Four

The Monster turns 4 today.  Holy crap, 4! She is a wild and crazy girl. She has two positions - awake and asleep. If her body isn't moving her mouth is. That makes her about a perfect combination of her parents.

Although she did actually ask me for a quilt last week - for the first time no less - and she has added quilter to her career aspirations (along with doctor, paleontologist, rockstar, vet, jogger, and sometimes Spiderman) this was the last quilt I made specifically for her.

A quilter carries around a lot of guilt when she doesn't get to make her own first baby a quilt. I spent 9 weeks on bed rest before she arrived in a flurry of doctors. Yes, she was gifted quilts, but it wasn't the same. So, for her first birthday I made this Monster Eye Spy.

It actually started as a challenge among some quilty friends. We exchanged charms and FQs for the eye spy fabrics. And we set ourselves the additional challenge to add the alphabet. After months, literally, of trying to make it work by using one letter to one fabric I came up with this design. The colour changes work, I think, but I did pick the wrong fabric for the letters. They get lost when viewing the quilt as a whole. Ah, lessons in value... But they are totally visible to The Monster and I up close. We play with it frequently still.

Happy Birthday Monster!

If It Wasn't For Her

Today it is all about my Nanny. And in two weeks it will still be all about my Nanny.

It may come as a big surprise to you, but I am not so independently wealthy that I get to do nothing but make ice cream and write blog posts. I only wish. Alas, I am in the office 4 days a week, freelancing and teaching on the side, and oh yeah, raising my two little ones. I could not do any of this without my Hubby, of course. And none of it would be possible without our Nanny.

Emily watches the girls while I'm at the office.  She is outside with them everyday, regardless of the weather, she brings them treats like ice cream bubbles, she cleans the house (even taking out the garbage), and most importantly to me, she bakes. Not only am I happy that my girls get even more time in the kitchen, but it is glorious to come home at the end of the day and have fresh cookies waiting for you.

The two most used cookbooks for cookie recipes are good ol' Martha and, more frequently, Julie's One Smart Cookie. The girls are never afraid to try a new recipe, despite The Monster's usual request to bake chocolate chip anything. When I came home the other day though, these raisin cookies greeted me at the door. My first question was which book they came from?

No book, it was Grandma's recipe.  And Emily has made it so many times she has it memorized. She graciously allowed me to share it here.

To be honest, I'd never thought I would obsess over raisin cookies. But these are moist, sweet, and chewy, with a hint of spice. A chocolate chip fan myself, I can safely say these are one of the best cookies I've ever had. Thank-you Emily, and thank-you Emily's Grandma.

Ridiculously Good Raisin Cookies

makes 4-5 dozen

2 cups raisins

1 cup water

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

4 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In a small sauce pan boil water and raisins together for 5 minutes. Cool slightly and stir in baking soda.  Set aside.

3. Cream together butter and sugar. Add in eggs and vanilla.  Combine well. Stir in raisins then add in dry ingredients.

4. Drop by teaspoonfuls on a greased cookie sheet. Bake 12-15 minutes.

Workshop in Progress - June 2

So, tell me your pattern pet peeves.

Working in the improv style as I tend to do, I read very little patterns. (I also hardly ever cook with a recipe.) But, I promised a pattern for the Five quilt. I'm working on it and I wonder what folks love and hate about the patterns they use.

Sashing or no sashing? It is a common question in the workshop. What do you think about Lee's blocks?

Check out Tonya's blue and brown strip quilt! She was showcased in the Workshop last week for her process post. Now that quilt is done. And she's worried about the quality? Looks fantastic to me.

In teh interest of play time, I can't tell you how excited I am that Lesly found a wonderful tool on line. The Patchwork Pattern Maker takes your photos and turns them into a simple pattern.I realize we could all pixelate our own photos to do this, but this tool itself is so, so awesome.

And finally, somehow I missed this post from Katie a few weeks back. But it is perfect for our goals of sharing process. Man, I am so excited at how many of you are sharing doodles and sketches now. It is wonderful to see how we all think.

Lest I leave you photo-less this week, I am including this pic from our visit to Asparagus Festival this weekend. A small break in the rain/snow to run around in a field and eat asparagus!

Five

This quilt could have been called Rainbow Sherbet. Or perhaps a light lemon sorbet. You know that fancy dining convention of serving sorbet in the middle of the multi-course meal to cleanse the palate? Well, this is that quilt for me.

After finishing Roots I needed a little break.  Something light, something easy, something fun. With a baby shower to attend this past weekend, for the new baby of a dear cousin, I whipped up this little quilt. 

You see, I am 5 days older than this particular cousin. Growing up I also loved to point out that I was 5 days smarter, better looking, funnier, taller, and stronger than him.  I stopped teasing him when he grew to well over 6 feet tall and could kick my butt when we wrestled. Damn dancer's legs on him!

This little gem was easy to make, but a lot of fun.  You could easily swap out the appliqued #5 with a letter of choice. I fused the number on and satin stitched around it. Otherwise the rest of it is simple piecing. The back was a little polka dot number, as was the binding.

Free pattern coming out on Friday.