Mini Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Muffins

This is the FAVORITE snack lately at our sewing classes. (We do not recommend that the entire muffin is eaten in one big gobble...now who would do that?!) The kids have asked for the recipe and it's so easy they can make it themselves!

1 box chocolate cake mix (triple chocolate is best, but any chocolate flavor will work)
1 small can pumpkin
1 pkg. chocolate chips
1/4 c. water

Mix all ingredients together and scoop into pam-sprayed mini muffin tins. Bake at 350 for 12 to 14 minutes.

I like to double this recipe by using the big can of pumpkin with 2 boxes of cake mix. They freeze very well.

A Hug Quilt for Hilde

Kerin makes what she calls "Hug Quilts" for people who need a little TLC. Here is her quilt for a very good friend, Hilde. I stitched the blocks (above) with the terry twist technique.

Hilde loves birds and bird houses so this fabric was perfect. The back (below) showcased the fabric too.

Loops & Flowers for Baby

For this cheery baby quilt I stitched freehand loops...

and funky little flowers.

Busy, busy, soooo busy!

I got behind on the old blogging routine with the busy-ness of the holidays. Here are some of the wonderful quilts I was honored to be able to quilt in the last few weeks before Christmas. (Sorry, it was too much for my overloaded brain to remember to take pics of ALL of them.) The one above (and below) was made by Carole. SOOO pretty and such amazing workmanship...it is not obvious that she's still a beginner! The quilting design is a pantograph, "Antique Lace" by Patricia Ritter.

This next one was made by Becky. She stressed over this one so much that it gave her a few sleepless nights! After all her worries, I was not expecting to see this wonderful quilt. She made it for a favorite teacher who, I am certain, will LOVE it! He will never know about all the tender loving care that went into it, however.

We chose a big meander quilting design which is fun with the wonky squares-in-squares pattern. This is such a fun quilt and perfect for a guy. Good job, Becky!

This little cutie is another of Carole's quilts. It's for her niece-- a dolly quilt.What a lucky little girl (and dolly!)

  

The paper-pieced hearts are amazing, aren't they? Carole says they were fun to make, but time-consuming! The free-hand quilting work was fun to do on this one...lots of loops with heart-flowers inside the hearts.

An Apron for Kerstin

You better believe big boys can (and will!) sew. While home over Thanksgiving, Jamison sewed an apron for  Kerstin. And I heard that she's already put it to good use! (Photo, please, Kerst!)

Jamison chose all the coordinating fabric (not an easy chore, since the apron is reversible) and even did the pinning and cutting. As you can see he is using a well-used pattern...I don't even know how many aprons have been made from this ol' newspaper pattern.  Can't wait for another mom-n-son sewing adventure!

 

Snow Flurries Forecast

Here's my own version of the quilt Becky made. We learned to make this pattern in Heather's class. Thanks, Heather, for the inspiration! You should be such a proud teacher.

Snow flurries on this one too! (Side note: the weatherman says we MIGHT get snow flurries in the next few days. That's terribly exciting!) 

 The flannel backing is going to make this a very snuggy quilt. Hope the recipient will love it...;-)

Becky's Christmas Quilt

Becky had a ton of cute Christmas fabrics in her stash. I think she had planned to make a million pillowcases! Instead she created this ADORABLE Christmas quilt for a friend...lucky!

She wanted wintry looking quilting to so I stitched these swirls which really do make you think of snow flurries. Brrrr!