Last Sunday Morning 2013

"And the Child grew and became strong;

He was filled with wisdom

and the grace of God was upon Him."

Luke 2: 40

December Friendship X and + Blocks

Red, green and pink are the colors for December's Friendship Swap X and + blocks that Susan and I are exchanging. Each month we are highlighting 3 different colors from our pallet. Here are the 4 blocks that I sent to Suz in Australia.

 My friend, from across the pond, mailed me these lovelies!

 Add the two sets together and you have some CHEERFUL CHRISTMAS FUN!

You might like to visit Susan's blog, PatchworknPlay, to see her lovely quilty creations. 

Sunday Morning

Teeny Tiny Quilts

A little elf has been pretty busy whipping up some tiny gifts for some tiny girls...

Oh my, there she is! And is that another one popping up out of that other pocket?!

At 12" X 14" with bitty pockets for little sleeping dollies, the Dream Doll Quilt, makes a sweet gift for tiny girls and their stuff.

 Moda Candy packs are perfect for creating this cute mini doll quilt.

 Pretty in Patchwork Doll Quilts by Cathy Gaubert contains 24 darling quilt projects to keep any elf very busy!

 If you have a little girl on your Christmas list this year, there's still time for a bit more sewing...

 and maybe one of Santa's elves will even show up to help!

 Have a lovely weekend!

Cake Mix Cinnamon Rolls

Looking for an easy yeast cinnamon roll recipe to fix for Christmas morning? You might like this one with a surprising main ingredient: A yellow cake mix!

The recipe makes two pans full of delicious rolls with no kneading needed! 

Here's the recipe:

2 pkgs. active dry yeast (1/4 oz. each)

2 1/2 cups warm water

1 box of yellow cake mix

4 cups flour

1/2 cup butter, melted, divided

1/2 cup sugar (or brown sugar)

2 TBS. cinnamon

1 cup chopped pecans

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water and let it stand about 10 minutes.Set it aside while you get out a large bowl and combine the cake mix and flour. Slowly add the yeast mixture and stir till smooth.Cover the dough and let it rise in a warm place for about an hour or until it is doubled.

Turn the dough onto a heavily floured surface and divide it in half.

Roll out each half into a a rectangle (about 12" x 24")

Now for the really good part! Brush the surface of each dough rectangle with 4 TBS of melted butter.  Combine the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle half over each rectangle of dough. 

I used brown sugar on one rectangle and white on the other, just for fun! (Disclaimer: I may or may not have used more sugar and cinnamon in the pictures above and below!) Sprinkle with pecans, if desired.

Beginning with the shorter side, roll up the dough, enveloping all of that sugary goodness!

Once you have it all rolled up, seal the long edge and  cut the roll into about 9 slices. (Cross a length of thread over itself like scissors for perfect cuts...it's a great trick!)

Place the rolls into a greased pan and let rise till doubled (about 30 minutes). You also could refrigerate at this point and let rise in the morning...just give the rolls extra time to rise.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until golden brown. 

Let the rolls cool for a few minutes and then frost with your favorite frosting...we like cream cheese frosting on ours!

Makes 18 delicious cinnamon rolls. Just looking at the picture makes me want one right now! Merry Christmas from my house to yours. 

Nifty Nine Patches

You just can't beat a good 9-Patch block in my world. Back in February, I began combining 2-inch squares as leader/enders to create 128 Nine Patches. Over the weekend the last one was stitched together!

 Once I get them all pressed and combined with the 128 five-patch leader/ender blocks that I sewed up earlier, I'll have all the makings for another Free Quilt. I can hardly wait to see all these scraps together in one quilt. Stay tuned for that in 2014.

 As i finished up the leader/ender 9 patches, I made up two more for Mary, whose the queen bee for December in the Mid-Century Modern Bee. Quite a size difference, huh!

 Mary's blocks finish up at 15 inches while mine are only 4.5 inches! She plans to combine hers with some basket blocks she is whipping up....(I'm sure looking forward to seeing those baskets!) For fabrics, she requested reproduction-like styles combined with text prints. I'm hoping that she approves of my choices,

 I enjoyed getting into my drawer full of reproduction scraps so much that I decided to make two blocks!

I think that I might try mixing a few repros into my quilts  a little more in the future. How do you feel about reproductions? 

Sunday Morning

"We throw open our doors to God

and discover at the same moment

that He has already thrown open His door to us.

We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand-

out in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory,

standing tall and shouting our praise."

Romans 5:2 The Message

Suzy's Sack

A few weeks ago, while shopping with my friend, Linda, we ran across this cute pattern by This and That. We both snatched it up, thinking it the perfect size to carry keys and phone.

