Thursday, November 30, 2006

and Candles too!

Besides making quilts, I do make candles as well. Not that you'd really know it, since I don't think I've made any for the past year, at least. I really only make them for myself since when I've given them away, people burn them funny and scare me. I gave one to someone in a crock - I thought that was foolproof - and they told me later that they burned it on their dresser and fell asleep. The candle managed to catch the top part of the dresser on fire. Yeah. I don't like that.

Anyway. I was cleaning up the bookmarks on my computer the other day and found an old one that just said candle supplies. I discovered that it was for Early American Candle Supplies here in Pittsburgh. Yeah! Now I could go get wax and not pay for shipping, which is outrageous! So today I dragged my husband over to the shop to pick up a 50 lb bag of wax. I'm so excited to make more pillars!


Quilt Washed

I got the quilt washed tonight. That really helps! The wrinkles forgive a lot on the quilting "mistakes" and can't be seen unless you study it closely. That and its so much more cuddly. Yeah!

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Cross Hatching the Quilt

So I decided to just try a cross-hatch. Man, that's a lot of work! It seemed like it went fast and took forever at the same time. Its hard as all get out to get the lines straight every time and I sure wouldn't want to have to mark it. I used the little quide on the machine and it worked fine, but I had a tendency to curve the beginning and ending of the new line. Anyway. I think it turned out okay and you don't see the mistakes as clearly as you might think.

Not sure I'm excited about the quilt, but I think it will help if I run it through the washing machine and make it soft and wrinkly, just the way I like it.

I actually started the quilt last weekend and I got a bunch done, but we left to go to my parent's house for Thanksgiving on Wednesday and stayed till late Friday night. I seriously debated about dragging my machine and the quilt so that I could work on it there, but I decided that would be crazy. I also wanted to take a quilt with me since I figured we'd end up sleeping on an air mattress in the living room, but I nixed the extra quilt as well, since Mom does have blankets after all. Well, I missed having one of my own quilts to sleep with and there were several times I was wishing that I could sit down and sew while I talked to my Mom, cause man, we do a lot of talking and I feel really lazy doing nothing while we do.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I read this post and I thought, that's exactly what I was thinking! We always have to say what we're thankful for around the dinner table and I sorta hate it. Its a lovely thing to do and I would even insist that it is the right thing to do, but I feel silly and we would all probably cry if we have to actually be too serious about it. After all, everything else is trite when you have your family to be thankful for. Not that we shouldn't also be thankful for the little silly things as well.

Saturday, November 25, 2006

IQF Photos

I meant to post this several days ago when I first discovered it. Mellicious has a bazillion photos of IQF in Houston and I always enjoy looking through them. There's two sets - the judged show and exhibits. Prior years are there too.

Check it out.

This is one of my favorites. And this.

Saturday, November 18, 2006

How to Quilt?

I kinda hate deciding how to quilt my quilts. I always feel like I should have some fantastic design, but I'm not that talented. I do fairly simple, usually. But it seems so boring. I played around today to see how other people might quilt something like this and didn't seem to find anything inspiring.

Spirals might be cool, but hm. Don't know about that. Seems like it might be a lot of work. I'd be tempted to hand quilt them in, but I've got a few handquilting projects in front of it that I haven't managed to get done.

Monday, November 13, 2006

Tudor Rose quilt


I stipple quilted this sweet little blanket on Saturday and it turned out so sweet. I can't for the life of me seem to get good pictures to show just how sweet it is. I just ran it through the washer and dryer to soften and wrinkle it up and its lovely. I have 4 of these little quilts. I tied the first one and I have 2 more to do. I think I will do the stippling. I just love how it looks.


Sunday, November 12, 2006

Late, but better than never.

Monday, November 06, 2006

At the risk of becoming a foodie blog

Here's another one:
Actually its just a link. This was my version and it was good.

Recipe Exchange

Anyone interested in participating in a recipe exchange? Just post your recipe in the comments section.

Here's one to start.

Spiced Carrot Muffins
Makes 12

2 1/4 c flour
3/4 c sugar
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 c plain low-fat yogurt
4 Tbsp butter, melted
1 egg
2 1/2 c shredded carrots (about 5 medium)

In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, spice, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside. In another bowl, whisk together yogurt, butter & eggs. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add yogurt mixture. Stir until just combined. Fold in carrots. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes.