Dresden Plates

Before the Thanksgiving holiday, I set a goal for myself to work on  my Dresden blades every night while my family was away. I set up my table and sewing machine in front of the T.V. and happily sewed into the wee hours of the morning (2 a.m in fact!) I was able to make 5 blades during the Retreat and need to make 15 more. My plan for my Dresden quilt is 4 across and 5 down.

The two nights I worked, I actually timed myself to see how long from start to finish it took me to make each plate. I quickest I got it down to was 13 mins. Whew! I watched alot of old movies while I made the plates: 3:10 to Yuma, Forest Gump, Shawhank Redemption.

 I've completed 15 so I only 5 more to go. I loved my "Fall/Thanksgiving" theme this quilt is so scrappy. I have about 45 fabrics different fabrics. For the borders I have this amazing Alexander Henry "plymouth" fabric I am going to use for the borders. It is perfect. 

Now that Thanksgiving is over I am planning to put this quilt away for a while and work on Christmas project/presents. I mean...I technically have a year to finish this quilt if I want it ready for next Thanksgiving.  

 

 

Dresdan Plate

After the Sewing Summit I signed up to participate in my first Swap. I've never done anything like this before and wasn't quite sure what to expect. My partner is Amanda from My Sewcial Hour (which is such a cute blog name) and she gave me this description:

"I am currently in a Fall/Autumn kind of mood so pieces with oranges, reds, greens, and gold like the leaves changing color are drawing me in. My Fall Inspiration Pinterest board has a lot of images that are inspiring me these days. I really like new takes on traditional things, for example, I love when people make things like dresden plates in modern fabrics with a little bit of hand quilting. I am not much into intentionally wonky/improv pieces, I usually like symmetry in pieces whether it be a mini-quilt or a bag."

 

You can tell she's participated in swaps before. I loved her clear cut description. (I feel bad for my partner! I really can't remember what I said, but I am sure it was vague ~ something like "Oh, I like pink and cutesy stuff".) When I read Dresdan, I was immediately excited because I have been wanted to try my hand at a Dresdan plate for sometime. I think the best tutorial is from Amy at Stickory Dickory Dock. This is the tutorial I referred to while making my dresdan.

I have been collecting Fall/Thanksgiving/Yellow/Gold/Brown fabrics for about 5 years to make an unbelievably amazing Thanksgiving Quilt. So I had about 60 fabrics to choose from to make her Dresdan plate. I choose a 6 1/2" blade size and searched my stash for modern, fresh, fall-ish fabric to make my dresdan.

Isn't this back perfect? I picked up it at the most modern quilt store in Utah: Whimsy on sale a few years back. It's Japanese from Quilt Gate. I did some very simple machine quilting on the blades (stitch in the ditch) and quilted/traced the dresdan plate in the round.

I am soooo in love with this Dresdan I am going to scrap my original plan of a Log Cabin for my Thanksgiving quilt and change it to Dresdan Plates. I think I'll be very busy during the Quilt Retreat working on this pattern.

Amanda, I hope you love this Dresdan Mini Quilt as much as I loved making it. I hope it brings a little bit of fall to your home and brightens your day.

Linking up with Amylouwho for her Mini Quilt Challenge.

Fall Mountain Report ~ Field Trip Friday

A quick 15 minute drive from our house puts us in an beautiful area sandwiched between two countys in Utah. At the top of the crest, on the North you can see the entire Salt Lake Valley, at one point I could even see the sky rise buildings of downtown SLC and on the South you can see Utah County and from out least my view beautiful Utah Lake. We spent last weekend hiking around this canyon enjoying the fall foliage. The mountains are speckled with every warm color imaginable ~ yellows, orange, golds, browns, reds and purples. We brought a simple sack lunch and put little H. in his pack. We've had the pack for 10 years and it works like a charm, all of our boys have loved riding in it.

Maple Bars ~ Mid Week Munchies

I came across the most delicious looking doughnuts on Pinterest a few days ago. The recipe was from Our Best Bites, not their original recipe but Kate was making the doughnuts from this book. They looked divine and since I am such a sucker for maples bars...I just had to try.
These maples bars looked amazing, they fried to perfection and the glaze was spot on, they just didn't quite taste right. They were chewy (which I like very much) but too heavy and not alot of taste in the actual dough so the maple frosting was very overwhelming. I was disappointed. Now, I didn't add mace which the recipe calls for and I fried the dough in crisco and she suggested corn oil. Ummmm.

But I will say the frosting is "shut the front door" perfect. From now on this will be my go-to maple frosting. Here is it:

Maple Frosting

1 lb. powdered sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon maple extract
1/3 cup hot water (plus more if needed)

Fall is officially in my neck of the woods. Chilly and dark in the mornings and I need to get out and prep my garden for winter.

Pumpkin Seed Granola ~ Mid Week Munchies

When I visit my sister in So. California I like to visit a little food store in her neighborhood called Sprouts. They have a great bulk food section and my sister got me hooked on their pumpkin seed granola. I always load up and bring lots home, but inevitably it always runs out. I can't find a similar granola anywhere in Utah. So with her help we've come up with the next best thing. I adapted my granola from this recipe and tweaked it just a little.

This granola is delicious and what's taste better in Fall than pumpkin!

Pumpkin Seed Granola:

Dry Ingredients:

8 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups wheat germ
1 1/2 cups oat bran
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup flax seed
1 cup pumpkin seeds (raw)
1 cup finely chopped almonds
1 cup finely chopped pecans
1 cup finely chopped walnuts

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. I have been know to half the recipe because it makes so much!

Syrup:

1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
3/4 cup honey
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
**Add 1/4 cup of karo syrup if you want bigger clusters of granola and a bit more crunch.

Over medium heat in a saucepan combine the syrup ingredients. Allow it to come to a boil and remove from heat. Pour over dry ingredients and stir til granola is covered.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Bake granola in two large cookie sheets lined with parchment or tin foil for 15-20 minutes. Cool and enjoy. Store for up to a week in an airtight container.

Even my little one yr. old loves this granola. Can't you tell?

I am participating:

Fried vs. Baked ~ Mid Week Munchies

Fried vs. Baked the great debate! or maybe just a debate for my taste buds to settle. Yesterday, I made 2 baked doughnut recipes and taste tested them. Now, we all know what a hugmongus fan  I am of doughnuts!  I have my favorite locals joints Banbury and Daylight to which I am a frequent customer. I've even made my own spudnuts at home. But, I've never tried baked doughnuts until.....yesterday.

And I am not going to beat around the bush:  I was so disappointed. Baked doughnuts just don't do it for me. They look pretty, but they don't hold a candle to fried. Since I bought the donut pans, just to try them out, I'll need to find another use for them.

Thoughts?                                                                                                             

Hang me up!

Check out this great VINTAGE FALL DOOR SIGN!!! I bought a cardboard sign from Roberts (my local craft store) then, I bought some OLD VINTAGE SHEET MUSIC at Deseret Industries (a local thrift store) and mod podged it to my sign.
I let it dry for a few hours and contacted my friend Lorinda for some great black vinyl. I knew I wanted to put our family initial "C" and to give it a FALL-ISH feel: two large black pumpkins.
With a little bit of prep work: sign, sheet music and vinyl, I assembled it in a few hours.

pammy