Christmas Ornament Couples Shower

A couple of weekends ago friends and I hosted a Christmas Ornament Couples Shower.



What does that mean? It was a coed wedding shower, where guests were asked to bring Christmas ornaments in lieu of presents. The shower was in January, just after the holiday season and not too far after the new year. If guests planned it right, they could buy a Christmas ornament on clearance!

It was a fun party. And I did absolutely no crafting for it. Which was kind of nice!

My cohorts and I planned a full appetizer, drinks, and dessert menu. We cooked all the food ourselves, but bought a cake. It was a ten inch, double layer chocolate espresso supreme. I had never ordered a cake for a party, but I may do it again. It was delicious!!!



We served chips and queso, meatballs, hazelnut shrimp in endive leaves, cranberry baked brie, artichoke dip, veggies & dip, chocolate dipped strawberries, and my "Minnesota Bars". Let me give you the recipe... they are simple to make and tas-tee!

Minnesota Bars

1 c sugar
1 c corn syrup
1.5 c peanut butter
6 c Cornflakes or Special K
1.25 c chocolate chips
.75 c butterscotch chips

Melt sugar and corn syrup until boiling.
Remove and mix in peanut butter and flakes.
Place in 9x13 pan.

Frost with melted chocolate and butterscotch chips.

Cut into bars when cooled.

Decorations were simple. We made a collage of photos of the happy couple using Picasa software. We bought 30 helium balloons from Party City that we left bunched together for a dramatic statement. Last, but not least, was the small white Christmas tree for displaying the ornaments!

After mingling with guests, the happy couple opened gifts. My favorite ornament was the squirrel. Every tree needs a squirrel!



Look how cute the happy couple looks, getting ready to cut the cake... They are ready for the wedding day festivities!

To all my crafty & quilting friends in Austin!

Are you crafty? Do you sew? Do you quilt? Do you love modern quilts? Do you have interest in meeting other modern quilters?

There is going to be a new modern quilting bee/guild in Austin!

Our first meetup will be in less than a week. We are meeting on Monday, January 18th at 6:30 p.m. at Rio Rita on East 6th Street.

Check out the details here!

Modern Siggy Swap

I signed up for another swap!

Its called the "Modern Siggy Swap" and hosted by Rachel Griffith at p.s. i quilt.

We will be making 101 signature blocks using her tutorial.
Keep up with our progress on the flickr group!

The swap is opened till Jaunary 15th... or 100 swappers. Whichever comes first!

Looking back... My First Quilt

In high school I belonged to the "gifted" program. First they called it "HEIGHT", but changed it later to "GATE". Gifted-And-Talented-Education was easier to remember than whatever "HEIGHT" was the acronym for. If we completed a gifted project or internship during the school year, we would get half of a high school credit. Since we were all nerds in school and wanted more A's than our friends, most did the project. I did two projects for GATE in high school. One was a paper mache cow (another post, another time!) and the other was a quilt.

The advisor told me if I were to make a quilt, I would need to design it myself. I said, "Okay". My mom and grandma were very familiar around a sewing machine. I thought mom would mentor me.

When mom heard of the project, she kind of freaked out. She had never made a quilt herself... So she took me to the local sewing shop and we bought Eleanor Burns' book Around the World, which was part of a quilt-in-a-day series. When I read the book, I remember thinking, "Why would I design my own quilt when I could just copy the instructions from this book?"

So began the lying.
And not making my own quilt design.
And not learning the true meaning of being gifted.

I might not have designed it, but I loved making this quilt.

I needed a book to tell me about fabric selection, tips-of-the trade, making the quilt top, quilt assembly, and quilting & tying quilts. This was 1995. There might have been internet, but there wasn't craftster or other blogs to guide me.

Almost 15 years later, this quilt is still in use. My family keeps it at our cabin on Rainy Lake. The high loft batting inside comes in handy during cold summer nights in northern Minnesota!

And look where I am now! I design all sorts of quilt tops. HA!

The greatest statuses of 2009

.... via facebook.