BQ3

This quilt was made by Connie.  The pattern is BQ3 by Maple Island Quilts.  I loved the focus fabric she used.  The poppies are absolutely beautiful.  I haven't made one of the BQ patterns myself, but they seem like one of the best patterns to highlight a favorite focus fabric.

Connie selected the Gothic Vine panto and dark grey Mangnifico thread.  The black fabric has a bit of  metallic in the print, so the shine of the thread looked great with that, and the grey didn't take away from the poppy print.

Radio Way

Cindy sent me this pair of cheerful lap quilts.  The pattern is "Radio Way" by Jaybird designs.  These are Cindy's first quilts and I think she did a fantastic job.

Both quilts have this nice modern grey backing fabric.  We decided to use Quilter's Dream Puff batting and two different pantos that were similar, but had their own character.

Cindy and I don't live close enough together to meet in person, so to give her almost the same experience she would have if she came to my studio I sent her photos with a variety of panto tracings placed on her quilt top so she could let me know what her likes and dislikes were.  I find these panto tracings take some of the guess work out of deciding if you like a panto or not.

Cindy chose "Tickle Too" for this one.

 And "Gothic Vine" for the second.

I must add that these photos were taken a few days and the ground is much whiter around here now!  

Lap Quilt & Coffee

This lovely lap quilt belongs to Sheri.  The direction I was given was to pick a pretty panto of my choice.  After looking the top over, this fabric caught my eye and I knew that one of my new pantos would be perfect.

I used the Gothic Vine panto, Dream Puff batting and a soft pink So Fine thread.  Sherry provided a lovely floral flannel backing so this is one soft and cuddly quilt.

These are some other new pantos I have added to my collection:

Knotty

Joust

Tickle Too

Anyone who knows me, knows I love my morning coffee.  Sometimes I like s sweet treat of a flavored creamer, but I don't like what they are made from.  I came across a recipe for Homemade Coffee creamer from the Mrs Happy Homemaker blog.  She has over 2 dozen flavors.  I have tried the French Vanilla and the Mocha Almond and have really enjoyed them.  (If you don't like the taste of evaporated milk, you may not love them, but I don't find that taste too strong.)

All you need is a can of sweetened condensed milk, milk and your flavoring.
 

Because a Canadian can of sweetened condensed milk is slightly smaller than the one in the recipe I made the following adjustments to the base recipe:

1 - 300ml (10 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/4 cups milk
flavoring options from Mrs. Happy Homemaker.

mmm.... enjoy