Second top finish of 2013!

I finished this quilt top today!  My second for 2013, this is a really fun quilt and pretty large for just using one charm pack.  A while back I won a charm pack of Joy from Kate Spain and I must say, it's a gorgeous line! I found some Flurry FQs at a LQS on sale that I was planning on using for the borders but instead decided to use my binding fabric for the borders.  It turned out to be the perfect choice!  Those zig zags really make the quilt complete.  

One thing I'm not pleased about is the inconsistency in the color of the Moda Bella white.  It's not one consistent shade of white.  But hopefully using a white batting will help even things out.  It's actually not as bad as the picture portrays, that's more of a shadow from my boyfriend who is holding it.  He's 5'7" so it's a good sized quilt, perfect for curling up with it and a good book on the couch.  

i promised pictures!

And here they are!  I finished my Figgy Pudding Christmas quilt, 2 pillows (well soon to be anyways) to match, a soon to be finished potholder, my quilt for Doll Quilt Swap 9, and got back 3 swaps! 

We'll start with the quilt, all wonderful glorious Figgy Pudding!  This pattern is from Green Fairy Quilts and is super simple! 

Here is the backing on the quilt, I pieced it because I didn't buy enough of the damask which is what I wanted the entire back to be but it ended up working out well!

The next two are soon to be pillows to match the quilt.  My version of a ticker tape and then one made using a turnover.

For this one instead of pinning all the pieces down because there are some really small pieces I just ironed on a piece of wonder under on the reverse side and tacked them down that way.  I wanted to use every little scrap of this fabric that I could!

This is the one made with a turnover:

I didn't exactly want my pillows (well they'll be covers) to crinkle up in the wash so I pre-shrunk the batting, we shall see how it works!

This is my quilt for my doll quilt swap partner!  She's been incredibly difficult to pin down because she's been super quiet!  The binding is a faux piped binding using this awesome tutorial.  I absolutely LOVE this quilt!  I hope my partner does too.

Now onto the awesome swaps!  This one arrived first and is the mod bento box swap from Jessica at give it a go, I did get a duplicate square but it's ok because I sent 17 quarters so I can stick the duplicate on the back, on the fence about joining round 2, only because I'll be in the middle of a move.

Next to arrive was the Modern Siggy Swap 2 hosted by the wonderful Julie at jaybird quilts.  LOVE all the fabrics used!

And last, but not least, to arrive was Modern Siggy Swap 1 hosted by Rachel @ ps i quilt.  I sent these back in February!  So happy to have them home :)

So did I make up for my bad blogging?  I know I have to get the next star block up and will work on that tomorrow. 

caramel in a can

So I've heard things about turning sweetened condensed milk into caramel, while it's still in the can. I googled my little heart out and found times ranging from 2-4 hours so I did a little experiment on the rainy afternoon we had here in the Chicago area. First I went to Jewel, they were all out of their store brand and I refused to pay $2.59 a can for something that may or may not work so I headed off to Aldi and the $1.39 price tag for an experiment was easier to deal with. Yes, I'm cheap, get over it!

The basic instructions are that you boil the can in a water bath for a specified amount of time then allow to cool and when you open it radiates sunshine and does that little, "oahhhhh" sound like you've struck gold.

I first came across the link on 2 peas and decided my ass couldn't be left out of the widening party which is what sparked my little experiment.

The results? OMGWTFBBQ?! This is like the holy grail of all that is right with the world!

The 2 hour was the best one for pouring, this one is the perfect consistency for drizzling over ice cream, dipping, or even to pour in some coffee. Lighter in color.

The 3 hour is what I call the "all-purpose" version. It's still got a nice drizzle to it but it's a little thicker so you can decorate a plate with it, drizzle it on top of a dessert, use as a filling for chocolate candies, or dipping. Typical caramel color.

The 4 hour one is the one I'm on the fence about. I didn't care for it, it tasted a little burned however after adding some vanilla it was better, needs a little more vanilla than the other two to get rid of the burned taste. This one is a lot thicker than the 2 hour one and would be great for pies or cake fillings. Not for drizzling. Color is darker.

I tried each one with and without vanilla. I preferred them all with the vanilla added however the 2 hour one had the best 'naked' taste to it.

So, from L-R we have the 2 hour, 3 hour, and 4 hour.



**PLEASE TAKE NOTE** When you are boiling these you MUST keep a watchful eye on the water level, take a peek every 30-45 mins, it evaporates quicker than you think. If the water drops below the level of the top of the can it could explode. And no, I'm not responsible if you blow up cans caramel in your kitchen. Mines messy enough without having to clean yours! :p


Wanna freebie? Here are download links to the instructions and some labels:

Instructions
Labels

wahoo! all my blocks came in

I joined the modernjax Christmas block swap and I got the last 4 blocks today! YEAH! I'm so excited, tomorrow I'll have to slap it all together :p They turned out beautifully and I can't wait to use them. I'm going to add white borders on all the blocks to make them all the same size, some are slightly smaller, some slightly larger. Maybe shoot for 18 inch blocks? We'll see, I have all day tomorrow to think about it!

new quilty stuff

This is a Christmas table topper I did. It's approx 28x28 inches. The backing is what you see in the post below this one. I had a really hard time finding a suitable binding. I didn't really want to drag my happy tail to the quilt store I got the top fabric at so I went to Joann's. I have to say their fabric selection is rather underwhelming. They used to have a HUGE selection of calico and it's just shrinking each and every time I go in there. Anyways, the binding fabric was terrible to work with, it was such a flimsy, poor quality fabric and the design was off grain. But here is the finished project, stippled per my usual.



This is my bag for the friendship swap. Got the fabrics in a FQ bundle from Joann's. Their fats seem to be better quality than their yardage as of late. These are so cute!!! Even if you're not part of the swap go check out the tutorial at p.s. i quilt and make one for yourself, they make an excellent purse for little girls! I'm having a hard time keeping this away from mine!

swap updates

Whew! I finished one swap, now I just have to make something for one more and I'm done with my swap commitments :) These blocks are for the Scrappy Christmas Block Swap over at modernjax. There are 12 of these puppies and I can't wait to see how the rest of the swap turns out!

check the sidebar!

If I'm not crazy enough I've decided to join a Christmas block swap at modernjax. Using a tutorial posted at Oh, Fransson! I agreed to commit to 12 blocks. Shouldn't be that difficult. Really looking forward to it, I'm getting bored with what I'm "working" on right now.