Wedding Flowers

I am doing a wedding next month, I know crazy being 8 months pregnant, but I am really excited. It is going to be so fun! The wedding colors are mint (like mint ice cream), gold and cream. The bride wants roses and what ever else would look good.

I got really excited thinking about using mint colored succulents. I love succulents, they are so cool. They are pretty much the only way to bring the mint color into her arrangements without using massive amounts of ribbon.

Anyways I wanted to share my inspiration board with you and see what you think.

If you are a little confused about why I am doing wedding flowers, let me explain. I have a bachelors in Horticulture with an emphasis in floral design. I really only do family members weddings right now, when I am asked, but I would love to have my own wedding and event floral business in the future (maybe after this baby is a few months old). If you would like to check out my portfolio, there is a link on the top bar.

Faux Chenille Blanket

 I have made a couple of these types of blankets and I love them. They are always so soft when they are finished. I love the way this one has turned out! I can definitely tell a big difference in the quality and accuracy of my sewing since the last time I made one. It is nice to see that I am improving!

If you would like this little beauty for your own, you can check out my etsy page (there's a link in the top bar just below the banner) and purchase it for yourself or someone special. If you would like a blanket like this but in different colors feel free to email me and I would love to work something out for you.

Simply Color Quilt Continued

 Making Blocks:

In this post I explained the first steps of this quilt. After cutting the squares out of the patterned fabric and out of the white background fabric. I paired a patterned square with a white square and put them right sides together. I marked with a pencil from one corner to the opposite corner .

 I then took all of my squares, that are marked, down to my sewing machine. With a 1/4" seam sew on each side of the marked line. To save time and thread I fed the squares in a chain.

 After I sewed down each side of the diagonal line, I cut on the pencil line through both fabrics. I prefer to do this with my shears but you can definitely do this with your rotary cutter.

 Look at all those lovely triangles waiting to be pressed!

 Next I press the seam to the patterned piece.

 Laying out the Pattern:

Now for the fun part! This is why I love half square triangle quilts so much, There are so many different ways you can put the triangles together. I went on pinterest and searched for different HST designs and tried them out. These are some of my favorites and I ended up liking the first one on the left the best.

Twirly Skirt

It is starting to turn to summer weather here in Idaho, its about time right!! I was going through K's closet and noticed that she doesn't really have any summer attire that fits her.

I have had this tutorial saved in my pinterest for about 2 years now. I love Dana's tutorials. They are always easy to follow and get great results. A couple of weeks ago I spotted some cute fabric at Joann's and thought that it would be great fabric to make K and L matching outfits out of. I still haven't decided what the outfit for L should look like, so stay tuned for that.

I really liked how this skirt turned out. I think I will make the next ones a little longer. I would love to try and make the double layered skirt.

I used 1/2 inch elastic, instead of 1 inch, and I think that it works a little better for this age and size. I think that 1 inch would have made it a little too bulky at the top.

 I think she likes it!

Half square triangle quilt: simply color

I shared in this post a while ago about these fabrics and how I absolutely love them! I love how they correspond with the colors and patterns that I want to decorate the girls room with. The line is called Simply Color. It was designed by V& Co and it is distributed by Moda!

I acquired some fat quarters and a charm pack in this line. I have decided to make a quilt for each girls bed. This first one I am going to show you is for my two year old, K, and I am going to make it a twin size.

I decided that for this quilt that I was going to make another Half Square Triangle Quilt. I love HST Quilts, if you haven't been able to tell. I love that you can make so many different designs with just technique. I will branch out and do different kinds of quilts in the future, I promise.

I decided that I wanted my blocks to be 4.5 inches wide. So I cut strips from the fat quarters at 5 inches across. I was able to get three 5 inch strips from each fat quarter. I also cut a 2.5 inch strip from what was left over to use later for binding.

I then cut each strip to make 5 inch squares. I also cut one yard of white background fabric into 5 inch squares. This can easily be made with pre-cut charm packs. They are already cut for you at 5 inches square and come in an assortment of patterns within a fabric line.

Stay tuned for the next steps in making a HST Quilt! TO BE CONTINUED...

Split Rail Fence Quilt: Part 3

 Finishing The Quilt Top

The other parts of this series can be found here: Part 1 and Part 2

After I finished sewing all of the blocks, I trimmed them to 13 inches square. When you are making your own make sure to measure your blocks to figure out what you should square them to. This is due to differences in sewing and pressing techniques. 

