A New Purse!

I've seen the pattern for this purse for several months. I've seen it made up a few times at various quilt shops. I've been wanting to make it, but had to find the perfect fabric. It is called the Birdie Sling and is an Amy Butler design and pattern. This was the first time I have made any of her patterns and I would use one again in a heartbeat! Very well written patterns.



I saw this great batik floral and kept thinking that I wished I could think of something great to use it in. I thought about it during a 90-minute trunk show and as I was walking up to pay for the yard of a different fabric I was getting to make a leash and collar for Molly (which I still haven't done!), I saw the pattern and it hit me! This gorgeous blue/purple and green floral batik would be perfect for the main portion of the birdie sling. SO...I began scowering the batik shelves to find the perfect fabric for the handle and band as well as a third coordinating fabric for the lining. I found lovely fabrics that matched beautifully! I was super excited and bought all the fabric I needed. This was my first time making a purse, and there were several things I hadn't done before--like make gussets and sew in pleats. I used fusible fleece and fusible
woven interfacing. It was a very educational experience, and ended
with a lovely final product! Well...at least I think it is lovely!

I've already switched all of my purse essentials over and it is my current purse. LOVE it! :-)

Abe's Hippo Birthday Cake

While chewing his piece of Chipmunk cake at Scout's family birthday party, Abe excitedly told me that I had a couple of weeks to rest up from cake making before I got to make his birthday cake, and that it would be a hippo.

What have I done to myself? :-)

I love those two kids so much that I simply can't say no...so of course I made him a hippo cake. This birthday was a special one too--it was Abe's 8th birthday and he was baptized. I had to make a great cake to celebrate such a poignant event....so a hippo it was! Abe requested a vanilla cake since the last couple of cakes I have made, I've used our family Chocolate Economy Cake recipe.

After Abe's baptism, the family all went to Seneca Lake State Park and had a pizza and wing picnic and hippo for dessert. I wish I had a picture of Abe's face when he first saw the hippo cake. It was priceless.

I think my favorite thing about the hippo, other than how happy it made Abe, was that the little guy looked like he was smiling...A happy hippo!

I started by baking a vanilla sponge in two 8-inch rounds and a medium-sized loaf pan. Once the cakes were completey cool, I cut one of the rounds in half to make two thinner rounds. I made my very favorite buttercream
recipe and iced each of the items. I used the Wilton's fondant and colored it a grey using the wilton's black gel food coloring. I rolled
out the fondant after it was kneaded and the color was consistent. I covered the bottom round with the fondant and smoothed it over
the cake and then cut off the extra fondant along the bottom.




I then colored, kneaded, and rolled the fondant to cover the loaf, and then put it right up against the first circle.

I cut two small rounds out of the

2nd round (the one I didn't cut
in half...) to use as a nose and
placed them on top of the other
round. I iced over the nostrils
and then kneaded, colored, and
rolled out the fondant for the top
of the mouth. I carefully
smoothed the fondant over being
very careful to smoothe it gently over the nose. Before placing this round I used buttercream to attach two large marshmallows in the front to be the front teeth. I put a dab of buttercream on top of each marshmallow to help secure the bottom of the round. I set the nose round on top of the first and butted the back up against the loaf and the edge on top of the marshmallows.

The next step was the eyes. I cut circles out of the extra round for eyeballs. I cut a slant off of each of these small rounds so they would sit at a slight angle. I frosted each of them with the buttercream and then covered them in white fondant the same way I did the other pieces. Then I colored, kneaded, and rolled out a small amount of black fondant which I cut two small circles for pupils. I attached the black circles to the eyeballs with a small dab of vodka, and attached the eyes to the hippo head the same way.

I made little nostrils the same way after coloring a tiny bit of fondant a light pink color to use for ears and nostrils. I rolled out a little bit of grey fondant to make ears and cut two raindrops  out of it. I rolled out the remaining pink fondant and cut two slightly smaller raindrops.  I attached the pink on top of the

grey with a tiny bit of vodka. I shaped the ears and let them dry over the rolling pin. Once completely dry, I attached the ears with Vodka as well and put a tiny piece of skewer to act as an anchor for each ear. The hippo was finished! 

