Garden Stars Tutorial

This star is a little bit tricky at first, so plan on having a seam ripper handy. However, after making a couple the task will become simple, fun and they are beautiful!

Sister Star

Finished Product

This is the beginnings of what is to be: Birthday, Christmas, Proud-of-you-for-having-the-courage-to-go-back-to-school Quilt. As you can see, quilt is made from triangles cut from one of my favorite tools...the Easy Angle triangle template. These are   6 1/2" right angle triangles. Then I laid them all out to decide how it should all go together.

MATERIALS: I love fat quarters so all of this is just that...except for the dark purple polka dot and the white with purple x's, for the sake of time I am going to call it just white. I had one yard of the white and about 1 1/4" of the dark purple.

I used eleven fat quarters which is way more fabric than needed, but I wanted lots of different purples. 

Quilt measures 54 by 58".
DIRECTIONS:
Cut a total of 64 - 6 1/2" triangles (I did eight of each color)
Cut a total of 8 6 1/2 x 12 1/2 rectangles for bottom corners (I used two different colors because I ran out of the white with purple x's).

2 - 48 1/2 x 2 1/2" white strip
2 - 52 1/2 x 2 1/2 white strip
2 - 52 1/2 x 2 1/2 purple strip
2 - 56 1/2 x  4 1/2 purple strip (These are all for the sashing, I cut two of the purples a little thicker because I wanted the quilt to be rectangular).

Use the easy angle triangle template, which I have spoken about on numerous occasions It is fabulous for making triangles.
1. Cut out all fabric
2. Organize your triangles the way you desire.
3. I left all my triangles on the floor so they would not get disorganized and I picked them up two at a time and sewed them. It would work really well if you have a design wall just to leave them up and pull them down to sew.
4. After all triangles are attached in rows, begin sewing the rows together Again, it is better to leave it out so you can make sure everything is attached correctly. (I started by sewing the two center rows together and then worked outward)
5. Attach the white sashing.
6. Attach the purple sashing.
7. I used 5/8 yard of purple gingham for the binding.
8. For the flannel back I always ask the store clerk to cut the fabric in two pieces as it saves time. I bought 1 5/8 yard and then 7/8 yard. 

After organizing  I sewed one row at a time and then laid it back down to make sure everything stayed in the same place. (Of course, I messed up and had to unpick and restitch)

Chinese New Year cupcakes

Happy Chinese New Year! 

This year is the year of the sheep. I made some fun cupcakes for a Chinese New Year party I'm attending. I think they turned out pretty adorable! 

These are fruit cake cupcakes. White cake (sometimes angle food cake, but I use my go-to vanilla cake recipe). Topped with a heavy whipping cream frosting. Which is just heavy whipping cream whipped until it thickens, and powdered sugar to your preferred sweetness.

I wrote sheep (or goat) in Chinese with melted chocolate, froze it, then used it as a cupcake topper along with mandarin oranges and strawberries

 The sheep's face is fondant, and the body is marshmallows. Super easy, and super cute! 

 Happy New Year! 

新年快乐