A little bit of food coloring goes a long way....

PI usually post on here about my sewing projects, but this event was so funny that I needed to post it so that you can laugh along with me over this mishap.

I have been toying with the idea of canning some curd to add to the jam repertoire.  I love the taste of citrus curd in my desserts and the "brit" in me loves it on toast.  I made a batch of lemon curd for a wedding I did recently and had a bunch leftover.  So, in my scientific nature, I decided to bring the batch to work and have folks taste it, and then make a new batch, can it, and open it some time later for my guinea pigs to taste again to see if it held up in quality after being canned.  It was met with rave reviews from the folks at work.  Many of them had never tasted lemon curd before, so it was such a joy watching their eyes widen and then grab additional spoons to eat out of the container.  I only had one tough critic that felt it was too sour and sweet, but everyone else really appreciated the bright, fresh taste.

Luckily, one of the ladies at work loved the taste of curd so much that she bought two jars of it from me already.  I explained the conundrum and asked her to report back on the curd quality from the jar.  I also had a few other volunteers to participate.  It is always nice to have folks around who love to try new things!

Well, today I found myself with time to experiment, so I headed off to find lemons to make curd to can.  I bought a large bag of lemons and two dozen eggs.  I got a wild hair on the way to the store and decided to try lime curd too.  I wasn't sure how many limes I needed, as they are a bit smaller than lemons, so I bought a big bag for experimenting.  I had made lime curd before in school, but it had been a while and I couldn't find the recipe we used.  So, I just decided to use the same recipe I used for the lemon, but substituting lime and increasing the number to get the proper amount of juice.  So I cooked away at my stove, starting first with the lemons, as I was certain about that recipe.  I was able to make 7 jars out of the first batch....NICE!  The second batch yielded 6 jars and a 7th that was 3/4 full.  Not bad.  I need the curd for tomorrow's dessert project, so I will use the one that didn't quite fill to the top.  Excellent!  Now I did the lime curd.  I got to the end and tasted.....AMAZING!!!!  It was so fresh and bright!  But there was just one problem.  It was the same color as the lemon curd.  I paused for a brief moment thinking how awful it would be if it stayed yellow, and not a shade of green.  But, then I thought I could just add a little food coloring to make it a light lime green shade.  No problem!

I need to remember.....a little bit of food coloring goes a long way.....

I sat and chuckled to myself for about ten minutes at the obnoxious green curd sitting on my counter.  I was half kicking myself and half laughing on how I was going to fix this.  I had run out of eggs and butter, so another batch to dilute this batch was out of the question.  Tossing it would be sinful, as it tastes too good for just throwing away.

I normally save my experimenting for pawning off stuff onto others.  I have to say that I was lucky I wasn't making it for an event today!  Oh well....

So, I leave it to you, my family and friends.  Calling all "lime aficionados!"  I double dog dare you to try the green curd.  Let me know if you are brave enough to try it!

Happy Crafting!

Scrappy Doo!

Hey Craft Buddies!

Its been a busy January...so much so that I am surprised it is almost over.  I have been patiently awaiting the arrival of the rest of my bathroom tile, so I quilted most of the month instead.  One of my goals of 2014 is to start making scrap quilts.  Not only are they really fun, the scrap pile is starting to take over my life a little bit, so I am really needing to reduce the load.  So I am busily digging through bags of scraps to match and contrast fabrics.  It has been really rewarding to clear off the craft table, and actually see the desk top from the depleating scrap pile that has been accumulating there.

Below is one of my first scrap reduction quilt attempts:

3 inch squares arranged in "plus" signs

Up close and personal with the quilting

I loved how simple it was and it used lots of scraps.  The neat thing was that I didn't need to have 5 squares of the same fabric.  If I only had one or two squares, they could be used as fillers around the edges.  I am definitely going to remember this pattern the next time I end up with a bunch of scraps.


I also used this pattern called "Supernova" found on the Freshly Pieced blog.  This quilt was great to assemble for two reasons.  It was a great way to utilize all those leftover fruit fabric pieces that I get from making aprons.  And, I was able to contrast the fruit fabric with coordinating and contrasting solid and print colors to really bring a bright punch to each block.  I would be interested to try this again using a neutral colored background instead of my traditional white linen.  I still have lots of scraps, so maybe I will try it again against a grey or wheat colored background.