I am so pleased with the way it turned out. This was my very first time working with Fondant. I read a lot online, and found a really great blog that taught a lot of info. Due to time constraints, I used the Wilton's premade rolled fondant. I would use it again due to the ease of use, but it really does not taste good at all. I think I would really like to try a marshmallow fondant the next time. The recipe for it is on the blog I linked to above.

I showed the cake to Abe before his baptism, and he was so excited. He gave me a great big hug, and Scouty approved too! Once we got to the picnic at the park after Abe's baptism, the kids were so excited to finish their pizza and eat some cake. I put 8 candles on the hippo's head, and they kinda looked like hair!

We lit the candles and sang to Abe while he very seriously thought about what his wish should be. Scout just couldn't wait to get a piece of the hippo cake! After her first bite, she said it was almost as good as her squirrel cake. :-) They were so darn cute! Happy birthday Abraham... Make a wish! (He looks so serious in this picture...I keep wondering what his wish was!)

The hardest part of making these cakes, is cutting and serving them. After all that time, you take a knife to this creation, and destroy it... with one slice of a knife. So depressing. Since I made the cake, my mother handed me the knife, and I had to make the cut. I felt like I was murdering the poor little

hippo. :-(

...it was worth it though, because he was delicious!

Table Runner

This is a good (and easy) pattern. I made this for my brother and his wife for Christmas this past year.

Happy Birthday Scouterella!

It was my neice's 5th birthday, and she had asked me to please make her a chipmunk cake for her birthday. I have a very difficult time saying no to her...so here it is.

I used the same lamb cake mold that I made the Easter cake out of, and shaved some cake off to make the face more accurate, and attached some for the tail. If I were to make a chipmunk cake again sometime, I would
definitely use fondant instead of doing this one in buttercream as the striping of the chipmunk fur was very difficult to create by piping the frosting.

Scouty loved the cake and it was delicious! Happy 5th birthday to my little Scouterella. :-)

If you can't go to the mountains....eat them!

A couple of weeks after I mad the lamb cake for Easter, there was a fundraiser for the boy scouts at work. They have an annual cake auction where people make and donate cakes they have made and decorated and everyone bids on the cakes and all proceeds go to the boy scouts at church. I told my family that I would make a cake to donate, and asked my niece and nephew what kind of cake I should make...thinking that maybe they'd say, "Chocolate with sprinkles!", but no....they said "Make a mountain...with a lake, like up at Lazy Afternoons!" (Lazy Afternoons is the name of our family cabin in the Adirondacks.) Boy do kids ever have amazing imaginations. Well, I somehow feel complelled to accept these challenges from 4 and 7 year-olds. Why? 'Cause I am an aunt who is a pushover!

I began by stacking the cake to create a mountain shape. After I had the basic shape created, I 'glued' everything together by piping buttercream between all "layers".

After things were secure, I dirty-
iced the entire cake after cutting
a lake-like portion out of the
lower portion of the cake. After
dirty-icing with the plain white
buttercream, I did a base coat of
green buttercream frosting over
the entire cake, except for the lake, which I put a layer of blue-tinted piping gel.

I used gum-paste to create the trees. I used gel food coloring to tint the buttercream as well as the gum paste. It was my first time working with gum paste, but it was quite easy to use. I used small lengths of kabob skewers  for the trunks of the trees (and the posts for the "to camp" sign) because I forgot to buy the small pretzel sticks. I colored them to look more like tree-trunks by wiping a bit of brown food color gel on them. The mountain is covered with rocks/boulders as well as trees. I made the kayak and

paddle out of gum-paste as well. I added a fallen over tree trunk and set that next to the lake. Gum-paste is edible and accepts the color well. Just be sure to coat your hands with shortning to keep it from sticking to your hands.

This was a very time consuming cake, but I ended up being very pleased with the outcome. So were Abe and Scout. It was the only cake at the auction they were even interested in bidding on. Luckily their bid won! Scout did tell me that the cake would be evern better if there had been a little chipmunk on the mountain, however.

