A Night of Baking Pumpkin Goodness

By special request, I made a pumpkin pie for my niece, Ashley:

There's the pumpkin wonderful in the oven -

(she loved it)

Once the pumpkin pie was done,

I started on the pumpkin ginger caramel

pecan cheesecake.

This is where Stella sits to oversee

all kitchen activities.

Usually, in a puddle of her own drool.

This is her classic look-away when I catch

her zeroing in on me, drooling

"What, me, expecting something from your bake-athon? Never!"

Cheesecake in the stand mixer.

Pecan and gingersnap crust.

Stella's focusing on the baking tools for good reason...

The clean up crew:

Just a quick once-over before the dishwasher.

The cheesecake before it goes into the oven.

And, after it's baked. Cracks and all.

And some bonus caramel sauce on top:

Yum!

My next project: colorwheel surprise

I've just begun my next project.

I've chosen some bold fabrics in a colorwheel.

This is just a sneak peek at the fabrics... stay tuned for the finished project!

Lunch of Squash & Pumpkin Bread Pudding

Today's Birthday Culinary Delights:

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

And a lunch o' squash - butternut, acorn, and hubbard

(gratuitous avocados and pineapple)

delish!

New Project: Pinwheels

I'm using the Moda Botany charm packs I picked up

in Paducah at the Quilt Show this year.

Here's a snapshot of all the fabrics in the Botany line -

This weekend, with the help of the first two seasons of Californication, I sewed 13 complete pinwheels and the other 197 half-way complete.

Here's 6 on my sewing table.

Hourglass Updated: FINISHED!

My hourglass quilt is finally finished!

The reproduction fabrics are so fun!

This is another huge one - the total size is about 100 square inches.

Again, shadowing from the trees hides the sharp & crisp quilt colors.

I used a reproduction light blue fabric for the backside, and a solid red binding.

The patterned white contrast very well to show off these fantastic fabrics!
Light showing thru to the back side:

Stella's none too pleased :(

Around the Purple World! Finished.

This purple "around the world" quilt was made for a pal who loves purple.

Here it's blowing in the wind.

This is a huge monster - over 110 square inches.
A purple print on the backside and purple with polka-dots for binding.

Shadows of trees hide the quilt's real color.
I hope she loves it!

Tinkerbell D9P update - It's finished! and a bonus tutu

Here's another gratuitous shot of the tutu. It's super cute!

I quilted the Tinkerbell quilt myself on the Juki:

Here's the finished project. It's naptakular!

And another close up of Jasmine's name embroidered:
A matching pillowcase:
With French Seams -
My favorite quilt model, Stella, showing off the purple polka-dot flannel on the backside.

I see many naps in Jasmine's future....

Tinkerbell D9P

Here's this weekend's work on a very special quilt for a very special girl who adores Tinkerbell.

In the bright sun, I was not able to capture the vibrant colors of the quilt.

Here's a shot of the sun-lit backside:

And...

Thanks to the handiwork of my Aunt Mary,

We have a personalized touch -

I hope Jasmine loves it!

It's not quite done as of this posting.

Here's the quilt on the table freshly basted:

My nifty new scissors I picked up in Paducah this year, made by Kai, cut thru this big roll of flannel & cotton batting:
Here, you can see the scissors, too:
The binding will match the small green squares!

.

A Princess Tutu

Here's my latest project, made using this tutorial from Plumtickled.

It was as easy as she describes in the tutorial. It turned out super cute!

I know a certain little girl who will look like a princess in this!

Sewing Machines and Studio Bits

I've been upgrading, repositioning, and rearranging the studio

for maximum sewing pleasure.

Here's the quilt rack I finally assembled. It's a Grace Z44.

It's been mocking me for a month or so now.

Once I figure out how to load the quilts on this monster, there'll be no stopping me!

Here's a few shots of Grams' sewing machine.

This is a Singer 329K.

It sews like a dream.

This is an entry-level bells-and-whistles Baby Lock Grace.

It's nice & light. It makes great stitches.
A White Serger Superlock 2000. Groovy seams!
Janome Coverpro 900. groovier seams! all knit all the time.
Both the coverstitch and serger on Grams' potting table I refinished.
My super workhorse - Juki TL98Q in a nifty race car red dust cover...

And a bonus new fabric storage cabinet: