Desert Rose

This time of year, the weather is unpredictable, dry, and windy. I am not such a fan of the wind, it makes hair difficult to style, and seems to get kiddos wound up.  It also blows a lot of dust around in my neck of the woods.  The best thing about this time of year is the sun is coming up sooner, which I love! I joke that I am solar powered; I don't know if I'd make it up north because of the short winter days :P.

This quilt is perfect for this time of year.  It has a soft, "dusty" feel to it.  The colors are all muted and calm, and yet they still depict work that needs to be done out on the ranch.  When pregnant with my son, I was on a mission to finish as many of the fabric packs I had accumulated as possible.  This was one more on the list that I wrapped up.  The fabric line is called "Queen of the Ranch", and I didn't realize at the time that it was the same line as the panel I used in my "Cowgirl up" quilt. Clearly, I really liked this fabric line.

For this quilt, I decided to do a quick random-square pattern with the charm pack and then added borders in the rose pattern from the collection and the dusty-pink paisley pattern, both of which I had purchased extra yardage for this project. On the brown border, I added corner-stone blocks simply because I had one extra square from the charm pack and I just couldn't let it go to waste.

I love the fabric I used on the back, and it's perfect backing fabric because it's such a big print. The horse depicted looks just like my first horse, Sunny. Miss him so much! Maybe that's the other reason I like this quilt so much; it reminds me of him. I did a simple cross-hatch stitch on the squares, and on the border I had a little fun with some FMQ.  Along with the swirls (which I feel I am no good at) I added paisleys and roses (which turned out well).  I finished it with the brown roses fabric for the binding, which provided a nice frame. I was really happy with how it turned out considering I was working within the limits of what was available in my stash. This is, and probably always will be, one of my favorite quilts.

Baby F's Blanket Wrap

My cousin in Washington was expecting her first child and I wanted to make something a little different   for her baby; something warmer. I found this pattern in a magazine, but for the life of me, I cannot remember which magazine.

It was super easy to make, though.  I just took two pieces of flannel and put batting in between. Basically, it's a whole-cloth quilt.  Instead of binding in a traditional fashion, I sandwich-sewed face-to-face with the batting on one side, leaving a small opening so I could flip it right side out. Finally, I stitched it shut and it was ready to quilt. I did a simple meander on the whole thing to complete the quilt.

The last step was to make it easy to wrap the baby in.  I folded one corner in about 4 inches, and sewed it together. Then, rather than cut it, I folded it flat and tacked it down.  That way, it could be turned into a flat blanket later on, but the bulge wouldn't bother the baby while they used it as a bundle.

This was a fun and easy project to make.  If it weren't so warm down here, I would make more of them for friends.  It was a challenge to find the flannel, but Quilters Market never disappoints. This was a fun little project!

Holiday Sugar Cookies

Every holiday, it doesn't matter which, invokes the desire for sugar cookies! They're quick, easy, make the house smell good, and there are smiles all around. Add a good frosting and maybe some decorative features and you can serve these bad boys at parties, cookie exchanges, or an afternoon snack at home.

The recipe I use the most actually comes from the Pilsbury Cook Book I have.  I have tried a lot of different recipes, and I like this one because it tastes real buttery and it makes more dough, which creates more cookies. More cookies = more yumminess.


Rolled Sugar Cookies

- 1 c sugar
- 1 c butter, softened
- 3 Tbs milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 egg
- 3 c all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt

- frosting recipe of your choice


Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the egg and vanilla, then the milk, baking powder, and salt. Add the flour and mix until all ingredients are incorporated and the dough is sticking together and not to the side of the bowl. Remove from mixer, cover, and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, heat the oven to 400 degrees and prepare your surface for rolling the dough out. Remove about 1/3 of the dough and roll it out on the floured surface. I like my cookies thick and soft so I roll out the dough to no less than 1/4-inch thickness. Play with this a little to determine what you prefer.

Use the cookie cutters of choice to cut out your shapes and place them on a cookie sheet about 1-inch apart. Continue rolling and cutting until all the dough has been used. Bake 5 - 9 minutes, depending on your oven and how crispy you like your cookies (we like them really soft so I bake for 6 - 7 minutes). Remove them from the cookies sheets and allow the cookies to cool before handling or frosting them.

In these pictures I was playing with neon food coloring, hence the wacky colors, and I was playing with some of my decorator kit bits. Not the prettiest and hopefully I'll get more pictures at the next holiday because you know I'll be making more sugar cookies! Until then, I am sure the kids will bring themselves to eat these delicious little treats.