A jelly roll makes 12 blocks, so I decided to lay my quilt out in a 4 by 3 pattern. As I was laying out my quilt top and decided where each block should go I was keeping color composition and pattern in mind. After I was happy with the layout I took a picture so I could look back and reference it. 

I then sewed the blocks together into strips. I like to mark each row with a post-it note with its number. I had a total of 4 rows, each with 3 blocks in it.

After sewing the rows, I then sewed the rows together to make the quilt top. When I sew quilt rows together I like to put a pin at each intersection and then one pin in the center of the block. This makes sure that the rows are perfect and the intersections line up.

 

 Also I like to make my intersections "lock" so they line up perfectly. The way I do this is I press all of the seems on one row to the left and then on the other row I press all of the seems to the right. You can see this demonstrated in the picture above.  

And now for the finished quilt top!! What do you think??

Linked to:
Craft-o-maniac
Keeping it Simple

Upgraded boxed brownies

Brownies are a staple at our house. I decided that I would try and upgrade the regular old boxed brownies we have all the time.

I decided to make a graham cracker crust. They are pretty easy to make. Just crushed graham crackers, a little bit of sugar and some melted butter. I sprayed the bottom of a 9 by 13 pan and pressed the graham cracker crust I to the bottom of it.

I then made the brownies according to the box directions and poured them on top of the graham cracker crust. I then baked them according to the box directions. In the last 5 minutes of cooking time, I sprinkled mini marshmallows over the top of the brownies.

They were really yummy. They tasted like a fancy s'more. Enjoy!

Split Rail Fence Quilt: Part 2

Making Blocks

this Post is a continuation of the Split Rail Fence Series. If you would like to read Part 1 before continuing on you can read it here, Split Rail Fence Quilt: Part 1.

After making the squares from the group of strips, I took to squares and put them right sides together, making sure that one square had to strips lined up horizontally and the other square with its strips going vertically.

I sewed around all four edges with a 1/4 inch seem.

Then after sewing I placed the square on the 45 degree angle line on my cutting mat and cut from corner to corner.

I then flipped open my new triangles and arranged them like below. I repeated this process with every set of squares.  After pressing the triangles open sew the blocks together with a 1/4 inch seem to look like below.

Look at that lovely set of triangles just waiting to be pressed!!

TO BE CONTINUED......

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Craft-o-maniac

Blog Schedule

I have decided that in order to organize this blog better and to better serve my readers needs, I am going to follow a schedule. We will see how this goes and it might not even work.Let me know what you think or if you have any other ideas that might help me make this blog a better place for you to visit.

Mondays: My Project Updates

Mondays will be the days that I will update you with what projects I have been working on. This will include my quilts, clothes for K&L, and other more random things I am working on that I would like to share with you.

Wednesdays: Yummies

Wednesdays I will share my favorite recipes with you. I will also be sharing, from time to time, new recipes that I find that are delicious as well. 

Fridays: Friday Finds

On Fridays I will be posting another blogger's tutorial that I find Fantastic and would love to share. I will also follow the directions in the tutorial and let you know if I find any other hints or Tips that the writer forgot to mention. Feel free to suggest tutorials that you would like to see done. These are not sponsored posts, mostly just projects that I have had saved in my pinterest that I would like to do.

I will occasionally post on Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday random thoughts and fun finds that I would like to share but for the most part Dana Loves Everyday will follow this schedule. Feel free to leave suggestions or comments if you think something needs improving or would like to see a certain project done.

Split Rail Fence Quilt: Part 1

As I had mentioned earlier on in the week that I would be updating you on the progress of my split rail fence quilt. I am so in love with this collection of fabrics!

First I took apart the jelly roll and divided the strips in to six groups of four strips. I then took the extra 1/2 yard of fabric that was in my quilt kit and cut six 2 1/2 inch strips the length of the fabric. I then added one to each group of four strips to make six groups of five strips.

Next I sewed each group of strips together, pressing all the seams the same way. I then measured the width of each group. The smallest group measured ten and a quarter inches. I made cross cuts on each of the strips at ten and a quarter inches, so they were square. I squared up any of the strips that may have been larger. I got 4 squares from each group of strips.

Check back later to see the next steps and for the finished quilt.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Linked to: 
trendy treehouse

V & co simply color by moda

I have decided that I am seriously addicted to fabric. I have discovered one of Modas new lines, simply color designed by V & Co. I have aquired a few fat quarters in this line and I am in love!! Check back to see what I make with them!

