Under Construction

Three mini quilt designs

It's been a fun challenge creating different designs with the same starting material, 20 four inch squares of fabric.  I've been testing various designs for the Zip Quilt Kits and posted a simple mini quilt tutorial here.

Triangles


The triangle quilt is machine pieced and hand quilted. The binding is done backward with the back of the quilt (a great Alexander Henry print) wrapping to the front so the hand stitching shows.

Rectangles

This is also machine pieced but I haven't decided if I will tie it or quilt it. I cut the 4 inch squares into random width strips and sewed them into four columns. The backing and border are a wonderful fabric I found at a garage sale. I think I got almost a yard and I'm using it sparingly.

Basic squares

The simplest design, sew all the squares together. You can see what my daughter thinks of the doll quilt!

I love how doll quilts go together so quickly--what a satisfying project!I've already got another project in my head with the same 20 squares but alas I am out of time. Hope you enjoy the tutorial over at Instructables. 

Thanks, Whiplash! for having a theme that's right up my alley!

More planning

A hammock, a sunny afternoon and a hubby watching the munchkin--the perfect setting for some quick 'n' dirty embroidery.

The Etsy shop is coming soon....

For library books

A library book bag (plus a few books) for our neighbor's second birthday.

Lined in turquoise with a little pocket.
Easy peasy.

Home from Tahoe

"Into the forest"

Bubbles!

Classroom in the woods

There were three beautiful stumps for three beautiful girls.

The trip was a success and we're home to our cozy, smelly* house.

Hope you are having a wonderful holiday weekend.

*Note to self, do dishes before leaving overnight.

Planning

Planning to have friends over for dinner tomorrow (I should do this more often).
Step 1

Step 10ish (from Barefoot in Paris)

Maybe step 20ish should be cleaning my house!

Also, planning to get my act together with Etsy.

My business card stamp came in the mail so I can make business cards out of recycled paper (in this case an outdated brochure from work). Speaking of which, does anyone know a place to get big stacks of paper cut? I know Kinkos does it (for $1.25 PER CUT!) so I'm looking for something a bit more affordable.  If nothing else, I can spend a few fine evenings with my papercutter. I guess now I just need to have an actual business to have cards for!

Maker Faire Recap

Well, three trips to electronics stores and $90 later we're back online here at Casa Haworth. To celebrate, I'm posting the single solitary photo I took at Bazarre Bizarre at Maker Faire last weekend.
A photo of Michael who, five minutes after I arrived, bought my favorite book clock "Horton". I feel confident that Horton has a good new home with Michael the estate planning attorney (sorry ladies, he seemed to be there with a girl).  The sale of Horton ushered in a sales dry spell that concluded with the sale of my second favorite clock a few minutes before my shift at the Sacramento Craft Mafia booth ended. 

The  other clocks I made and the Zip Quilt Kits will be up on Etsy as soon as I have a chance to set up shop over there. Stay tuned.

For more Baz Biz and Maker Faire photos, go here.

Welcome back to 1995

I guess I over worked the modem with too much blog surfing lately and, as of yesterday, it went belly up and has been declared dead by the tech support folks. We temporarily have dial up complete with all the alien sounds during connection and sloooow loading. So, no photos in this post.

But I did want to report that Maker Faire was soooo fun. If you happen to read this Sunday morning and live within a few hours drive of the San Francisco Bay Area you should definitely go.  Bazaar Bizzare was completely overwhelming (in a good way) with so many talented and creative folks. I didn't sell much (2 clocks) but had a great time meeting people (including someone who went to my elementary school, Miller School in Escondido, CA in case you were wondering. How crazy is that? We were even there at the same time)

So between the hometown love and overload of creative goodness it was a great day that even a 1995 era internet connection can't ruin.  I should be back mid next week with more.

Hope you are having a fabulous weekend!

Welcome to the clock factory

I'm getting ready for Maker Faire this weekend.

I'm only selling for a few hours, Saturday 1 p.m.-? at the Sacramento Craft Mafia booth but I figured I'd take some clocks and some Zip Quilt Kits and see how it goes...

I love Ina

Barefoot Contessa Parties! is one of my favorite cookbooks and it sure came through for a Mother's Day Brunch.

I didn't manage any photos of the brunch (or the chocolate covered strawberry gifts) but here's the menu courtesy of Ina (page 31):

Sunday Breakfast: A Party for Eight

Roasted Asparagus with Scrambled Eggs (mmm, farmer's market asparagus)
Sour Cream Coffee Cake (this was sooo good, if I do say so myself. And, apparently, I do)
Tropical Smoothies (had them for dinner instead, we got too full)
Eli's Health Bread (made bran muffins instead)
Raspberry Butter (skipped this)
Cinnamon Honey Butter (so easy and yummy)
Fresh Fruit (cherries and strawberries)
Coffee (and mimosas)

For the bran muffins I modified the recipe found on the box of All Bran Cereal. It worked out surprisingly well so I thought I'd share:

Ingredients
1 1/4 cup flour 3/4 cup flour and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups Kelloggs All Bran
1 1/4 cups milk  1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1 egg
1/4 cup vegetable oil 1/4 cup applesauce

Directions
Combine cereal and buttermilk and let sit a while until mushy. Stir in egg and applesauce then dry ingredients.  Pour into 12 muffin cups and bake at 400 degrees F for about 20 minutes until golden.

They were a bit dense but yummy served warm with cinnamon honey butter:
Combine: one stick softened butter, about 3 tablespoons honey, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, pinch of salt.

On a totally separate note I'm very excited about this month's Whip Up! theme of mini quilts. And here's a funny photo of Biscuit in the outfit she chose for her trip to the park tonight.

Making me very happy

The cherry tree is not dead (we had a bit of a scare last year) In fact it is covered with cherries

Biscuit loves cherries (and I love being able to enjoy fruit straight off the tree)

Biscuit's cast came off today

Sandy is a quilt tester extraordinaire

Without the cast in the way, Biscuit I may actually sleep through the entire night

Tomorrow is Friday

A few other things I'll save for later