Chicken wire, burlap and blue.  How cute is that?

What really is even crazier is that I actually had chicken wire fabric in my stash.  Yes, very scary!!

My initial inspiration came from some “sneaky” photos of the baby room.  From that, I selected fabrics and went from there.  Here’s a photo of the early fabric selection.  I eventually removed the cloud fabric at the customer’s request and added in a few other  blue tones.

Here’s the quilt laid out on my design wall.  I used a simple block with the chicken wire surrounding the blocks.  This as a quilt for a little boy so I had to really focus my efforts on a more masculine than cutesy look.

Here’s the quilt top as I start adding on the borders.  I did two borders on the this quilt.  I usually don’t pre-determine the size of my borders.  Once the main portion of the top is complete, I then play around with different sizes and fabrics to see what looks just right.

I then added the baby’s name to the quilt.  The baby remained “unnamed” for a few weeks after birth so I waited to add this last piece before I finished up the quilt.  I used the fusible machine applique method.  You will find my tutorial on this method here.

Here are the letters all ready to be machine appliqued with the  blanket stitch.  I used a brushed flannel for the applique letters.  This is the same fabric that is on the back of the quilt.

Here’s the quilt all ready for binding.  I am back to hand binding my quilts as I mentioned in a previous post.  I think I just like the end product better and I like the process of hand binding.

Here’s the finished quilt.  I quilted the top (as seen above) using wavy lines which I think turned out well.  I wanted to do something different, but didn’t want to take anything away from the masculinity of this quilt.

Another shot of the top…you can see the proportion of the borders here in this photo as it relates to the rest of the quilt.

And, my favorite location to photograph all of my quilts…on this gate next to my favorite wreath!

This quilt has already been handed over to the new owner.  I hope Travis and his mommy get a lot of good use out of this quilt in the coming years!

So, all of you ladies who curled up with Fifty Shades of Grey and just hoped the kids would leave you alone so that you could get to the end of the paragraph, page or chapter….THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU!

Here is just a preview:

Rylee Thomas is used to being in control. But she’s about to meet the one man that just might make her enjoy losing it…

I am the exception to the rule. 

In a world full of willing women, I’m a challenge to the roguish and achingly handsome Colton Donavan. A man used to getting exactly what he wants in all aspects of life. He’s the reckless bad boy constantly skating that razor thin edge toward out of control, on and off of the track. 

Colton crashes into my life like a tornado: sapping my control, testing my vulnerabilities beyond their limits, and unintentionally penetrating the protective wall around my healing heart. Tearing apart the world I rebuilt so carefully with structure, predictability, and discipline.

I can’t give him what he wants and he can’t give me what I need. But after a glimpse beneath his refined exterior into the dark secrets of his damaged soul, can I bring myself to walk away?

Our sexual chemistry is undeniable. Our individual need for complete control is irrefutable. But when our worlds collide, is the chemistry enough to bring us together or will our untold secrets and battle of wills force us apart?

The first one is published and is available on Amazon for purchase now!  Click here!

The best part about this novel is that it is the first of three in a series that will be released over the course of the next year!

You can find my sister on Facebook, Goodreads, Amazon and on her blog.

So…don’t wait!  Head on over to Amazon and sink your teeth into this book.  It will not disappoint!  Enjoy!

Since then, I saw this amazing tutorial by Camille Roskelley of Simplify that changed everything!

I have not yet tried this method, but I can’t wait to use it.

Here’s the quilt laid out on my design wall (i.e. mirrored closet door with cotton batting spray glued to it…shhh…don’t tell my husband.)

Here’s the binding in progress…I am back to hand binding.  I like the look and feel better.  Plus, I like the process of hand binding.

Here she is all finished.  This quilt measures 41″ square.  I just love it!

I used this adorable tiny bee fabric for the back that I have had in my stash for years.

Here’s the entire quilt.  I love the color way and the combination of colors.  I like this so much that I can’t wait to make another chevron quilt!

Here it is in my favorite photo spot on my gate!

This quilt is up on my etsy site for sale if you are interested!

This was such a fun and simple quilt to make!  Enjoy!

Make sure you have maple syrup before you start this recipe!

