Inspiration at Quilt Fest, NJ

Last Saturday, my husband took me as a B-day gift to a Quilt show in NJ. The weather is finally warming up and it was a beautiful day. I got a lot of inspiration off the pretty quilts and I want to share some with you.

The first quilt is made by Anna Faustino, PA. The quilt is called "Butterfly Dance" and I love the embellishments, she used crystals.

"Simply Strawberries" is made by H. Titus, PA and the name says it all! Pretty!

I love Stack and Whack quilts. I have a book and one UFO using that method. The quilt bellow is made by Carol Scullin,NJ and she used only one fabric and you can see there a lot of different blocks. She made it for her son that is a graphic designer.

The next quilt is"Circle of Life" made by Linda French, OH. It won Best of show!

The description says: "...is my first attempt at "design as you go" and has been the most fun exhirating and fun experience ever. The door is open and may the key be lost forever!"

I believe there is a designer in everyone!

Here is " Blue Butterfly Day" made by Sarah O'Sullivan, PA. It was made as a part of a challenge "Black & White & Hmmm....All over". I started to collect black and white prints and I thought she did an amazing job at it!

The last quilt I am showing is a yo -yo quilt. I think the designer did an amazing job at the picking colors and executing it. The quilt is made by Manon Gadliardi, CT and it's called "Cathedral Window".

Here is a close up:

I would like to Thank everybody for the Birthday wishes! I wish I could share my cake with you.

I made Hummingbird cake, it had pineapple, bananas and walnuts and it was delicious. Here is the recipe I used.

Till next time, Happy sewing!

Happy New Year, Old and New Projects

I wish everyone a healthier and happier New 2010 year!

I want to start the new year by showing this Snow men Quilt I pieced last year! :)) I had a lot of fun piecing it and I got a lot of practice measuring borders. Sorry for the blurry picture, I had my camera not on the right setting and I should take a better picture.

I also made a case for my new cell phone Droid that I love! The case is very practical as I can wear it on my wrist while caring stuff to my sewing room. It has a different fabric for lining.

Holidays for me are a lot of baking! I made this Coconut cream pie for Christmas. It was my first time baking a Coconut pie. I used a pie crust that I baked for the shell. It was pretty good, especially the fresh toasted coconuts on top.

Toffee Blondie desert that I called Brunetty, because I used part dark brown sugar instead of light.

And my favorite desert that I made for New Years Eve party was my Mom's famous Bulgarian Baklava. Everyone that had baklava before and tried mine loved it and so do I! My Mom always said that the hardest part of making the baklava is cutting it. She usually makes it in a circle tray and it's harder to make the ramb shape pieces. All the quilters can imagine it I am sure.

Here is my baked and surop baklava. I wish I could share it with you.

"Be Attitudes" is one of the New Year Projects I am gonna start this year. My mother-in-law got it for me and I just love it! I already started on the first block "Be warm". Baby it's cold outside...

I would like to join my blogging friend Myra in her PhD challenge. It is only 6 months and you get your PhD, sounds good?

Well, PhD means Projects Half Done. :))

Here is my list of PhD I would like to finish until June 30th 2010:

*Blue and Yellow Quilt

*The Coffee Quilt

* Halloween Quilt

*My Sister's Wedding Quilt

*Charity Quilt

*Surprise Table Runners

The list may look short to you but it's a lot of work. Wish me luck and if you would like to join click here.

Have a Happy New Year!!!

For Diner Tonight....Beer Beef Stew

I know what you are thinking! Isn't too hot for beef stew?! Well even when in the summer we have to eat, right?
I am using my crock pot and then I will have more time in the evening for sewing + leftovers!
I first padded some flour to the beef and then browned it on all sides. I chopped onion, celery and carrots and put them on the bottom of the pot.

The veggies colors are so pretty together! Then I put the browned meat and I added a bottle of beer, some water, potatoes, corn and herbs. We will see tonight if it was worthwhile making the stew in the summer!

Bon Apetit!

Valentine Food

My hubby is a very good cook! He made homemade pizza. Isn't he talented!
I made Emeril's flourless chocolate cake. It has a pound of chocolate in it! I used an Orange flavour liqueur instead of Kahlua and orange extract instead of vanilla. I was out of parchment paper and I will definaltly use that next time to help take it out of the form. It was soo good and chocolaty!

Super Bowl Quilting, Glow in the Dark, Free Motion Quilting and Food

During the Super Bowl I worked on the binding of my table runner. I am very happy the way it turn out. I used a Glow in the Dark thread for the quilting. You can see it really glows! I tried taking pictures in the dark of my quilt, but it has to be very dark and it's not working, but it glows!


This was my first time using the darning foot on my Janome and doing stippling. It was fun, but I need more practice! I quilted squares in the four patches and in the middle and did the stippling on the white triangles and that was a challenge.



I made the best Buffalo wings using Alton's Brown recipe. You can get it here. First you steam the wings for 10 min and then refrigerate for an hour, then bake 20 min each side on a rack. Toss with the sauce of your choice! Delicious!

I made Double Bake Potatoes that were great with the wings! :)

Happy Sewing!