After all the time and concentration that went into making this piece of cake-art, it took mere seconds for it to be demolished...and thoroughly enjoyed by all! Abe and Scout took the cake home and it lasted several days until they finished it...but they enjoyed every bite!

Ace of Cakes OR Cake Boss?

Neither... :-) but at least I've had fun and my niece and nephew have enjoyed eating them--and giving me new cake-making assignments.

For Easter I made this lamb cake for dessert for our family dinner. Abe and Scout just loved it. I have a cake form that bakes the 3-D lamb shape. I dirty iced the entire cake and then frosted the face and ears with a black buttercream. I piped the entire body with a star tip to create the wool-look out of natural white buttercrea, and piped the face with a pale pink buttercream. I put the Easter grass and some Robin Egg candies to make it look a bit more Easter-y. The cake was my family "Economy Chocolate Cake" recipe--a very dense and moist chocolate cake. It stands up to carving and 3-D cakes like this very well. (Plus...it's absolutely delicious!)

I've been busy lately...

This is my most recent quilt top that is finished. It was my first experience with a lot of applique. I am so pleased with the way it turned out! It is called "Watermelon Days". I used Moda's Lilac Hill line for the most part.

My first step was piecing the three patcwork/pieced
star blocks.  One has brown points, one purple,
and one green. The one pictured here is the brown.




The next step was to trace all of the applique pieces onto "heat and bond" and then cut all of those out. Then, I had to cut the centers out so things weren't too thick. Then I ironed the heat and bond pieces onto the fabrics and then had to cut eatch of those pieces out--very carefully! I completed this process for all of the applique pieces before attaching anything to the blocks. Once all of the pieces were cut, I peeled off the paper backing and started to assemble the blocks, by ironing them in place on the blocks.

This is the watermelon block. There are three of them that are  exactly the same. After I had the blocks ironed together, I began the machine appliqueing. I used different colored threads to coordinate with each of the different fabrics.

This is the flag block. The instructions for this were very confusing...so I made a few little changes. I really like the way the block turned out. There are corner blocks and three additional blocks--two with three stars, and one that is 4 rows of patchwork squares--similar to the center of the star blocks.

This is my completed quilt top. I am excited to get it quilted. I am going to have it custom quilted on the long-arm maching over at the Ivy Thimble in Victor, NY. I saw this quilt made up on one of the shop hops that included a shop in Watkins Glen, NY called O'Susannah's. It is a cute little shop, and as soon as I saw it, I had to make it! I took the pattern with me to a trunk show at the shop in Victor, so I could buy a couple more fat quarters of fabric and the owner saw it and now they are doing a class in it!

1st Time at Machine Applique

I took this tea towell class at the Ivy Thimble to learn how to do machine applique. A couple of the quilts I am starting to work on involve a lot of applique, and I'd never done any of it. So, I figured I should learn.
These tea towells are cute...but if any body ever wipes anything on this, they are gonna be in BIG trouble.

Most Recent Quilting Project

I just dropped this quilt off at The Ivy Thimble Long Arm quilting shop to have machine quilted. I took the Beginner Graduate class with Cindy at the Thimble and enjoyed making this quilt. It was pretty easy to put together because you just sewed the same thing over and over again...just different fabric in different places.

The most complicated part (after chosing the fabric...) was cutting the fabric--trapezoids and parallelograms.

Super complicated. It took me over three hours to get all of the fabric cut!

New Projects

Santa Clause (ie, my family...) was very generous to me this year for Christmas. I got kits to make two LARGE quilts. Both are quilts I saw made up and have absolutely LOVED and wanted to make. I will be a very busy the next year! I shouldn't need to buy anything but thread and incidentals!

One is called "ColorSplash" and it is made of Purple and Green Batik's (with a little peach-ey cream) and I saw it hanging at The Black Bear in Inlet, NY (near Old Forge) and ooh-ed and aah-ed over it for a year...then my mom told me that she had bought the kit for the exact quilt that was hanging on the walls, and was going to give it to me for Christmas...so I bought the fabric for the borders and the binding. I will wait until it is finished to spend the money on the 8 yards needed for the backing fabric! It is so beautiful....the one at The Black Bear is so much prettier than this picture!

