yaiAnn

One Shiny Bee: March

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 10:10:37 -0800

Half of march has come and gone and I've already completed my One Shiny Bee blocks for March! It's Val's month's and her theme is pinwheels. She sent some awesome Heather Bailey fabrics. Remember that whole Iron Chef analogy I referenced in my last post? This is where it comes into play. What blocks could I use with these fabrics that will show off the beauty of the fabrics without being distracting or overpowering? It's party strategy and part beauty. Because the prints on fabrics were a larger scale than I normally work with, I felt really challenged. After much thought, I decided to deal with them in two ways, picking pattern with large enough pieces to show off some of the prints and strategic cutting. Block: Twisting Star By name, this is technically NOT a pinwheel. But my pinwheel requirements are pretty lax. As long as it's directional and conveys motion, it's a pinwheel! Block: Disappearing Pinwheel in a Double Card Trick (so aptly named by ">Carolyn) I used this tutorial to make this block. But notice something different, yes? As I was laying it out, I decided to play with the border and came up with this. I instantly fell in love and now I have to make one of these for myself! So there you have it, two pinwheels and off they go! Hungry for more pinwheels? There's a pinwheel sampler quilt-along happening here.

Blockhead

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 23:46:37 -0800

I've become a blockhead over the past weeks. I've been making quilt blocks, but not for a quilt, just to make them. Participating in One Shiny Bee is the reason why my crafting as of late has turned this way. It's been really fun. It's challenged me to make quilt blocks I'd never consider, and also work with fabric that I have no control over. It's kind of like an Iron Chef for quilting (without the competition). Here's the theme and your fabric. Now go forth and create!
L-R: Improvised Block, Mexican Star It's also sparked my interest in new techniques, like foundation paper piecing. Print off a pattern. Sew through the paper and fabric. Rip off the paper and ta da. O.. hai! I have a boat!
Paper piecing boat tutorial And now, I think I'm hooked, all starry eyed for paper piecing.
Galaxy Star Can't wait to try out more!

Stash Sale

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:36:48 -0800

Hello, folks! Yours truly needs a new sewing machine more than she needs sock yarn. Head here to check out the goods.

Foofa Fleece Leftover

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 23:36:06 -0800

What to do with over a yard of leftover pink fleece? Make a quick and easy gift for a Yo Gabba Gabba fan. Hem all four sides. Add some eyes and a nose (eyelashes and mouth if you're feeling like an overachiever). And behold, a new babysitter.. okay not really. But your Gabba fan will enjoy it for sure!

It's Yo Gabba Gabba time, break it down!

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 17:31:07 -0800

The Yo Gabba Gabba party was a success and I survived the crafts, the costume and the cake! The YGG costumes were pretty simple. I used fleece and based the costumes on two patterns, Simplicity 2853 for Muno and Brobie and a modified a-line dress pattern for Tootie and Foofa. It were the heads that were the challenge. I decided to make everything 2D for simplicity sake. I'm wasn't about to attempt 3D design on costumes due in less than 2 weeks. I freehanded the heads, used 8 layers of white tulle for the eyes and glue gunned the face. The word of the weekend was, "legit." As in, "HOLY! These costumes are LEGIT!"

