Striped Quilt Part 3 - Binding

Now that you have everything completely sewn together (top quilt, batting, and backing), it's time to finish up the last part!

Trim up all of the sides so that all of the sides are equal. I used my cutting mat to help me keep things straight.

The binding can be as thick as you would like. I ended up going with strips that had a width of 2.5" since I already had enough fabric for that and wouldn't need to buy more.

Calculate how many strips of fabric you need for the binding:
You can use this calculator for some easy math:

I love this tutorial on how to do the binding:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2egganTi2us

I chose to hand sew my binding instead of finishing it with the sewing machine. Before, I did the final stitching I embroidered "Made with Love by Mom 2015." I used a pencil to write it out and then embroidered. I loosely put in a couple of pins to help keep the binding down, so I would know how much space I had to work with.

You now have a beautiful and completely quilt! It felt like quite an accomplishment to finally finish this!

Part 1
Part 2

Cranberry Orange Turkey Croissants

I love these tasty sandwiches.  They are so easy to make and the cranberry orange spread is delicious and perfect!  I love to serve these at baby showers, baby blessing luncheons, lunch groups or really any party.  These are a hit every time!

To make the cranberry spread you will need cream cheese, whole berry cranberry sauce and orange marmalade.  You can add craisins, if you like, as well.

 Mix the cream cheese, cranberry sauce and orange marmalade with an electric mixer until well combined.  Add additional cranberries if desired.

Cover the cranberry spread and place in the fridge for at least two hours or up to one week.  When you are ready to make your sandwiches get some croissants and carefully slice them in half.  I normally just buy croissants for this recipe, but you can definitely make them if you'd like.  The mini croissants you can get at the bakery of some grocery stores are perfect for these too!  Generously spread the cranberry spread on one half.

 Layer the turkey and lettuce and then top with the croissant.  I like to cut them in half, but serve however you like. 

Enjoy!





















Cranberry Orange Turkey Croissants 
Recipe by: Prescriptions for a Happy Home

Ingredients:
1pkg. (8oz) cream cheese, room temperature (the low fat kind works great)
1 c. whole berry cranberry sauce
1/3 c. orange marmalade
1/3 c. craisins, opt.  
12 croissants 
2 lbs. sliced turkey ( I get it from the deli counter)
1 head green leaf lettuce  

First, make the cranberry spread by combining the cream cheese, cranberry sauce and orange marmalade.  Mix will an electric mixer until well combined.   Add craisins and mix well, if desired.   Cover cranberry spread and let sit in the fridge for at least 2 hours.  (you can even make this up to a week ahead of time and just store it in the fridge in an airtight container.)  Slice the croissants in half and generously spread the cranberry spread on one half. Top with turkey and lettuce and then the other half of the croissant.  Serve and enjoy!

   

Striped Quilt Part 2 - Backing and assembling the quilt

Take your top layer and even it up a little bit, you don't have to completely cut it even right now but if you have sides that ended up much longer than others you can fix that now.

How much backing fabric you use, varies from person to person. I played it on the safer side, but some give themselves even extra fabric. I chose to have an extra 4"  of backing and batting on each side of my quilt.

My quilt top ended up being 42" by 58". So I wanted my batting and backing to be 50" by 66". Since I used a twin size batting, it was easy to cut into the size I wanted. The backing was a little trickier, since the width my bolt of fabric was only 43", I had to piece together my backing. I ended up getting 2 3/4 yards of my backing fabric to make sure I had plenty. (This might be where you need to bring out your math skills, don't forget to account seam allowance in).

I chose a polka dot fabric, and wanted to line up the polka dots so it would be harder to see where I pieced the fabric together. (I ended up ordering a little extra fabric for this reason)

Cut your fabric, and line up how you would like it.

Then pin the fabric, since you want this to stay lined up its important you pin it! Then sew, I just used a 1/4" allowance for this.

Press the seam open.

 And there you go, a backing that almost looks like it's one piece of fabric!

Find a large area to spread out your quilt. Lay your backing fabric print size down on the floor, and then place the batting on top.

Then place your top quilt piece on top- in the center. Remember I allowed for about 4" on each side of the quilt to have extra batting and backing.

Make sure everything is smooth out how you would like it including the back. I found that the back easy moved around so I was having to constantly check it.

Pin several areas of the quilt so that the quilt will stay in tact while sewing. (You may need to adjust pins later but this helps keep things mostly in place). Put extra pins on the first row you are going to sew. I chose to start in the middle and then alternate sides of the quilt as well as the direction I sewed in. This helped pull the quilt and prevent the quilt from bunching up. This part can be tedious, but go slow and careful.

I made a quick example to try to show you what I meant. I started with my center, grey stripe, I sewed from left to right. Then I sewed right below that stripe from right to left. Then I moved up and sewed again right to left, but it was in the opposite direction I sewed the row below it. I used pins on the side to help me know which side to sew. Keep checking the back as you sew the row to make sure the backing is not bunching.

 
I rolled up the quilt to make it easier to sew and fit easier with my sewing machine.





I tried to sew on the white part with white thread so it would blend in better.

Keep sewing until all of the rows have been sewed.

Part 1
Part 3

Toasted Coconut Macadamia Nut Cookies

 

White chocolate macadamia nut cookies have always been my favorite.  I decided to add some toasted coconut to them and they were even better!  When I make these for parties, I like to dip them in white chocolate and add some festive sprinkles. Either way they are delicious and sure to be a hit!

