Scrap Happy Saturday on Saturday!

It has been busy around here finishing up a few quilt tops and, oh my, it feels so good!  I am so thankful I decided to get on board with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge as it has helped me focus on getting a couple of projects done and as is typical with me, start new projects, lol.  Thank you Angela for hosting a fantastic challenge!  I look forward to next year.

Here are a couple of tops I actually finished up. I am going to try to quilt a few of them myself but that is a frustrating project for another day.

Carolina Chain, a Bonnie Hunter pattern, that I started several years ago and had wanted to set on point like Bonnie did but in the end the extra effort just wasn't worth it for me.  I like the pattern but really don't love it. 

Next up, bunnies that have been waiting for months for some sort of border.  One on and then one off, a couple of times, lol, before just adding the cabbage border. Not sure if this top was really a RSC, but it did get done this year and it is scrappy.  I need to send it out to get quilted but I think I will wait until after the holidays as there is no hurry.  My original plan was to donate the lap-sized quilt to Buckeye House Rabbit Rescue and perhaps when it is finally finished I will.

I didn't know what I was going to work on when the RSC month was dark green as it isn't one of my favorite colors; however, I ended up re-working a little quilt that I purchased at our guilds' Second-Time Around Quilt shop.  I deconstructed the wallhanging and added bright green trees and a brighter border.  I am really happy with the results of the "new" wallhanging.

Finally, last year one of my RSC projects was to work on Cake Walk, a Lori Holt pattern.  I really loved working on this quilt and looked forward to each month and the selected colors.  It was probably one of the most fun quilts I have ever done as I used quite a few ribbons from my travels to Paris and London to embellish the cakes.  It really isn't practical to use as a bed quilt, but I love it none the less. I took this photo before I added the final whtie border to the quilt.

I think that is all that I finished up in November and December.  I still have lots of projects to work on for next year so I am pretty sure I will be joining the RSC challenge once again.  

Naturally I have been trying my hand at baking.  It is such fun to try recipes that I never dreamed I could do.  Today I tried my hand at Gateau Breton!  Last year I was lucky enough to visit Rennes, France and not only did I love the area I wanted to try some recipes of their baked goods.  Luckily I happened to record an episode of America's Test Kitchen on PBS that had a recipe that looked easy peasy.  I searched online to find he recipe and found it on the Hallmark Channel, go figure!  It is a recipe from Elle Simone and it is delicious!

Yeah, I tried to be festive with my photo which doesn't really show how nicely it turned out.  It tasted like a cross between shortbread and a cake with yummy apricot filling.  Anyway, it is delicious and I will probably make it again.

That is about it from me for this year.  I will be happy to see 2020 in my rear-view mirror and I am sure I have tons of company.  Speaking of company, I am joining Angela and lots of other folks who are finishing up their projects at SOScrappy and the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I hope to see everyone in 2021!

Cheers!

Debi

Scrap Happy Sunday

Wow, how did I miss last month?  I guess I just haven't felt much like sewing but I did today and here are a few blocks I completed.

Yellow Carolina Chain blocks which I am calling finished. I have actually been working on getting all of the blocks together and hope to share it next month.

A yellowish butterfly. I want to make a few more butterflies in various colors before I quit making more.

Last month I picked up some crumpets at Trader Joe's.  I kinda liked them and thought I would try my hand at making some.  I used Paul Hollywood's recipe from his book "How to Bake" and here is the photo from the book. I ordered rings from Amazon as the dough is similar to a pancake batter and needs to be contained.

And mine, which look pretty close to me.

In the end I wasn't wild about the homemade crumpets!  I am not a fan of pancakes and the texture was pancake-like.  I guess if I want crumpets I will just pick them up at Trader Joe's in the future which is crazy, lol!

It is a day late but I am linking up with everyone and all of their yellow sunshine at RSC Scrap Happy Saturday.

Cheers,

Debi

Scrap Happy Saturday

 Another month has flown by without much sewing going on.  Sadly, I have been dealing with elderly parent health issues for the past two months and I have my fingers crossed all has settled down and I can get back to doing fun things again.  I also need the weather to cooperate on the days when I can sew as it has been hot and humid around here and I haven't been motivated to sit in an upstairs bedroom to sew in the afternoons.  Anyway, here are a few things I have managed to sew for the purple RSC.