I'm definitely proud of these costumes. If I had more time, I would want to find a way to make the heads stiffer so you can see the actual shapes. I interfaced them, but they're obviously still really floppy. Sewing in timtex or peltex could be an option, but I didn't have enough time to research potential materials. These costumes will see more than one use, so I do have time to research a better stabilization technique. Thanks to Joann's sale on fleece, all four costumes (Plex, the robot, was made by the person wearing it) cost about $75. And in case your wondering, the person playing Muno doesn't have an extra long neck. He glued a few cups together and attached it to his hat to make sure he had the proper height. Now onto the cakes. I have to admit, I spent more time on the costumes and pushed the cakes off until the day before the party. My assignment was to make the smash cake and the sheet cake. I originally planned to decorate both cakes in the YGG theme, but due to the time constraint and my poor planning, I decided to leave the sheet cake blank and only worry about decorating the smash cake. This worked out perfectly as the sheet cake remained in the back until it was cut and served. Both cakes were red velvet. The sheet cake was HUGE, the largest cake I've ever made. It was a 2-layer full sheet cake made of four 13x17" cakes. Each 13x17" cake was baked in a cookie sheet/jelly roll pan using one full recipe for each. The smash cake was DJ Lance Rock's hat made using a 3-layer 6inch cake. The top layer was shaped into a dome and decorated with a thick layer of frosting that was tapped with a spatula. The star was made with fondant. This is the third smash cake I've made. The first two were for 1-year olds, and this one was for a two year old. Both 1-year olds were pretty timid with their cakes and had to be fed. Even with the 2-year old, there was no cake face to be seen, only cake hand and cake shirt. Even with a little coaxing, there was more playing than there was smashing. Maybe 3 years is the magic cake face age. Even without the cake face and perfectly shaped costumes, the kids were happy, the birthday girl's parents were happy and their party was a success! That's all I could ask for.

Contending for Godmother of the year

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 09:34:45 -0800

There seems to be a color explosion in the works on my sewing table. We're talking serious rainbow action. Remember how I referenced making a Yo Gabba Gabba cake for my goddaughter's 2nd birthday party? Well, somehow I also managed to volunteer to make the costumes for the Yo Gabba Gabba show they're doing as part of the party. I'm a sucker for helping the folks I love.. what can I say? Pattern drafting and altering are in the works. I've got less than two weeks to pull this off. And just to clarify, I'm only making four. The guy playing the robot has already taken charge of his own costume. There's a party in my craft room! Oh yeah! Oh yeah!

Let Me Bake Cake(s)

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 21:32:55 -0800

After my six month break, I'm gradually getting back up to speed on this blogging thing, catching you up on the troubles I've been getting myself into. I went through a little cake baking phase and did two weddings and two birthdays, all for friends and family. Here's the quick recap: Rochelle and Thomas's Wedding: Chocolate chocolate, chocolate vanilla, vanilla vanilla and vanilla chocolate Cupcakes Count: 12 dozen Yes, the cupcake sweatshop is at it again. But honestly, it's never work when you're doing it for friends! The flowers were purchased from Sugarcraft and the flags were purchased by Rochelle on Etsy. I also used my fake calligraphy skills and did up their name cards, too. Ria and Gui's Wedding: Two-layer wedding cake and mini red velvet cupcakes Count: 1 cake, 4 dozen mini-cupcakes B's cousin's wedding cake was my first foray into fondant (the Domo cake doesn't count) and it was a bit stressful. If you click through to the photo, you'll see that the fondant is less than perfect (the top layer is 239403 times better than the bottom layer). Lessons learned: 1) practice once before you do it for real. My practice run was my "for real" run. I ended up with an excess "flap" of fondant that I had to creatively fold into itself to hide it (of which I didn't do a good job of). 2) Use only a thin layer of frosting. The more frosting you use, the less smooth the fondant will be (unless you have the skills to frost a cake smoothly and perfectly). 3) Watch videos! There are a ton of online resources to help you out. B's Birthday: Snickers Ice Cream Cake Here's quick low-down on this gem to get people drooling and asking for more:

Bake this cake in a 9-inch springform pan. Cool and split into two layers.
Make the caramel glaze.
Place one of the cooled layers back into the cleaned springform pan and spread with half of the caramel glaze and sprinkle with chopped peanuts. Place in freezer to cool and set. Meanwhile, set out a quart of chocolate ice cream to soften (You want it to be soft and spreadable, not soupy).
Spread the chocolate ice cream evenly over the cooled caramel peanut cake layer about 1 inch thick.
Place the second cake layer on top of the ice cream layer and pour the remaining caramel glaze on top of the second layer. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and freeze for 2-4 hours.
Make your favorite chocolate frosting (I used a basic ganache)
Remove the cake from the freezer and release the side of the springform pan. Frost the cake and sprinkle the top with peanuts. If not serving immediately, return to freezer and remove it about 30 minutes before serving.

