Happy Halloween!

Fall Felting

Fall and felting just seem to go together, so when I saw several different felted pumpkins on Ravelry I just had to try and make one!  For the pumpkin itself I used the Miniature Felted Pumpkin Pattern from Wool Windings.  I followed the pattern exactly, but for some reason I could not get my stitch count to match the pattern.  I'm not sure if it was something that I was doing wrong or if it is a pattern error, but either way it worked out just fine.  For the stem I wanted something a little more like these that I found on Knitty.com.  I modified the stem pattern a bit by using smaller needles and leaving out a few rows, so it would fit my pumpkin.  I am really happy with how the finished pumpkin turned out.  Now I think I need to make some felted acorns and felted leaves to go along with it!

Do You Recognize This Quilt Pattern?

My cousin (Cheryl of Quilts & Art by Cheryl) is trying to find some information about the quilt shown in this photo.  The quilt was made by Cheryl's great grandmother sometime before 1964 in northern Pennsylvania as a gift for Cheryl's mother.  Unfortunately, the quilt is no longer in existence, which has prompted Cheryl to try and duplicate it for her mother. There's no question that a pattern could be drafted by studying the photo, but making a reproduction would be much easier if she had a block name and pattern...can anyone identify it?

Thanks to Murial in Ontario, Canada we have an answer to the mystery!  The name of the quilt is Chinese Box and a pattern very similar to the quilt in the photo can be found online at Quilted Indigo.

1000 Quilts To Houston

I Won!

I entered several giveaways during the Fall Into Fall Quilter's Giveaway extravaganza and I was the lucky winner of this beautiful fall bag and accessories from The Quilting Booklady! Becky's blog was a new to me blog and I'm so glad to have found it! She is working on some great projects and shares fantastic quilty ideas...I see an ironing board cover just like the one she just finished in my future!

Pills

I have been fighting a sinus infection and finally broke down and went to the doctor on Tuesday. I came home with several bottles of pills and a promise that I would start feeling better in a couple of days. With that bit of good news, I prewashed some flannel, so I would be all set to start working on a new quilt once I started feeling better. I don't know how well you can see in the photo, but antibiotics and decongestants weren't the only pills that I got this week. All of the other flannels came out of the wash beautifully, but the white flannel (which was washed alone) came out covered in pills! It really gripes me that quilt shop quality fabric preformed this way, but I'm happy that I discovered it before it was sewn into the quilt!

Banana Blueberry Muffins

These are my husband's all time favorite muffins!

Banana Blueberry Muffins

2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/8 cup buttermilk*
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 large banana, mashed
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup blueberries

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine sugar, butter, buttermilk, egg and vanilla. Beat until creamy. Stir in mashed banana. Add flour, baking soda and salt and mix just until moistened. Stir in blueberries. Spoon into paper-lined muffin cups. Bake 25-30 minutes or until toothpick in the center comes out clean. Makes 1 dozen muffins.

* 1/2 teaspoon vinegar plus enough milk to equal 1/8 cup can be substituted for 1/8 cup buttermilk.

Are You A Good Witch, Or A Bad Witch?

One of my all time favorite movies is The Wizard Of Oz, so when I saw this pattern by Bloomin' Minds a few weeks ago I couldn't resist! I'm just tickled with how the top has turned out. It's a small wall hanging (14 x 17) so I shouldn't have any trouble getting it quilted and bound in time to hang for Halloween, but I love it so much that it may find a permanent spot in my sewing room!

Wordless Wednesday

Mountain Laurel Quilt Guild's Exhibit 2010

A Bit Of Backstitch

As much as I would like to be an embroiderer, I just am not, but sometimes a project comes along that I can't resist and I end up having to do a bit of backstitch. It's not the best work, but I think the finished project is going to be so cute that the bad stitches won't matter!

Getting Ready For Winter

It seems like there is always so much to be done this time of year to get ready for winter and this year is no exception. We have been working at putting a new roof on our house, plus I've been doing a bit of fall house cleaning and now that the sun has returned there are flower beds that need tending and leaves that need to be raked. Don't worry though, even with all that have to be done, I am still finding some time to do some things that I want to get done...like basting my Dear Jane, so it will be all ready for me to quilt once my chores are finished!

Speaking Of Cake...

Birthdays are nature’s way of telling us to eat more cake, so today I will be eating cake!

4 - Layer Cake Quilt

The pattern that I used for this charity quilt is called 4 - Layer Cake. I still haven't figured out why it's called a 4 layer cake because it only uses 1 layer cake to make a nice sized throw. For those of you who aren't familiar with layer cakes of the fabric variety, they consist of 40 - 10" squares from a collection of fabrics...very pretty and zero calories! I made my own layer cake from scratch for this quilt using scrap plaids, but even without the pre-cut layer cake it still went together very fast and easy!

Not Pumpkin Bread

Has anyone else noticed that it's darn near impossible to find a can of pumpkin on the grocery store shelf? Apparently poor weather conditions have created a pumpkin shortage! In my book, it's just not Fall without pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bars or pumpkin bread. What's a pumpkin lover to do? Replace the pumpkin with mashed sweet potatoes! I used mashed sweet potatoes in place of the canned pumpkin in my regular pumpkin bread recipe and it was impossible to tell the difference!

Not Pumpkin Bread

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup mashed sweet potatoes
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together the four, salt, sugar, and baking soda. Mix the sweet potatoes, oil, eggs and spices together, then combine with the dry ingredients just until moistened. Pour into greased loaf pan. Bake 50-60 minutes or until bread tests done.