Cookbook Review

I am a fan of the cookbooks by Jessica Seinfeld. She likes to use pureed veggies in her recipes. She has a new cookbook called Double Delicious. I tried out the chocolate chip recipe. It contains pureed chick peas. They were pretty good although no one else wanted to eat them. I haven't had time to try any of the other recipes in the book but they all look good. And just as in her last cookbook they all contain some type of vegetable puree. I got this copy from my local library. See if you can check it out and try out some recipes before you commit to buying a copy. Some people (like my husband) won't touch any food that contains a vegetable hidden in it. But most kids won't know the difference.

Maureen's Quilt

This is a quilt for my dear friend Maureen. She doesn't know she is getting it yet. She won't know until she reads this blog. You see Maureen is the first person who ever read my blog. And I know she still reads it. So Maureen when you see this let me know, because I will be dropping this table topper quilt off at your house.

Maureen and I have known each other since our twin boys were teeny tiny babies. We formed a play group when my boys were 6 weeks old and hers were three months old. Our families have been friends ever since. I have been wanting to make her a quilt for a long time. But my quilts tend to choose their owners and I have had to wait until one claimed her. This one did. It is a triangle pattern using a Moda charm pack I had left over. The boarder is fabric I found at Joann's. The binding is quilt binding. I stippled the quilt using a loop pattern.

I was trying to be very Home and Garden when I used props to take my photos. I also wanted to give Maureen an idea of the size and what the quilt could be used for. Most people are afraid to use the quilts I give them because they don't want to mess them up. But I have found that they wash well and usually just need spot cleaning.

I think this quilt can be used for tea or perhaps as a centerpiece on a table. Maureen and I don't have much time for tea as we both work full time and have busy little boys. But I know she will find a use for it. And maybe it will give us an excuse to get together and have tea, while our kids run around tearing up the house!

Pieced Heart Wall Hanging

I had these paper pieced heart squares lying around that needed to be turned into something. This great paisley fabric is from my trip to the fabric by the pound store. The combo came out great. I made this for my friend Laura. I thought the color combo was perfect for her. I added my blog label to the back.

I love making little projects. They are quick and you feel so accomplished when you finish them.

I hope she finds a nice place in her home to hang this.

Heart Wreath

We are all sick. Myself and my two boys stayed home sick today. The only problem when you stay home with two sick boys and you are yourself sick is that you don't get to rest. After tons of cartoons, two movies (Narnia, Book 1 (which I love) and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (which is tolerable)), countless questions about ambiguous topics, 5, 000 tissues, cleaning up throw up, throwing away lunches that no one ate, sanitizing door handles, and answering phone calls I am plum tired. When DH finally gets home I am locking myself in the bedroom. However, I did manage to make this adorable project I saw at Little Birdie Secrets.

Last night I snuck out and bought the Styrofoam heart. I used tons of red scraps cut into 2" squares. It took a while to put all the fabric in but the reward was great. I am really into wreaths right now. I think I might need to make one for every season. This one will go on my door next month.

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P.S. Does anyone know why 5 1/2 year olds like to run around with their pajama shirt tops unbuttoned. It is like John Travolta in Staying Alive around here. And since both boys are running around here they are definitely going to school tomorrow :).

Ruffled Wristlet

I was on the way to a doctor appointment and needed something to read. I grabbed the magazine Sew It All. It had this cute wristlet in it. Easy to make (if you don't have kids). For some reason the sides where the zippers meet did not come out so nice. I am not sure why. Otherwise I like how it came out. The colors are really cute and I used a recycled green ribbon I had in my ribbon drawer instead of fabric.

I made this with the gym in mind. I am doing a new workout program at a "boot camp." I wanted something that I could just put my keys and wallet in that was small enough to fit into the tiny lockers available. This little cuttie is the perfect size.

Shabbat Wall Hanging

I saw this at a quilt fair years ago and took a photo of it. I finally found the pattern online and knew I had to make it for my sister.

All the pieces were cut out and fused onto the background. I had a lot of fun picking out the colors and matching them.

I satin stitched around all the pieces. I had wanted to find a special thread to use on the women but I never found anything I liked. I ended up just using a general purple. This wall hanging actually gave me a lot of trouble. Originally I had put batting in it and pillow topped it. It looked so terrible that I took it all apart and put the whole thing away for a long time. Then when it was time to finish it I brought it back out and tried something new. I put a very thin piece of adhesive batting in which I ironed on. Then I added a backing and used quilt binding to finish the edges. The quilt binding was thick and stiff and made a natural loop that I could put the dowel through. I added ribbon and it was ready for hanging. My mom had to carefully transport it in her luggage back east to where my sister lives. Although this quilt was a challenge it was a real labor of law and I am so happy with how the colors blended together.

Lace Scarf

My niece and I were browsing in Malibu at some fancy stores. We saw a $200 dollar lace/fabric scarf that looked easy to reproduce. I tried to find a picture of the one I copied but I couldn't locate anything. You will just have to use your imagination. I had a cream colored skirt that already had lace on it. I bought another piece of lace at Joann's and added it. Here are some shots of the whole process. Only light sewing was required.

Here is the skirt and the lace before I started cutting.

I measured out exactly 4 inches from the hem. I marked the fabric with a fabric pen. I marked and measured around the entire skirt since the skirt was already flared and I wanted to get an exact measurement.

Here is the piece of skirt after I cut it out.

I pined everything and began to sew. I sewed two rows of straight stitches. This was just to reinforce the lace and make sure it didn't tear.

This is the finished scarf. I am waiting for my niece to send me a photo of how it looks on her.