You can find the recipe on Page 77 of the Martha Stewart Baking Handbook or you can find it here!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Makes about 2 dozen  These classic drop cookies are large, soft and chewy.  Look for Grade B maple syrup, which has a deeper flavor than Grade A.

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sweetened, shredded coconut
• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup raisins

1.) Preheat the oven to 325°F, with racks in the upper and lower thirds.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.  In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt; stir in the coconut.  Set aside.

2.) In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes.  Add the maple syrup, and mix to combine.  Add the egg and vanilla; beat until well combined, about 1 minute, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

3.) With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in two batches; mix until just combined.  Add oats and raisins; mix until just combined.

4.) Shape 3 level tablespoons of dough at a time into 1 1/2″ balls (or use a 2″ ice cream scoop) and place 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets.  Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes.

 Let cookies cool on sheets for 2 minutes, then transfer parchment and cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.  Cookies can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.

These are amazing cookies made especially nice and chewy by the maple syrup!

They are so good!!  Trust me!!!

This post covers White Chocolate-Butterscotch  Cookies found on page 76 or right here.

Make sure you have these two ingredients before you start this recipe:  white chocolate chips and vegetable shortening.

Ingredients: Makes about 2 dozen
- 1 ¾ cups of flour
- ½ teaspoon of baking soda
- ½ teaspoon of salt
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature.
- ¾ cup of vegetable shortening, room temperature.
- 1 ¼ cups packed dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon of pure vanilla extract
- 8 ounces best quality white chocolate, chopped into ¼-inch chunks (I used white chocolate chips)

Here’s the mix…kind of a pasty grainy mix and light in color.

Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.
- In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the brown sugar, butter, and shortening until light and fluffy. Scrape the sides of the bowl.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until combined.
- With the mixer on low speed and the flour in two batches until just combined.
- Stir in the chocolate.
- Drop 2 tablespoons of dough at a time about 2 inches apart.
- Bake rotating the pans halfway though, until lightly golden around the edges, about 15 minutes.
- Let cookies cool on the pans for 2 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely. Cookie can be kept at room temperature in an airtight container up to 4 days.

Here are the finished cookies on the right.

They are super yummy and have such a different taste than I would normally prefer, but the combination makes them taste great!

They stayed nice and chewy…I took them out just when they browned per the instructions.

The vegetable shortening makes for nice chewy cookies.

You can find the recipe for the oatmeal cookies here.  Happy Baking!

I then flipped some of the strips and added some accent borders.  I also decided to add a special monogram to the front of the quilt.  I like how it turned out.

Here’s the front of the quilt…nice and bright!

You can see the front of the quilt and the back of the quilt here together.  The back had more of a blue mediterranean feel.

Here’s the entire back of the quilt.  This is a solid fabric panel…a cheater fabric they call it.  Looks great as a back.

I used some new variegated Aurifil thread that I just purchased.  It is a special Tula Pink thread collection.  You can find it here.

I used an orange / yellow variegated thread to quilt the top which worked great; the one in the top right of the photo.

Here’s the final product…it’s already well on it’s way to it’s new owner…hope she loves it!

Stay tuned later this week for some more quilts and a few cookie recipes!

Have a great week!

Hold your horses…this recipe has a dozen eggs or egg whites!

The recipe starts with your typical butter and sugar, add in vanilla and then alternate flour and milk.  Here’s where it goes different…you then whisk 8 large egg whites plus more sugar until you get stiff peaks.

You then fold the egg mixture into the cake mixture which gives you a loamy light and fluffly batter.  This recipe makes 24 cupcakes.

Here they are right out of the oven…nice and golden brown.

 TIP:  make sure you spray the top of your pan with baking spray!  I did not!

Now, time for the frosting.  Here’s my double boiler with my pan and the metal bowl to my mixer.

Sugar and egg whites over medium heat…

until the sugar dissolves…

Now, here’s the crazy part.  You take this and you whisk it while warm for about 6 minutes.

After 6 minutes, the mixture will be cool, flully and form stiff peaks.  This is ONLY sugar and egg whites.  How cool is that?

Next, you mix in 3 sticks (cut into chunks) unsalted butter…this is where you get the “buttercream”.

TIP:  Make sure the butter is room temperature…DO NOT warm the butter as it will make the frosting too soft.

I use a technique I learned over at Sweet Sugar Belle  to prepare my icing for frosting the cupcakes.  You can click on the link here for the tutorial.  Please not that the frosting recipe is different is this, but the technique is the same.

You first lay out plastic wrap and place frosting in the middle.  You then roll the plastic wrap around the frosting and twist the ends.

You then get a pastry bag (disposable or cloth), place the couple on the inside and clip the end open.  (NOTE…I forgot the coupler in this photo).   Then, feed the twisted end of the plastic wrap through the hold in the end of the pastry bag.

Once you pull the plastic through the pastry bag, add the second half of the coupler on the outside and cut the plastic wrap.  With a small squeeze, you will have frosting.  The best thing is you don’t have to worry about a big mess and frosting squeezing out the back of the bag.  TRUST ME!

Here are the finished frosted cupcakes.  I should note here that my frosting was a little warm (because of the butter noted above).  Had I been a little more patient and cooled the frosting a bit, the frosting would have looked much better and set higher.

Regardless….the cupcakes and the frosting tasted super yummy!  Did I say YUMMY!  Amazing!

This is a fun recipe to try because of all the different techniques.

 Give yourself plenty of time and make sure you have extra eggs in case you break a yolk when separating the eggs!

Happy Baking!

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I didn’t have the exact shades of yellow, but the inspiration was there.  It all started to come together when I thought about matching it up with this cool newsprint fabric.  Originally, I was thinking of a solid gray background and then I went for the newsprint.  More interest.

I did a pretty simple design that consisted of 5″ blocks, 2 1/2″ strips and some 2 1/2″ blocks.It was pretty quick to put together.  This quilt is technically borderless…no formal borders which is starting to become pretty trendy.  I still was tempted to frame this beauty, but I didn’t.

Here’s the finished quilt top accompanied by some beautiful nasturtium in my front yard.

Another shot of the front.  What is crazy about this quilt is how many shades of yellow and grey come through and how they look different depending upon the light.  Here’s a sneak of the back of the quilt as well.  A chevron stripe in a field of yellow.

Here she is…on my favorite gate next to my favorite succulent wreath!

You can find this beauty on etsy here!

Happy Friday (almost)!

]]> http://latetocreate.com/2013/04/18/going-modern/feed/ 19 http://latetocreate.com/2013/04/17/mindful/ http://latetocreate.com/2013/04/17/mindful/#comments Thu, 18 Apr 2013 05:09:51 +0000 Wendy Cohen http://latetocreate.com/?p=2529 read more »]]> So mindful these days of how delicate our lives are in this world that can have such sharp edges. Much of it is hard to understand or explain for me; maybe some can make sense of it, but not I. I suppose there is some bigger explanation out there. As much as my ‘logical’ brain wants to make sense of it, I think there are more important things to do then to understand why. For me, it is just life’s way of reminding us to live each moment to the fullest. Cliche, I know. But, time is all we have and at the same time it is what we don’t have enough of. Maybe it is the gift of age that makes you realize that there is no guarantee on tomorrow. Mindful of this moment, this minute, grateful and living in faith. Be kind to each other…

Starts like most biscuit recipes…combine dry ingredients and then cut in butter with a pastry blender.

This is what it looks like after you have finished blending with a pastry blender.  Here’s what I think the secret is to this recipe:

Leave small chunks of butter (about pea size) throughout the finished mix.  This is what creates the flakiness and the butter taste.

Add cream and fold in gently; do not overmix.  I just mixed until the ingredients were wet and kind of sticking together.

Here is what it looked like when I placed onto my floured surface…kind of a mess, huh!  I gently combined it without over mixing.

Here it is pressed together and ready for biscuits.  You will notice that it is not perfect…I think this is what creates the great flakey texture.  If it was overmixed, I don’t think you would get that great flakey texture.

Once you cut the biscuits out with a round cutter and place them on a baking sheet, brush them with the remaining cream.  Here they are all done!

They are so good, you can’t have JUST ONE!

You might remember that I baked Buttermilk Biscuits a few weeks back…I like the Baking Powder Biscuits better.  They are flakier and a little tastier I think.

Hope you have a great Sunday!

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