Riley Blake's Willow Line

As a gift for our new baby my mom gave me a jelly roll of Riley Blake's line Willow. It is so cute! I am in love with the colors and the patterns. If you are not familiar with Riley Blake, you can check out her website here. Beware you might fall madly in love with everything and want to buy everything that she has! I know I want to sometimes.

Anyways the jelly roll that my mom gave me was included in a kit for a split rail fence quilt. It sounds complicated, I was a little intimidated at first by the quilt instructions, but I am here to tell you that it is really simple.

I will keep you updated with my progress with the quilt through out the week. Check back on Later as I complete more of the quilt! Enjoy

Soba Noodle Salad

Ingredients

• 4 ounces uncooked soba (buckwheat noodles)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons lower-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice 
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1/2 cup (2-inch-long) julienne-cut red bell pepper
• 1/2 cup julienne-cut snow peas
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions 

Directions

1. Cook soba according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain and rinse with cold water. Drain well.
2. Combine soy sauce, dark sesame oil, brown sugar, lemon juice, and crushed red pepper in a medium bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Add noodles, red bell pepper, snow peas, and green onions; toss well.

 Serve with Roasted Salmon with Soy-Marmalade Glaze. Source: Cooking Light

This side dish was really delicious with the Roasted Salmon. I added about twice as many bell peppers and snow peas as it calls for. Our family is big on veggies. Make sure to not over cook the soba noodles. It took about 10 minutes to put it together.

Roasted Salmon with Soy-marmalde Glaze

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup orange marmalade
• 1 1/2 teaspoons lower-sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 4 (6-ounce) skin-on salmon fillets 
• Cooking spray
• 2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onions 
• 4 lemon wedges 

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 450°.
2. Combine marmalade, soy sauce, salt, black pepper, and garlic in a small bowl. Arrange salmon fillets, skin sides down, on a foil-lined baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Brush fish fillets evenly with half of marmalade mixture. Bake fish fillets at 450° for 4 minutes.
3. Heat broiler to high (do not remove fish from oven); broil fish 6 minutes. Spoon remaining marmalade mixture onto center of fillets. Broil fish an additional 3 minutes or until desired degree of doneness. Sprinkle fish evenly with green onions; serve with lemon wedges.

Serve with Soba Noodle Salad. Source: Cooking Light

We loved this recipe! We are salmon lovers but even if you are not I would recommend trying this one. It is so easy to make. It took only about 20 minutes start to finish. It has a nice sweet taste that balances out the fish but doesn't over power it.

Can I just say something about cooking light for a minute. I love it! It is a great magazine for anyone looking for healthier options to feed their families or just themselves. A big plus for me is that they don't taste like "health food." All of their recipes have tons of flavors and nothing weird that you have to purchase at a specialty store. I can't say enough good things about them.

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Half Square Triangle Quilt

I have had a collection of bright fabrics sitting in my fabric stash for almost a year. I had planned to use them for another quilt but didn't really like it. I had cut the fabric into 8 inch squares and was wondering what to do with them.

I had recently watched a quilting class on Craftsy by Camille Roskelley. The class is called Pre-cut piecing made simple. I would recommend watching it if you are new to quilting, as I am, or just need a refresher course. She explains how to cut your fabric correctly, use charm packs, layer cakes and jelly rolls in several different quilt patterns, machine quilt and many other useful tips. I learned about half square triangles from watching this video and the hundreds of patterns you can make from them.

That got my creative juices flowing. I decided to see if pairing those colorful 8 inch squares with one of my vintage sheets, I have been collecting, would turn out cute. And guess what it did!

Any suggestions for a border or what to do for the back? I would love your suggestions.

Linked to:
Trendy treehouse 
http://whipperberry.com/

Charm Pack Quilt

I had bought a very cute charm pack almost two years again in Sisters, Oregon. Sorry I can't remember the line of fabric it was from. It was sitting in my fabric stash begging to be used. I decided to make a floor quilt. I sewed each block into strips of 8 blocks and then sewed the five strips together.

I used a high loft batting for some extra cushion and one of my many vintage sheets for the backing. 

I decided I was going to be adventurous and try free motion quilting on my machine. It didn't turn out so well. After about 30 minutes of getting frustrated with my tread breaking and getting my quilt sandwich stuck, I decided that I needed a different plan. I decided to use my walking foot and stitch in the ditch.

I still need to bind it. Any Ideas? I have no idea what to bind it in. Any suggestions would be wonderful.

Linked to:
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Keeping it simple