Ocean Waves Quilt

I completed this quilt while we got about 2 feet of snow outside (exciting!). The pattern is called ocean waves, but it doesn't really look much like waves.

I realized that I'm not very good at assembling the layers of quilts. I'm totally fine making the front, but since its never a perfectly even shape it gets a little messy when I try and add a back and filling. This time I put 2 layers of fleece inside, and miraculously the exact width of the fleece was the width of my quilt otherwise that would have been disastrous!

Here is a close up on one square


I think this is technically my best quilt because all the blocks lined up and you have to look pretty close to see something wrong! Plus peter helped me cut off all the loose threads, so its neat.

Cranberry Tart

From The Art and Soul of Cooking
5 Cups fresh Cranberries
3/4 cup of sugar
Finely Grated Zest of 1 medium Orange
4 teaspoons flour
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Coarsely chop half of the cranberries, an mix all ingredients. Pour in a Pie shell.

Pie without topping.

Topping
1 Cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter cut into 1/2 inch pieces
Mix above ingredients until the consistency of peas, and then evenly spread on top of the pie.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 40 min.

Success! (with room to grow)

I've been wanting to make Parisian macaroons for a long time, and this week finally read up on it and gave it a try! To my surprise all the things that I thought would go wrong worked out well, and the only problem was that i slightly over cooked them so they are sightly golden in color.

I used this recipe to make them, and was careful not to over beat the eggs. I split the recipe in half and dyed half teal and half pink. I pulled them out of the oven and was pleasantly surprised that they were the right shape, and even had the little foot!



In the middle I used jam in some and this recipe for the filling but added almond flavor to it. The filling was alright, but a little too buttery in my opinion and i may try and find another recipe for next time.



I'd consider this baking adventure a success!

Happy Hannukah

what better way to celebrate Hanukkah than by making a new tablecloth with Hanukkah themed colors! At the outlet store today I noticed that crate and barrel sells raw fabric in many of their patterns, and they were on sale for 5 dollars a yard instead of the usual 32 a yard. How could I not give this a try since I've had such a hard time finding a table cloth in the right colors.

A future Project?

I was perusing the internet today and came across this:
Found Here

Sounds like a great project if you ask me! I also suspect I have quite a few friends who are going to want items relating to this

Time saving techniques for quilting

I'm working on a new quilt made up with hundreds of triangles sewn together to make squares, sewn together to make patterns. I have done a pattern similar to this before where I spent a lot of time sewing the triangles together one by one. Luckily I came across a trick to make this go faster.

Step 1. measure a strip of each color, for example below I measured 4 blocks 3 and 3/8 inch squared of each color.
Step 2. Pin the two pieces together lined up
Step 3. Sew along the blue lines (1/4th an inch on either side of the red diagonals)
Step 4. Cut along all red lines.
Step 5. You are now left with 8 squares with a triangle of each color as seen below!

Pumpkin Mini Muffins

Last week Puja and I took our second cooking class at Sur La Table and walked away with many delicious new recipes and tips, and one gross recipe (parker house rolls)

The first recipe I've tried on my own was mini pumkin cupcakes with maple cream cheese frosting. They are so good plus with their small small size they make them perfect finger food dessert.

Here is the Recipe:
Batter:
1 stick unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
2 cups sifted cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/2 cup buttermilk
Frosting:
12 ounces cream cheese
3/4 stick of unsalted butter
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
1 3/4 cups sifted confectioner's sugar
1 cup pecan pieces for garnish

Preheat oven 350 F

1. Cream the butter with the sugar (4-5 minutes in an electric mixer till the mixture changes colors to a lighter brown)
2. Add the eggs and vanilla while mixer is on a medium setting
3. Add the pumpkin and blend well
4. Mix all the remaining dry ingredients in a separate bowl
5. Alternate adding some of the dry and wet (buttermilk) ingredients while mixing by hand
6. Cook the mini cupcakes (makes 65) for about 10 minutes
7. Blend the cream cheese untill smooth in the mixer
8. Add the remaining frosting ingredients
9. Frost and enjoy!