Make sure the ice cream is nearly frozen again before you frost it, otherwise it will ruin your frosting experience. See my drippy edges, that's the result of still melted ice cream. Learn from my mistakes! BFF's Birthday: Snickers (not ice cream) Cake It was like deja vous for my BFF's birthday cake. Follow the same general idea as above except make two 9-inch layers. You'll want these layers to be thicker to make up for the missing ice cream layer. I'm generally getting better at frosting cakes, especially when I can cover the sides with peanuts. I just need to make sure that the sides are perpendicular to the plate, oops. And then I ended the year with two fabulous cheesecakes, none of which I took photos of (gasp) but that you'll have to take my word for.. Smitten Kitchen's Cappuccino Fudge Cheesecake and Pioneer Women's Caramel Pumpkin Cheesecake. Up next, a Yo Gabba Gabba cake for my goddaughter's 2nd birthday in February.

Aprons Fit for a Dinner Club

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 21:07:55 -0800

What does a crafty person do for a group of friends you meet with once a month to share stories, laugh and enjoy a great, gourmet, home-cooked meal? Aprons of course! Theses are my Dinner Club buddies, minus one, modeling the aprons. We have two white elephant gift exchanges per year, one during the holidays and one during summer. This year I decided that part of my white elephant gift would be another white elephant. The recipient of my gift got a bottle of sake and the final pick in my white elephant. Once the initial white elephant was complete, my white elephant began. I made 5 aprons with the same pattern and one black sheep. In every white elephant we've had zero, ZERO, gifts have been stolen. This is good, because everyone gets what they want the first time around, but bad, because there's no excitement in seeing who will end up with what. It was no different for the apron white elephant. Pattern: Emmeline Apron, Montesorri by Hand Fabrics: Banadana Print by Joann Fabrics, Apples and Pears by Alexander Henry and Kona Cotton This is a very simple, straightforward pattern. The I love both prints, but I think I like the bandana print more. The only think I'd change is to add patch pockets. My one minor gripe about the pattern is that the apron skirt doesn't like flat. It curls in and shows the reverse side at the sides. Pattern: Butterick 4945 view E Fabrics: Various stash cottons I've made this apron before for another friend. This pattern is also straight forward. I made no major modifications to the pattern, except for making the apron ties "reversible." I cut 4 instead of 2 apron tie pieces, stitched around the long sides and pointed end and turned it out. It actually looks finished this way as opposed to having the wrong side of the fabric show if you follow the pattern directions. Everyone loved their aprons, as I hoped. But there's always that little voice inside me that thinks they'll think it's a kitschy homemade gift. But I guess it's a good sign when the end of the night approached and everyone left for home still wearing their aprons.

Twisted

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 17:02:23 -0800

I'm officially declaring that quilting season is over. No, I'm not giving up quilting. I'm just putting them aside for the time being. This girl is severely lacking work clothes and cute summer frocks. Yes, I said frocks. I will be reshifting and refocusing my crafting to something a little more self-serving and productive for the next month or two. I'm needing a few extra pieces to throw into the work clothes rotation before my coworkers catch on that I'm cycling through the same 10 tops (okay maybe it's more like 15). What's that 20/80% rule again? In any case, here's the first, of hopefully many, cute summer frocks/work pieces Pattern: Simplicity 2593 Pattern Description: Cynthia Rowley Collection, Misses Tops with Neckline Variation and Headband I made view A, the tank with the twisted neckline. Pattern Sizing: I cut a size 14. Pattern is available in sizes 6-22 Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes, more or less. Definitely do not expect the neckband to come out exactly as show on the envelope as it is up to the sewist to determine how to distribute the twists.