The other quilt is just like something that my Great Grandmother Thornton would have made...the 1930's style fabrics and the dresden plate in the center--it is so reminiscent of the old, family quilts! I love it! I wanted to take the class at The Ivy Thimble, but it was only offered during a daytime class...and I couldn't take it because of work...darn having to make a living! So, they had one kit left, and my mom bought it for me for Christmas. I am very excited to make it!!! I love the colors and the fun fabrics.

I also got two other small quilting projects, one is a small, circular Christmas table-topper and the other is a neat wall hanging with sheep...I will post pictures as I get things completed....Wish me luck! Plus, my adorable niece, got me a gift certificate! How lucky am I! :-) She even wrote my name on it, and signed her name. So sweet!

Cheesecake Supreme

I have loved cheesecake since I was a pretty young kid. My dad taught me to make it and I have taken that recipe and tweaked it to make it my own over the last couple of years. Every year I make cheesecake for Christmas dessert. I typically serve it with a fresh raspberry drizzle and fresh raspberries as a delicious garnish! This year I tried making a sauce from frozen blueberries to serve with the cheesecake. It was delicious! Try it sometime! I forgot to take a picture of the finished product when plated on a nice platter and a picture of a piece with the blueberry drizzle...which is sad, because it looked fabulous...(almost as good as it tasted)!

Martha's Cheesecake Supreme!                                   

Crust:

     1 cup flour

     1/4 cup granulated sugar

     1 Tablespoon freshly grated orange or lime zest

     1/2 cup cold, unsalted butter

     1 slightly beaten egg yolk

     1/4 tsp. vanilla

     ***Combine first three ingredients. Cut in butter until crumbly. Add egg yolk and vanilla. Blend thoroughly. Pat 1/3 of dough onto bottom of 9" spring form pan, sides removed. Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 8 minutes. Cool completely. Attach sides, pat remaining dough up the sides of pan, about 1 3/4 " up the sides.

     ***Turn oven Temperature up to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Place a baking dish filled with water in oven. Leave the pan of water in the oven until baking is complete. This will prevent the cheesecake from cracking and will promote even baking.

Filling:

     5 (8 ounce) packages of cream cheese (Philadelphia preferred...)

     1/4 teaspoon vanilla

     2 Tablespoons freshly grated orange or lime zest

     1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

     3 Tablespoons flour

     1/4 teaspoon salt

     1 cup (4 or 5 large) eggs

     2 egg yolks

     1/4 heavy whipping cream

     ***Let cream cheese stand until it reaches room temperature. Beat in stand mixer until smooth and creamy. Add vanilla and zest. Mix next three ingredients in a separate bowl. Gradually add to cream cheese. Add eggs and yolks, one at a time, beating after each just to blend. Gently stir in heavy cream.

     ***Turn into crust-lined pan. Bake at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for 12 minutes; reduce heat to 300 degrees Fahrenheit and continue baking for 55 minutes. Remove from oven. Cool completely. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Best served cold, with fresh berries and/or a berry sauce.

Tic-Tac-Toe Boards

On Friday night I finished making Christmas Gifts....and that is only if you consider it was still Friday until I went to bed. If Saturday begins at midnight, however, I didn't finish them until about 3:30am on Christmas Day. What is important, however, is that they were finished and SIMPLY adorable for Christmas and Scouty and Abe loved them!

I bought a kit at my favorite quilt shop, The Ivy Thimble,
during their annual porch sale. They only cost two dollars,

and the kit included everything you needed for the project

except for the fabric of your choice. When I was getting

ready to go out and get the fabric, I opened up the patern

and really tried to figure out what I needed...upon closer
examination, I discovered that the pattern was making it a
much more complicated project than was needed. I adjusted
the pattern, and went shopping. Patricia's Fabric House in

East Rochester was having a sale--25% off of everything, so

I went there for the fabric this time. It was my first time straying

from "The Thimble"...and I am still feeling a bit guilty about it.