I haven't made any new micro-spool blocks but I did sew a few purple blocks together although I intend for the rest of the blocks to be scrappy.

And finally, I have been admiring Bonnie Hunter's Blossom Time block for quite some time.  I had the issue of Quiltmaker when it came out but thought I wouldn't make the blocks so I recycled the magazine  I should have known better and I ended up ordering the digital issue to get the pattern. I made a few purple tulips and I know I will be making more blocks.

Hmmm, I see what other folks are taking about with blogger changes.  I think I got some of it but only time will tell.

For the first time this month, I am linking up with everyone at RSC--Scrap Happy Saturday.  I hope I can get a few more purple projects done before month's end.

Cheers,

Debi

Scrap Happy Saturday

A blast from the past was on my agenda today for the dark blue rainbow scrap challenge.  Several years ago I started a Bonnie Hunter pattern called Carolina Chain..  I loved the quilt when I saw it and immediately got started with visions of a nice large quilt but then realized I really didn't like sewing the blocks and they got stuck in a plastic bag and set aside. 

I pulled it out the other day and thought I might sew a few more blocks so I can make some sort of quilt out of it and the rainbow scrap challenge just might be the ticket.  I made a whopping total of four blocks.

Once I got them all done I realized all of the neutrals were supposed to be the same.  I don't do same very well in a scrappy quilt and guess what?  I am not changing a thing, lol!  These creative blocks with get sprinkled in with the rest and no one with know any better--wink, wink!

Tomorrow is another day and perhaps I will work on something but it sure won't be anymore blue Carolina Chain blocks.  So for today I am linking up with everyone at Scrap Happy Saturday where I enjoy seeing what everyone else is up to and that beachy snowman Angela posted brought a smile to my face since it is crazy hot and humid here in Ohio.

Cheers,

Debi

OMG and Scrap Happy Just Past Saturday

June flew by for me as things around here opened up it seems like life got back to somewhat normal which meant that not a lot of sewing got done for me.  Plus it has been super hot and I don't have a/c so sewing takes a bit of a back seat.

My OMG goal for June was to deconstruct one of my cake blocks as I hit my ribbon with a hot iron and it melted--visions of the Wizard of Oz popped into my mind.  I did meet that particular goal; however, I did not get the borders on the quilt top.  I think I figured out what I am going to do for the borders so that counts in my book as a win.

I love pink and was so happy to see it appear in June for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge and then I didn't get hardly anything done.  One pink flower and one pink basket and that is it!

I don't know if I will ever get back to France so I decided to bring it to me and try my hand at making some Cannele de Bordeaux.  Last year we made some in the Buttercream & Olive Oil class I took but I never tried to make them at home.  I decided to use a recipe from Jill Colonna in the her book Teatime in Paris!.  Jill has a wonderful blog with lots of recipes and she can be found at Mad About Macrarons. 

On my forth attempt I think I finally got my technique worked out.  Boy are they yummy although my husband can't figure out what the big deal is, lol!  I should have taken photos of my failed attempts but you know how that goes.

Yummy goodness is all I can say! 

Because it has been one of those months, and the last day of June, I am linking up with everyone at OMG-Elm Street Quilts and Scrap Happy Saturday.

Cheers,,

Debi

OMG June Goal--No Big Surprise

It shouldn't be a big surprise that my June goal is to fix my chocolate cake since I melted the ribbon trim with the iron.  I hope to get those borders on too especially while I am aware that I really need to be careful operating heavy equipment. 

Linking up with everyone at Elm Street Quilts for the June goal setting. 

Cheers!

Debi

OMG and Slow Stitching Sunday

My monthly goal for May was to get my cakes sewn together and I did get it done.  Yippee!!!  This morning I thought I might start on the borders and I hit one of my ribbons with the hot iron and melted some of the words on it, well shoot now what? Set it aside for awhile and ponder it.  Thankfully the cake is on the edge and I could take it all apart and replace the ribbon.  As I said yesterday, I do love to rip things apart but usually other peoples' quilt projects.  Time will tell.

Here is my ironing error.  What are the odds if I replace the ribbon I won't hit it again, lol!

Speaking of ripping out stuff I decided to change the flower at the top of one of my cakes.  In the end I just didn't like the daffodil and went with the daisy. From this:

To this, which is so much better.

