Christmas Garland

On Friday night we sat down after dinner and got busy making a Christmas light garland from felt. I orginally saw the idea on Cakies Blog . I made mine quite different. Emme picked what colors we used. Grandma, Lil and I cut them out. Then we thought about gluing them but the only glue I had was white school glue. I know from past experience that this does not work well with felt. So we decided to sew them

Lil took on this job and I was so excited. You would think that since she is my daughter that she could sew like a wiz and that she sews all the time. Most of the time she is occupied with other things or she will wait to ask until I am really busy. She has tried a few things in the past but she gets frustrated with herself if she makes any mistakes. She is really good in the kitchen though and I fell in time she will do more sewing. Anyway back to the lights. We kind of raced. I was in charge of pinning and she was in charge of sewing. We got them done in record time.We strung them on red double fold bias tape. We hung them in our kitchen and bathroom. Our whole house is starting to take on a cheery glow.

I just won a great book!

I have been reading blogs all over the web and have happened on a few that have had a wealth of good ideas and my personal favorite tutorials. I have made my Christmas to-do list from many of these great blogs. One that I enjoy gleanning ideas from is Prudent Baby. They have some great craft ideas posted weekly. Check it out. I just won a book from this blog and I can't wit to receive it and get to baking some great cookies.

I have completed my second block for the $5.00 quilt project at my local quilt shop Sew Much Fun. I really like the fabrics we are using. Batiks have such a fresh look to me. I have been using Thangles on this project to make it a little easier for me. The only draw back is that I use a little more fabric then they give us in our kit. I had to buy an oops packet at the shop which has 1/2 yard of background along with a 10 inch square of all the fabrics we will be using. So as of today my $5.00 quilt has cost me $30.00. That is not too bad. We will see as I go along if the total increases.

Great Giveaway

Bagels - Homemade

Today I was wanting to make some homemade bread so I jumped on the web for some inspiration. I stumbled upon a great website that was helpful and gave me a lot of inspiration. Knead to be Loaved is a great site. She has a lot of different types of breads. I liked the fact that these are not breads you see all the time but some things that are not so frequently offered on cooking websites. I read through her instructions for making bagels and thought I could do that. So I called to my oldest Daughter so we could tackle this project together.

Here is 4 of our bagel dough balls. Each ball was for one bagel. This is during the second rising. It told me to cover them with plastic wrap but I did not spray it so it stuck a little. Once they had risen I poked a hole in the center so I could drop them in the hot water.

These turned out to swell up so much that I could only fit two in the pot at once. Next time I will divide my dough into smaller portions before I start so I can have more bagels.

My daughter held her hand up to the dough so you could have an idea of how big they were when they came out of the boiling water.

This is our finished product. They tasted very good and the texture is a lot better than the store bought ones. I hope in the future I can make them look a little prettier. I am going to punch the holes in the center before I let them rise the last time under the saran wrap so that way all they don't deflate while I am putting the hole in them like this time.

I hope after reading about my experience you will check out her site and try one of her great recipes. I think we should all try to continue learning on a regular basis.

Red and Aqua swap

I finished my blocks last night for the red and Aqua swap being done on Jane's blog. It was a lot of fun. I can;t wait to see the blocks I get back. I hope I like everyone else's blocks as much as I like mine. I am thinking that I will make a quilt for a special girl I know. These colors are not really me but they are very pretty together none the less. I will post a pic of the blocks I get back when they arrive.

Tonight is quilt guild so I am really excited to go and get inspired.

What I have been up to.

I have finally took a picture of my bag I made for from the moda bake shop. I am happy with how it turned out. I used Roger's old uniform bottoms. I also used an old belt for the handles. The only new material is the lining and band fabric. It is just the right size for my little one to carry a few toys around with her.

I am also working on a Block of the Month from my local quilt shop Sew Much Fun. They call it $5.00 quilt. You buy the first block for $5.00. Each month they have a special meeting at the shop. If you bring your block completed to the meeting you get your next block free. If you don;t have it done you have to pay $5.00 for your next kit. So you could make all 12 blocks for only $5.00. pretty smart huh! The are smart with this club because while you are at the meeting they show you all the new products in the store and also have a whole list of specials that are just for club members that morning. So your top in the long run will cost you quite a lot. But hay what the heck it is a lot of fun!!

This is the iPod case I made for Lil. I didn't really have a pattern. I just looked at a lot of others people had made online and went to my machine and doodled around. I am pretty happy with the results. I used scraps from other projects. I will most likely make another one sometime. The front of the case has a pocket for money or an ID card. The back yellow pocket with elastic on top is made to hold the ear buds. This is all for now maybe I will have some more to post in a few days.