Cat in the Hat

Just a couple of photos of a quilt I finished last month. The fabric was bought in a fat quarter bundle with a panel included 2 years ago on vacation in Chicago. I held on to it not sure what style of quilt I wanted to make. I find it hard to work with panels because I never want to cut them up so I try to work around them you know. I really like how this turned out even though I was very unhappy with it while quilting it. My machine was giving me such fits. Lots of skipped stitches and snapping thread constantly. After this quilt was done I replaced the bobbin case and the problem seems to be solved. The bobbin case was pretty beat up and worn. Anyways, the blueish green fabric in this quilt I dyed myself and I also used that to back it and bind it. This quilt was made for Alec. I'll have to take a photo of him using it. Its so cute how he climbs onto the couch and covers up with it when he's tired. I even have enough blocks leftover for a baby or toddler quilt which I think I will put together and sell. Makes me nervous to think of selling my work but people seem to love it so why not right. I'll leave you with a photo of Easter cuteness from this year. At our towns local egg hunt Alec was much more interested in filling his bucket with the rocks from the playground than finding the eggs. Bye!

Good intentions

Well I came on with good intentions to update with all of my projects and what I've been working on. I uploaded my photos from my camera and realized darn! I've been taking all the photos with my phone and putting them on instagram! Seriously, instagram is addicting, like really addicting. It has put me in touch with so many wonderful, crafty people who do such beautiful work and its such a pleasure to see their work and process and it's great to get to talk to them about it as well. So if you'd like to see my daily photos of what I'm working on and doing follow me on instagram. My id is jaayimee. And I promise I will make a point of taking more photos with my regular camera too. I do have a before photo to share with you. Remember me saying I needed to clean out my sewing room closet but it was going to have to wait until after Christmas? Well I took the before photos so you can see how bad it really is. Some time this year it will get all torn out and stuff will be gotten rid of and it will be organized and cleaned up. I did clean it up a bit yesterday and toss a few things but that is because I was looking for some thing (that I never found I might add) but I will be doing a major clean out this year. Before...

Can you believe how bad this is? It's stacked higher than me. Here's a close up.

It's bad my friends, really bad. Also I do have a finish to share of the quilty find. I was looking through Etsy for a gift for my mom for Christmas and decided to look for some thing related to her favorite movie of all time, Jaws. She has a copy of this movie in every room of her house that has a tv and even at my uncles house so when she travels there she has a copy to watch as well. It's crazy. Well, I was finding nothing but I did find a painting that inspired me. Out of that inspiration I created this wall hanging.

I love how my quilting turned out. I was exactly how I envisioned it. A few detailed shots.

She loved it. I mean REALLY loved it. I was very happy. Also yesterday I spent several hours dying some fabric and aida cloth teal and I was very pleased with how it turned out. I managed to get photos too!

This is the aida. It was difficult to get the actual color in the photo but I liked how it turned out and trust me it's teal.

This is the fabric. I will be using some of this in my Cat in the Hat quilt I am making for Alec which I am going to cut the fabric for right now. I promise to take photos. Bye!

Gluten free Christmas baking

Every year I do lots of Christmas baking and every year I say I will cut back on the amounts and every year I over estimate and every year I still make too much. This year was no exception. Of course every year I seem to screw some thing up and out of it comes some thing new. Last year I came up with chocolate pudding peanut butter balls, This year it was....

Yes, Nutella. I needed 2 cups of peanut butter for my last batch and after cleaning out the house I only had one. Whats a girl who doesn't want to leave the house to do? Well, I have a cup of Nutella, bingo. Nutella peanut butter balls are born. My husband, who loves his peanut butter balls, really liked them. Still liked his regular balls better but liked these as well. I don't think it would work as well if it was all Nutella because I think it would have been too strong of a flavor. I think the blend works well and it just tastes like Nutella to me. 1 cup of peanut butter 1 cup if Nutella 12 TBs of butter 4 cups of powdered sugar Cream your peanut butter/ Nutella Add your powdered sugar and mix well Roll your balls and let sit at least 20 mins to dry a little (I did not find this necessary for the Nutella balls because they were already on the dry side and I think the powdered sugar could have been reduced a bit, this is just my regular peanut butter ball recipe and I haven't played with it any yet to adapt it for the Nutella) Melt some chocolate in a double boiler, not generic (for some reason it doesn't seem to melt all the way for me) and dip those balls and let dry til set. Enjoy!

I also made some thing new this year. Egg nog truffles, a recipe I found on Pinterest and of course they are delicious and the recipe never makes as many as it says it does. Also they never look as pretty as they do online but they sure are delicious!

I also made my normal peanut butter cookies but this year added a small peanut butter cup because I thought it would be easier for Alec to eat those rather than a Hershey kiss.

He loves them. I made sugar cookies too but have yet to frost them because he prefers them with out the frosting. I will frost some of them later today though. I hope you have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Bye!