All things cozy

Like I said in my last post I have been busy sewing, quilting, knitting, baking and making lots and lots of pumpkin spice lattes. First up Cierra’s vintage style dress. I love this dress and plan on making many more. Peter pan collars are my favorite. I used Tasha Noel Horsley’s “Little red riding hood” fabric. Super cute.

I also made a really sweet dress for my niece’s second birthday. Her mom is an awesome photographer and took K’s birthday pictures in her new ruffle dress. If anyone is interested I can make this dress for you in sizes 6mo-8yrs. Just convo me at my Etsy Shop.

Look how freaking cute she is!!

I had my first commissioned piece recently. My mom’s friend’s daughter was having a baby and she wanted me to make the crib set for her. I wish I took pictures of everything together. It came out super cute. The mom chose a mint, navy and grey color scheme. I am now obsessed with that color combo. I made a super cute chevron quilt using different geometric fabrics. I love how it turned out. Better yet so did the mom and her family. I hope that the little boy will get lots of use out of this quilt.

I also made a bumper and reversible and height adjustable crib skirt. So glad that set was a big hit.

I made a quilt for my best friend’s birthday. Seeing as how much I love her and how much she loves all the same crafts and photography as much if not more than I do, I had to find the perfect fabric to use in her special quilt. I found 2wenty Thr3e by Moda. It was perfect. Her favorite colors are pink and orange and to top it off it has super awesome pictures of vintage cameras on it. Absolutely perfect. Introducing “Frolic” quilt. She loved it!!

  Now that the weather has started to change her in Oklahoma, it’s gotten me in the mood to knit. That and the fact that my husband recently had shoulder surgery so I haven’t spent many days in the sewing room because he’s been home. I have to keep myself busy during doctor visits and swim team practice for Kizaiah. I have knit and finished a few projects.

Marlene Socks (ravelry link)

pattern by CookieA

yarn: Dream in color Smooshy, Butter Peeps

Yes it took me over 3 years to knit and finish these socks. Not because they were hard or anything like that. They were quite fun to knit but I lost the pattern and gave up looking for it until my sister came to the rescue.

Cadence Socks (ravelry link)

pattern: Very Busy Monkey

yarn Wollmeise in Pfefferminz Prinz

only alteration, knit foot plain

No purl Monkey socks

I love this pattern!

yarn Socks that rock in flower power colorway

Holden Shawl by Mindy Wilkes

yarn my handspun

fiber Spunky Eclectic in Acadia colorway

And last but not least ’tis the season for Pumpkin spice lattes. I have been drinking these a lot. Starbucks can get pretty pricey so I made Pumpkin spice syrup at home.

Pumpkin spice syrup for pumpkin spice lattes

punky purls original

For Syrup:

1 c water

1/2-3/4 c brown sugar

3-4 TBS pumpkin puree, (I use 3)

1/2 tsp pumpkin spice

1 tsp vanilla extract

For Latte:

pumpkin spice syrup, (I use about 5-6 Tbs. but you can use more or less)

8 oz coffee

1/2 c milk, warmed in microwave for about 1 min 30 seconds. Being careful that it doesn’t bubble over measuring cup.

whip cream and pumpkin spice for garnish, optional.

In a glass measuring cup add all syrup ingredients EXCEPT vanilla extract. Mix well and place in the microwave. Heat for about a minute and a half. Strain contents in a resealable glass jar or bottle. I strain mine twice, just in case. Add vanilla extract to syrup mixture.

Make coffee, warm milk in microwave. Poor coffee in a large cup (at least 12oz.), add milk and pumpkin spice syrup. Stir. Top with whip cream and pumpkin spice to make it extra yummy.

Place syrup in the refrigerator after using. Will keep for about 2 weeks. But if your like me you will be making a new batch every week.

**All the amounts are adjustable to taste. I like a sweet coffee, but you can use any amounts you want**Enjoy!!

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Mother’s Day or Teachers gifts

I just posted some lovely handmade items in my Etsy shop. Just in time for Mother’s day or for that Great teacher in your life. I will be posting more items in the store later this week. Here is a couple of items I have posted. Thanks for checking out the shop.

Reusable Composition Notebook Cover

Gathered Ruffle Clutch

Accordion Wallet/Clutch wristlet

the inside of Accordion Wallet/Clutch wristlet

Moms Birthday present completed.

Well my Moms birthday has come and gone and now I can post about my latest finished project. In the new tradition that I have started by making the people I love in my life quilts, I made my Moms.. It’s my biggest quilt to date. It measures about 77″ square. Even though this was a simple quilt to put together I had lots of difficulties. Let’s just call them “brain farts” 😉 I love the finished product and I am so glad that my Mom loves it too.

Pixelated Heart Quilt

With just a simple quilt back.

My sister and I recruited the kids to write little messages to their Grandma D. I know that she will love and cherish this quilt. She brought it to work the other day. Happy Birthday Mom glad you love your quilt. My poor Dad has been left out of the quilt mix. Honestly I didn’t think that he would want one but after seeing my Moms quilt he can’t wait for his. Father’s day is around the corner I foresee making a quilt for Father’s Day in my future.

