This quilt was so simple to make – it was just vertical strips.  A simple pattern deserves a bold print.  I made this quilt for a friend of mine who just had a baby.  At first I thought the fabric was too “serious” for a baby, but after I made the quilt I thought it looked like a sophisticated baby quilt.  And since my friend is very sophisticated, this quilt was perfect.

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Everyone who tries these cookies loves them.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp.
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup of old fashioned rolled oats (look in the cereal section – Quaker Oats- NOT the instant or quick cook kind)
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream the butter and sugars about 2-3 minutes until creamy (use paddle attachment if you have one). Add egg and vanilla and beat to combine. Add baking soda, flour, salt and oats and stir until incorporated. Stir in cranberries, chips and pecans.

Drop cookies on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Flatten cookies with palm of hand and bake 10 minutes for small cookies and 13-14 minutes for larger ones, or until they are golden brown. Cool 2 minutes on the cookie sheet and then cool completely on wire rack.

Makes about 24 small, 16 large cookies.

I have considered using cranberry extract instead of actual cranberries: http://www.olivenation.com/Pure-Cranberry-Extract-P367C55.aspx?gclid=CJDas7XLo60CFYPc4AodSjynlg

I have never used fabric like this before: bold, large prints.  I designed this quilt myself – it is  just rectangles – no triangles or curves.  I have started making quilts that are simple in design, since piecing is not my favorite part of quilting; the quilting is my favorite part.  The simpler the design, the faster the quilt comes together, the faster I can get to quilting it.

I machine quilted this.  I quilted large “retro” flowers, which I thought matched the look and feel of the fabric.

The corners of the binding gave me a little bit of trouble; but every quilt needs to have a few mistakes – it proves it is homemade, right?

I made this quilt for a friend of mine to celebrate her divorce from her husband who was a complete ass.  Good riddance!

I love the New York Beauty block.  It is a block that has been around for a long time, but it has a modern look to it.  It is also a paper pieced block, which makes it easy to get such sharp points.  Sewing the curve is challenging for me.

If you are new to paper piecing a good block to start with is Flying Geese or Square in a Square.  These blocks are simpler than the New York Beauty block.

I use Electric Quilt to make my NYB patterns.  I can make them any size, changing the number of points etc., very easily.

Here is a NYB block pattern I created using EQ7.  You can enlarge it to make a larger sized block, but if you print it without changing the size, it will be a 6 inch block. (Keep in mind that when you print a pdf document, make sure the page scaling is set to “NONE” if you want this to be a 6 inch block).

My favorite New York Beauty block is this “sunset” small quilt I created when I first experimenting with the block.  It is hanging on my “inspiration” wall in my craft room.

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I made this ornament using Fast 2 Fuse stiff interfacing and silk fabric I purchased at fabric.com.  I cut the pattern out of the Fast 2 Fuse. I fused the red fabric to the interfacing and then cut the fabric out around it.   I used a small zigzag stitch around the entire dress.  I got the pattern for the dress online – I think from the “free patterns” section in Cloth, Paper, Scissors.

I used silvr tulle on the front, gathered it and stitched it together and then hid the stitches under black silk – I used the selvage from black silk fabric so it would not unravel.  I made a necklace out of silver glitter glue and glued a small glass stone in the middle.  My necklace looks little sloppy – I”m not that good with glitter glue.

For the hanger I used some thin wire and tacked it to the back.  I think if I make this again, I will put the hanger on under the fabric on the back side, then tack it down and then fuse the fabric.  The only issue would be cutting out the fabric once it is fused to the Fast 2 Fuse; that might be difficult with the hanger in the way – but I think it might look neater in the long run (see photo to the right)

ATCs or Artist Trading Cards are little 2.5 x 3.5 inch “art cards” that you make and trade with other artists, or give as
gifts to your non-artist friends.  Some people make the cards 2.5 x 3.75 inches.  Either way – they are pretty small.

I have decided to give these little art projects a try because they are so tiny – how can you screw up something that is only 2.5 x. 3.5 inches?  Here is a photo of my first ATC.

I made this using a double sided, very stiff interfacing called Fast 2Fuse. I used a small zig zag stitch around the sides.  I cut out the shape of a bird from some sheet music from an old church hymnal.  I  wrapped the card with various ribbons I had.   I put some blue glitter on the bird and some gold glitter around the edges.  I printed “Joy to the World” on velum paper and stitched it on the bottom.

There are lots of examples on the web of ATCs.  You can make them out of fabric, paper or any other material you like.   You could make Christmas tree ornaments out of them.  You could make a banner out of them – although I like the look of upside down triangles instead of squares for banners.  This is a really cute example of a triangle banner.  You can use scrapbook eyelets to create holes in your ATCs or small triangles.

I also found a template for making an envelope for ATCs.  It would be fun to make one of these out of freezer paper (be sure to use glue that is transparent when it dries).

Here is the website with the template for the envelope for your ATC.

Here is the template in PDF form in case the website takes it down.

Back in July, 2011, the magazine Cloth, Paper, Scissors had a Reader Contest on making these cool little houses.  I missed the edition announcing the challenge – not that I would have entered it anyway – but I did see the edition with the winners.  Once I saw all the creative ways people decorated their houses, I wanted to try to make one of them myself.

So I searched the CPS website for the template they used and well, their website is not as easy to navigate as it should be, but eventually I found it.  I decided to upload the template to my website – giving CPS credit – just in case they take the template down and I want to use it again.

Here is the website that explains the challenge – even though it is over.

Here is the web page that shows you the submissions - some of them are really creative and inspiring.

Here is the web page that has the template, or you can just download the template here.

If I ever get around to making one of these, I’ll be sure to post some photos.