A Leap Day Baking Experiment

I am not vegan.  I will never be vegan because I love steak - a lot!!  However, while looking for a thin mint or samoa recipe, I came across Chef Chloe's website and discovered she won Cupcake Wars with a vegan cupcake recipe.  And she had a recipe for vegan thin mints.  I've been trying to be healthier lately, giving up carbonated beverages for Lent and eating at least 1 piece of fruit a day (gasp! I know, I have terrible eating habits).  When I saw her Fluffy Coconut Cupcake recipe, I became Girl Scout cookie side-tracked had to give it a try.  

FYI: the ingredients in this recipe are not cheap.  I spent around $20 for all the stuff to make 16 cupcakes. That being said, the recipe was very easy to make.  My icing seemed thick enough until I had spread it on the cupcakes and then it started drooping, so maybe next time I'll make it even thicker.  I also toasted my coconut topping.  Oh and the cupcakes themselves are very greasy in the papers, so be careful!

After all that work, I have to say.  W.O.W!!  Delicious!  I'm not sure how "healthy" they are because of the coconut saturated fats, but they taste great, had a fabulous texture, and will be a nice treat every now and then.  I will definitely make these again!  I'm also looking forward to seeing what other recipes she has in her cookbook coming out soon, Chloe's Kitchen.   


Happy Leap Day!

Another Charity Quilt Top Finished

Last night I finished up another charity quilt top.  When I lived in OKC, I was a member of my church quilt group and we made quilts for kids at the local children's hospital.  I'm moved but I'm still active with the group and take the quilt tops back when I visit.  


Awhile back, someone donated loads of fabric to the group but they were mostly the ornate, oriental and guilded fabric with gold and silver threads on everything.  I didn't think they were very kid friendly, but when it's being donated, you have to make do with what you've been given! 


I came across Camille Roskelley's Thimble Blossoms pattern called Coming Soon and decided that would be a fun arrangement for some of the fabrics I had acquired from the donated bunch.  Here's what I came up with.  I was going for a castle feel, but you have to see the fabric in person I think to really appreciate it.  


The small rectangles inside the blocks are a fabric that looks like stained glass windows.  The blocks are made out of several sky, water, and grass prints, along with a few playful horses galloping through the fields.  As I was cutting this out, I thought I should make another one with fussy cut Castle Peeps as the small rectangles.  

A note about this pattern - it was so super easy to make!  I could have made this whole quilt in a day if I'd wanted.  The directions were easy to follow and there are so many possibilities with this one.  Don't be surprised if you see other variations in the future :)

New York Beauty Center: Finished!!

I finished my NYB center for the DMQG round robin just in time.  I did decide to set it on point and am really happy I did so.  Maybe I'll applique something onto the corners later on.  Or maybe I'll leave it blank and enjoy the fresh clean design.  I'm really thrilled with how it turned out!  I won't be seeing it back for another 5 months and the anticipation may just kill me!

Oh and wouldn't you know that now there's a New York Beauty quilt along?  Maybe I'm just ahead of the trend :)

New York Beauty #3

I can't believe I'm 3/4 of the way through this project.  I'm having fun and can't wait to try other paper pieced projects, like Lee's Summer Sampler Series of course ;)  Once I have the fourth done, I'm sewing them in a circle but I'm not quite sure what will happen after that.  We'll cross that bridge later but before Feb 9 when I have to pass this baby on!  It'll be a long 6 months before I get it back.  Pretty much all of my other projects are on hold right now, but I'm itching to start a new quilt even though I have 1, 2, 3...6 or 7 quilt tops finished and needing to be quilted, not to mention 3 quilt tops in various stages of progress!

Fashionable Friday

My boyfriend and I are doing long-distance right now while I try to convince him to sell his house, find a new job, and move closer to moi :)  I can be pretty selfish at times...  In the meantime, we drive 3.5 hours one way on the weekends to see each other.  I'm visiting him this weekend, and here's one of the outfits I've packed.  I'm pretty proud of myself for being so trendy!  Usually I am more of a jeans and polo kind of girl, but I feel like I should spice it up.  


I couldn't help but think that I should work for InStyle the way I laid this all out :P

Shirt: thrifted vintage Wrangler chambray & pearl snap button 
Pants: J. Crew Collection Minnie Pant
Shoes: Madewell
Belt: Banana Republic
Purse: thrifted Cole Haan
Earrings: Banana Republic
Necklace: Anthropologie
Bracelet: thrifted J. Crew
Sunglasses: Rayban Jackie Ohh!

Have a great weekend!

New York Beauty, Take 2

Here's the second of four New York Beauty blocks I'll be making for the Dallas Modern Quilt Guild round robin bee starting next month.  Read about it here.  I'm loving how they are turning out!  I've jumped ahead and already picked out the other 2 center yellows and 2 middle blues.  I'm trying to decide if I should just finish the 4 and leave as is, or if I should set it en point and do some fancy stuff before turning it in.  What do you think?

Forgot to mention my favorites in this block - see the tiny pink elephants and the crown I oh so amazingly managed to fussy cut?  :D

Oklahoma City Quilt Show Finds

A couple weekends ago I went to the Oklahoma City Quilt Show.  Now, I probably shouldn't say this, but I go to the quilt shows more for the shopping than to look at other peoples' quilts :X  Don't tell anyone else!  While there weren't as many quilts or shopping booths as last year, I did happen to find a little something to spend my money on...

Katie Jump Rope Fat Quarters  $1.50 each!!  At first I only bought 3, but as I was headed to my car, sad that I only bought 3 things, I decided to go back to their booth and see if they had any others hidden away. Sure enough, I find 4 more to buy.  The lady said that was the last of it.  She didn't have any more at her shop.  I cried a little inside, because I absolutely love the flower ribbons and basket weave prints and would probably buy the whole bolt if I found any.  $1.50 each plus tax at quilt show vs. $4+ plush s/h on Etsy?  Duh!!