I love how bright and cheery the colors are together

I am starting to gain a little more confidence in my sewing.  In addition to my quilt gift list, I am planning to make a pillowcase dress for a little girl....my niece to be!  My sis-in-law picked the most inspiring color pallette for her pending baby girl: Navy blue, bright pink, and grey.  I am so excited to experiment with this combination.  I am planning on the dress, a crib skirt, bumpers, pillows and curtains.  Yay!  Not to mention the one (maybe two ;) ) quilts I am making for her.  This kid will be equipped!  Whoa...its already February!!!!!  I had better get moving.....

Happy Crafting!

Btw....check out Molly on her new quilt that I made her!!!  I especially love that her pants match the quilt!

First Quilts of 2014

Well, I had to put the bathroom remodel on hold.  I wished my ordering timing for all the hardware for the bathroom was a little better so that I could've used my time more wisely this holiday for finishing the bathroom.  But, I took advantage of this gift of time and I not only tore apart my bathroom and painted it, but I reorganized the craft room with some new Ikea furniture and accessories and managed to label everything.  When I reassembled the room, it all fit, and I found myself with some additional space!  It is amazing what happens when you have the right tools for the job.  I love working at the desk I chose, as it doesn't rock when the sewing machine is running.  Now, the goal: to keep it looking like this!

My new desk and shelves from Ikea

Check out all the labels on the boxes...how very "Sheldon" of me

This desk will certainly help enhance the creativity and has the potential of keeping me organized.  Here's to hoping.

Well, as I mentioned, I used my time wisely.  I made a project "to do" list of all the pending projects I need to complete in the next few months and started working towards crossing stuff off.  Most involved baby quilts for folks that I asked to make them for.  I got some interesting requests.  But my main goal is to reduce the fabric stash that I have (that keeps getting larger and larger all the time), and to resist buying new fabric.  One of my new years' goals is to empty some of the fabric bins that I have in the guest room.  That way I can go buy some new fabric to fill them!  HAHAHAHA!!!!

So, this first quilt is for a college friend that is having her first baby.  I was told shades of blue and that they are into sci-fi, but as I don't have any sci-fi fabric, I thought this modern design would suit her well.  I worked in some aqua, turquoise, and navy blue so the quilt will blend into any shade of blue bedroom.  Acutally, I have used this design before that I obtained from Elizabeth Hartman's sight, "Oh Fransson!"  and was pleased with the outcome, so I decided to try it again.

Wavy Blues

This next quilt is a design I was trying out of the book Modern Basics II by Amy Ellis.  The "stepping stones" design caught my eye, but I didn't do myself do diligence and read the directions properly.

Stepping Stones

I just plowed ahead and started making blocks instead of reading the entire instructions to ensure I had enough fabric to complete the quilt.  So I was running out of fabric as I was making the blocks, so I just substituted other fabrics to supplement the blocks.  The end product doesn't look as balanced as the one from the book, but I am happy with the outcome nonetheless.  This was a great use of a lot of green fabric I had lying around for another quilt project that I wasn't happy with, and I was able to use some of my favorite greens in my stash.  I am taking it as a learning experience to READ THE DIRECTIONS FIRST!  I ended up with enough blocks for at least three quilts, which is good because I have a lot of little boys that need quilts!

See how the mix of fabrics in each blocks works even though it doesn't "pop" like the one in the book?

Aren't those Robert Kaufman turtles adorable?  I have been waiting to use them in a quilt!

Back of the quilt

Last of all, I needed a couple of little girl quilts.  I do so much better when I can use bright colors than muted pastels, so I hope these mommies aren't too turned off by the bright colors.  I also am not always apt to use just pink and purple for girls, as I am not always apt to use blue for boys.  So I had to throw in some yellow and green just for funzies!  I made two of these: one for a family member and one for a friend from culinary school.

No pattern here...Just a dresden ruler and a whole bunch of fabric!

The quilting is improving!

A glimpse of the back

Not too bad for a quilting blitz this weekend, eh??  And, I managed to piece a couple more during this 2 week holiday, so I am well on my way to crossing items off the "to do" list.  One of my other craft goals is to work on scrappy quilts, as my scrap pile is getting a little out of control.  Maybe some of the "to do" quilts can be scrap built.  I will work on it.

Back to work tomorrow.  The crafting will slow a little, but I hope to work on my projects at least a couple days per week.  Let me know if you want to come over and sew with me!

Happy crafting!

Carrie