First Crush Coffee Cups - Mini Quilt

Do you know my sister Susie,

who blogs over at Susie's Sunroom?

She has a February birthday,

so I made a little mini quilt for her present!

I decided to make a mini quilt

that she could display in her kitchen,

on this sweet little quilt stand.

Susie likes coffee,

so I decided to make up 4 coffee mugs

using the Mug block from Quilty Fun,

by Lori Holt.

{Lori Holt calls them Cocoa Cups, and they're just super cute, no matter what is in them.}

Fabric selection for Susie's gift was really easy...

I chose First Crush by Sweetwater for Moda.

I have lots of fabric left from my layer cake

that I've been using for other projects,

like my Hugs and Kisses pillows.

I made up four mug blocks in no time...

which one is your favorite?

The first one is bold and dark, like a good cup of coffee!

Next we have a text print...

so cute to remind someone how special they are.

I think this one is my favorite...

it showed that this gift was made with lots of love.

A mug with hearts can't be beat for Valentine's Day,

or any other day of the year.

Our family name is Love, so red hearts are a "yes, please!"

for the Love girls!

 You can see from the photos that I got a lot of practice 

with free motion stippling.

The print designs are very forgiving.

The stitching shows up very clearly, though,

on the solid gray background and backing.

No pressure...

I used my own free tutorial for Machine Binding.

I must say it was a quick, neat finish.

My present was made in record time!

I nearly gave Susie a "heart" attack,

when my package arrived the day before her birthday!

Next time you need a gift for someone special,

think about a mini quilt!

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Trees and Quarter Squares for Quilty Fun

Time for a Quilty Fun Sew Along update...

I had sew much fun making the lollipop trees last week!

Choosing fabrics was easy this time.

I only needed 3 main prints for trees.

{Since I live in Pennsylvania, I decided to make my trees 
in green, red, and yellow fabrics.}

I've been using a bit of black here and there,

to tie in all of the blocks,

and in this block, it made sweet tree trunks.

{The black gingham print is from Sweetwater's Mama Said Sew! line.}

This week's Quilty Fun Sew Along block

was Quarter Squares,

made oh-so-scrappy with 20 different fabrics!

When I was finished stitching the little squares,

I just had to put them into my dishes,

to show you how yummy they were!

Even though I used my 50 wt Aurafil thread

for piecing these little cuties,

my blocks came out a bit smaller than expected.

Thankfully, though, they were still oversized

enough to allow for trimming to the final 2 1/2" size.

I put them together as randomly as possible...

I really like making lots of blocks,
assembly-line fashion.
It takes almost no time!

They play together so nicely, don't they?

and now they are waiting patiently

for the rest of the Quilty Fun blocks to be sewn.

This sew along is making me happy in 2014!

Don't forget...

we're taking signups for the Skinny Pinny Pincushion Swap

through the end of January.

Details here...just email me to register!

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Quilty Fun - Flying Geese, Chubby Chevrons, and Cocoa Cups

Last time I posted,

I promised to show my latest blocks

in the Quilty Fun Sew Along.

Here they are...all finished up!

First I made a whole flock of little tiny

Flying Geese!

I'm happy that I used the same green for all of the backgrounds,

even though my little green spatula blocks blended in

a bit too much with the background.

I was kind of scared to try making this block

the Quilty Fun way...

I've read mixed reviews about this method,

and the finished blocks are sooooooo small!

I decided to try just one block

using the technique provided in the Quilty Fun book.

Admittedly, I had very little fabric to trim away,

but my little blocks came out really well!

I just kept going,

and they all seemed to work out right.

I think the secret to my success was that I used

a spool of 50-wt Aurafil thread for piecing,

and it was noticeably thinner than the thread I usually use.

{I think I LOVE Aurafil thread for piecing little blocks!}

Another trick I tried was to use a hot iron with NO STEAM...

to avoid any distortion of those little wee blocks.

After my success with the Flying Geese blocks,

I was feeling pretty cocky...

maybe even over-confident!

It was really fun to choose the fabric pairs for the x blocks.

{Oops...I can see a little mismatch of seams there on the right. 