Collar, front detail

Collar, back detail Were the instructions easy to follow? Yes, the instructions were straight forward. The only part that may seem confusing is twisting the collar. It tells you to twist it 4 times. I defined one twist as a 360degree rotation and it worked out fine. I definitely also took Christina's advice to heart and tried not to be too OCD about how the twists came out. I kept redistributing the twists, pinning as I went, until I found one I liked. This is where you can definitely have a lot of fun with the top. And remember that the collar doesn't have to sit flush against the neck binding The other thing that may or may not bother me about this top is how the collar will look after it's washed and how I may or may not get OCD about pressing the twists. A good shot of steam may just have to be okay. And then finally since the collar is only attached at the neck edge, it may be prone to flipping and flapping up in the wind. Fabric Used: Cotton blend Ikat fabric from Joann's purchased two summers ago. Conclusion: I'm planning on sewing this again in a solid shirting for work and will probably make a dress version of view C. Hurray for new clothes!

Smores, not just for camping

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 09:07:31 -0800

Post-vacation blues are the worst, wouldn't you say? Even if it's just a three-day weekend and a car-trip away, that first day back to reality always bites! We went camping this weekend down the California coast, just past Big Sur. It was just what I needed, a get-away from work and the hustle and bustle of the city. We went with a decent sized group and in addition to our meal contributions, I thought I'd bring some sweet to the mix and make marshmallows for smores. I'm not a big marshmallow fan, but I'm definitely a big smores fan. I used Deb's recipe for "springy, fluffy marshmallows" and they definitely live up to their name and they are as easy to make as she says they are. The only thing she didn't mention was how not so pleasant the gelatin-sugar-corn syrup mixture smells in the mixer (it doesn't stink, but it just was NOT what I was expecting it to smell like and had me questioning the recipe). They're denser than what you're used to getting at the store, but OMG, so bouncy (yes, they'll bounce) and gooooood. Needless to say, the smores were a big fat hit on the trip! I made two batches which was probably a bit ambitious, because I came back home with leftovers, even after people took some for the road. So as B and I are unpacking and cleaning up, all I could think of was petitioning to have a mandatory 1-day vacation/long weekend transition where we could just stay home another day before just jumping back into work. Obviously, camping and lazing about where still heavy on my mind. Then the idea hit me. Broiler smores! Broiler Smores Ingredients: 4 graham crackers (broken in half) 4 marshmallows 1 Hershey's bar or chocolate bar of your choice Equipment: cookie sheet or baking pan parchment paper

Swimming Along

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:58:03 -0800

This is just another story about how a project that came to be, didn't come out the way it was originally envisioned. This is of course not to say that it's horrible. I think it's rather awesome. Long story short, and this usually happens to be the most often told story in my crafty life, big dreams but little time. Now of course that doesn't mean that this was a last minute project. B's sister is getting married next month and I had been thinking of making her quilt for quite some time. So her bridal shower proved to be the perfect excuse for some crafty gift giving. Her quilt had been brewing in my mind for a few months already. But somehow, and again, the story most often told in my crafty life, time just sneaks up on you. So idea #1 through 3 that involved applique and freezer paper and all sorts of new techniques (okay maybe just 2 new techniques) got shoved in the closet. And here enters the theme, simple is better. Bedroom clutter shown for scale

Mendocino Quilt Sampler Fabrics: Heather Ross Mendocino and Kona Cotton in bone Size: 55"x76" Started: June 2009 Finished: June 2009

Chugging along..

Mon, 11 May 2009 12:37:11 -0800

Nothing much to say over here except that I've finished all the piecing for the Mod Sampler Quilt! Behold, a funky front.. and a funky back.. I may or may not sandwich this immediately, depends on how I'm feeling. But in either case, the quilting is off until my blogless quilt-along friend catches up, no pressure or anything ;).

Funky Florals Continue..

