Three Kitchen Fairies

Moments

I used to blame my messy house on the square footage of it. Now, we live in a tiny house and still is not perfectly clean ad tidy.This the line of "stuff" that goes from one side of the sewing/studio/guest room/storage/my closet room. It moves from one side of the room to the other depending on what I need to make at the moment. I could look even worse but I folded the ironing table and hanged the wet towels before I knew I was posting today.

In my bathroom: the eternal naked Barbie, oops! yep, I gave in and the busty dolls (bustier than me for sure) have taken over the girls room. Princesses toothbrushes never ever go back into their place, but still I have to pick my battles choosing to set a good mood for the morning rather than long faces and tears. I'm not posting this to tell you I'm proud of my imperfection but to show you that I'm a naturally imperfect person, I'm just a mother/wife, and I also have issues with so called Martha.

In the living room, my so hated nemesis "the laundry," my sick child and my playful/always happy tiny kitchen fairy.

 
To finish this post, let me confess that life is so crazy hectic around here that even the Tooth Fairy forgot to come last night. I blamed it on the cat...We'll try again tonight, and I'll keep the cat away from the girls' bedroom so she can make the transaction without feeling threatened by our pet.

These are our moments today, not only mine. Still, I can tell we love it just the way it is.

Join Amy and share some of your moments...if you want.
  
  

Pure Joy

I'm happy and done with this project. It's my embroidery for the Hand Stitched Embroidery Swap. I enjoyed do much making this pattern, choosing the right embroidery hoop (I'm that kind of picky,) and stitching from a couple of hours at my heart's content.

The making of the pattern brought some other observations along such as my need to get in touch with my drawing skills. And needless to say (but I say it anyway,) I fell in love with it again!!!  I hope my secret partner likes it as much as I do. This piece is going to be especially hard to let go. The good thing is that this is a pattern available now.

Yes! So if you want to give it a try my Embroidery Pattern 1: "Joy" is available at my Etsy store. It's in the form of a PDF file for easy delivery thanks to Jose (Mr. TKF). I hope you love it as much as I do.

 

Head, shoulders, knees, and toes.

When you wake up to a dark rainy day, and still you have to go out with three little girls in rain boots, it feels like is not going to be an easy day. I dropped off my girls at their three different destinations and started with my list of errands. First stop the post office. There I was, the wind blew my umbrella's inside out and I'm getting wet. But to my surprise I got a little something in the mail that has totally made my day.

My teeny tiny quilt made by Hanies arrived from Berlin!! Isn't beautiful?? I thought it will take much longer for it to arrive. It took only one week. Thank you so much Tacha!! I love it. It's about 6X6 inches, really teeny tiny. Look at the back:

Incredible cute, and beautifully design. It's like two quilties in one. I love these little robots doing the head shoulders, knees, and toes routine. Tacha also included some cute hippo fabric in the envelope. I saw this fabric before but I never found it at my local fabric stores, I love it.

Now, I have to go back to my day. In my "to do" list:

 Some embroidery for the "Hand Stitched" Embroidery Swap, and then "Reading Workshop" at my daughter's first grade classroom.

Enjoy your weekend!!
 

Live and learn

Well, here it is. I'm not completely happy about how this quilt is looking. I was confident that the fabric I had for the border was enough and it turned out it wasn't. The sections from my beloved "quilt maker's gift" fabric run vertically instead of running from selvage to selvage, and there wasn't enough, and I already have the blocks sewn together. Then I had this wonderful idea of mixing it with some other fabrics in order to make a border. Do I love it?? Not totally. I had this idea in my ming for a perfect quilt (perfect for me,) and now I feel upset about it. Of course the fabric left over is less than enough...Any sugestions??
  

Quilting, thrifting, and swaping.

The bears paws blocks are coming nicely along. I'm working on them during any tiny spare time that I can find. Although I know that I'm entitle to some sort of recreation or just a break during the day, I feel terribly guilty to sew the afternoon away while the girls are doing something else around the house. Then they go to bed, and I feel exhausted...I guess I'll have to work a bit more on my this issue and enjoy myself a bit more. I made these blocks like one or two per day. A total of nine blocks will be perfect for a throw size quilt, with a nice sashing added, and then the border. So far it's looking very fall-ish and very traditional for my taste. This is the first time that a quilt turns out so serious but I guess that's OK as long as it doesn't become the rule.

In the "findings" category today: not one or two but seven, seven yards of this quilters cotton fabric. I got it at the thrift store for $7. There is plenty for quilt backing, lounge pants for me, and even some for swaping if you're interested...

In the swap category: Yes! I made it in time for this swap organized by Ariel. I got my secret partner and I got to make my mosaic with my favorite pictures from flickr. I'm really excited about this one!! I'm planning on making my own embroidery pattern, and I also want to use a couple of pretty fabrics for this one. I also signed up for the Teeny Tiny Mini Swap organized by the famous quiltinkimmie. I got to swap with Hanies in Germany!! She has a lovely photostream, doesn't she?? I guess I just busied myself in terms of sewing.

