Boy Scout Cupcakes

So in true Deborah fashion, this weekend got away from me and on Sunday I tried my best to catch up.
Yesterday I finished my quilt rows before I went and saw my high school's musical this spring, Legally Blonde. It was wonderful. I loved it. Then I met my wonderful husband and friends for the Hunger Games. Again, it was wonderful. It was a lot less violent than it could have been. I missed the narration that Katniss provides during the book. The movie was missing that aspect. Then we were home by 10 and I kept working on that quilt top.

Then today I quilted and quilted and quilted. I added the borders. I finished my quilt top this afternoon. And 5 minutes later, I remembered that I was supposed to make cupcakes for my department. So I whipped something together based on the snacks we have in the house.

Introducing Boy Scout Cupcakes!
I started with my favorite chocolate cake batter recipe. Instead of filling up the liners, I only filled them halfway. Then I filled them with trail mix. Yup, that's right. M&Ms, choco chips, peanuts, and raisins. The raisins made me a little nervous, but I went with it. Then I filled up the cupcakes with batter. Baked at 350 for 18 minutes.

Ingredients:

• Devil’s Food Cake Mix
• 3 eggs
• ½ cup oil
• ¼ cup milk
• ½ cup water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla 
• 1 cup sour cream

Cook 18 minutes. 

 For the frosting, I went with my theme. And I thought, what else do Boy Scout's need? Marshmallows! And I have Fluff! So I googled it a few times and this is what I went with.


Ingredients:

• 6 tbsp butter (softened)
• 1/2 jar fluff
• 2/3 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla

Cream that stuff up. It was the perfect amount for 12 cupcakes. I started by piping, but was quickly running out, so I went back and spread it out. And because I had more trail mix (and Matt wanted it OUT of the house) I decorated the cupcakes.

I hope we don't have allergies tomorrow so they get gobbled up. 
 

What did you do today? I finished my...

QUILT TOP!!! Oh yes I did! The whole top is done and ready to be sandwiched into a quilt. I finished piecing all the rows together, and then added not one but TWO borders! And let me tell you, I LOVE IT SOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH! Even Matt said "Oh wow!" I know! Incredible! So I know you want to see the pictures right? It is soooooo pretty!

 So, I have my rows all laid out and ready to be sewn together. I sewed the top three rows and the bottom four rows together. Then it was time for borders.

This quit has two borders, an inside and an outside. The inside was a white on cream squiggly design that I love. The inside border is a 1 inch border finished. Borders are unsurprisingly easy. Measure the width of your quilt every 6-8 inches and then take the largest width to be the length of your border. Repeat for the other two sides. This quilt is a square, but for rectangular quilts, always start with your longest sides first. And PIN PIN PIN! Pin the border every few inches so it doesn't move. 

What do you mean this wasn't a blanket for me? And it is not my photo shoot?  Then why did you put the quilt on the floor? Oh it is too big for the dining room table? Personal problem. Deal with it lady.

 

I mean seriously! How beautiful is that?!?!?!

I think for the back, I am going to use the dark polka dot again. 

I fell in love with it the more I used it in this quilt. 

Singing Machines

I was sitting in my quilting class tonight (and last week, and the week before that) listening to the sewing machines sing. There are 12 of us in the class and we all have different machines. They all sing their own song. Some are high pitched, some are mellow. Together, they sound very happy. And so am I.

Adventures in Quilt Making, Part 2 - Triangles

Last week, I learned how to make triangles, the right way. Which also happens to be the way I made them a few weeks ago!

So part 2 of the quilt I am making went like this.
I have 3/8 yard of two fabrics. From each I cut two strips. The first was 5 1/2 inches, and the second 5 3/4. I put the 5 3/4 strip aside.
Then I cut the 5 1/2 strips from both fabrics into 5 1/2 inch squares.

I drew a diagonal line down the center of the flower fabric. I placed right sides together and sewed down both sides of the line. Then lined up my ruler on the sewn line and cut. Because I made 1/4 inch seams, lining the ruler up on the sewn line put the edge on the line I drew.


Because there is a cut on the diagonal (bias) you have to careful about how you press it. If you press it like it is normal fabric, it will distort the fabric. So I pressed up then over towards the darker fabric.

Do you see the ears? There is one at the bottom of this picture. Those have to go. But I also had to make sure that my 9 patch and triangles were the same size.  If they aren't exact my whole quilt will be off.



In fact, we made our triangles over sized on purpose. It is easier to trim triangles than 9 patch (because you have to trim a little off each side to keep them even).

So I measured my 9 patch, then trimmed the triangles to match. When lining up the triangles, use the diagonal line as your straight edge. Then trim the edges. If you line up the edges instead of the diagonal, they won't be true triangles anymore.



Now it is time for some quilt assembly! This is the part I was really looking forward to! Now you can see what the final product will look like!!!! Oh this is soooo exciting!

Quilts are made of odd numbered rows. This way they are symmetrical. My homework this week was to assemble the odd-numbered rows.



I wanted to chain piece them again, but this proved a little more difficult than I thought. I completely botched my first attempt and had no idea what I had sewn together. Thankfully, they were all pairs and I found each a home. The second, third, and fourth rows went together without much incident.


So important things? From the 9 Patch, make sure your spines are vertical. When you sew them together you can control seam buildup and manipulate them if they are not already sewn down.
Also, press towards the 9 Patch. Pick a direction and go with it. Always. For the rest of the quilt. Be consistent.

So we have two options right now. With all the odd-numbered rows created, we can decide which fabric will be the center, light or dark gray.  Isn't it amazing how much different they look? The only difference is where I placed each row. So what do you think? Light center? or dark center?

Adventures in Quilt Making, Part 1 - 9 Patch

I started taking a quilting class last Wednesday! On my way to class, I called my Mom and chatted and squeaked like a school girl. I was beyond excited!I got there 15 minutes early - and I wasn't the first one there!

So I am taking a class called "Adventures in Quilt Making" at Capital Quilts. It is a 4 week course with homework. This week I learned sooooooooo much! And here are the instructions for making a 5 inch 9 patch.

First - clean cutting. So I ironed my fabric without going over the crease. Makes sense. To clean cut (so you have a straight cut) I lined the fabric to the ruler and cut off the extra fabric. See how the the edge is straight in that picture?

Second - I cut my two fabrics into 2 inch strips. I needed 8 strips of the blue leaves and 7 of the blue circles. Then I needed to sew them together. I made 3 sets of strips with blue leaves on the outside, and two with the circles on the outside. I pressed all my seams towards the leaves. Tell you why later.

Third - I cut them again. And into 2 inch strips. There is a theme here. I needed a total of 48 strips with leaves on the outside and 24 with circles on the outside. Then I started sewing them together. I chain sewed them; meaning that I didn't cut them in between each pair.

Again I pressed towards the blue leaves - in this case, towards the outside. I pressed out so that the seams would all nest together and keep the bulk of the seams smaller. Then I started attached the other side. Making my 9 patch.

 My homework this week - to make 24.  In 4 hours, I was able to do all the above and finish 14 9 patches. I have everything cut and partially pieced for 20.  I still need to cut 3 more and then piece everything together.