Sew and Tell- Baby Week

Ahh, it feels so good to get some of the things done that have been in my WIP pile for the baby. My to do basket is almost looking, dare i say, empty!!!!

I have acquired several cute flannel prints from Joann's with the intentions of making lovey blankets. Some i have had in stash for a long time, like the baby food jars print. Lovies are our favorite and every one we have given as a gift has been favorites for the new families too!!! They are versatile and warm and just so cute! These were made with two flannel prints(i am loving the animals)...squared...sewn right sides facing...turned out and top stitched! Easy Peasy.

I thought the baby food print would be good for some burp clothes. You can never have too many with a little on, i think....and all the ones i had made for my other two have since worn out. New ones were in order. I cut these into 8 pieces and then used the same sewing method as the lovey blankets.

Oh, and last but not least the Katie Jump Rope Hooter Hider!!!! I love this print. I used the tutorial here to make it, as i have for all the others i have made. Pretty simple and straightforward...but with pregnancy brain i am afraid i did some incorrect measuring. I am not sure it turned out the way it was supposed to, but i will reserve my final judgment until there is baby to nurse under it.

i am so thankful for Amylouwho and the motivation she provides!!! I am joining in this week at sew and tell. There are so many great finishes, as usual. Go and have a look and give them a little comment love!

Happy Happy

Yesterday was my sweet hubby's birthday. He views a birthday as just any other day, but the kids and i feel obligated to do something special even if we are told we don't have to by said husband. There was no way his day was going to go by without a birthday cake. SO i made this so so yummy Apple Caramel Cake. It is perfect for dessert and honestly it has apples in it so by my criteria that make it breakfast food, right? Happy Birthday Babe, i love you so much!

Apple Caramel Cake

3 c. Flour
1 t. Baking Soda
1/2 t. Cinnamon
1/4 t. Allspice
1/4 t. Nutmeg
1 t. Salt
1 1/2 c. Sugar
1/2 c. Brown Sugar, packed
1 1/2 c. Vegetable Oil
3 large Eggs, room temp.
3 c. Granny Smith Apples, chopped(about 2 1/2 apples)

Caramel Glaze:

1/2 c. Brown Sugar, packed
1/4 c. Butter(1/2 stick)
1/4 c. Heavy Cream

Preheat oven to 325. Grease and flour 10 inch bundt pan

In med bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and salt. Set aside

In large bowl, preferable that of large stand mixer...beat together the sugars and oil until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing completely. On low add the flour mixture in three additions. Mix well. Now spoon in the chopped apples and mix those well.Spoon batter evenly into pan and smooth out top.

Bake for 65 to 70 minutes until tester comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes and remove from pan. Now cool cake completely.

To make the caramel glaze, in heavy saucepan combine brown sugar, butter and cream. Bring to boil stirring for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool about10 minutes so glaze can thicken but is still pourable.

Place cake on cake plate and drizzle glaze over the top with a spoon. Enjoy!!!

Feature This!!!

My sweet baby girl(maybe) quilt is being featured today on Quiltstory blog. I am so flattered that they approached me and wanted to feature this quilt. Indulge me and go over and check it out. I am pretty excited!! If you are here visiting my blog today because you saw me on Quiltstory, well, welcome!!! I hope you enjoy the visit and will come back and see(read) me again!

The Best Breakfast

I think Saturday breakfast just got a little better. I was gifted with a ebelskiver pan for my birthday and this weekend we finally had the chance to try it out....what filling will i use? powdered sugar or icing? So many decisions. These were so light and yummy.....i filled them with nutella, homemade jam and some yummy apple butter my sister made. The only downside, there were not enough. It is possible that we could have eaten these all morning long.

And for more breakfast yumminess go check out this blog, Kate's weekend breakfast looks amazing.

Sew and Tell

Tonight was the big Amy Butler challenge over at sew and tell with Amylouwho. I had ideas floating around in my head but never got around to making anything this month until tonight. I decided it was time to make one of those mug rugs i have seen floating around blogland. I used some Daisy Chain and a little Osnaburg, and in record time. Talk about under the wire i just finished at 11:45 pm. I love it, just big enough for a mug and a snack!!!

**go see what everyone else made, you will love it. there are so many amazing things this week**

Ladies, I Need Your Help!!

This week I committed to making a quilt for one of the ladies in my homeschool group. She is going through cancer treatments and i wanted to do something for her. I offered, on behalf of all of us in the group, to make a quilt. I did not know what else i could do. The idea was well received, so once i found out her favorite colors were, ironically, pink and purple i got right to work. I was not thrilled with the colors to work with not to mention i don't use them much so there were not many of them in my stash. What it definitely needed was a few other colors to break up and liven up the quilt. This one came together in one day. Not too shabby for a days work!

