Today began with muffins. Warm and sweet with the perfect crumb and a burst of tart blueberry. I started with a recipe from Smitten Kitchen, one that she readily admits tinkering with and added a few of my own alterations. The original recipe was for bread, but as we all know ‘quick breads’ just don’t cut it in the morning when you have a hankering for warm homemade bread, now. So I took the recipe found here, added a handful of fresh blueberries dusted in flour so they wouldn’t sink to the bottom, and topped them with a toasted pecan streusel.

I knew the baking time and temperature would need to be different for muffins and because I like instant gratification if at all possible I opted to bake them at 450 degrees for 8 minutes and then 400 degrees for 5. They turned out a little dry around the edges and stuck to the paper liners a bit, but they were pretty darn wonderful. Especially when paired with a warm cup of coffee! Which I have recently learned is amazing black, sans a drop cream or grain sugar.

Streusel

1 T cold butter
1 T flour
1/4 cup-ish of brown sugar
some cinnamon
some toasted, chopped pecans or not
This made enough to top a dozen muffins, but I could have used a little more top the last few muffins

In other news I did finish the Jungle Circles quilt AND the Spider-web quilt, and put them in my Etsy shop. But then they sold. Within a day of being there. I admit I was sad to see them go so quickly but they are off to a good home. And it means I should really get working on all those WIPS (works in progress) that are stacked on the shelves in varying states of completion.

One of those WIPS features robots and space, which makes me think I might have to tear if from Matts hands when it’s finished. I hope to add it to the shop by Monday, but we’ll see, there is Jayhawk basketball on today! When I was debating on fabric for the back of the robot quilt I came across this WONDERFUL Denise Schmidt stripe. Which was sitting right next to these little green sprouts from Jessica Levitt. They screamed spring to me, which for anyone else in the midwest or the eastern seaboard for that matter can’t come soon enough!

So I have been playing around with the idea of curves for awhile. But they are scary. After an in depth discussion weighing the merits of hand appliquéing versus piecing I decided to give appliquéing a try. I even did a trial run, with ugly fabric so I didn’t waste any of my pretty prints! It came together pretty quickly, I had the top done in a weekend. I have not quilted it yet. Something about thread, you know the stuff they always ask you if you need when you are settling up your bill. If all goes well it should be done and in the etsy shop this weekend.

The Alexander Henry 2D Zoo print was my jumping off point but I think my favorite is the backing. I found it hiding on a bottom shelf and the colors could not be a better match! I love when you can pull fabrics from multiple designers, lines and possibly decades and create a beautiful one of a kind quilt!

Ben & Martha’s wedding was wonderful and uniquely them. Who else would think to have a sing a-long? But I was bad and didn’t drag out the camera to photograph the fruits of my labor. Luckily the photographer, Jennifer Wetzel, came to the rescue and snapped a couple shots, I hope she got a cupcake before she left!

Christmas was wonderful. Lots of family and lovely gifts and some good ole’ wood cuttin’. I received the cookbook All Cakes Considered and am pouring over it every chance I get. Its author is a producer on NPR and her quips and tips As to be expected of a book authored by an NPR producer the writing rivals the recipes. I did manage to get one handmade gift delivered on time this year. Which for those keeping track is progress. My dear Aunt Lulu needed a lap quilt and Sarah’s just happened to have some fabrics right up her alley! I think it will be put to good use this week.

Matt & I are experiencing the last bit of Christmas tomorrow night at Krause Dining. But more about that after we have indulged our palettes.

All’s pretty quiet around here. Trying to get back into a groove and maybe even be a little productive!

I have a finished quilt to post about but I couldn’t wait to share my newest project.

The inspiration came from a quilt Ashley over at Film in the Fridge made. I have been wanting to make a black and white quilt for sometime but I just couldn’t decide how I wanted to lay it out so there wasn’t too much white space. When I saw her quilt and read her amazing tutorial I knew knew I had to try it.

I still need to sew the blocks together and then add some sashing… and quilt… and bind…

While in Austin we played tourist a little, eating at Chuy’s, visiting that state capital and the LBJ Presidential museum. Matt took over camera duties for this trip and grabbed some great shots at the museum. We stayed at a great historical hotel downtown, the Intercontientel Stephen F. Austin. The rooms were on the smaller side but I had no complaints. The iron worked, the water pressure was good and the bed was incredibly comfortable. I will say that the room comes equipped with a minibar, which means no vending machines, so that $6 bottle of water is your only alternative to tap water.

I would like to say for the record that initially I did not procrastinate on the quilt. I knew I wanted to make a quilt, but the details were causing me some trouble. What design, what fabrics, did this feel right, would it seem to old ladyish? I choose three different fabric combinations before I finally settled on the right ones. The pattern took a little hemming and hawing but I feel it’s crisp and clean without being boring.

But I forgot to take a picture… possibly because I finished it the night before we left… so you’ll have to imagine the finished product. Large rectangles with smaller ones inset in alternating fabrics. I am thinking about making something similar to this for myself, though I’m not sure I want to tackle something this large so soon!

Things learned while making this quilt:

Quilting the middle of a 55″ x 65″ quilt is a little tricky on a standard machine

It takes A LOT of thread to quilt such a large quilt

If your thread keeps breaking take the time to investigate or else you will spend FOREVER weaving the loose threads back in

Quilts are the perfect gift to travel with, folded in a big ziplock bag they can be compressed down to a fraction of their size, leaving plenty of room for that extra pair of shoes!

For more details check out my etsy store!

The idea for stripped triangles came from a quilt I saw on the brand new Amy Butler software she did in collaboration with the Electric Quilt Company. I was going to purchase it but I’m a little miffed that I would have to launch Parallels to view it as it only runs on Windows. So for the mean time I am looking at the pictures and adapting them to my skills, limited as they may be!

I think I will piece rows of these triangles. One row where they all point up, one where they all point down, etc. Maybe three or four rows? I’m not sure what the finished size will be, but certainly in the baby size. This is also a WONDERFUL way for me to use up those scraps I have been accumulating…

I have finished another quilt! WOo Hoo! This one is headed to a coworkers little girl who just had a birthday. It has been awhile since I quilted and there were a few things I forgot…

1. Trust your gut on fabric choices, if you spend too much time fretting you’ll never get started

2. If you haven’t freehand quilted in awhile you should definitely practice before you take your quilt anywhere near your machine.

3. If you choose to piece your binding as I did take the extra time to measure out where your seams will be so they don’t end up at a corner. This, as you can imagine, will save you lots of headaches in the end.

4. Make sure you have a full bobbin when you start to quilt, for a baby quilt I usually have to fill the bobbin 3 times, but nothing is worse then getting started and having to change it right off the bat.

5. Check the status of your batting stash before you start. I switched to an all natural batting a couple months ago and I LOVE it. It’s so soft and inviting, unlike the scratchy polyester version. The only drawback is the price, a hefty $12/yd at my local Hancocks. So I wait for it to go 50% off and stock up, but I’ve missed that sale the last few times and am running low. I’m hoping for a sale this weekend! Keeping my fingers crossed!

The front of the quilt is a mix of fabrics coordinated off of the backing which is from the Chocolate Lollipop line by Anna Maria Horner for Free Spirit. I really like the stripe, which was a last minute substitution, I think it pulls it all together and keeps it from being too girly.

As usual I have a million projects started, including 3 quilt tops or “floppies.” I saw that term used on one of the quilting blogs I read and I can’t for the life of me remember who, but I thought it was an appropriate name for the tops to quilts that have been pieced and are waiting for batting, a back and to be quilted. None the less I think things might finally be starting to get in a rhythm around here, so hopefully the posting will become a bit more consistent!

Last year I made this purse

It was cute and certainly a learning experience! But it lived a long spring and summer and is starting to show it’s age. Which lead to the time consuming task of deciding on a pattern and fabrics for new purse. I had been eyeing the exterior fabric for awhile and though this would be an excellent time to utilize it. It’s a heavy linen, so you can see the weave, and the oatmeal is a nice background to the green. The pattern is similar to the polka dot purse I started… but have yet to finish.

It’s not intended to be reversible, but turning it inside out was the best way to get a photograph. The pockets are from two different fabrics from my stash (which is getting out of control with my new addiction to quilting). And as per usual I put in a couple slips to keep pens from getting lost in the bottom.

As you can see the bag is on the slouchy side and I’m ok with that. It is the perfect size to carry a book or two and possibly some fabric that I might buy over lunch… But I found myself wondering if it would be better to sew a seam at each corner to make it a little more boxy. The photos below show the way it is now and how it might look with the added seams. Any thoughts?

Today I checked two big items off my list. The two baby quilts I was working on are done. And much like the first they are adorable! I will have a hard time parting with them, though I know that will all be going to wonderful homes with sweet and cuddly new babies. These two are going to a set of twins, a boy and a girl, just down the highway.

I really like the coin pattern, but I’ve had some spare time on my hands and came up with a few new ideas for quilts that I can’t wait to start on. I decided to make my own bias tape, that way I could use a fun fabric instead of the solid varieties found at the fabric store. I used Heather Bailey’s tutorial found here. It’s excellent, very easy to follow and makes your quilt truly a custom creation. For now I’m going to stick to making baby quilts, they are less daunting than their larger counterparts. And I think I’ll put some in my Etsy shop and maybe even keep a few in reserve for emergency gifts!