Making More with Less: May 2011

30.5.11

Will you vote for me?

My maternity top made it into the finals at A Jennuine Life! If you like my top can you take a moment and pop over there and vote for it?

Perfect Nursing and Maternity top by Suzanne by clothedinpurple

Have a great week everyone!

27.5.11

We are in the midst of birthday season over here. Three birthday's and three parties in 11 days!! Today are two parties and tomorrow is the last birthday for a few months. Here are the cakes...

This is Anneke's who requested a flower cake:

Here's Lukas' pylon cake. Yep...he's odd :) What kid requests a pylon? Nothing to do with construction but sports. He uses them to make nets for soccer and hockey.

And these are for Tessa who's party is today and we'll save some for tomorrow for her real birthday. These were the easiest and most fun to make!

And for the older two kids parties we opted for icecream "sundaes". They love piling up there bowls with all kinds of candies, fruit and syrup! Me...I go for the icecream, strawberries and bananas with some chocolate syrup...mmmm...

For the cakes I used a recipe from a friend and it worked out great! Cuts really nicely because it's a bit more dense but is still really moist and chocolatey. I'll pass it on to you here:

Classic Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour
3 eggs
2/3 cups cocoa
1 tsp vanilla
1 ¼ tsp baking soda
1 cup mayonnaise
¼ tsp baking powder
1 1/3 cups water
1 2/3 cup white sugar

Grease and flour bottoms of two 9” round cake pans. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and baking powder; set aside. Beat eggs, sugar and vanilla in large bowl at high speed of electric mixer for 3 min or until smooth and creamy. Reduce speed to low, beat in mayonnaise until blended. Add flour mixture in 4 equal

additions, alternating with water, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Pour into prepared pans. Bake at 350°F for 30 – 35 min or until toothpick comes out clean. Fill and frost as desired.

26.5.11

Quilt at the Ranch

This past Monday our family headed out to "The Ranch" for the day. It was a holiday and we were celebrating my b-i-l's birthday. "The Ranch" is a 100 acre piece of land my b-i-l and s-i-l bought about 5 years ago. They've slowly been turning it into a really unique place to live. They raise organic chickens, turkeys, pigs and now llamas too! My kids (and us) love going to visit. We just can't get out there often enough. (It takes about 1.5 hours to drive there.)

It was a wonderful relaxing day and the perfect place to take photos of my newly finished quilt.

Of course I couldn't find my camera at the moment so my s-i-l's snapped the photos for me. They are really super sister-in-laws even if they call me a quilting dork. That dog is Rusty. How nice of him to pose for me.

Carol even got out a prop for me. I told you, I have great s-i-l's.

The back. I was not planning to have that strip in there but I didn't have enough of the flannel. Now that it's done, it does look fine.

A very old out-building. I love it!

And, just to be really cool, on the back of Charlie (or is it Badger?) When I told my husband I was taking my quilt along to take photos of it at the ranch he though I was a little weird. "What are you going to do, take a photo of it on the back of a horse?" Well, yes I think I will!

Quilt Stats

Size: 72 x 84 inches

Fabrics: mostly Freebird by Momo as well as some solids and near solids from here and there

Pattern: from Seams to Me by Anna Maria Horner

Changes: I changed the construction of one of the blocks. She instructed the quilter to applique squares on squares. I figured out the measurements to piece it instead. Easier and saved on fabric.

This quilt is one of my favourites to date and it is in use already. My husband likes it because he fits under it.

I'm just adding two more photos. These were taken in our back yard and I find them a bit more true to the actual colour of the quilt.

23.5.11

Summer!

Doesn't this just look like summer to you? I made it for my Opa and Oma who just celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary! Hopefully it brings a little sunshine into their house.

It's made out of a charm pack (I forget the line) and a blue solid and yellow gingham that I had in the house.

Today we enjoyed a rainy day off doing some crafting that I'll share with you later this week.

19.5.11

New Bag

It was time for a new bag for myself.

I used the Oak Park Bag pattern by Loft Creations.

The pattern came together fine but I did find the instructions could have been more thorough. I've made lots of bags so it wasn't a problem but for a newbie it wouldn't be the best pattern.

The only thing I changed was to add an inside zipper pocket. For those things you don't want to fall out of your bag.

And for those of you who notice such things, no, I haven't been on my blog much lately. Besides selling our house and buying a new one I had to have an emergency appendectomy on Monday night. So, I'm not quite up to my usual speed at the moment. But, the sun is shining and we are having warm weather. If you live in the Fraser Valley you know how exciting this is.

10.5.11

Small Quilts

This year I decided I'd make both my mom and mother-in-law something small for their tables. I even started over a week in advance which is really on-the-ball for me! Our family is blessed to have both moms very close by (and they truly are a blessing!)

For my mother-in-law I made a square table topper. I used a fat quarter bundle that I won a while back from Quilt Story. It's not my usual style but it was fun to work with.

I tried some new (to me) quilting on this one.

This is the runner I made for my mom. The one she had on her table I had made for her about 7 years ago and it needed a replacement.

It looks great in her family room!

I'm linking up to Quilt Story's Fabric Tuesday!

8.5.11

Spring Top Sew-Along

Made by Rae is hosting the Spring Top Sew-Along again and this year I have something to enter! I made this Perfect Maternity and Nursing Top by Meg Neilson.

This is my second attempt at sewing with knits and it went well. I had to make a few adjustments. The first is that I made the empire band way narrower (the pattern piece was about 4" wide) and I found the bodice to long for me so I shortened that a bit. I like it but I'm still having trouble with the modesty panel being loose and gaping. It almost feels to big or maybe it's just because I'm too small :) I may just end up cutting it out and wearing a cami under although I'm not really going to want to layer when the weather gets warmer.

A friend also made the shirt using different fabrics. Here's a link to her blog post about it: Lil Bean

I've also added to "A Jennuine Life's" Mother to be contest :)

7.5.11

New (to me) Quilting

Sometimes it's good to break out of my comfort zone and try something new.

These stars and loops were fun and easy. Much more fun than plain stippling or straight lines.

This quilt still needs a binding. My friend Rebecca and I put this quilt together the other night. It's for a special baby expected in July.

Have a blessed Sunday!

6.5.11

Food Friday

Gingersnaps

1/2 cup margarine
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
more sugar

Mix together margarine, sugar, molasses and egg in your mixer for about 5 minutes. Add flour, soda, salt, ginger and cinnamon and mix thoroughly. Roll into 1 inch balls. Put about 1/2 cup of sugar in a bowl and roll your balls around in the bowl until coated in sugar. Then put on a greased cookie sheet. Don't flatten. Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.

These are one of my favorite cookies. So very yummy and so pretty too! They are easy to pack in lunches and in the diaper bag. I got this recipe from my sister-in-law many years ago.