Mini Pies

Today, I tried something that I saw on Pinterest. I tried to find the site's address to give credit, but the link didn't go to it. (I don't like when that happens.)

Here is what I did to make the mini pies.

Items needed:
Pre-made pie crust. (I used the Pillsbury 9 inch crust)
1 can pie filling.
*optional cinnamon

Use a cookie cutter to cut out round circles about 2 to 3 inches in diameter. Save the unused pieces because you can roll them into balls and shape them into circles.

Place a tablespoon of pie filling in the center of a circle of crust. Then add another circle of crust on top and seal the edges. You can pinch with fingers or press a fork into the edges. 

Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake for 350 degrees for 20 minutes. 

Now, this would be easy to do from scratch or even to use a cookie crust. 

Pet Quilt and future pattern of baby quilt

This is a pet quilt the size of a regular pillow. I named it "Winnie the Pooh's Diamond Patch". This only took me a couple of days to do. 

I used graph paper to draw the pattern. I wanted to use it for a baby quilt, but wasn't sure how it would really look or how well I would sew it. Thus, I made a pet quilt. I will enlarge the blocks for the baby quilt. 

I am going to miniaturize future quilts that I have any concerns over. I learned a lot by doing this and now I have a nifty pet quilt to give to a friend. Well, it is going to my husband's co-worker.


 Here is the back of the pet quilt. If you look closely, you will see that I made it to hold a pillow for the pet who wants a plusher surface to lay on. The inside is finished and the batting is not visible. The opening is in the middle of the quilt, much like a pillow sham.


Here is Lathandar after he discovered the opening on the back of the pet quilt. He scooted in and got comfortable. I had to distract him so that the quilt could be washed. 

He is going to be upset when he can't find this quilt in the house later. I hope he can't read because he is sitting here watching me type this blog. 

Thank you Fiskars

I was rather upset that my Fiskars cutters 60 mm blades were getting smaller and that I couldn't cut as many layers of fabric as I used to. I went to their site and sent an email in their "contacts" section. I got a form letter saying that someone would respond in 5 to 7 business days. I waited and then sent another email and got the same form letter back. 

So, I got on Amazon and ordered Martelli 60 mm Rotary Cutter and 2 extra blades. Then I called Fiskars. I got a woman named Janice. She was very polite. I explained that I wasn't upset with her and that I wasn't blaming her because I am sure the customer service operator gets horrible treatment by people who feel ignored or slighted. I explained that I didn't get a response to my problem so I just gave up and ordered a different cutter and blades. I wanted them to know that no one responded to my emails. 

Then my phone started to beep because it was dying. I did explain that to Janice as she tried to look up the possible reason that my blades seemed to change size and she did explain that the 60 mm didn't change in size. I explained my rotary cutter can take the 45 mm blades as well which is why I bought them. Two sizes in one blade seemed like a good idea. Then my phone died.

Janice called me back. She discovered that I had actually bought a 65 mm cutter that could also use 45 mm blades. I had never seen 65 mm blade at the stores that I shop at. I honestly cannot remember where I bought my cutter. She found a spot online that sells them and asked for my email address so she could send me the link. She also asked for my address so she could send me 2 blades so as a courtesy since no one got back to my email.

She was so nice. I wanted to share this since there are so many times that we get bad treatment by businesses. I wish that she could get commission on all my Fiskars blade purchases since she found a solution to my confusion about the changing blade size (that wasn't really changing) AND gave me 2 free blades.

Thank you people like Janice. You kept a customer for Fiskars. I am very pleased with the outcome since I had thought that I was being ignored.

Attic Window Quilt

Here is my attic window quilt. I have been working on it off and on for a couple of years and finally finished it. The panes are made from a space themed fabric. The light blue side window frame is made of a swirly pattern. The darker blue bottom part of the window pain is made from a star pattern. The borders between the window pane blocks are a darker blue that you can see better on the side borders of the quilt. The binding of this quilt is made from the extra red fabric that I had from the back blocks.  

Here is a closer view of the window pane blocks.

This is our dog, Jedi, walking on the quilt to find a comfortable spot. 

This is the back of the quilt. If I had picked the colors better, there would have been a 3-D illusion of long rectangular blocks. I have a fondness for illusion type quilts. 

I  made so many errors on this quilt. It was way to big for me to handle and I am disappointed in the way it turned out. It will still get a lot of use in our home, just wish that I had not tried to manage such a large quilt.

Nightmare in quilting

This was supposed to be a gift for my husband that I started a couple of years ago. This was too big for me to handle and the mistakes now glare at me. I put this away for a time because I had gotten too tired to sew it. It wore me out just trying to lift it. It is a king size and way to heavy for my hands, arms, and back. You can see the problems of quilting if you look closely.

Here is a close up image of the quilting. There are too many pinches, jerky spots, and knots. I am NOT going to give this to my husband as a gift, but it will still be a much used quilt in our house. It will be a constant reminder of remembering my limits. Until I get a different set up or a long arm quilt machine, I'll do quilt-as-you-go quilts or very small quilts. 

I won't subject myself to the unhappy quilting days that this caused again. Yikes.