Sister's Choice Quilts

Help! I Need a Good Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Well, this was an epic fail. Eva and I bake on Tuesdays, as one of her extracurricular activities. Yesterday we made chocolate chip cookies and they were a disaster. I used the recipe on the back of the Nestles chocolate chip bag and it sure didn't work for me. These cookies spread out all over the pan, making one gigantic, thin, nasty cookie. Horrible. They didn't look right, didn't taste right, and were not the chewy, cakey, delicious cookies I remember.

The second tray turned out better because I doctored up the batter by adding another half cup of flour.

This was more like it, but still not right. I don't know what the problem was, but here are some thoughts:

1) Too much butter (2 sticks)
2) Not enough flour (only 2 1/4 Cups)
3) Too many chocolate chips (2 cups)
4) I did not add nuts (Eva's preference), which would have thickened up the batter
5) Did not chill the dough- but the recipe didn't say to do that

So what do you think? 

I'd love it if you could steer me in the direction of a perfect cakey chewy chocolate chip cookie. I have every cookbook known to man, so if you just reference "Ina Garten's recipe from her (Fill in the Blank) cookbook", I can find it. Or send me a website link, or send me your Grandma's recipe. I just know I need to get a decent chocolate chip recipe pronto. And Eva tells me if I MUST add nuts, she will cope.

Holding my breath here, praying you all will come through for me.

Red Sampler Sew Along Week Nine

I feel as if I've been on vacation for two weeks. Today is the day I get back on a schedule though. I plan to make the most of any free time I have during the week and not lose momentum with my projects.

The red and white blocks above are week nine of Lori Holt's Red Sampler sew-along. Those cheerful red fabrics put a smile on my face. The little framed four patch is so cute.

I wanted to share a tool I have been enjoying a lot. It is called "Cute Cuts" and is a block square up trim tool by Lori Holt. You can buy the tools individually or in sets of various sizes.

If you love crisp, accurate blocks you might like this trim tool too. It is great for squaring up small 3 1/2 inch blocks, but I found it indispensable for trimming 3 1/2 inch block units in the 12-inch blocks I was working on recently. Looking at the photo above, you may think "Wow, Nicole was pretty spot on with her 3 1/2 inch unit".  Ahem, thanks, but check this out:

I was pretty close, and maybe it would have been just fine as is without trimming. However, if you love accuracy, you can see that there was a fair amount trimmed away to achieve the exact 3 1/2 inch measurement. My 2011 Designer Mystery blocks came out great, and I credit this trim tool and a lot of fabric starching for my good results.

Quilting Friends Are the Best

I am actually completely thrilled with this photo. I have finished all 12 blocks for the Fat Quarter Shop 2011 Designer Mystery Quilt! Can you imagine? These blocks were just scraps of fabric that languished in a tub for 11 years. Well, no more languishing. They are going to become a quilt.

But there was just one problem. Back in 2011 when I wasn't working on these blocks, the finishing kit was offered for sale by Fat Quarter Shop. And I did not buy it. The finishing kit had all the fabrics for a fabulous setting, alternate stem blocks, borders, and binding. 9 extra yards of fabric to make a quilt that finishes at
76 x 94.

I reasoned to myself that I didn't have to complete the quilt as intended. I would have 12 great blocks and quite a bit of background fabric, which would be enough for a lattice and inner border. For the outer border, I would need a print that coordinated with the blocks. The fabric is by Fig Tree & Co., and their reds are very consistent. So, no problem. I wouldn't end up with such a large quilt, but it would be pretty and it would be finished.

Then the quilting gods smiled upon me. My quilting friend Lisa D. reads my blog. She emailed me to say she had the kit also and had never made it. Sadly, she had lost the love for this quilt and doubted that she would ever make it and therefore planned to sell or donate it. And she had the finishing kit. I offered to buy it from her and she agreed. Can you hear the sound of angels singing? She has mailed the finishing kit to me and as soon as I receive it, you can bet I'll start work on it.

Oh, and here is something else that makes me happy:

Yesterday I used up a big spool of Aurifil thread! I started using it in April 2020. I was thinking it would last me a year, but I did not sew much in 2021, so it has lasted me 20 months!!! Now, that seems like a good deal for $48. $2.40 per month. I wrote 1/22 on the inside of the cone and will be interested to see how long this new spool lasts.

Hope your weekend was great. If you have today off, make the most of it!