Here is what i need help with....how can i make the other ladies feel involved so that this is their project as much as mine? Oh wait there are more questions...should i use fabric pens or sharpies or should we hand embroider whatever messages or scriptures we want to put on it??? Does anyone have other ideas for personalizing the quilt for her??

I want to get this project done fast. I don't want any of this silly indecisive stuff to slow things down, so i hope you all can help me out. I can not wait to read all of your great suggestions!

Flea Market Inspriation

Way back in the way backs i won a small layer cake(10 inch squares) of Flea Market Fancy from Rita at Red Pepper Quilts. I have been hanging onto them unwilling to cut into them because i was not sure what i was going to make. Then inspiration came from Rita, who was inspired by Ashley...they both made wonderful quilts with simple FMF squares. Go ahead and take a peek, i will wait right here.

Then, much to my surprise, I found a stack of FMF in my own stash that i had bought at some point and totally forgotten about, all different from the ones Rita gave me. Can you imagine? I managed to cut 2.5" squares from about 22 fabrics, giving me somewhere around 350 squares. These are smaller than what the other ladies worked with but i wanted to maximize what i could get from each of the 10" squares. I am thinking of making a play mat for the baby...using double batting and hand quilting it. Can i make this happen anytime soon? I am sure going to try!!! starting with hanging some batting to get a small inspiration wall going so i don't have to lay things out on my hands and knees.

Catch a Glimpse

Look at what I caught a glimpse of in the iron tonight while I was working on a little ironing and cutting. Today is the start of the third trimester for me. It is hard to believe that it is going this fast. I am enjoying everyday as we begin counting down to this new little persons arrival. Real prep for a nursery and a baby are about to get into full swing. The “belly” likes to dance. You can see it from the outside now…moving, rolling, kicking and thumping are happening all the time. Today there was even a case of the hiccups. The best part of being awake at night is when the baby is awake too and I can just lie there and enjoy it. Trust me the irony in this is not lost on me…soon enough I am going to wish we could all sleep through the night and I probably won’t enjoy it so much….but one stage at a time right.

I've Been Blurbed!

My sweet husband planned a little surprise for my birthday this year. Something that he had to work on in the little spare time that he has at work.

Look at it...it is a whole real book!! He took the first year of this blog and had it printed and bound to be forever saved for our family with blurb. It is so cool. I guess at some point or another we talked about this and how it would be a good idea to have, so the kids have it as a record of them too. He remembered this and made it a special surprise!

It is so cool, i love it. thank you sweet husband.

Double Check (sew and tell)

I did it!! I checked off another finish before the baby comes....this baby girl quilt(using Oh Fransson's pattern, inspired by Emily) turned out better than i had hoped.

I had the flimsy finished last week in time for sew and tell...however it took me a little longer to complete the rest of the steps...piecing the back, basting, quilting and binding. You know, all those things that make a bunch of fabric that you cut into tiny pieces a real quilt.

I even gave it the good old wash and dry. I was fighting with myself about this, as usual, but in the end i forced my own hand and it was just fine. Thank goodness for color catchers...i use them even when i probably don't need them, because it makes me feel better. I was worried that the nicey jane fabrics and the osnaburg would shrink differently, but they were surprisingly the same! Hooray!

I quilted it with my standard straight line method using my walking foot and some thread that i had stashed away for just the right project. I used a king tut brand variegated thread that had most of the colors in this quilt and just a hint of pink. This was my first time working with variegated thread and it looks really cool. I like it. I am not sure if you can see it in any of these pictures, you might just have to take my word for it.

Many thanks to my little quilt holder. I chose these pictures, above, because i loved the shadows of her in each shot.

** I wanted to quick share this with all my fellow sew and tellers at amylouwho's. It is finished!! Please look at everyone's projects from this week and give them a little comment love.**

Splat!!!

I think the title of this post says it all...

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Do not worry, no child was harmed in the making of this blog post!

Make that two for Gymnastics!

Indulge me....i know i had virtually the same post last week , but look this time my baby was doing it! He looked so big out there on the floor.

Excited was a understatement!

He did things i had no idea he would be able to do.

Avery got some trampoline time last night and looked like she was having a ton of fun

i think my favorite thing about all these pictures is that the kids are blurry. They were going going the whole time...not one minute to be still. But who could be still when you have all this cool equipment to play on.