Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope everyone is spending some time having fun.

Myself, I'll be playing with fabric. Some new ones, too! Lucky me!

Cotton & Steel prints keep growing on me. Loved these two by Melody Miller.

Sale stuff. I have some Dr. Seuss in my stash, so this panel will whip up into a quick quilt. I kind of want a Dr. Seuss quilt! I'm sure I'll find a kid who would love a Seuss quilt.

I won this Blueberry Park charm square pack at our guild meeting. Really love these prints. Such great colors, too. There's a cool version I might have to add to my collection.

Two-inch half square triangles from the trimmings of my purse strings blocks. There are only 320. Might make a cute something. They're all sewn together, I just need to finish trimming them. I'm using this super easy method that I wish I would have learned long ago. Here are some tutorials that show how. Half Square Triangle Trimming. And if you have an easy angle ruler, this way is even easier. Am I the last quilter that didn't know about this tip?

My Try the World box was from Thailand this time. I made the tom yum soup this afternoon and it is the bomb! I haven't tried anything else, but I will.

Look maw, I'm eating vegetables with my bleu cheese and baguette. Caramelized onions are a vegetable, right? We don't normally watch football, but the Super Bowl was a great excuse to eat tapas for dinner. I might even swing it again for Valentine's Day dinner.

Sunday Fun Day!

Finally found a way to hang my temporary design wall (aka flannel backed vinyl tablecloth). I've tried painter's tape, packaging tape, duct tape, and push pins. Seems that heavy cans of tomatoes and iron toy sewing machines are the best solution. Now I have no excuse not to vacuum my studio. I usually put my blocks on my design floor.

I attended World Quilt Florida right here in Orlando a few weeks ago. There were some interesting quilts and I had a little fun with the fabric vendors. I found some deals at the Pineapple Fabrics booth. Kaffe Fassett shot cottons and woven stripes on the left and a bundle of fun retro, novelty prints.

Charm squares!

Caught these in a sale.

I made a quilted planner cover for the quilting calendars our guild ordered. This is the outside. I fell in love with this retro comic book fabric. It's from Alexander Henry and called "Home Sewing is Easy." There's a second version, too.

Here's the inside. Skull and scissors crossbones and polka dots. Of course. The orange biz card holder is too small, but my cards fit in vertically.The polka dots are pockets.

Thats a zipper there! Easy peasy. I can cram all kinds of writing instruments in there.

Here's the planner installed. Now to schedule some sewing time!

I acquired a few books over the holidays.

Just look at that paella! We went to a paella party at Rene's house. Lots of fun company! Not only was the paella delicious, but th chef made appetizers and desserts to die for. We rolled ourselves out of their house! So fun and so good!

I have a Hungarian mushroom soup planned for lunch. It's so cold here. I'm changing up the recipe and adding in some celery, carrots, and the white wine I steeped the oyster mushrooms in. I'll use white mushrooms too. I'm in a cooking mood today, so no telling what gets made. 

Finished 20 Purse Strings blocks in pinks, yellows, and oranges. I wish I had made the 15" blocks, but I chose 12". I loved My Quilt Infatuation's color scheme, so I stuck with that. It's a fun and easy block and now I have 320 half square triangles from the trimmings. And yeah, I'm sewing those together. Scrappy, crazy, goodness.

On to more projects! And food! Have a great week!

Halloween Quilt

I made this for the graphic designer at work. She finished up chemo and got a new job, so I figured I'd whip up a quick quilt for her. She loves Halloween. I used a fabric panel to make the piecing go quickly.

The back is pieced as well. I used some fat quarters in halloween colors.The ghost print on the edges glows in the dark! I didn't know that!

My guild buddy, Frank did the awesome quilting. It's breathtaking! I think he had fun making this quilt sing. Or maybe scream is more appropriate. I know I was squealing when I saw his quilting. Wow.

See the witch?

I even labeled it!

Since I've been working crazy hours and doing stuff on the weekends, a few of our dinners have looked like this. Luckily I have an understanding crew.

Sunday Stash #92

First off, this delightful date nut pudding. It's really a moist cake, but I highly recommend it. My mother-in-law served this cake to me many moons ago and I flipped! It was so good! She adds a dollop of cool whip or whipped cream but it's great without.

It took her years to give me the family recipe. I think she wanted to make sure I was a "keeper!" Ha!

I always forget about this cake and everyone loves it. It was my husband's paternal grandmother's recipe.

Date Pudding

1 cup boiling water

1 tsp. baking soda

7oz. chopped dates (the dry kind)

Mix this together and let stand while you do the next step.

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 Tbsp. softened or melted butter

Cream together until mixed. I just use a spoon.

1-1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking powder

The recipe says sift together, but I'm lazy and don't.

Mix everything together. The batter is kind of thin. Add 1 cup chopped nuts. I use walnuts.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

Cotton + Steel christmas snow globes! So cute!

Black and white with some cool typography.

Halloween!

Dots and sugar skulls.

Color words and polka dots galore!

Some fun fat quarters.

Yummy Kaffe Spring 2015 jelly roll.

Hollywood went to St. Augustine and perused the antique shops. She brought me this fun metal box and it was filled with old unique machine feet. I have no idea what they do, but they're funky.

Goodbye Summer!

Playing with my gigantic bag of selvages. They always make me happy! I'm sporting two oven burns, so these will come in handy.

Here are the backs. Hot!

Another finish! It's just a mini, but it was fun. This will hang in a local library as part of the Orlando Modern Quilt Guild display.

More finishes! Another pot holder and an eyeglass case for gifts.

These bright blocks are for the Quiltcon 2016 charity quilt project. I'm in a group with six other Modern Quilt Members from around the country. Together we're making improv sampler blocks from traditional block patterns. I went with a food theme (surprise). Churn dash and broken dishes. The little ones are just thrown together.

Our guild is making a quilt as well, so I'll get to play with these fabrics again!

I found some fresh mullet and smoked it on my charcoal grill. It was so good. I've got to get more. I'll have the fish monger butterfly them next time. I butchered these poor guys. AT least they removed the heads and guts. Inspector Gadget was freaking out. His idea of fish is made by some married lady named Paul and found in the freezer section.

Have you been eating avocados this summer? The Haas versions have been so cheap. I got the Inspector addicted to them! He never ate them before, but now he can't get enough of them. I made the salad caprese for Hollywood and then threw on the avocado for oomph. So good.

Off to play with selvages. Wheeeee! Happy Saturday!

Secret Projects

Oh hey! Did you miss me? I missed you!

This summer has been non-stop. I'm working on a secret quilting project that I can't show, but I am still finding time to cook and sew other things.

I chopped up some bright batiks to make a scrappy Irish chain for the #ohscrap along that Canoe Ridge Creations whipped up. I did the first block at home on my Juki and subsequent blocks on my Sew Day machine. The sizes are quite different, so this will be a Sew Day project. I like it!

I've received two Try the World boxes. These are a blast. The one above is from France and the one below from Argentina. We're enjoying trying all the unique items.

Yumi, my buddy from Japan made these this beautiful wallet. I needed a new wallet. I finally had a minute to get my stuff in it. She uses vintage kimono scraps. Gorgeous!

Cherry massacre. I made these Sweet & Sour Cherry Salty Dogs. Yum. Cheers and happy Monday! I hope you're having fun.