 Yesterday, I finally got around to trying out the clever pattern. It assembled quickly even though I had a little problem deciphering some of the directions. A few more clear illustrations would have probably helped this visual learner. The next bag will go super fast though!

 All in all, I recommend the little pattern. If you own it and haven't made it yet, give it a try.  A couple of hints: Next time, I'll interface the top binding piece. Also, I used a 7 inch zipper rather than the suggested 9 inch zipper and found it to be the perfect size.

Isn't it just the cutest thing!

Sunday Morning

"Christ is faithful as a son over God's house.

And we are His house,

if we hold on to our courage

and the hope of which we boast."

Hebrews 3:6

Wordless Wednesday--Christmas Sewing

Sunday Morning

"God is our refuge and strength,

a very present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear though the 

earth give way,

though the mountains be moved into 

the heart of the sea,

thought it's waters roar and foam,

though the mountains tremble at its swelling."

Psalm 46:1-3

November Friendship X and + Swap

Oh, it's so much fun swapping X and + blocks with Susan every month! Our Friendship Quilt is growing!! If you missed the guidelines for the swap and would like to join us, you can read all about it in this post. It's not too late; you can begin anytime! 

To refresh your memory, here's the Design Seed photo that we are using as our color inspiration for the blocks. Suz and I are taking turns choosing 3 colors to feature in the blocks each month.

For November, Susan chose fall colors of orange, brown and aqua. (Even though in Melbourne, where she lives, it is springtime!) We each make four different blocks plus  an identical twin set to send to the other. Here are my November twinsies...

Susan sent me these gorgeous blocks to mix in with mine!  I just love those orange ducks geese swans birds! (Whatever they are!)

Don't you think that our blocks play well together? Susan thinks my fabrics are more wild than hers...hmmm...I just am not seeing that!

We are up to 16 blocks now, with two months behind us. Our goal is to make 64 blocks for a lap sized quilt. 

Come back the last Friday in December to see what 3 colors I'm choosing for our next set of twinsies. But first, check out Susan's photos and post!If you are participating in the swap, please leave a comment letting me know how it's going as well as a link to your blog post. Here's the Flickr link if you'd like to see more pretty X and + blocks.

More swapping going on here:
http://carla-graceandfavour.blogspot.com/2013/11/friendship-block-friday.html
http://janesfabrics.blogspot.com/2013/11/friendship-x-and-swap.html
http://occasionalpiece.wordpress.com/2013/11/28/friendship-cross-x-block-swap-part-1
http://kristastitched.blogspot.com/2013/11/x-and-friendship-swap.html

Thankful

We Americans celebrate Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday in November every year. But no matter where we live, it's nice to remind ourselves of all that we have been blessed with. As I make my mental list, I count blogging friends among my many pleasures! One in particular comes to mind today. Her name is Anna and she lives in the San Francisco area.

Anna and I don't correspond frequently, but when we do, I am always blown away by her sweet spirit and generosity. Last spring, she told me about a project that she was heading up to make quilts for some special ladies. She wondered if I would mind if she used my Liberated Cross tutorial as the basis for the blocks and the quilts that she had in mind. Of course, I was thrilled. If you are new to my blog, or don't remember (most likely!), this is the quilt that birthed the tutorial, Anniversary Crosses.

I

I had intended to use Anna's own words to tell you what she did with the 1250 cross blocks that were made by her and her friends and collected between April and October, but I accidentally deleted them! Ack! So, instead, I will direct you to the website for Freedom HouseSF. org. 
And here are the 24 beautiful quilts that were given to the Monarch house and newly opened Nest (for minors) to be gifted to the survivors of human trafficking as they endeavor to rebuild their lives in a safe environment. Thank you, Anna, and your friends for the love and hope that these quilts represent. 

Aren't they just gorgeous! These are not tiny quilts. What inspiration! My eyes well up.

I was able to find this final correspondence with regard to Anna's thoughts on the importance of this organization and it's mission, something most of us have little  knowledge of. Please read.

And now, thank you again for offering to post our quilts. As there are so many charities and needs to be fill in this world. The viewers have a chance to hear a calling to help survivors of human trafficking. If not in a direct way, they may look into and support an organization like FreedomHouseSF.org. We need to let the victims know, there are many of us in support of their journey to rebuild their lives. Sadly, we know there are so many more that are still held in bondage and cannot escape. For these fews escaped, may they find hope, encouragement and strength to rebuild.

I'm thankful for you, Anna.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Carla

Sunday Morning

"Trust in Him at all times,

O People;

pour out your hearts to Him,

for God is our refuge."

Psalm 62:8