Oh, well...no one likes a show-off!}

The Cocoa Cups block was the easiest so far...

nice big pieces to cut and sew,

and those handles were really slick to stitch!

I think that this mug

looks a lot like a Cath Kidston crush mug!

On to the next block...

come back again soon to see mine!

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Sewing Baskets for Quilty Fun

I'm having a blast with the Quilty Fun sew along!

This week we're making Sewing Basket blocks.

These were sew easy to put together...

I think I spent less than an hour making mine.

I kind of named my blocks to myself, based on the fabrics...

this one is Bake Sale.

Then there's my Flower Sugar basket.

And finally the Vintage Modern one.

I used my Angler 2 tool to make this project so easy.

It saves a lot of marking

and adds more accuracy to my stitching.

Once I was done sewing the baskets,

I had a little stack of triangular trimmings

that just seemed a bit too big to throw away.

I decided to draw a line about 1/4" away from

the trimmed edge, at a 45 degree angle.

I stitched all of the little pairs together...

then pressed them open and trimmed them

to exactly 1 1/4" squares.

{I wonder what I'm going to do with these?}

I think I'll try to make more of those teeny little

half-square triangles, whenever I'm trimming

more blocks for the Quilty Fun projects,

and see what I can make from them later.

While I was photographing my blocks,

I discovered WHAT FUN it is to use Instagram!!!

I'm always a little bit late to the party,

but if you'd like to follow me,

my Instagram name is eamylove.

Hope to see you there!

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Apple Dapple Cake for Across The Pond Sew Along

Remember that I picked APPLES

for this month's Across The Pond Sew Along?

{Okay, I didn't actually pick any apples, but you know what I mean...}

When I chose APPLES,

I planned to share one of my favorite

apple recipes with you,

and now...I give you Apple Dapple Cake.

My grandma gave me this recipe many years ago,

but I never tried it until about 10 years ago.

Now it's one of my favorite cakes in the whole world.

{Sometimes Grandma knew me better than I knew myself.}

I LOVE that I've still got my recipe card, 

handwritten by Grandma herself.

I miss her every day!

Are you ready for some Apple Dapple Cake pictures?

{I can't resist including my Quilty Fun apple blocks!}

Here's all the stuff you need for the cake part.

{There's also a yummy topping that I'll show you how to make.}

I like using my vintage Pyrex bowls

for making old-fashioned goodness in my kitchen.

Look how many apple slices

I got, just from those 4 MacIntosh apples!

Here's the recipe,

so you can try it yourself.

It's very easy to make

and my husband pronounced it DELICIOUS!

Apple Dapple Cake

Cake Ingredients:

4 cups thinly sliced apples

1 cup cooking oil

3 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. cinnamon

3 cups flour

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. vanilla

Optional:  1 cup chopped nuts

Peel and slice the apples and set them aside.

In a large mixer bowl, combine oil, eggs and sugar.

Add baking soda, cinnamon, flour, salt and vanilla,

and beat until completely blended.  Batter will be thick.

Fold in the sliced apples, mixing into the batter.

Pour the cake batter into a greased 9 x 13" cake pan.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes at 350 degrees,

until edges are golden brown and a toothpick tests clean.

Topping:

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup milk or cream

1/4 cup butter

For topping, combine ingredients in a small saucepan

and melt them together over low-medium heat.

Bring to a boil while stirring,

and allow to boil for 4 minutes.

Pour topping over warm cake.

Lastly, put the cake pan, with topping, on the upper shelf in the oven,

and broil to let the topping bubble, just for about 1 minute,

or until it turns golden.

Remove from oven and let cool at least partially,

before serving.

Tastes great warm or at room temperature,

with or without creamy vanilla ice cream!

Enjoy your apples this month,

and show us what you've made in the Flickr group.

By the way...
did you notice my mug rug, serving up the apple cake?
It's actually a little bit bigger than a mug rug...
more like a placemat, or a mini quilt.

This little quilt is available for sale here in my eamylove shop on Etsy.
Even the back shows off the elaborate quilting.

{I love the pear green backing, Dandelion Girl by Fig Tree Quilts.}

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