Wed, 06 May 2009 08:56:28 -0800

In a effort to break away from the Grellow Quilt, I do believe in multi-tasking for one's own sanity, I started up on the Mod Sampler Quilt again, aka "Funky Floral Freak-out." I mistakingly started out by sewing up all the easy squares first. So of course, I left myself with the more labor intensive, time consuming piecing. But I'm happy to report that as of last night, all the pieces are done and I started attaching the sashing. The sashing, oh the sashing. I'm really excited and also anxious to see how this will all come together. One of my first dilemmas when choosing the fabrics for the quilt was how I could get the sashing to tie it all together, especially since the colors are all over the place. I originally intended to do cream or off white, but once I picked that as one of the coordinating colors in the quilt, I felt like I painted myself into a corner. So naturally, instead of figuring it out right then and there, I decided to deal with it once the squares were done (also realizing that I still hadn't chosen the fabrics for the quilt back). And here I am (or was) at the point where I have to start thinking about the sashing. A couple things came to mind, I either go neutral and do a "burlap-ie" linen, or totally go totally funky and use an outrageous color not present in the quilt yet, red and purple. What do I have to lose by going funky right? So the neutral linen option when out the door fast. At this point, I also decided to use stash fabric for the back, it just so happened to also be a funky floral print (a reject for the top) and a coordinating solid. So off I went to the store with my pieces in hand. I grabbed all the shades of reds and purples from the Kona Cotton section and my heart just sank. Nothing was working. There were a few possibilities, but nothing that came out just right. The purples were either too dark or too cheery and the reds just made it look evil and angry. And who came to the rescue, B of course. He grabbed a light green and it worked out, it totally worked. Now it's not perfect, because one of the color combos doesn't quite fit well, but I'm hoping and praying that in the grand scheme of things it all works out. And the other bonus, it matches the quilt back, too! Hmmm and of course, I left the store without even thinking about the binding. I'm leaning toward that mustard yellow on the quilt back. Man, my carbon footprint for this quilt is going to be big.

Ideas, they should come with warnings

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:25:44 -0800

Ahh, the Grellow Quilt. What can I say.. the original intent was to create a throw size whole cloth quilt, grellow pattern on top and yellow on bottom with yellow binding. As the started to measure out the fabric, it turns out the quilt would barely be 4 feet wide. I would have pieced the top to make it big enough, but with the quilting pattern I had in mind, it wouldn't work since the print wasn't seamless. I originally decided that I would just live with a skimpy little throw and then the bright idea struck.. I'll create a checkerboard border to extend the width! Genius.. until I started to excute. Apparently, with the measurements I came up with, looks like I'll be making a lot of postage stamp size squares... we're talking one-inch squares and I'm going to be needing a lot of them. Be patient with this progress on this project.. I sure hope it's all worth it in the end.

Because Deb said so.. and the timing was perfect

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 06:46:22 -0800

It's really not that hard drool and want to make everything that Deb of Smitten Kitchen blogs about. I bookmark just about every other recipe she posts. Add hers to the many other numerous food blogs I keep tabs on, the chances that I'll make every single recipe I've bookmarked are really really really low. But this week, the stars must have been aligned in my favor because I just so happened to have a 5-pound box of matzoh crackers on hand. Yah, the only thing I can say is, don't go shopping for a passover meal the night before.. or you'll end up with more that you need. In my case, I ended up with a LOT more than I needed. So what to do with all the leftover matzoh? Deb pointed my way.. chocolate caramel crack(ers) Deb, if I've never told you before, which I probably haven't, I love you. I don't doubt that I will use the remaining 3 and a half pounds to make more crack(ers). It was the easiest thing to make. You can make these with saltines, too, but for my own waistline and the waistlines of those I love, I might just tell myself that these are reserved for post-passover treats only. I'm not sure that I'll believe myself because they're so easy to make... that and mama- and papaFasu quite often always have a box or two of saltines in their pantry. I'm going to try to make these last as long as possible. I will only allow myself one piece per day, with my tactic will be to search out the smallest piece.. leaving me the biggest pieces to enjoy at the end, my reward for having so much self control and discipline. But then again, Deb said these would only keep for a week.. I gotta finish them all before they go bad right?