An up close look at the grand kids quilt blocks.

Thanks for checking out the blog. I have a couple other quilts in progress. One for my Niece Sadie and one for Me or the Shop I haven’t decided yet. Stay tuned I will post those once they are done. Happy Crafting.

 

 

Thank you to A Crafty fox and Blue Elephant Stitches for the pixelated ❤ inspirations.

Busy Quilting

Well it’s been awhile since my last post. Valentines has come and gone and so have two birthdays in my family. This year must be the year of the quilt for me. I started and finished 2 large lap sized quilts. One for my Sister whose birthday was on the 16th and one for my nephew who turned 10 on the 20th. I finished both quilts in the nick of time and they arrived at my sister’s house on her special day.

pattern: “Swoon“ by Camille Roskelley of Thimble Blossoms

each block measures 24″.

fabric: “Birds and Berries“ by Lauren + Jessie Jung for Moda

the grey fabric was Kona Cotton Solid in Steel Colorway

quilt measured about 60″x60″

Here is a shot of my favorite block. I am in love with the purple and orange combination. I also gave free motion quilting a go on some of the pieces. Not the whole quilt….I was too chicken to do that. I love how it turned out, I will definitely be free motion quilting a lot more in the future.

I loved making this quilt so much that I plan on making a Queen size for my bed. Pattern was really well written and I only used 8 fat quarters along with the Kona Cotton to make a nice size quilt.

Here is the one I made for me nephew using this His favorite color is Red. I used a mix of red, black and grey along with Kona Cotton in White for background and sashing.Here is a picture of the back. I quilted this with simple straight line quilting using my new Singer Quantum Sewing machine that came with an awesome walking foot.

I was also busy sewing a little dress for my daughter for Valentines day. I used some red Hello Kitty fabric that I picked up from Joann’s. She loves her some Hello Kitty. Hee hee who doesn’t?

As you can tell I have been loving sewing on my new machine. I am currently working on a couple other quilts. I will post more about those as soon as I am done and the people have received them. Happy crafting.

Join the Fun!

For all of those that sew there is an awesome sewalong going on at Sew She Can using bijou lovely’s herringbone block tutorial. This is my submission for this round.

I love it. I used various red and black fabric. The red in the middle is my favorite. Its red with little white hearts. 🙂

This is going to be on my chair for the month of February but I love it so much it might stay longer. Hurry the deadline for submissions is January 29th. The winner gets a $50 gift card to spend at the Fat Quarter Shop. Who doesn’t need more fabric ;). Have fun and post a comment here so that I can see your entries.

In other sewing news I finally started and finished part of my son Kizaiah’s Christmas present. Man I am such a slacker, well that and my sewing machine was acting crazy. Probably was in shock with how much I used it during the holidays. I have a new one on the way. So excited.  :)Anyway, he requested a “satchel” backpack. He picked out the fabrics months ago. He was super excited yesterday after school and couldn’t wait to use it today.

He wants me to make him a key chain. For what keys I don’t know but I will oblige. Here is a shot of the inside.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Just wanted to stop by and say Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everybody. This year I was busy making a lot of gifts for friends and family, and now that the packages have been opened I don’t have to keep them secret anymore.

Back in October my Mom asked me to make a quilt for my Grandma. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that. I enlisted my Parents, Sister and her family, Brother and His wife and my deployed husband, to send me their traced hand prints so that I could incorporate them into the quilt top. I used blocks from Fresh Lemons Quilt Summer Sampler Series and Solstice Star Series. Each unfinished block was 12 .5 inches square and the Hand print blocks were 13.5 inches…oops. So I added sashing to even up the quilt blocks.

The majority of the fabric that I used was Heather Bailey’s Nicey Jane that I have had in my stash for a couple of years. It was intended for a quilt for myself but I think that my Grandma deserved this beautiful fabric. In fact I might have enough left for a quilt for myself too.

I also made a quilt for my daughter. She has been bugging me to make her one since I’ve made big quilt for both the boys and once I saw this quilt by Lovely Little Handmades using my favorite color combo and fabric line I had to make it. I substituted some light blue fabric with white polka dots that I had in my stash along with some red, pink, and aqua that I picked up from Joann’s fabric. I ordered this “Simple Life” fat quarter bunch by Tasha Horsley from Skye Reve Fabric online shop.

I used some Hello Kitty fabric that I found at Joann’s fabrics for the backing along with the leftover pink fabric and some pink fabric with little white polka dots that I had in my stash.I picked up some clearance red and white striped fabric for the quilt binding.  I love how it turned out. She was so excited. Her reaction totally makes all the late night sewing worth it.

I also made some other gifts, I pad cases for my mom and dad.

A coupon organizer, composition notebook cover and this thread catcher and weighted pincushion combo for my friend and her mom.

Three of these ruffled mini wallets, only a picture of two of them I forgot to take a picture of the one I made for my niece and the bi-fold wallet that I made for my nephew.

I also made a super cute Bible Cover for my sister, with the help of my Brother in Law who took the measurements for me….heehee sneaky 😉 I love the little patchwork that I put on the front. I hope that it fits her Bible. I wont know till she gets home from her family vacations in California. Fingers crossed.

