Craft Idea! Thanksgiving Pillow

I had this Thanksgiving mini flag from, I don't know where.

So I decided to turn it into a pillow!

I stitched the outline of the picture on the flag to give it an "embroidered" look.

Then I sewed the back on and added some fun buttons I had and that was that!

Now I have a festive pillow or I can flip it over after the holidays!

Neopolitan Birthday Cake

I  love making cakes! And I don't always have an excuse to make one. Because otherwise then I'd have to eat it myself and that just wouldn't be a good idea.  Or would it...??

So I love it when my husband's birthday comes so I can make a cake! And experiment on him and my family members! Hey, that's what they are for, right?!

I've been wanting to try a Neapolitan cake. But replace the traditional chocolate layer with a coffee flavored one and then dousing the whole cake in a rich chocolate ganache so that chocolate would still be incorporated in the cake.

Well the week of hubby's birthday was a crazy busy week. So late the night before his party I made the cakes. Everything was going so well....I found this new recipe on Pinterest that was fantastic! I had baked the vanilla and coffee flavored layers. I had the strawberry layer with 6 cupcakes, to use up the rest of the batter, in the oven. The cupcakes we finished but the cake needed a few more minutes. By this time, it was well after midnight and I was running out of steam fast. I check the cake once more and it needed just about 5 more minutes. It looked marvelous. I decided, in a horribly bad decision making moment, NOT to set the timer and that I'd just check the time on my computer that I was on while waiting for the cakes to finish....well, 5 minutes turning into almost 5 HOURS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not good.

I completely fell asleep! And funny thing is I kept smelling burnt strawberry cake while I was sleeping and asking myself if I'd taken it out of the oven! Well, then hubby woke up to the smell of charred cake and asked if I was done baking-of course now it's 5 am! This naturally jolted me out of sleep in a panic realizing what happened and I ran to the oven to remove the large, hockey puck strawberry cake.

What a sad sight!! I was not happy. Especially because strawberry is my husbands favorite flavor and now it was ruined!  But I was too tired to do anything at that moment so I went to bed, now dreaming of how to fix this as I had used up all my eggs and strawberries and there wasn't even enough time to make another one.

So, I had to use the coffee and vanilla layers and between each layer I did a thin coat of chocolate ganache and then fresh strawberries-that I ran to the store to get that morning!-and then covered the whole thing in ganache! Yum.

I really like the way it came out. Of course, with most homemade cakes, they tend to be a bit dense but I found if you do not refrigerate the cake, but keep it at room temperate it is not so "hard/dense from the cold.

I would like to try this again WITH the strawberry layer though! At least we got the try the cupcakes, which were good. I will definitely use this recipe again!
Lesson learned: ALWAYS set the timer!!!

                                                                             



Sorry, this was a cellphone picture!

Americana Quilt - It's Finally Finished!

I don't believe my eyes!  The quilt I started 9 YEARS ago, is finally DONE. Wow, it feels great! This quilt is what I am calling Americana/ Old America quilt. I used beige, creams, deep reds and navy blue. All the fabrics have some kind of patriot theme to them, or calico in nature. Stars, strips, ect. I was inspired to make this quilt when I was out in Washington State on a trip with my sister visiting her collage roommate. We drove past amber waves of grain and majesty mountains! Washington is a beautiful state!!!

I, unfortunately, cut all those triangles by hand. Ugh. Pain. In. The. Neck. Of course- after I did it I was showed how to do it a much simpler and quicker way! Naturally. But know I know for the future, right?

As life would have it, this quilt got pushed to the side, in a dark corner for awhile and then it would emerge for a brief time, I'd add a little bit to it and then it would go back in hiding.

Well now we are on to our next adventure!! We will be in our first home in about a month and I wanted to finish all those unfinished projects-yes, projects-before we moved. Because I know there will be a hundred NEW projects facing me!! I am so glad I finished this as I'm sure it will come in handy at the new homestead. It is quite large, covers a queen size bed completely but doesn't quite cover the sides of the mattress.

Now it's time to tackle those other unfinished projects!