Sparkly Congratulations Banner

My wonderful friend, Hillary, got engaged a few weeks ago, and I couldn't find a "Congratulations on your Engagement" card I felt proud sending. The ones I looked through were either too impersonal or too ooey-gooey and schmaltzy.  Instead, I took a trip to the craft store for some sparkly, glittery paper to make her a banner!

Supplies:

-Fifteen squares of turquoise paper (2 x 2 inches)

-Fifteen squares of sparkly blue paper (2.5 x 2.5 inches)

-Fifteen scalloped hearts (scalloped heart punch)

-Glittered alphabet stickers

-Gold, glittered baker's twine

-1/8 inch hole punch

-Glue stick

I finished the banner with the initials of the bride and groom to be -- H and M.

I love that the banner is not only a fun acknowledgement of her happy news, but can be re-used for Bridal Showers, Engagement Parties, Bachelorette  Parties, or Rehearsal Dinners!

Quilts for Sisters

Remember earlier this summer when I got hoodwinked by old wives’ tale predictions and made a flying geese quilt for my neighbors’ anticipated baby boy? Well, instead they had a beautiful baby girl! I opted to keep the blue quilt for another baby, and instead, I was inspired to make complimentary but not quite matchy quilts for the baby and her big sister.

Back when big sister was born, I was working extremely long hours at my old job. I would have loved to make her a quilt, but instead I needed my free time to do other things, like sleep and occasionally see loved ones.

This summer I had the time to make quilts for both sisters, and I had the Heather Ross fabric calling to me. I fell in love with the idea of making quilts for the sisters out of Heather's two most recent releases: Far Far Away and Briar Rose.

This Spring I finally cut into my stash of Briar Rose for a couple of other projects that are still in process. I had enough left over to make a scaled down version of Rae Hoekstra’s lovely Briar Rose Rainbow Quilt. 

In May, I went to hear Heather speak at Powell’s Books about her memoir, How to Catch a Frog. I was completely charmed by Heather. I’ve loved her art for years, but she also proved to be a captivating writer and speaker, and a friendly and funny person. I really enjoyed meeting her, and as if that wasn’t enough, I was lucky enough to snag the last charm pack of Far Far Away that she was handing out that night. I wanted to make something special and memorable with the 5 ¼ inch squares, and I didn’t want to cut them up and lose the special little details in the seam allowances. Ultimately I decided on sawtooth stars.

The Briar Rose quilt was not my own design, but it was my first circle quilting project. I was really happy with the way the finished circles looked. 

I backed the Briar Rose quilt in the same Kona Silver I used as sashing and background fabric in the Far Far Away sawtooth star quilt. The Far Far Away quilt was backed with yardage of the pink Princess and the Pea fabric from the collection, and I stitched around the stars and also sewed lines connecting the stars to one another.

Both quilts were bound with the same pale blue fabric cut on the bias so that I could round off the corners. I love how rounded edges soften the look of a quilt.

It’s always bittersweet to give away a quilt you’ve put your heart into, but this time it wasn’t so bad, knowing they’ll be living right next door.

Pumpkins, #2 Pencils and Pink Pearl Erasers

Fall is here! Hooray! It seems like overnight the leaves started changing to brilliant shades of reds, oranges, and yellows. I've been on some gorgeous Autumn walks where the air was crisp, and the leaves floated down around me like snowflakes. I am so excited for apple cider, pumpkin bread, corn mazes, and Halloween crafts. These are some of our homegrown pumpkins, just picked this week.

Fall also brings the beginning of the school year. Our cousin, Brianne, started graduate school last week, and I made this school-themed banner to wish her luck on her first day.

I used an array of school inspired paper,  my 2 inch circle punch, 3 inch black squares, 1/8 inch circle punch, and baker's twine.

In the coming weeks, I'm looking forward to horror movie marathons, pumpkin cookie baking and decorating, a visit to an apple orchard, and curling up with a cup of tea and my  next craft projects. Wishing you a happy Fall!

Oktoberfest Pretzels

Let me tell you what happens when you casually suggest to your social butterfly of a German husband that you should host an annual Oktoberfest party. Said German husband JUMPS on the idea and begins shopping for lederhosen and beer. Year by year that party grows, almost exponentially. Before you know it, you are up to your ears in bratwurst, red cabbage, potato salad…and most importantly, soft pretzels.

This year, six batches yielding a total of 84 pretzels were twisted the day of our Oktoberfest party to please our hungry friends.  Each year it becomes more important to find ways to make those batches of pretzels as quickly as possible! The German husband did not seem to mind the test pretzels he was forced to eat in the weeks leading up to Oktoberfest. Major efficiency strides were made this year by adapting to a recipe without a significant rise time or a simmering baking soda bath.

Best of all, I had two amazing helpers to make the pretzel twisting go faster. Don’t worry, they were paid well with unlimited pretzels and beer. And bratwurst. And potato salad. And endless red cabbage.

Brianne and Lauren, the best pretzel twisters a girl could ask for.

At the end of the night, we had 4 pretzels left. Not too shabby.

Oktoberfest Pretzels

Adapted from Saveur and Alton Brown

Makes 12 – 14 pretzels.

Ingredients

1 ½ cups warm water

One package active dry yeast

1 ½ tablespoons barley malt syrup

3 tablespoons softened butter

21 ounces, or approximately 4 ¼ cups flour

2 tablespoons baking soda

1 cup hot water

Coarse salt

Preheat oven to 475 degrees.

Mix warm water, package of yeast, and barley malt syrup together in the bowl of a stand mixer, or other large bowl. Let the mixture sit for 8 to ten minutes until the yeast looks foamy. Add the flour and butter and mix until the dough comes together. 

Knead the dough by hand for 8 minutes or for 6 minutes in a stand mixer with a dough hook.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface, and divide the dough into 12 to 14 equally sized pieces.

It took me a little while to learn the act of twisting a pretzel. Here's how I do it in pictures.

Roll out your pretzel dough into a rope. The ends should be a little thinner than the rest of the rope. Shape the rope into a U.

Twist the ends around each other once.

Take the ends and flip them down onto the base of the U.

This process takes long enough (even with fantastic helpers) that the pretzels get a bit of an informal rise.

Add the baking soda to hot water in a measuring cup or similar vessel. Mix until the baking soda dissolves. Brush the baking soda water solution onto the pretzels with a basting brush, then immediately shake coarse salt onto the pretzels.

Bake the pretzels on parchment for 12 minutes, or until they are golden brown.

Until next year, Oktoberfest.  Prost!  

Special Occasion Banners

It seems like each week, there is always something - a birthday, anniversary, achievement, or birth to acknowledge. It gets overwhelming, but I've come to realize something small can mean so much. Last weekend, I made two banners to recognize three people in my life.

Over the weekend, I learned my friend Brynn passed her Bar exam. Remember when I went to Scrap a few weeks ago? I found some gorgeous sparkly red paper that looks like Dorothy's ruby red slippers, and decided to use it to make something to celebrate her achievement.

I used my 1 .25 inch square punch, shiny gold letters, baker's twine, and sparkly pom poms to create her sign.

This week is also my aunt and uncle's wedding anniversary. They spend much of their summer on a sailboat, so I used sea greens and blues, and my heart punch, for this anniversary creation.

I hope you have fun finding new ways to honor those you love!