My Garden is in Blossom

Another productive sewing day for me yesterday. This has been quite the week for getting my mojo back. I finished the fourth and fifth blocks in my 2011 Designer Mystery BOM. The setting is going to be so cute. I will be making little stem units so it appears that each block is a flower. Hope I have enough green....

That fifth block (the middle right one) was a bear to sew, I can tell you that. It was a bit fussy. But it used all the colors, woo hoo. Of course, I got one tiny unit switched around (not just once but four times) and had to do some unsewing. Ah, those thread-picking interludes are restful for the mind, right?

I am really enjoying these bright fresh colors.

I also can report that I got my Serendipity quilt top all put together, except for the borders.  Maybe I can wrap that up on Sunday afternoon.

Have a great weekend everyone!

What Next?

I tell you, give me a week to spend sewing, and I can get things done. Lately that hasn't been happening though, but due to a Covid outbreak in the family, I have been able to get up in my sewing room for extended periods this week. And look what I found.

This is an ancient fabric collection by Fig Tree & Co. It was called Strawbery Something. Strawberry Fields, Strawberry Rhubarb, Strawberry Shortcake, I can't recall. It was a Block of the Month Designer Mystery sew along sponsored by Fat Quarter Shop from 2011.  Eleven years ago.  Can you believe I dug up a UFO older than my grandchild?

And I never made a single block. Month after month for a year I paid for my monthly block subscription and never sewed a blessed one. 

I had neatly stored all the fabrics in a plastic tub and still had all the patterns. 

I started assembling the fabrics needed for each block and starching them. Yesterday I made three blocks,
and I don't mind saying, they are adorable!

Block number one.

Block number two. This one took a while. And I got two of the corner blocks turned wrong. Fixed it!

Block number three. I think this one is my favorite.

I am having fun working with these larger blocks (12.5 inches unfinished). I have no idea how I will put them together. Probably a simple setting with the white tone on tone polka dot I am using for my background. I will never find a matching border fabric after all these years, but Fig Tree will have a red print that will still match, so I think I will be good.

Did any of you make this quilt back in the day? 


 

Christmas Among the Stars Again Months 1, 2, 3

Another glorious day of sewing yesterday. I have finished the first three months of the Fatquartershop Block of the month sew-along "Among the Stars Again". Now, here's a question for you.

I could make this same block of the month with Fig Tree Halloween fabrics. I have a bundle of Fig Tree Pumpkins and Blossoms in orange, green and black. The book I am using for the pattern instructions for the Christmas sew-along actually shows the quilt blocks in both Christmas and Halloween fabrics.

The question is: Should I make the blocks in the Halloween fabrics while I am already making them in the Christmas fabrics? Then I would have two quilts that were the same, one in Christmas fabric and one in Halloween fabrics

OR

Should I make the Halloween quilt completely different? I have a couple of patterns in mind that would work.  

Have you ever made the same quilt twice? I have thought it might be boring, so I have only done it a couple of times.

Whatever I decide, I know I will end up with two super cute quilts. 

I sure hope you are having a great week. I certainly am.

 

2022 Off to a Great Start

The New Year has gotten off to a great start for me. My goal is to tackle my large number of UFOs and either finish them or let them go. It's probably not surprising that I was drawn right back into the Lori Holt Red Sampler quilt. I had completed only six weeks of the project. The "Sew-Along" ship has sailed, but lucky for me, Lori has kept her sew-along posts on her Bee In My Bonnet blog, so I can refer back to the weekly instructions. Here is a link to all sixteen weeks of this sew-along.

Yesterday I had a lovely day in my sewing room and completed six blocks for Red Sampler Weeks Seven and Eight.

I've also been working on sewing the rows for Serendipity together and trying to catch up with Among the Stars Again block of the month. I'm feeling very good about my organized approach and look forward to showing you some completed tops soon. Or, at least in the next months...

Also, I have gone through my "flimsies" (completed but unquilted tops) and made a pile of some that I want to donate. My charitable organization of choice was Firehouse Quilts in Boulder, CO, which is quilting tops and giving them to victims of the terrible fires that took place in Colorado recently. I have five tops that I plan to mail to them today.

Why do I suddenly have so much time on my hands? Um, well, certain members of my family have come down with a well-publicized contagious virus and are isolating this week.

Hope you are all staying well and getting things done!