I'll soon be back with a sneak peek for my swap partners, and more craftiness. Now, I'm going to get the girls from the bus stop and get started with dinner. Happy sewing everyone!!

 

Bear paws

It's starting go get cold around here in Michigan. This week I've been sorting the girls' clothes, putting away the summer clothes, and taking out their winter gear. We're back to sweaters, woolly skirts and tights. At the same time, I've been enjoying the making of these "bear paws." I'm making a throw size quilt for us with the fabric from the "Quilt makers' gift."There is something special about this quilt.  It took me so many years to get used to this country, to this weather... yesterday I realized that it's been 13 years since I moved from my little beach town to here, and with the years I have learned to love this place. I feel inspired by my Michiganian surroundings, its legends, its traditions. All of the sudden the chilly mornings make me happy.

Quilt Around the World

Happy Saturday!! I'm just browsing around flickr, looking at all your lovely quilts and quilt blocks, looking at all the wonderful quilting bees and block swaps that are going on at the moment.

I made this mosaic with some of the blocks I already made for Summer Sadie's Quilt Around the World . The group is already half way through!! Thanks to the encouragement and organization from her lovely host, the quilts in this group are looking amazing. I receive a package of blocks almost every week to work with it for a few days. I'm having so much fun planning what to make for each participant and looking at all the wonderful creations other participants have done. The down side of this quilting bee is that it will be done sooner or later...I was thinking that maybe I can participate in another quilting bee. But they're in such high demand that it seem impossible to be in time for signing up. Who knows when I'll catch a train like this again. I already check the list of "up coming" (or already gone) quilting bees, and the sign ups are already closed. So dear Summer Sadie: I'm hopeful that some day you want this group re-united to go for a second round

PS. If you have any information on up coming quilting bees, let me know, ok?? Who knows maybe someday I come up with my own quilting bee.

Starbucks style rainbow cookies

First of all, I want to thank all of you my blog friends and readers for your amazing response to my Wagon Wheel Tutorial. I was so happy to see that my post was added to a bunch of tutorial listings and to some other quilting blogs. I was also feature on Whip Up, and I got my button for my side bad. Thank you!! After taking so much inspiration from your blogs and you  flickr photostreams I felt eager to contribute somehow to this quilty/crafty cyber world.

On another subject, today I'm posting about this intent to make rainbow cookies Starbucks style. Why make them instead of buying them from starbucks? Well, one of the fairies is allergic to eggs. If there is something frustrating for an allergic person is to know that they are not allowed in anyway to try something that looks so yummy. Imagine that frustration on a child... This is our third batch and the taste and texture are getting closer and closer with each intent. They aren't as chewy and soft as the originals but they aren't too hard either. These cookies are perfect for dunking. Here is the recipe in case you have an allergic person in your family as well, or just in case you want to give them a try:

1 cup of soy butter, room temperature

1/2 cup of granulated sugar

1 cup of packed brown sugar

3 cups of unbleached flour

2 teaspoons of baking soda

4 teaspoons of vanilla extract

I cup of M&M's

a tiny bit of water or soy milk

Pre-heat your oven at 350F degrees. In a large bowl, mix the butter and sugar until creamy. Add the vanilla, the baking soda, and then the flour little by little. If the mix is too dry add a bit of water or soy milk. Then add the M&M's and fold the dough. To form the cookies, roll small dough balls and put the in cookie sheet. Personally, I prefer to use some parchment paper on top of the cookie sheet. Then flatten your cookie dough a bit with the help of a fork. Put them in the oven and bake for 10 minute.

This is a recipe that's still in the making. I'm open to any suggestions about how to make these cookies softer. So far, I think next time I can try some apple sauce and maybe a bit of cinnamon, and let's see. These fairies of mine are really faithful that will make the recipe right pretty soon. They  really want to share this kind of cookie with their sister. So keep your fingers crossed...

Wagon Wheel Tutorial

After making about forty something of these circles, some of you asked me how are they made. Well, the technique that I use is a mix of techniques, tricks, and templates that I found along the way. I  refined some of the steps to make them my own way. I tried really hard to follow some tutorials I found; but to tell you the truth, I needed to find a way to make it simple in order to make so many of them. Here is how I make my wagon wheels.

First you need your download these templates, print them, and cut them out in card stock. If you are planning to make more than nine circles I suggest you cut a few more. They do wear out after so much tracing and ironing.

Each wheel has twelve spokes. Choose your fabrics in three groups of four: dark colors, mediums and light. This will give your wheel a nice color balance.

Trace your twelve spokes and cut them along the lines.

Organize the spokes into two half circles of six spokes each.

 

Now you're ready to start sewing your spokes. Leaving a quarter of and inch seam allowance, sew six spokes to make a half circle.

You should end up with two half circles like this. Don't forget to press all your seam allowances in the same direction. Don't let any folds "eat" away part of your half circle when pressing. You'll need all the fabric in your spokes to make a perfect circle.

This is the step that will make your circles perfect. Place the middle line of your square ruler in the middle seam of your half circle, align the as perfect as can be. Then cut any remaining fabric (if any) outside of your ruler. It may be a thin wedge of fabric or a bit more. Do the same with your other half circle.