After the ironing fiasco I rethought what I wanted to work on today.  I seem to be tired and maybe a slow stitching day is what I really need and my plan is to get back to those little Basket Case baskets.

Here are what I have so far.

Today I am doing two link ups!  My cakes met my OMG May goal and I am linking up with everyone at Elm Street Quilts OMG Goal Finish.  Since I decided to take it slow this afternoon I am linking up with Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy's Quilts.

Cheers,

Debi

Scrap Happy Dark Green Saturday

Surprisingly, I worked on a dark green project this month that I didn't anticipate working on.  Last year I purchased a wall quilt at our July quilt show Second Time Around Shop where a lot of the items for sale were from a quilter who had passed away.   The quilt top was completely done and the quilter had started to hand quilt it. Our quilt show was almost over and no one was interested in the little quilt--even me!  At the last minute I decided to buy it and see where it took me.

I immediately took the quilt apart and set it aside to rework at a later date.  Fast forward until this month and I noticed the little trees sitting in a pile on a shelf.  Oh wow, perfect for dark green May.  Sadly, I didn't take a photo of the quilt before I started ripping but you can get an idea of what it looked like only with white sashing between the trees. 

You may notice only half a tree on the bottom corner and I took the block apart to use as my pattern.  For some reason I had a hard time wrapping my head around the size of the pieces I needed and having those little pieces helped plus I knew I wasn't going to add that particular tree back in as I didn't want a red and dark green tree.

Here is a block of how the quilter marked the pieces which is old school.  It is the way I learned to piece around 1979 too so I felt a kinship with her.

I made several additional brighter dark green trees and am going to add them to the mix. Merlin likes to help arrange the blocks.

No further progress has been made but I am pretty happy with the addition of the brighter trees.  I used the sashing to make my brighter trees and there isn't any left and I am not sure I will add any when I assemble the top.  Borders?  Not sure what I am going to do there either but I did find a nice fabric with pine cones and Cardinals that I thought might work but these blocks need to set around for a little while so I can ponder their future.

Angela has declared June pink month and I am in heaven as I adore pink.  In the meantime, I am linking up with everyone Scrap Happy Saturday.

Cheers!

Debi

Scrap Happy Saturday Darker Green

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge color this month is dark green.  Dark green isn't one of my favorite colors but I did find some fabric that I thought I would enjoy working with this month.

A few weeks ago Canadian Needle Nana posted a link to Michele Ridgeway Designs for some cute little baskets, called Basket Case, and I thought why not!  I printed the pattern and made a block and it just seemed too big and then I realized I forgot to adjust my printer setting and once I did it was perfect.  Basket case on an 8 inch background and a 6.5 inch background which is what I wanted.

At first I thought I might make my baskets in all cats but then I found so many fun novelty prints that I have never used and they will make great baskets. 

My butterfly collection is also growing.  The green in this block isn't really a dark green but I like it and enjoyed making a green butterfly with it so why not.  I won the fabrics as a door prize at the February quilt retreat and really wanted to use them.

Why not join Angela and everyone else over at Scrap Happy Saturday to see lots of green projects in the making.

Cheers,

Debi

OMG May Goal

My goal this month is to finish up the applique flowers on the Cake Walk quilt and get the blocks sewn together.  I need to think about the border so it probably won't get put on this month but I am making progress! 

I may need to make an adjustment on this flower as I see it isn't quite centered. So much for just eyeballing it, lol, a picture really does tell the story!

Today I am joining the linky party with everyone at Elm Street Quilts. 

Cheers!

Debi

OMG Cherry on Top

My goals for this month were to work on applique embellishments for my Cake Walk (Lori Holt pattern) quilt blocks.  I needed to applique hearts, cherries, and flowers on each cake and I did get all of the hearts and cherries done! 

Sorry the photos are a little dark but it has been wet and dismal around here and it was the best I could do at the time.  It's funny, I dreaded thinking about appliqueing those cherries and in the end I really enjoyed working on them.

Today I am linking up with everyone for the April OMG finish.  I am also going to visit my parents as it is my dad's 90th birthday! 

Cheers!

Debi

Scrap Happy Saturday

I wish I could say I got a lot of blue projects done this month but I didn't.  Here are a few projects that I worked on.

