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11/4/12

Granola Cookies




Another fabulous weekend at home... the weather was almost summer like. I spent a few hours gardening with my husband. And after the little workout, I was in the mood to do some baking. I had all the ingredients at hand so I decided to make  a batch of granola cookies.They are utterly delicious! 
Don't be intimidated by the long list of ingredients. They are actually very easy to make (similar to oatmeal cookies), but with the added goodness of whole grains and nuts. 

Granola Cookies
Makes about 2 dozen

Ingredients:
2 Cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup flax seed meal
1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup almonds coarsely chopped
3/4 cup (1 and 1/2 sticks) butter softened
1 cup packed brown sugar (I prefer dark-brown sugar, but you can use light-brown if you prefer)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup dried cranberries



Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius). In a large bowl stir together oats, flour, wheat germ, flax seed meal, coconut flakes, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, sunflower seeds, almonds and set aside.
2. Using an electric mixer at medium speed beat together the butter and the sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla extract. Reduce speed to low and slowly add the oat mixture and continue mixing until well incorporated. Mix in the cranberries.
3. Using and ice cream scoop, spoon the dough onto baking sheets covered with parchment paper. Using your fingers flatten the dough slightly. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
4. Remove from the oven and let cookies cool slightly on the baking sheet. Then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. 

Enjoy!

Martha.

11/3/12

New On My Bookshelf


I received a very special package in the mail today: a copy of the amazing book Sunday Morning QuiltsVicky @ Vicky K Creating hosted a giveaway of the book a few weeks ago and I was the lucky winner (I have been very lucky lately, I hope is doesn't stop). The book is signed by one of the authors! I'm a book hoarder collector and this is my first book signed by the author. This is my new little treasure. Vicky was so kind to also include in her package a pattern for a log cabin quilt, such a lovely surprise... I have to say, I spent a few hours today drooling over the beautiful projects in the book. I can't wait to start making something from it.
**Thank you Vicky for your lovely presents.**

Martha.

10/31/12

Blogger's Quilt Festival

Amy's Creative Side

After much hesitation, I decided join the fun to enter the Blogger's Quilt Festival at Amy's Creative Side. I haven't been quilting for a long time. Just this summer I completed my very first quilt: This is a very special quilt and I'm very excited to be sharing it with you. I made the quilt as a gift for my goddaughter's 2nd birthday. She is learning her ABC's and I wanted to make her something she would use and learn from it at the same time. I got the inspiration for the quilt from  this book (the book featured crib bumper/baby book and I thought it would be fun to make into a quilt).


The letters were hand drawn by me and machine appliqued to the quilt...


... and I used this super fun ice cream cone fabric for the backing. When my goddaughter saw it she kept pointing at it and saying "ice cream, ice cream!"

Finished Quilt Measurements: 35 X 35 Inches

Best Category: Baby Quilt

Quilted by: Me

Thank you Amy for this opportunity. I'm so inspired by all the wonderful quilts that had been entered. I'm having so much fun looking at the amazing work that everyone has created.

Martha

Slow Bloggers Linky Party

 

I'm very excited to be hosting this month's linky party for the Slow Bloggers organized by the very talented Catherine @ Knotted Cotton.
Knotted Cotton

Do you sometimes feel like the demands of your job, household chores or life in general keep you from sewing those beautiful creations you had envisioned? Juggling everyday life maintains you so occupied that you don't post in your blog as often as you would like? You are not alone, like us there are other bloggers out there that feel the same way. Come and join us on our Slow Bloggers movement and share with us what you have been up to this month. Weather you were very productive and you want to share all of your accomplishments or just want to tell us what has been keeping you away from your sewing machine, we'd love to hear.


This is what has been happening this month during my Weekend Doings: I finished a quilt (the pattern is call Jacob's Ladder), I finished the quilt top of the blue patchwork quilt that I wish to give to my dad for Christmas, tried my hand at English Paper Piecing (and loved it), and published my first tutorial

So for this month's Slow Bloggers meeting, link up your post telling us what your have been up to. Please include the Slow Bloggers button on your post, you can find it here, support others Slow Bloggers by leaving them a comment. The linky stays open for a week. 

Have a great week everyone!

Martha.




10/30/12

The Traveling PicStitch Blog Hop


Today is my stop on The Traveling PicStitch Blog Hop organized by Laura from Quokka Quilts and Katy from The Littlest Thistle. Laura and Katy are on a road trip around Arizona, Utah and Nevada and  they are getting inspiration from the beautiful scenery they get to experience on their trip to do some stitching along the way. And that is exactly the idea behind this blog hop: to use color from a photograph as inspiration to create an English Paper Pieced block.
The inspiration for my block is this picture I took last spring at the beach. I love the light and subtle blues and grays. I have never used a palette builder before so I decided to give it a try (I have to say: it is quite fun). I used the palette generator from Play Crafts and these are the results that I got:


Then I moved  on to the fun part: choosing the fabrics. I found in my fabric stash these fabrics that matched the color palette very well (or close enough) and as a bonus they have a nautical theme.  Perfect!


The design of my block is a variation of this star rose block. I started drawing the template with a star rose in mind, but halfway through I realized the pentagons in the center were larger than the original star rose I had seen, so I decided to keep going and call my design a happy accident.I haven't done much paper piecing before (a few months ago I haven't even heard of it) but I find this technique super fun. I'm already planning a large project involving paper piecing.


And this is my finished block. I guess I'm going to call it a star, it is going to become a pillow. I already appliqued it to a piece of natural linen and began  the quilting.  I will share it you once I finished it.



You can find more details about The Traveling PicStitch Blog Hop here, including the schedule with all the blogs participating, the sponsors, a Flickr group and information about a linky party a the end of November.
Please take some time to check out Monday's post from Beth @ Plum and June and Wednesday's turn is Nannette @ YeahImadethat (sorry the link on the schedule is broken, maybe when she sees this she will fix it so we can stop by her blog).
Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope to see you again soon!

*Update: You can see the finished pillow using the star block here.*
Martha.

10/28/12

Lately


Today I got up early to see the sun rise. I wanted to savor my Sunday as much as possible. I mostly spent the day at home hanging out with my husband and our dogs (Mini and Mona). I picked lavender  from the garden, worked on some sewing projects and an English Paper Piecing project for the Traveling PicStitch Blog Hop; my stop is this upcoming Tuesday.
(As I'm writing this a small earthquake just rattled us. Oh that is the 'beauty' of living in California! an earthquake can sneak up on you at any time!)
 
Did you have a nice weekend?
I wish you have a lovely week!

Martha

10/27/12

My New Fabric


I have been trying to build my fabric stash. As you know, it takes time to build a good collection of fabrics. But this week I was very lucky and my collection grew a little bit. My wonderful husband suggested I should go to Jo-Ann. we were running errands near the store and he said -You haven't been at Jo-Ann in a while, do you want to stop by?- ( It had only been less than a week, but that is a long time for me).Well, that is an offer I can't  resist! I ended up buying these beautiful fabrics in  the green and brown tones. Then a package arrived in the mail... more fabric. Last week I won a giveaway hosted by Beth from Plum and June and sponsored by Fat Quarter Shop. I was so excited when Beth e-mailed me that I had won the gift card, but then I couldn't decide what to get... I ordered these charm packs of fabrics that had been on my wish list for a while. The are so beautiful, I love how they look all the pieces of fabric neatly stacked together.
Thank you Beth (Plum and June), the Fat Quarter Shop and of course to my wonderful husband, you made me very happy this week.

Martha.