Oh well...I will work through it. :-)

I had loads of fun picking out the fabric with Abe and Scout in mind and they turned out wonderfully! Abe's is a bit more complicated. Because of the bright colors, I didn't want to introduce a fourth fabric. The bold  blue has many bright colors, and the orange seemed like a perfect contrast to the main fabric. The white is where the tic-tac-toe pieces play. What made the board more complicated, was that I needed to incorporate the orange into the playing board, and not just use it as the inner border. So, I had to be careful with  measurments, etc. in order to get those little orange squares to  line up. Scout's was just one fabric on all the sashing of the board, and so it was less complicated, but equally beautiful. I chose contrasting colors for painting the wooden pieces. I also made coordinating draw string bags to hold the game pieces they were super cute. :-) Scout's fabric jump off the shelf at me! The different shades of pink, the butterflies, etc. I knew she would love it! Scout even played a round or two with Grandma (my Mom) on her pretty board. She just loved it.

The original pattern had you cutting out 64-2" squares, so you had four tiny little white squares to make up one white square. That seemed like an awful lot of (unnecessary) cutting and stitching to me...especially for a kids game! In the end, I cut 3.5" squares for the the white pieces and the sashing was cut into strips that corresponded. After piecing the top together, the finsihed size was closer to 20"x20" than the patterns noted 17"x17". I pressed the gridded inerfacing that was included in the kit, and decided I didn't like the batting that was included. Thankfully I had enough of the "warm and natural" batting to make two 20"x20" square innerds to my two tic-tac-toe boards.

If anybody wants my specific measurments for the boards, etc. then just e-mail me and I will get them to you!

Christmas Cards

At work some of the residents at the nursing home have been really into making some homemade Christmas Cards this year. I have taken in a bunch of my stamping supplies and we've played in paper and rubber for a few days...I wish we had more time to do it...but at this time of year, there are so many things going on, it is difficult to find the time to do more cards with them. Last week I took the time to work at home on some of my own Christmas Cards. I've been really into embossing with Gold Glory (Stampin Up!) embossing powder with dark hunter green and deep burgundy papers. I hope you enjoy...these are just a couple I've made.

The Quilting Bug...

My mother has picked up quilting again the last couple of years and since I moved back to NY last year, I had been wanting to do the same. I took a beginner quilting class this past summer and made two of the beginner quilts at the same time. 

The quilt shop I go to the most is The Ivy Thimble in Victor, NY. It is the best area quilt shop! Not only do they have amazing fabric and samples, but the staff is so knowledgeable and helpful! They have wonderful sales and everytime I go there, I feel like I am a friend, not just a customer. 

After taking the Beginners class from Cindy, I signed up with my mom to take a Saturday morning class with Barb. We made a quilt called "Diamonds For Judith". I liked that quilt so much, that I bought Christmas fabric to make a second quilt out of the same pattern. 

                                                       

I had the first one quilted on the long-arm machine 

there at the store, and the Christmas one is there now being quilted.

I also took a Paper Piecing class from Pam where I learned so much! I love the technique, and the wall hanging I made is just beautiful, if I do say so myself! I am excited to make another one with the same pattern in different fabrics! I think it would be really pretty in patriotic colors for Scout for her birthday--since she is a Flag Day baby.

I haven't taken a class lately, but I am hoping to take on over 6 months that begins in January and focuses on applique. I bought a new sewing machine and it is amazing. 

I've also made a few aprons and table runners. I have fabric to make two other quilts and as soon as all of the Christmas gift projects are completed, I will start working on one of those! 

If you've ever admired a pieced quilt and thought it would be neat to make, but didn't think you could, trust me! You can do it. Just go to a good quilt shop and take a class. It is amazing how simple it is once you are taught by a good teacher! Once you can make a simple sampler like the beginner quilt, you can do practically anything. 

Happy quilting!

Raspberry Chocolate Pavlova

I tried this recipe this past summer. It is from the June 2010 "Food Network Magazine". I had never tried one of Nigella Lawson's recipes before, but since trying this one, I've found several of hers that I want to try. It is SUPER easy, and looks so fancy when all is said and done. I made it when Strawberries were at their peak, so I put strawberries on top the first couple of times I made it. Then I have made it with a combination of fresh Blueberries and Raspberries. It is good every time!

Do be sure to spend the money on some good chocolate and cocoa. And if you don't have superfine sugar on hand, don't buy it! Just process a cup plus two teaspoons of regular granulated sugar in a food processor to equal 1 cup of superfine sugar.  See the recipe (and picture...) below.

Chocolate Raspberry Pavlova
Active: 35 minutes | Total" 1 hour 35 minutes (plus cooling time) | Serves 8-10 adults
--Nigella Lawson, Food Network Magazine, June 2010

FOR THE MERINGUE
6 Large egg whites
2 Cups superfine sugar
3 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1 Teaspoon balsamic or red wine vinegar
2 Ounces dark chocolate, finely chopped

FOR THE TOPPING
2 Cups heavy cream
4 Cups fresh raspberries
1-2 ounces dark chocolate, curled/grated

1. Prepare the Pan: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment. Draw a 9" diameter circle onthe paper with a pencil, tracing a round cake tin that size. (Hint--Flip the paper over, so your meringue doesn't touch the pencil marks--you'll still be able to see the circle.)

2. Make the Meringue: Beat the egg whites with a mixer until satiny peaks form, and then beat in the sugar, one spoonful at a time until the meringue is stiff and shiny.

3. Add the Chocolate: Sprinkle the cocoa , vinegar, and then the chopped chocolate over the egg whites. Gently fold everything with a rubber spatula until the cocoa is thouroughly mixed in.

4. Shape the Meringue: Secure the parchment to the baking sheet with a dab of meringue to each corner. Mound the meringue onto the parchment within the circle, smoothing the sides and top with a spatula.

5. Bake the Meringue: Place in the oven, then immediately turn the temperature down to 300 degrees and cook for one to one and a quarter hours. When it's ready, it should look crisp and dry on top, but when you prod the center you should feel the promise of squidginess beneath your fingers.

6. Let it Cool: Turn off the oven and open the door slightly; let the chocolate meringue disk cool completely in the oven. When you're ready to serve, invert onto a big flat-bottomed plate and peel off the parchment.

7. Decorate the Pavlova: Whisk the cream till thick but still soft

and pour it on top of the meringue, then scatter the raspberries on 

top. Coarsly grate/curl the chocolate haphazardly over the top so
that you get curls of chocolate rather than rubble, as you don't want
the raspberries' luscious color and form to be obscured. You want
the pavlova to look like a frosted cake.

It has been a busy weekend...

I am at home in New York visiting my family for a few days. I came up earlier than expected because I needed to get some dental work done. Becaue of the unexpected early visit, my family has been gone for the weekend. They all left to go up to the cottage on Friday and won't get back until early this evening. At first I was pretty down about my dog and I having to be at my parents house all alone--especially seeing as half of the house is torn up due to some pretty major renovations.

                      

Thankfully, my friend Jennifer was in town, and it gave us the chance to visit, shop, and stamp! We went to the fabric/craft store on Saturday, out to lunch, and then came home to my parents place to stamp. We both made a couple of cute cards Saturday afternoon, but Jennifer was kind enough to leave her supplies with me (as my mothers supply is inaccessible due to the renovations) so I could play in the rubber and paper and ink some more while I was home alone. I already posted the birthday card I made for my mom, but I also made some more cards, and thought I would post those pictures here.






Last evening some family friends (Jenn's parents) invited me over for dinner and games, so I offered to take dessert. I ended up making a dessert pizza. It was yummy!

Mom's Birthday Card

(front of card)

I used the Stampin' Up! stamp set "Doodle This" to make a birthday card for my mom. I used a Close to my Heart set for the verse. Paper and ink is all Stampin' Up!. My friend Jennifer came over and we stamped and played for a while. She made a cute card too. I hope my mom likes it!

(inside of card)

(back of card)

I am going to keep creating tonight and stamp some more cards. More pictures to come.

--M.