Happy Cake! and Pie...

This could be a piece of cake for my Birthday today!! But it's not...

It's a part of this quilted wall hanging I made for a friend. She has an independent bakery and is in a new premises. I wanted to make a decoration to make the space welcoming. My vision was of someone looking through the window of a bakery and seeing a shelf of treats with the sign on the wall.

The pie is Key Lime and the cake is Carrot Cake. I have tried both of these and the Carrot Cake is absolutely scrumptious! I paper-pieced the cake and pie slices from free patterns online. Paper-piecing is my absolute least favorite quilting technique. I always put the pieces to the wrong side of the stitching line, so when I flip it it's too small. I had to fix that pie a few times! I tried to add dishes under the treats, then quilted a "wood grain" on the table and added a lace tablecloth. You got that, right??

I digitized the logo for machine embroidery. I will say it is "inspired by" her logo.

I wanted it to look like a sign, so I used the frame. The clouds are on the fabric, rather than digitized. I think it came out well. My friend loved it!!

A Quilt from Tests

I had so many "test" squares from my embroideries that I packed them up to work on at Retreat (in September!)

I had not picked off all the stabilizer, so that's why you see the white shadows. I used 8 of the 4x4 design tests to make this baby size quilt.

I love 1930s prints, so I used those for the 4-patch blocks and borders.

With an extra duckling, I made this square, which might end up being a preemie quilt or pillow square. Of course, I have not quilted these yet!

I still have a whole pile of 5x7 designs and more 4x4s too!! I have to think of some other projects to use them in.

Halloween Wrap-up

I managed to finish a few projects for Halloween. For Davy, I made this "Humerus" t-shirt. I thought it was more appropriate for sixth grade than the one I made last year, which Andy wore as a re-run.

Yes, Andy was quite happy to remind everyone of his "Dibs on the candy!"

We made different colors of slime in Andy's class. We found spooky potion bottles for the "magic" ingredient- the colors we made matched the bottles- orange, purple, and green. We added googly eyes and it was fun! If you want to make some, here's the recipe:

Mix 1 cup water in to

1 cup Elmer's white glue

then mix in 1 cup liquid starch

(I found it at Walmart)

 and add food coloring.

Stir and work with your hands until it comes together. This is a really fun project!

I used mini cookie cutters to make Fall shapes from the cheese. I bought thick slices of cheddar and Jack cheese at the deli so I had a bigger surface to cut from. 

That night, Darth Vader and a Knight went trick-or-treating. We had a great Halloween!! Now, on to Thanksgiving projects!