Bunnies that are part of a lap quilt.  I am patiently waiting on some border fabric from Connecting Threads and once I get it I will share the quilt top.  I hope to get it to someone to quilt so I can move it along soon.

Yes, those are Cadbury bunnies from a long time ago.  Cadbury creme eggs were something I used to look forward to at Easter. 

I also got a couple of French Flowers prepped and are ready for some hand sewing. 

Once again I have been baking.  I have tried to make Kouign Amann a couple of times and have been somewhat successful but I am still tweeking things.  I need to do a better job at watching the time in the oven as my last attempt got a little crispier than I had intended.  These hadn't been flipped over and so they look better than once they were flipped.  Yum! 

I haven't shown this before and since it is a bright blue I thought I would go ahead and share it.  In February a friend really wanted a cupcake for her birthday.  The problem was she is on a diet so I made her a mug rug.  She was delighted.

So much fattening food during our stay at home order that I decided to live on the edge this weekend and not bake and actually get outside and get some much needed exercise.  Yesterday and today have been lovely and oh so needed. 

I am really enjoying being apart of Scrap Happy Saturday and am linking up with everyone today.  Thanks Angela for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge as it is great fun to see what everyone is working on.

Cheers,

Debi

OMG April Goal Setting

There are so many projects that could be candidates for an OMG April Link-Up but right now I need to work on projects that I can accomplish in a short amount of time--not much thinking required.  I really need to start machine quilting a few projects but then I would have to fiddle with the tension on my machine and that just makes my head hurt! 

My goal this month is work on my Cake Walk (a Lori Holt pattern) quilt blocks as they need bits appliqued on top of most of the cakes.  Hearts, cherries and flowers are what are on tap this month. 

Cherries!

Hearts!

Still pondering my flowers. 

As a distraction I decided to make croissant dough yesterday and this morning I shaped and baked them.  This recipe doesn't make a lot but I was able to make a few regular croissants as well as Pain Au Chocolat, yum!

Shaped and ready to proof.

Baked!  You can see I had to have the smallest one immediately.  I really need to do a better job shaping them.  Looks like I have an excuse to try another batch soon. 

Back to sewing!

Cheers,

Debi

Scrap Happy Bright Blue Saturday

Surprisingly I don't have a lot of bright blue fabrics in my stash but I was able to pull out a few pieces to make a few blocks.  I think I have these blocks assembled correctly, lol!

And one more.

And finally, Jack the Ripper and I are about to go on a date and rip apart one of last month's butterflies.  My assembly mistake went completely under my radar and thankfully Sue of Mother Patchwork spotted it and let me know it needed some help.  Thanks Sue because I am pretty sure I would have missed it until I got the top completely together.

See my really cool seam ripper?  It is a butter knife converted into a seam ripper--genius if you ask me.  A vendor, The Alabaster Mouse, at our quilt show last year had several for sale and I was lucky enough to pick one up.

For once in a bright blue moon I am linking up with everyone on Scrap Happy Saturday!

Cheers,

Debi

Scrap Happy Aqua

Finally getting around to posting some of my accomplishments for March and linking up with everyone at RSC March even if I am rather late.

Like a lot of folks it has been hard to focus on any particular project and I really wanted to work on something mindless.  One would think these butterflies were mindless but for some reason I had issues with them.

I then decided to make a few Shoo-Fly blocks that is the  Quiltville Leader/Ender project that started in 2019.  I am not really a leader/ender kinda quilter as it takes too much planning ahead.  I like to cut a little and then sew a little.  I sometimes wonder if my method for sewing comes from the fact that I learned to piece and quilt by hand and I would make blocks one at a time.  I used the scraps from my butterflies to make the corners.

I then thought about making a French Roses quilt in aquas.  The bonus of a hand sewing project is I can binge watch shows on Netflix/Amazon Prime, lol, and pay attention to what is actually going on.

Finally, I found something that was fun to work on although I don't know where this project will go.  When Judy from Busy Hands Happy Hands shared her OMG accomplishment I knew I had to try the bunny pattern.

I am off to give myself a haircut which should be quite entertaining and it is good that I am not going out right now, lol!  I have clippers and scissors and thankfully love super short hair.  Wish me luck because it is going to be a comedy of errors.

Cheers,

Debi