Into the Woods, cooking with Brook

I recently drove 10 hours by myself, from California to Utah,

to attend this incredible dinner party and to enjoy Hallowe'en with my daughters and some of my grandchildren.

Be forewarned, there are many photos here, but you will want to see them, they are amazing!!!

My daughter Lindsay hosted the 3rd annual dinner/costume party.

This year's theme was "Into the Woods".

The food and the costumes went with the theme.

Below is a cupboard full of mushrooms, and guess what?

They are all handmade and edible.

Some are meringue, others are cake pops and also truffles.

The master mind of the food was Brook, and she and Lindsay did most of the cooking, a few others helped.

Brook has a blog called Cooking with Brook.

The recipes from this party will be on the blog, hopefully sometime soon!

Lindsay and a few friends moved most of her furniture from the main floor, into the garage to accommodate the dining tables and decorations.

I shouldn't be showing you this photo, but I'm going to anyway :)

The main floor was transformed into a "woodsy" atmosphere.

Here are the tables set, the candles lit and waiting for the creatures, fairies and nymphs to arrive.

This was one of the appetizer tables pre-food :)

This was the table that the main course was served from, buffet style.

The place settings and decorations were absolutely awesome!!!

Fresh pressed directly from Clara's uncle's apple orchard.

I only managed to get a photo of one of the appetizer tables.  

On the extreme left and right is the locally foraged cheese and honeycomb.

In the center is the roasted beet and goat cheese terrine.

Before I get to the rest of the food, let me introduce some of the characters...

This is Brook the black swan and Lindsay, the deer.

This is me, I'm a fairy with wings and lots of glitter :)

Kim is a fox, Mindy is a mushroom and Cathy is Little Red Riding Hood.

I think that Jami is a fairy, her costume is beautiful!

A raccoon and another fairy.

Snow White and a raccoon :)

Clara is a Snow Queen although she has a little secret....

This is her wedding dress and she wasn't able to zip it up!

A deer :)

Stacey is a fairy and her costume was incredible!

It's her prom dress from about 20 years earlier, and she added moss, roses and lots of gold curly cues from her Christmas tree decorations :)

I think the back is amazing with the moss and silk roses.

One problem though, she forgot to leave an opening and had a difficult time putting on the dress, lol!!!

We began with freshly made butternut squash soup, in little pumpkins and acorn squashes.

Pumpkin salad with polenta and candied pumpkin seeds, drizzled with a pomegranate vinaigrette.

Porcini and rosemary crusted beef tenderloin with port wine sauce, and freshly dug roasted carrots.

Mini herbed pommes anna (potatoes)

Buche de Noel with meringue and assorted chocolate mushrooms.

Black forest cake with kirsch cherries.

This was my delicious dessert potion, I mean portion!!!

Lindsay's husband Jeremy constructed this photo wall last year and they redesigned it to go with the "into the woods" theme.

Lindsay and I at the end of the night.

Everyone took turns having their photos taken.

All 32 of the woodland creatures, minus the photographer :)

An incredible time was had by all!

I'm definitely looking forward to next year :)

Hallowe'en 2014

I want to remind you to hop over to 2 blogs today, to continue the "Around the World" blog hop.

Read more about Renee @ Sewn with Grace,

and Cristina @ Pretty Little Quilts.

I can hardly wait to see what they have to say! 

I spent Hallowe'en away from home, with my children and grandchildren as I have done for the past few years.

I always have so much fun enjoying the festivities with them!

I want to show you their costumes.

The first is my daughter Lindsay's family.

Keep in mind that all of her photos were taken by a professional :)

Lindsay made each of her children's costumes, and didn't use a pattern!

 This is Bridger, he's 9 l/2 years old, and he dressed up as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

If you put a sheet of paper over one half of the photo, you can see how well he stayed in character!

Half is deformed and the other half is normal :)

Charlotte is 4 l/2 years old, and she's Minnie Mouse!

Lucy Jane is 14 months old, and she is Baby Sleeping Beauty.

She never, ever tried to take her bonnet off!

Kennedy is 7 years old, and she dressed up as Maleficent!!

Her makeup is perfect and she has the perfect face for the character.

Notice her sinister raven :)

Poor baby, Maleficent is out to get her!!!

Lindsay used a ski hat as the base for Maleficent's head dress.

She sewed the horns and stuffed them and added something to keep them from flopping around.  

She added some ribbon layering on the forehead to create a widow's peak.

Lindsay inserted wire in the collar as she sewed it so that the collar would stand up.

Here's the group, each in character :)

Next, is my daughter Rebecca's 2 children.

Maisie is 4 years old, and she is Astrid, the viking from "How to Train your Dragon".

Benjamin is 2 years old, and he is "Toothless" from the same movie.

Rebecca made both of their costumes, she did a fabulous job as well :)

This is Benjamin sitting on his dad's shoulders.

His costume is made of felt, and he has a long tail that is stuffed.

 Maisie's headband is suede, and Rebecca put some metal decorations in it.

Notice the armor?

It's fun foam that was shaped around a bowl and heated in the microwave to stay in shape, and decorated with silver puffy paint.

Rebecca also made each one of the skulls. 

Next, is my son Addison's family.

His wife made their daughters' costumes :)

Neo just turned 4 years old, she is a black cat!

I love the play acting!!!

Kylie is 22 months old, and she wanted to be a witch.

A pretty cute witch, I'd say :)

It looks like the witch in the background isn't so nice...

Last but definitely not least, is my son Jordan's family.

My daughter in law Kim, made her girls their costumes also.

First I'll show you this photo from Disney's "Jake and Pirates of the Caribbean".

Notice the girl, her name is Izzy, and the little boy with the blue bandana is named Cubby.

Reagan will be 4 years old this week.

She is dressed up as Izzy.

Kim didn't use a pattern, she just traced a shirt onto the fabric and sewed it up!

 Izzy (Reagan) is with her pal, Cubby (aka Paisley Louise, 5 months old).

 Isn't Paisley the cutest?

She is so chubby and when she smiles, her eyes light up!

She's the chubbiest "Cubby" I've ever seen!!!

That's why I wanted to show you the cartoon, so you could appreciate what you're looking at....lol!

Well, thank you for letting me brag about my daughters and daughters in law's creative talents :)
Also, all 10 of my grandchildren are represented!

Modern Instabee - October

It's my month in our Modern Instabee quilting bee!

I chose the Stacked Windmill block.

I wanted the center block to be pink, the others to be yellow and gray and I wanted the background to be in a black and white text print.

I didn't want to be too specific, because I wanted to enjoy each member's freedom of creativity.

Two women have dropped out of the bee, so I made 2 blocks myself.

I received Kate's block (Nashville, Tennessee) and am so excited!

Isn't it pretty?

She also made me a signature block to sew onto the back of the quilt along with the others.

This is Jansen's block (Fairfax, Virginia), I love the cute little bumblebee in the center, which made me realize that I posted this photo upside down, oops!

I can see the word "Sew" in the text print :)

Ellen (Tampa, Florida) sent me this cute block :)

One of my daughters just moved to Tampa!

Don't they look great together?
Mine are the top 2, and the bottom 3 are from my "hive" friends :)

I'll show you the rest of the blocks as I receive them :)

Pabvlova, an Australian dessert

I love meringue cookies, and this dessert is so much better!

You beat 3 egg whites in the electric mixer until they form stiff peaks.

Then you gradually add a cup of sugar with a tablespoon of cornstarch.

On a parchment paper lined pan, I spread a circle of meringue and then piped the rest of the meringue to form a bowl shape.

You bake it at 300 degrees F for one hour, turn off the heat and leave it in the oven for another 30 minutes.

I added homemade whipped cream in the center and added strawberries.

You could add whatever type of berry you like :)

The Pavlova makes a great presentation for invited friends or family, and it isn't difficult at all.

You don't even have to pipe a bowl, just make a cake shape and decorate the top with berries and whipped cream.

I love Pinterest and have pinned so many recipes.

I decided to create a board called "Tried it, loved it!".

You can find this recipe on my Pinterest board here.

Around the world blog hop

I was asked to be part of the "around the world blog hop" by Greg Jones of grey dogwood studio. Greg and I have similar tastes in quilting and have become online friends. I am a great admirer of his creativity and originality. He is definitely one who thinks outside the box!

I am going to share my creative process with you and reveal some of my thought processes.

1. What am I currently working on?

For the year 2015, I am going to create a list of quilts I have wanted to make, but have put on the back burner.

Right now, I have many projects I'm working on.

Appleicious is a cute apple quilt from Lori Holt's book, Quilty Fun. I have the apples and leaves cut out, but that's all I've completed so far....here is a photo of the fabrics I'm using.

"Spell it with Moda", an alphabet quilt, which was a free pattern. I pinned all the letters to a board on Pinterest. I've made the first six letters.

I'll be starting this cute pattern by Heather Bailey, a Christmas gift for one of my grandaughters.

In January, I joined the "Handmade birthday club".

Every month, as long as someone in the group has a birthday, group members will make and send a small to medium handmade item to the birhtday girl. In total, you will be gifting 11 handmade items and during your birthday month, you will be receiving 11 handmade items! How FUN! If you're interested, it's hosted by susannahkate.com
I also joined the "Modern Instabee" virtual quilting bee, which I found out about on Instagram. Each group consists of 12 members, who all choose a month. We pick our bee blocks out of the book "Modern Bee" by Lindsay Conner. My month is October and I requested the Stacked Windmill block. I told the group what colors I want and I'm receiving really pretty blocks in the mail :)
A couple of months ago, I was invited to join the Bees Knees Quilting Bee. The bee has their own blog where we post the blocks we've made.
Besides all the projects I've listed, I have some table runners that need to be quilted.

2. How does my work differ from others?

I am skilled in many different techniques. I enjoy hand embroidery, needle turn applique, paper piecing, hand quilting, machine quilting, heirloom sewing, and garment sewing.
I sew dolls, stuffed animals, Princess dresses, bags and smocked dressed for my grandchildren.
I have a goal to design quilt patterns, which I'll begin doing in January. I want to sew quilts and/or table toppers in every possible color scheme and style. I especially love bright, happy colors and children themed fabric such as Sarah Jane, Aneela Hooey, Tasha Noel and Heather Ross. I am also an Amy Butler, Heather Bailey, Pam Kitty and Lori Holt fabric hoarder.

3. Why do I create?

Creating gives me an immense feeling of contentment and satisfaction and joy. When I see someone snuggling a quilt I've given them, or a grandchild wearing something I've made for them, I feel happy. When one of my grandaughters was visiting us recently, she put her baby doll to sleep beside her in bed. I noticed that she covered her doll up with a mini quilt that I had sewn for her. I was delighted that she was using the gift that I had made for her with love.

4. How do I work?

I have a beautiful sewing room that my husband designed for me last Christmas, along with an incredible Bernina 750 QE. There are two links on the right side of my blog where you can view photo if you're interested. The room's all setup, I can work for an hour, a day or into the evening. I don't have any Quilty friends to sew with and I don't belong to a quilt guild. Most of my sewing is done solo while watching Netflix or listening to music or talks. I plan on joining a quilt guild in January.

Now I want to introduce the next two bloggers on the Around the World blog tour!
These two talented quilters will be sharing their stories with you next Monday, November 10.  Be sure and visit them, their blogs and their stories are fabulous :)

Renee at Sewn with Grace has a common love with me for all of Lori Holt's "Quilty Fun" creations.  Renee quilts and knits and every week she has a Sunday Scripture post which I really love :)  Renee's work is beautiful with a true vintage feel, hop over to her blog and see for yourself.

Cristina at Pretty Little Quilts finished the "Spell it with Fabric" quilt, it's absolutely gorgeous!!!  She began the Texas Quilt Along which has a huge following and was a big hit!  Cristina not only has a love for quilting, but also for cooking, baking, reading and crochet.  Look at her blog and see all of her awesome creations. 

Thanks for visiting me on the "Around the World" blog hop :)

Happy Hallowe'en!!!

Have you ever visited Em's Scrapbag blog?

It's full of fun and quilty things!

Emily has a weekly post on Wednesday, called "what a great idea" (wagi) and she featured my "minky photo book tutorial" this week.  

You can see it here.

Have a "vintage" Hallowe'en!

AYOS and a little bit more - October

This is the Schnibbles pattern that was chosen for October in the group "Another year of Snibbles and a little bit more".

I'm really enjoying the group, but I was a little hesitant about making this quilt.

I didn't think it looked very nice.

I could not figure out what color to use for the background.

I was looking around my sewing room and my eyes landed on this bolt of green fabric that my daughter and I found at a garage sale.

It still had the cellophane on it, so we bought it and split it in half.

I think this fabric is perfect for the background because it's bright and happy and textured, and goes well with pink :)

I went through my stash of charm packs and 5" squares and found low volume colors.

It took a lot of time to cut the fabric, sew all the half square triangles and then crop them all.

I stayed up until 1:00 a.m., three nights in a row.

I'm so pleased with the colors!

I took the quilt outside this morning and took some photos.

I live in northern California, so the weather is in the mid 70's and most of the leaves are still on the trees.

You can see some red and yellow ones on the ground :)

I'm really thrilled with this quilt, it measures 72" square.

Often I make a quilt, unsure of what I'm going to do with it.

When my son moves out at Christmas, I'll put this quilt on his full size bed.

Thanks for sharing my quilt journey with me :)