Put your two half circles right sides together, place the pins and sew them together to make a whole wheel. Remember to leave a quarter inch seam allowance.

Press your seams all in the same direction.

And there you have your wagon wheel.

Now take a 13 by 13 inch square of fabric to make your block. Fold it in fourths so that you get two crossing lines in the middle of it. Press it and then put it aside.

Put your finished wagon wheel facing down on your ironing board and center your card stock template. You can make it by eye since there is no more that a quarter of an inch left out side the big circle template. As even as possible spray a bit of light starch at the edge of your wheel.Then press the edges over the template with your warm iron. The edge of your wheel will feel a bit hard and it will stick to the card stock. That's why you only need a bit of starch, you don't want to rip your template.

Un-stick the template from your wheel, and there it is: a prefect circular edge for an easy applique

Unfold your 13in by 13in fabric. Align the crossing lines in your square of fabric and the crossing lines in your wheel and pin the wheel to your square like so, and put it aside.

Now take your small circle template and trace it onto a piece of fabric for the center of your wheel. Cut it leaving a quarter of an inch allowance.

Spray some light starch on the edge of your circle and press the edges over your template like you did with your wheel.

Un-stick your template, fold your fabric circle in half and press...

fold it again like a cheeky beak.

 Then opened and center your small circle by aligning the crossing lines in the middle with the rest of the crossing lines in your block

You can either hand stitch or machine sew with an applique stitch. I personally prefer to hand  stitch....

and there you have it.

It wasn't too hard, was it??

Let me know if I need to explain better any of the steps.

Enjoy!!

PS: I want to thank my dear Jose, for helping me with the PDF file for this tutorial.

Edit: Here's the husband typing... If you have trouble printing (the images are too light) try to download the "dark" version at "www.threekitchenfaires.com/WagonWheelTutorialDark.pdf". Both versions printed OK on my machine, hopefully this will solve your issue...

All in good time

I have a stash of fabric that is not as big as other quilters'/crafters'. My stash has pretty little cuts that I found and bought just in case, and some leftovers. There is this other part of my stash that is made out of treasures. Yards and yard of fabrics I've been keeping for a special occasion, or that I haven't cut through just because some of those fabrics are too precious to be used. In that special pile of wonderful fabrics I have this:

"The Quilt-maker's Gift" fabric by Gail De Marcken for Benartex.  Have you ever heard about this book?? It's one of the fairies' favorite books. The illustrations are incredible beautiful and the story is such a lesson of generosity, compassion, and quilty-happiness. The fat quarters on top of it are the fabrics I'm choosing to mix with the Benartex fabric to make a throw size quilt for us. 

I've been holding up to this fabric for a couple of years. Then this summer while working at this block for the ATQB, and after our visit to the Sleeping Bear Dunes I felt inspired. I decided it was time to make something pretty out of it. The block I'm using this time is the bear paw. I'm kind of having a obsession with bears and bear stories. In both stories the bears are such loyal, loving, and grateful characters. The mother bear in the sleeping bear legend is full of hope waiting for her bears to finally get to the lake shore...All these elements makes a perfect quilt for covering my girls in those cold Michigan winter afternoons ahead of us. For the backing of the quilt I have a nice flannel printed with the I spy illustration that comes inside the jacket of the book.

So that's me and my special fabrics, I just have to wait to for the perfect project even if it takes years. 

On that note...guess what, I got these fabrics

 

Yummy Mendocino fabric...Did you know mermaids are fairies too? We read that they were the angels that fell in the water when some other bad, bad angels where expelled out of heaven.

I guess I'll cut through these in a couple more of years. In the meantime I'll spread them around me and look at them with fascination and them I'll fold them again to put them away...

Up North.

Last week we went on a vacation. Here in Michigan people go "up north" during summer, and when they say "up north" the tour usually includes the Sleeping Bear Dunes, any sandy beach at the edge of Michigan Lake, Mackinac Island, among other places. This "up north" pilgrimage is so popular around her that we can actually find our local people in the same hotels or towns. As we headed "north," one of my best friend just came back; and another friend was driving up there too, as well as  my husband's boss.  Although the weather was kind of cold we still got to enjoy a lot. We took advantage of the warmest day of the week (72F degrees) to claim the Bear Dunes, and to enjoy a day at the beach with the girls. Isabel (my four year old) was warning us not to dig so deep so we don't wake up the mama bear, she would eat us, you know?? 

 

One of the marinas at the edge of the lake....

We spent the rest of the days visiting little picturesque little towns and independent shops and galleries. By independent I mean that there isn't much of the regular chain restaurants and stores.

 We truly got a taste of pure Michigan goodness. Among my favorites The Grand Traverse Pie Company:

they have the best peach cobbler ever...

We drove a lot during these days and while at that I kept knitting my granny squares.  The funny thing is that I have no idea what they'll finally be good for.

I put the first twenty five together and I love how it looks. If it turns out to be a pillow cover and would put it in one of the fairies beds. Still, Ofelia insists in covering her legs with it while watching TV, so who knows, I'll keep knitting until I run out of yarn and let's see.