quilts for ashley & rhett

so i have been SO excited and longing to write this post- its been in the works since june!!!!!

ever since i found out that ash was expecting sweet little rhett, i had decided that i wanted to make her a quilt for her. now i should say, i had only attempted one quilt before and lets just say its neatly folded, half done, in the top of my closet. but i wanted to do something super special, and i couldnt think of anything much better than a homemade quilt- something that says cozy, time, friendship, thought, planning, effort, excitement, and home. i decided that i couldn't wait until she found out the gender, so i found some beautiful grey fabrics. i love them- and with a cute pattern i found, i laid out a perfect quilt. my friend jamie (who is thebomb.com by the way, the most patient and helpful teacher there ever could be), spent hours with me, teaching me techinques, picking out the right type of fabrics, helping me plan and cut and order batting. we went with a super thick batting and a minky fabric backing, making this the perfect quilt to lay out on ashley's hardwood floors for rhett to play on, or take on the road for a picnic, or throw in the bag to go to a friend's house- whatever, but perfectly suited to serve as a play mat. it turned out fantastic, soft, thick, and simple. i loved it.

i was thrilled by how it was all coming together. then, we found out she was going to have a boy! and that day i decided that little rhett needed not only a grey quilt, but something to match his room. so i went to shops looking for navys and whites and little bursts of lime green. i picked out another pattern and was excited to learn even more technique from jamie.

let me just say, to all you fearful readers out there thinking "a quilt?! i could never do that!" you could. easy peasy. with some time (ok a lot of time) and some willingness to learn and mess up and try again, you could do this. especially with the aid of an awesome friend like jamie. quilting is competely within the reach of anyone who wants to try. in fact, i liked quilting so much, i ended up making both mine and nathan's moms quilts for christmas! (more on that later!!). so, reader, check out my favorite quilting blog, www.modabakeshop.com, pick out a pattern, and get to work. i'd love to see what you make!!!

my new apron! (and a buttermilk chocolate pound cake with a coffee glaze)

so after a few days, and a whole day of sewing, i finished my apron! i went over to jamie's after church and she helped me with a whole lot (we only had to rip out the seams twice!). after getting most of it done, we pinned it and i brought it home to finish up. while nathan was doing the dishes for us, i finished it up. and here's the result!

pretty cute, huh? i felt so successful- i'm going to add pockets later, but for now, i think it was pretty good!

here's a pic of it laid out.

of course, making an apron made me want to wear an apron. which meant, i needed something to bake! i had been invited to dinner tomorrow night, so i thought a dessert would be a nice addition. i didnt want to have to go to the grocery store, so i only could work with what i had in the fridge. one thing i was trying to get rid of was some leftover buttermilk from some scones i made this morning for breakfast. so i started researching on google for some ideas.  i came across this recipe and thought it would be great. now, the one thing i did different was in terms of the butter. i only had one stick (1/2 cup) and i needed 1 cup, so i used 1/2 cup oil as well. also, i added chocolate chips in (as well as the melted chocolate).   

my workstation :)

this was also a great opportunity to try out my new spatula, a gift from mom for my birthday. isnt it just the cutest thing ever? its sparkly & pink!

mixing it up

a new apron (especially one that i made!) makes everything better

yummy yummy yummy!

here's the recipe i used with my modifications:

Ingredients:

6 ounces (⅞ cup) semi sweet chocolate chips (plus the rest of the bag of chips)

½ cup boiling water

1 cup butter (I used 1stick butter, ½ cup oil)

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a large Bundt pan.

Melt chocolate chips in microwave in 30 second increments

In a large bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter, oil, and sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time. Then beat in vanilla and melted chocolate.

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Add flour mixture to chocolate mixture alternately with buttermilk, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Add the rest of the chips when done.

Pour batter into tube pan and bake for up to 90 minutes, checking after 60 minutes with a knife or toothpick inserted in the center. Remove from the oven when tester comes out clean.

then, i added a coffee glaze:

i kind of made this up. i dissolved instant coffee into milk, and then mixed that into powdered sugar. i didnt measure.

i'll put up a picture of that tomorrow. 

thank jamie for all your help!

my new baby!

ok, well, not quite a BABY. but, my new pride and joy :)

this weekend, my awesome mom treated me to a little bit early birthday present...a sewing machine! 

i have enjoyed sewing even since i was a little girl, and while in college, a few friends and i joined the local quilting guild and would spend our evenings sewing (by hand) quilts and odds and ends (side note- i never finished anything). 

since looking around on pinterest (and getting a late but INCREDIBLE wedding gift), i got inspired a few months ago and decided that i wanted to take up sewing again. so, what a perfect time to get a sewing machine!

mom, jamie, teague, and i packed up saturday morning and headed to the quaint local sewing shop, The Scarlet Thread (i highly recommend it if you are looking for a sewing store in mcdonough). after looking around for quite some time, i settled on some fabric for my first project (jamie had already helped gather the machine and things i would need- shes the best!).

for a machine, a baby lock came highly recommended. its funny, normally i'm a big researcher and i try to know everything i can about something, but this time, i just trusted jamie (so that was a pretty big deal for me!). i haven't used it yet, but just getting it out of the box was so exciting!

so here's to a source of infinite blog posts! i'll keep you posted once i get all the tape off and sew something :)