From the Craft Room :: Kaffe in St. Louis

I think I showed the start of this quilt a while back but I may have only put it on Instagram...either way, here it is all DONE! Yay!

I love scrappy, colorful patchwork quilts and when Stephanie and Katy started sharing this St. Louis 16 Patch block and quilts on IG I knew immediately it was for me.

I've been trying to use more of my stash this year and so yes, all these Kaffe prints AND solids were pulled from what I already had, which thrilled me. I love Kaffe and I've been picking up FQ's here and there with no idea what to do with them but this seemed to be the perfect partner for this large scales prints and vibrant colors. I wish I had a few more darks but my dear husband assured me it looks fine.

 I used this insane rainbow jungle print that I'd had in my stash for forever for the backing (it says "everglades" Alexander Henry 2005 on the selvedge, 2005!!!). Seemed like a good fit. I quilted it in the ditch to keep it easy and not distract from the fabrics.

This finished up about 70"square and took a 1/2 yard for the binding (Kona Ocean). This is a wonderful pattern (find it here on Stephanie's blog) for new quilters, experienced quilters looking for a quick finish and anyone in between.  It's also a great way to use up any random FQ's you have, 2 FQ's make 2 14" blocks.

Not that we need more quilts but I know I'll be making this pattern again!

Stromboli

This is one of my favorite dinners lately: homemade strombli. It's much easier than it looks. I make my own dough but you could just as easily use a tube of pizza crust from the store and it works great too.

The pizza dough recipe I've been loving lately is the Fail Proof Pizza Dough from Lauren's Latest. It's easy and it really does seem fail proof! I use it for pizza too and it's yummy.

So make you dough and let it rise for a couple hours - or you could make it the night before and just stick it out on the counter 45-60 minutes before you need it. Then flatten it out on a greased or silpat lined baking sheet. I use silpats and love em.

Then I layer slices of ham, mozzarella or provolone cheese and turkey pepperoni. I think you could really use any meat/cheese combination that you like. Or that you already have in the fridge ;-)

Then I sprinkle it with this mixture:
2TBSP grated Parmesan cheese
2tsp Italian spice mix
1tsp garlic powder
1/2tsp Aleppo pepper (I get this from Penzey's, spicy without being hot) or crushed red pepper flakes

Then roll it up! I added a few extra mozzarella slices on this one which got a little brown, next time I'd probable wait and add them halfway through the cooking.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes (or until golden brown).

Let cool for about 15 minutes and slice. I serve with marinara sauce (straight from a jar - just keepin it real) on the side for dipping.

The best thing about this, other than how yummy it is, is lots of leftovers! And normally I am not a leftover girl but these are just as good the next day. Which means I cook one dinner but get two nights covered!

WIP Wednesday: Summer sewing for the girl

Well hello! This week has been all about sewing for the girl who has finally realized that she likes mama-made clothes. As in "where are the skirts you said you would sew me YESTERDAY?!" Umm, what? But you know that really I love it. We have a great time picking out fabric and she is really thrilled to wear what I've made - does it get any better than that? Not for me :-)

 This is the SUPER easy and FREE Lazy Days skirt pattern from Oliver & S - I used a half yard of fabric and if your kiddo isn't 40" (!!!) tall with a preference for longer skirts you could even use less. I can't stress enough how fast and easy this pattern is - perfect if you're a beginner!

She also wanted a butterfly dress and I was so excited to have stashed this Lizzy House away last summer, now to decide on a pattern...

And fabric for TWO pillowcases made from this wonderful Tinkerbell fabric (thank you SO much Hancock's - not). I'm going to use Ashley's pillowcase tutorial to clinch my mother-of-the-year status.

Let's pretend I'm going to get all this sewn by next week (teehee) so then I can get back to the three (alright, five) quilts I have already to quilt! Maybe ;-)

Linking up over at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday!

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Just claiming my blog!

Winner!

Thanks so much to everyone who stopped by, entered my giveaway and started following! I loved reading all the answers to my question "What keeps you coming back to a blog?" - the most common answers seemed to be interesting projects, good photos and tutorials. I like all those and getting to know people, I'm naturally curious and it's always fun to feel like you have friends you can connect with, especially about something you love. So thanks again and hopefully you'll stick around and comment now and then :-)

So Mr. Random picked number 61 - Lyanna who blogs at Purple Panda Quilts, I'll be emailing you for your address shortly!

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!

It's one of the most wonderful days of the year: the Sew Mama Sew giveaway day! It's so fun to give and to enter all the wonderful giveaways and I am thrilled to be participating again this year. I have a custom journal cover made by yours truly (with notebook ;-) and a fat quarter set of Anna Maria Horner's Innocent Crush line! Sound like fun? Here are the details...

Giveaway is open from right this minute until Friday May 10th at midnight. I'm happy to ship internationally! Winner will be chosen at random from all entries and posted on Saturday May 11th. If you are a no-reply entrant please make sure your email is included in your comment!

To enter please follow my little blog and leave a comment on this post! I'd love to hear what keeps you interested and coming back to a blog - inspiration? getting to know the writer? tutorials? giveaways? Thanks for stopping by and playing along and good luck :-)

Please stop by the Sew Mama Sew blog to check out all the other amazing giveaways!

A few new pillows.

Just popping in to share a few pillows I made for Blend Fabrics to use at market. I feel really lucky to get to work with their gorgeous fabrics, plus I'm trying out some of what Vanessa taught us at her awesome Photography class on Saturday (most of which I'm still processing..teehee).

So these are panels from the Shell Runner Collection with a few added solids - mostly Kona and one shot cotton.

Love these little feathers!

Next goal : meter the photos to get the white balance better! At least I know I need to right?

These fabrics have a really lovely painterly quality to them and if you've ever tried your hand at watercolors you know it's hard to make it look "easy". These fabrics aren'y my normal palette but I liked the challenge of using them and I have to say I love how these turned out! I realized after I took these that I'd used a 20" pillow in an 18" cover, whoops - but they do look nice and poufy as a result ;-)

Want to make some fun pillows of your own? Katy just a did a great series of pillow tutorials on her blog I'm a Ginger Monkey!