New Blog

I have switched my blog address. Easier to remember, and more fun.

Lemon Cake: Thank You, J

Part of my Valentines Day gift from J. It tasted even better than it looked.

Happy Valentines Day. A few weeks late!

Mr. L. and I decided to make Valentines for his friends this year. Or rather, he's always up for a fun art project and I saw this online and thought it looked like fun. Last fall, we tried to melt his old crayons into new crayons.  But, er, I decided there was enough wax in the crayons and didn't spray the muffin tins and it was a gigantic failure. And a terrible mess. We were much happier with the result this time around. 

Peeling 60 or so crayons can take quite a while, even when you have an enthusastic toddler doing most of the peeling. To speed it up, I made one cut down the side of the crayon wrapper, then gave it to Mr. L., who easily took the wrapper off. We broke the crayons (of course the most fun part), I sprayed the tins, he put the crayon pieces in muffin tins, and baked them at 275 for about 5 minutes. We popped them in the freezer after the pan had cooled, and the crayons popped right out. :) I think they were a hit at preschool. Or at least the other moms were glad they didn't contribute to the Valentine's Day sugar high!

In Progress

Life has been a blur lately. We've had record breaking snowstorms, power outages, late nights and early mornings with a baby learning how to sleep (well, she's good at sleeping. She is just not good at GETTING to sleep), preschool resuming, lots of cooking, a bit of sewing, baby showers and playdates, some shopping, running and biking and sleeping. Everything, I guess, except blogging.

Smiling

I tested out my new bike today. I'm in love. It needs a name. I went with J. (I love him too!) I learned 2 important things-- there is still a whole lot of snow on the roads, let alone the bike lanes/trails. 2. There are a whole lot of hills nearby... guess that's what happens when your house is built in a ravine. 2.5 my legs are quite jello-ee. That's all. Happy weekend everyone!

Que Romanti

We have great friends who moved away a few years ago. Of course I cried buckets. Anyway, they recently had their fourth baby, and this quilt turned out to be a great fit for them, I think. I loved the polka dot fabric (Clementine by Me and My Sisters Designs), and had fun figuring out a design. I wanted something romantic (as in idealistic/fanciful/emphasizing "imagination, emotion, and introspection,") that could also be used at the park, in the car, wherever! After all, these are my most romantic friends, hand delivering wedding-invitation scrolls, sipping Kedem juice by candlelight on Passover, speaking exotic languages in far away lands, etc. etc. etc.

Lesson Learned: When sketching (or at least my version of sketching) a design, don't use solid colors to designate polka dots! Your picture and the actual quilt will turn out much differently. The design would have been more apparent had I used green squares instead of white, or if the polka dots were denser. Oh well.

Favorite Part: The back is fun--the chevron quilting is apparent, and its green! Which means it can be dragged around on the grass and any grass stains will "go."

Photo Thoughts: Don't take photos at dusk before a huge snowstorm. The colors will be distorted and your quilt will look, well, a bit funny. :)

Works in progress

Am I ever going to finish all of the projects I have started? (Don't answer that!) It may look like I am incredibly productive this year, if only because I have a goal to finish all of the projects I have started. I know I'm not the only one. :) I have a few that are cut out, a few that are partially sewn together, and one finished quilt top, pictured on the left. I need to hurry and get it quilted--my favorite time to finish binding is on longer car trips. in fact, that might be the only time I do bindings by hand, and we are heading to Richmond at the end of the month so J can go to the handmade bike show (dangerous, I know). I really need to step it up and finish this quilt, meant for the bike trailer/jogging stroller/park.


Which brings me to the other reason I need to finish this quilt. I'm signed up for a sprint triathlon in June. A lot of  J's friends are participating, and I tend to be a competitive person, so I need to get started with my training! Perhaps putting the quilt in the bike trailer with Mr. L and a friend--now that's a serious workout--will encourage me to go faster! Now I just need all of the snow to melt!!! (I'm excited, one of my friends has signed up for the triathlon too! I've been trying to convince a few others--ladies???!!!???)

And finally -- am I ever going to finish these stockings, featured on The Purl Bee?!?!  I love them! But the one inch squares take a while...even when strip piecing. I guess I have a few months for these. :)




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