of each seam.  

• Next you'll want to add on your binding.  Because of the fabric I chose, with the letters, I made my own double-fold bias tape.  There's lots of different ways to do bindings.  If you don't know how, I put a couple links at the bottom.  For this, I chose to run the binding all the way up the opening but I skipped the round opening because I didn't like the way the fabric got kind of bunched up around the circle.

• The final step is totally optional.  But I think it adds a nice touch.  Cut your ribbon to a length long enough to be tied into a pretty bow.  You'll want 4 equal lengths.  Pin your ribbon onto the edges of your opening, spaced as you wish. 
• Here, I sewed the ribbon on.

And just a repeat picture so you can see the final product again. :)

Here's a couple links:

Inspiration

More Inspiration

Binding Tutorials

Monthly Give - November

Note:  This has nothing to do with butter, baking or crafts.  I'm branching out.

I've been seeing a lot of people on FB posting things that they're thankful for during the month of November. I like this idea, and it made me think about something that I used to do when I was living in Boston.  A friend of mine would organize a "monthly give", where every month she would choose a charity/organization/idea and her friends could come together and donate.  

This is my version.  I'm challenging all of my friends to participate with me.  November's monthly give will be donating dry goods or grocery gift cards to a food bank.  Since we all live in different areas, I'll list a couple food banks in different cities.  If you live in Maine, you can give me your donations and I will drop them all off before the end of the month.  (If I get a lot before Thanksgiving, I will make two drop-offs.)  Of course, if you want to make your own drop-off, feel free :)

I realize that it's hard to donate now, but even if it's just one or two boxes of food, every bit helps!  And, feel free to pass this on and challenge your own friends.  Let's start a movement. 

Here's a list of food banks:

Portland/Maine:
Good Shepherd Food-Bank

Boston:
Greater Boston Food-Bank

Or, Find a Food Bank in your Area

Carrots and Boo's

There are not many people whom I would cut my hand on a cheese grater for.  In fact, I can count on one hand the number of non-family members I would do that for.  This girl is one of them.  Sometimes I call her "boo".

I offered to make a carrot cake for her birthday.  I also decided to make it a layer cake.  Can you believe that I've never made a layer cake before?  You know, with two layers of cake and frosting in the middle?  Nope, up until this point, I'd only ever made sheet cakes or cupcakes.  "How hard can it be?", I asked myself.

The answer, is not that hard.  Except for the grating of carrots.  That part stinks.  But other than that, this cake is mad easy to make.  I used the Pioneer Woman's recipe after searching around.  This recipe looked very simple and delicious, and I love the fact that the frosting has pecans in it.  

Here it is!

For the Carrot Cake:

2 cups white sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

4 whole eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

2ish cups grated carrots (I used 5 medium-sized carrots, which is a bit more than 2 cups)

For grating the carrots, I like to use the sort-of small side on the box grater.  This will allow the carrot shreds to blend in better and contribute to a homogeneous flavor of the cake, instead of having big chunks of carrots that really stick out.  And while you're grating, try not to cut your finger.  

Mix together the sugar, oil and eggs in a large mixing bowl. In another bowl whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Add to first mixture and combine. Then add carrots and mix well. Grease and flour your chosen pan(s), and pour your cake mixture into your pan(s).

Bake temp: 350°F

Bake time: For 2 9" round pans, I baked for about 35 minutes.  Ree from PW says that depending on the size of your pan, you can bake as little as 25 minutes and as many as 50.  The way to know when it's done is to give your pan a shimmy-shake and if it wiggles, it's not done. 

When the cakes are done baking, remove them from the oven and let cool completely.  If you're making a layer cake, once it's done, you have to level it so you have an even surface to work with.  (I've been told, however, that my Great-Grammy Sheehan never used to do this, she would just fill in the hole with frosting.)  You can decide what you want to do.  I chose to level.

The bonus of this method is that then you have a whole bunch of cake to "sample".

Then you have to make your frosting.  For a layer cake, Ree recommends doubling the recipe for frosting.  I found this to be a bit much, and in the future would probably just 1.5 it.  

Pecan Cream Cheese Frosting recipe:

1 package cream cheese (8oz) - softened to room temperature

1 stick butter - softened to room temperature

1 tsp vanilla

1 lb powdered sugar

3/4 cup chopped (really small) pecans

In your mixer, mix together the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla.  Add in the powdered sugar in two parts.  Let your mixer do all the work, and combine all the ingredients until the frosting is smooth.  Then add in your pecans.  

Then the fun part.  Line your cake plate (or whatever you're going to serve your cake on) with wax paper around the edge.  Plop your first cake layer down in the middle, and throw some frosting on there.  Using an off-set spatula, spread the frosting around to the edge.  It's okay if you go over a bit.  Encouraged, in fact.

Then put your second layer on top of that.  Continuing to use your off-set spatula, spread frosting around the top and edges of your cake.  

When you're done, slide the wax paper out from underneath your cake, and admire your work!

If you have a pretty cake plate with a cover, like I do, you can put the cover on.  Then figure out how to transport your cake in it's fancy dish.  Hmmmm.... 

A Lazy Sunday Afternoon Project

I had been wanting to make these for a while... I had, in fact, already made one, but promptly gave it away, and then didn't have any for myself.  Then life got madd busy, and I haven't had any sewing time in weeks.

Regardless, yesterday, I finally got back to some "me-time", and whipped out a few.  They came out cute, no?

What are they, you ask?  They're re-usable baggies!  I use them for my bagel every day to bring to work.  I also put cookies in them, and if I ate sandwiches, I would put those in there too.  You can also put veggies or fruit in there, really anything!  The only draw-back is that they are not air tight, so if you leave things in there for too long, they can get stale.

Baggies are a great way to live green!

Summer Fever

Last week I didn't get much quilting done... I didn't get much of anything done, for that matter. We had a bit of Indian Summer in March, up here in Portland, Maine, so everyone went a little wacky and forgot all about their responsibilities. Things like finishing quilts, making dinner, cooking in general, all just fell by the wayside.



I went for a little walk at a place called Perkins Cove. PC is well known to myself and my family, we used to go there all the time when we were little. There is a great little candy store there, which was unfortunately closed, but brings back loads of childhood memories just by walking by.


There's also this lovely walk called the Marginal Way that winds through the woods and along the ocean. Divine. As we were walking, we came along a house under construction. They were building this really cool dome as part of the house.

I hope the owners don't mind, but I took some pics to show the architect when he designs my future beach house (haha). I'll have to go back to this house and see the progress. I like the lack of equality in it, all three parts are different shapes.

Plus, it didn't hurt to have that cute guy sitting up there!

This week we're back to March-in-Maine weather, so I better get some quilting done! I'm already behind!!

Hopefully summer gets here soon... I'm ready for the beach!