Toasting coconut is really simple so don't be afraid to try it! To make toasted coconut you just spread the coconut in a thin layer on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. I just used the same pan I would be using for my cookies.  

 

Bake for 5-10 minutes or until the coconut is toasted.  It's very important to stir the coconut often to prevent it from burning.  When it's golden brown, remove from oven and let it cool while you make your cookie dough.   

To make the cookie dough cream your butter, coconut oil, sugars, dry pudding mix, and vanilla.  If you don't have coconut oil you can just use all butter. 

 
Add two eggs and mix well.

Add the flour, baking soda and salt.  Mix until flour is blended in.  

Lastly add all the good stuff!  Gently mix in the toasted coconut, macadamia nuts, and white chocolate chips.  

 Roll into 1 or 1 1/2 inch balls and place on your baking sheet.  

Bake for 9-11 minutes or until they start to turn golden brown.

Remove to wire racks and allow to cool.

The cookies taste amazing at this point and you can totally stop here.  But if you want them to look even more impressive you can melt some of these lovelies and dip half of each cookie in them.  

Add some sprinkles or some extra toasted coconut and allow the chocolate to harden on some parchment or waxed paper. 

 

Beautiful, fun festive cookies!

Toasted Coconut Macadamia Nut Cookies

Recipe by: Prescriptions for a happy home

Ingredients:

1/2 c. butter, room temperature

1/2 c. coconut oil (if you don't have coconut oil you can just use butter)

3/4 c. brown sugar

1/4 c. sugar

1 small box of instant vanilla pudding

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 1/2 c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. kosher salt

1 c. toasted coconut 

1 c. roughly chopped macadamia nuts

1 c. white chocolate chips

optional:

white dipping chocolates

sprinkles or additional toasted coconut

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350.  Spread the coconut in a thin layer of a baking sheet. Bake for 5-10 minutes or until the coconut is toasted.  Stir often to prevent coconut from burning.  When golden brown, remove from oven.  Set the oven to 375 and start making your cookie dough.

Cream the butter, coconut oil, sugars, dry pudding mix and vanilla. Add eggs and mix well.  Add the flour, baking soda and salt.  Mix well.  Add the toasted coconut, nuts and white chocolate chips. Stir just until combined.  Roll dough into 1 or 1 1/2 in balls.  (If you're dipping the cookies in chocolate after baking, roll the dough into 1/2 in balls)

Bake at 375 for 9-11 minutes. Or just until the center of the cookie starts to turn golden brown.  Remove to wire racks and allow to cool.

If desired, melt white dipping chocolates in a microwave for 1 minute.  Stir and repeat in 10 second intervals until all the chips are melted.  Dip half of the cookie in the chocolate and add sprinkles or coconut.  Place the cookies on parchment paper and let the chocolate harden.  

Makes 3-4 dozen cookies

Enjoy!

Striped Quilt Part 1 - Top piece (sewing the stripes)

I have been seeing this ruffled quilt floating around etsy and pinterest for a while and decided it as time I make it. Plus I wanted a quilt for E when she transition into a toddler bed. I made mine a little larger so it can be used as a lap quilt once she outgrows the toddler bed.

My quilt is 42” by 58” so my measurements are based on that size.

My quilt has 2 pink stripes, 3 grey stripes and 6 white stripes.

(Picture does not show backing as I bought that once my quilt top was completed).

Materials needed, in additional to the typical sewing supplies:

• 1 3/4" of pink*  (I used the pink for ruffled strips and binding which is why more fabric is needed)
• 1 1/4" of grey*
• 1 1/4" of white*
• Batting 50" by 66" I just bought a twin size since the crib size wasn’t large enough. **
• 2 3/4" of backing fabric
• Matching thread (I just used pink (since it was the binding color) and white for everything else)

*Make sure to check the width of your fabric, each strip will need to be cut to 43” so you don’t want to start with a smaller width. All of my fabric was at least 44” in width.

** Please make sure the batting allows it to be quilted up to 6” apart (some batting requires the quilting to be closer together.

I used a ½” allowance for all of the sewing.

After washing your fabric, cut your strips to be 43” by 6 ¼”.  Cut 3 grey, 6 white, and 6 pink.

Iron your pieces of fabric.

For the ruffled stripe:

Sew two pieces of the pink strips together, on the width part (the sides that are only 6 ¼”) so that you now have a long stripe 6 ¼” by 85” (losing an inch due to the seam allowance).

Once you have done this for both of your pink strips. Sew with an ½” allowance with a very loose and long stitch. (I had my tension at the loosest I could get it which was a 9 for my Brother sewing machine.). I recommend practicing this ruffle on a scrap piece of fabric. As you sew, the fabric will start to bunch up on its own – which creates the ruffle.

Pin this ruffle piece to one of your pink strips (42” by 6 1/4”). As you pin, you can help create some of the ruffles so you can get it to look the way you want.

Sew the strips with a 1/2" allowance on either side.

Do this again for the other ruffle. You should now have two ruffle pieces.

Now sew the strips together, two at a time. Be sure to pin, this helps so much in keeping the strips from shifting and being equal on all sides.

 I started by sewing a white strip to every grey strip.

Iron the seams open.

Continue sewing the strips together until the top of your quilt is finished! (sorry I forgot to take a picture with just the top - I put the pink around to make sure that's what I wanted for the binding)

I will finish this quilting process in other posts.

Part 2
Part 3