I also made my niece a doll and my friends baby a hooded towel but I totally forgot to take pictures of those when they were done. Needless to say I was a busy little sewing fool here and I still have gifts for my boys that I have to make before they go back to school. Kizaiah wants a satchel backpack. I promised him one and I need to get sewing on that and I planned on making both boys lap desks but didn’t get a chance to make those. They did get an I.O.U. though, thank goodness they understand that they don’t need either of those gifts right away. I will post about those when they are done.

I hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas and may the next year be filled with lots of Love and Laughter.

 

Quick Weekend Dinners and Sewing

Just wanted to make a quick post and show you what I’ve been up too. I really should be sewing Christmas gifts but for those of you that know me personally you know that I tend to have Craft ADD ;). Anyway I made a peasant dress for my daughter this week using this tutorial. I was super easy to make and turned out super cute. Next time I make it I will be increasing the flare and making it long sleeves so that she can wear it this winter.

I also whipped up a cute skirt using a headband that I bought at WalMart for $1 and some orange polka dot fabric that I had in my stash.

For dinner this weekend I wanted something quick easy and good. Every weekend the kids request pizza but this week I decided to make pan pizza. So good and easy. The only problem is the pizza is limited to the size of cake pan that you have. I used a 9″ cake pan for one pizza and then I made a hand tossed pizza so that we would have extras for lunch the next day.

I used these recipe for the pizza dough and the sauce. The only change is that you oil your 9″ cake pan, I used extra virgin olive oil, and preheat your oven to 400°.  Stretch and press the dough into the pan covering the bottom and up the sides. Top with sauce and toppings and bake for 30-35 minutes.

On Saturday night we had BBQ Chicken Taquitos. These are so good. I tried the original but wasn’t impressed but once I found the BBQ version over at Pink Parsley I was hooked. You can use pork or chicken. I used leftover rotisserie chicken. I think it would be good with leftover turkey from Thanksgiving too.

 

 

 

Baked BBQ Pork Taquitos
inspired by these Baked Chicken Taquitos (which are from Our Best Bites)

3 oz. cream cheese, softened to room temperature (reduced-fat is fine)
1/3 cup bbq sauce1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp chile powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp mustard powder
1/2 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp liquid smoke (I omitted this, I didn’t have any on hand)
pinch red pepper flakes
kosher salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup diced onion
3 scallions, thinly sliced (I omitted this, I didn’t have any on hand)
2 Tbs minced fresh cilantro or parsley (I used a sprinkle of dried parsley, because I didn’t have either of these fresh on hand)
hot sauce (optional)
2 cups shredded or chopped cooked pork or chicken
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese (I used Colby Jack)
8-10 (6-inch) corn or flour tortillas (I used flour)
cooking spray ( I used Extra virgin olive oil spray)
Ranch Dressing and/or BBQ Sauce, for serving

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese with the bbq sauce, paprika, garlic powder, mustard, brown sugar, liquid smoke, chile powder, red pepper flakes, cilantro, scallions, onion, and 1/4 tsp kosher salt.  Fold in the pork and cheese.  Taste and season with additional salt and pepper if necessary.  Add hot sauce if you like things spicy!

Take 8-10 (6-inch) flour tortillas, wrap them in plastic wrap and microwave for about 30 seconds, just to make them pliable.

Spoon 2-3 tablespoons of filling onto the lower third of each tortilla, and roll tightly.  Place seam side-down on the prepared baking sheet.  Repeat with remaining tortillas and filling.

Spray the taquitos lightly with cooking spray, sprinkle with Kosher salt.  Bake 15-20 minutes, or until the tortillas are crisp and golden-brown.  Serve with bbq sauce and ranch dressing for dipping.

Hope that everybody had a great weekend. Now I have to head back to my sewing room and get going on all the Christmas gifts that I have to make.

 

Another Halloween pillow

I listed another Halloween pillow in my etsy shop. I had fun making this one. It’s hand embroidered with an envelope closure and will fit a 12×12 inch pillow form. I am still offering free shipping in the United States. Thanks for checking it out.

Halloween pillow cover

Getting ready for Halloween in my Etsy shop. More Halloween themed things coming soon, but for now there is one 12x12in pillow cover listed with free shipping in the US. Thanks for checking it out.

Who doesn’t love a giveaway?

I know that I love one. Hop on over to Moda Bake Shop for the “Love it, Pin it, Win it contest” just by Pinning your favorite “recipes” from their blog and be entered to win Moda pre cut fabric. There are so many wonderful free tutorials for all kinds of projects.

Here are a couple that I have pinned and can’t wait to make.

photo originally from Moda’s recipe page for Charming Stars quilt

I plan on making this quilt for my daughter using Moda fabric in the Vintage Modern collection by Bonnie and Camille. I love this line. The colors are so fresh and sweet. This will be the first big purchase I make once I sell something in my etsy shop. I want the whole collection….did I say how much I love it?

I also want to make this:

photo from Moda Bake shop recipes page.

Isn’t this one of the cutest pincushions you’ve ever seen? I love it and can’t wait to make this too. You can NEVER have too many pincushions I say.