it's all in the details

Some friends of ours just had their first little one, so a nice snuggly quilt was definitely in order.  

This one is all about the details, it's a solid fabric quilt: a cute alexander henry with tropical animals on the front, and minky on the back.  The detail is in the quilting which is a three color embroidery floss running stitch pattern.  Bound in a bright green and filled with 100% natural cotton batting for extra warmth and coziness.

stag's head pillow

Here's a simple little freezer stencil pillow I made for our basement...

1.  Cut out the image & iron freezer paper onto fabric. (Iron from the outside in to help keep intricate patterns from folding over or skewing)

2. Paint.  I use a sponge brush and fabric paint. (If you want a less opaque look and "plastic-y" feel, water  down the paint a bit.)

3. Dry.  You can just let it dry...or if you're impatient like me, you can speed it along with a blow dryer.

4. Peel off freezer paper & heat set according to the directions on the fabric paint.

If you'd like to make your own stag's head, find the template HERE.

spring has sprung

   peony tulip

   daffodil

  anemone

  bleeding heart

  spirea

  crabapple

  moss

something's missing around here

national zucchini bread day

So did you know there is a 'National Zucchini Bread Day'? I didn't either. But I stumbled across news of this random holiday and thought, how ridiculous ...but what a perfect excuse to finally use up the remaining zucchini I had in the freezer from last summer's harvest. ( I always seem to end up with a couple of neglected zucchini the size of baseball bats...which end being grated and frozen...and taking up way too much of our freezer space.)

My favorite zucchini bread recipe is that of my grandmother.

GRANDMA NINA'S ZUCCHINI BREAD

3 eggs                                       3 c. flour
1 c. vegetable oil                      1 tsp. baking soda
2 c. white suger                        1 tsp. baking powder
2 c. grated zucchini                   1 tsp salt
2 tsp. vanilla                             1 tsp cinnamon
                                                1/2 c. nuts (your choice & optional)

+ Preheat oven to 325°
+ Grease and flour two 8"x4" loaf pans  (I used 2 3"x6" loaf pans & 12 muffin cups)
+ Beat eggs, oil, sugar, zucchini, and vanilla together
+ Sift dry ingredients together in separate bowl, then add to zucchini mixture
+ Bake at 325° for 1 hour (25 min for muffins, 35 min for 3"x 6" loafs)


Our family isn't fond of nuts in our food, so I always leave them out.  This recipe has a crunchy sweet crust, and soft moist interior.  Around our house, it disappears quickly.

I whipped up a couple of labels and flags to celebrate as well.  Because it's really not a national holiday if there aren't cupcake flags to go along with it.  Click on the image below to download a copy.

National Zucchini Bread Day is officially on Wednesday, April 25th...so get baking!

coffee filter florals

A few weeks ago, I picked up a bouquet of my favorite flowers (ranunculus).  They were beautiful, but they only lasted a few days.  So I began to wonder if I could create something that looked similar,  but without the wilting.  

This is what I came up with, coffee filter flowers... I'm really pleased with them; they're inexpensive, simple to make (my 6 yr old helped) & look pretty as well.  We plan on making many bouquets for both May Day & Mother's Day.

Here's what you'll need:

+ coffee filters
+ food coloring
+ scotch tape
+ floral stems (available at craft stores)
+ floral tape (available at craft stores)

(1) For each flower, take 3 filters and fold in half.
(2) For the center of flower, fold filter over by 1/3...
(3) Then wrap center filter into cone shape.
(4) Loosely wrap the last 2 filters around the center.

(5) Pinch the lower portion of the flower and secure with scotch tape
(6) Spread the 'petals' and fluff the flower, by pressing your fingers down into the center
(7) Dilute food coloring into about 2 tablespoons of water.  For subtle colors use 1-2 drops, for vibrant flowers use 4-5.  Then dip the edges and allow the filter to wick the color up.
(8) Set on paper towel to dry, allow to dry for 4-5 hours

Notes:
+ As the flower dries, the color will wick up the filter leaving a subtle gradient.
+ If the color isn't as intense as you'd like, you can always re-dip the flowers until you achieve the color you desire.

(9) Twist floral wire around base of flower, and twist together to form stem

(10) Wrap base of flower and stem with floral tape.

Enjoy!

'only one life' printable

This is a part of the poem 'Only one life 'twill soon be past' by C.T. Studd.  I've been wanting to put a version of this over my kitchen sink for a while.  I still have plans to embroider some nice linen with this image, ...but in the mean time I put together a little printable which gives me more immediate results.

I couldn't decide on a color way...so there are four to choose from!  You can find the printable files here. They print as 5x7 images.

Photo Clue - Treasure Hunt

My kids love a good treasure hunt, and for almost every gift giving occasion they ask for at least one gift to be hidden.  This Easter was no exception.  I usually try to come up with a set of cheesy little poems for the clues, but when 10:00pm on Saturday rolled around, I was feeling a complete lack of poetic inspiration.  So, I opted for photo clues. I grabbed the camera, took close-up shots of the hiding places, threw them into a word processing program where I put on a label, printed them, cut them out and stuck them in plastic eggs.

They were a huge hit!  The kids had so much fun figuring out what each picture was, and I was surprised how difficult some of them turned out to be. We'll definitely be doing these again.

printable easter bunting

Here's a set of printables for the upcoming Easter weekend!

'He is Risen' bunting, 'Happy Easter' bunting, and a set of Cupcake Flags.

walk in the woods baby quilt

I finally finished a quilt!  Squares are 'A Walk in the Woods' by Aneela Hoey for Moda.

A little birdie in the upper left corner.

A patch of mushrooms in the lower right corner.

The back is one of the 'Sherbet Pips' also by Aneela Hoey for Moda, binding is 'Sophie' by Chez Moi for Moda.

fruity skirt

We added another item to the spring wardrobe this weekend.  Here's our little fruity skirt, inspired again by mini-boden.  We started by admiring this skirt, and then our ideas morphed into something else, something a little more achievable, the fruity skirt.

Good for pirouettes...

...and for just hanging around on warm spring days.

Templates for the fruity shapes are available here.