Strawberries, a Finished Block, and a Pattern!

I saw strawberries at the store the other day! Can you believe that they are already in stores? It seems way too early. But you know what I did? I bought some! The one thing I do every year, without fail, is make strawberry freezer jam!! YUM!!! :) It is my favorite. And with a momma that loves it, 3 growing and hungry boys, and a little girl that will soon be introduced to it, I'm thinking I'm going to need to make a LOT more of it this year! It seems like every year we run out of it sooner and sooner. Just 5 1/2 more hours until I can eat some! ;)

Ok, enough talk about food. ;)

I finished up my Scrap Attack block! :)

kind of crazy, eh?!

I have a few ideas with this! I don't know if I'll use it for my [4x5] Bee Block like I planned, but I definitely want to do some more with it! I'm thinking of continuing with the warm/cool pattern, except in the middle star I want to put white in the center (or maybe a white with a little color print), and then make each middle star monochromatic for each block, so one will be red, one pink, one yellow, etc. It'll have to be a place as you go, so I can match up the cool colors as well. :)

You could also put smaller blocks together so they are all facing the same direction, rather than rotating them to fit as in the above picture. It would make it look like a crazy pointy/zigzag mess! But definitely has potential! :)

the possibilities are endless!!! :)

Here's a quick preview I made up of the first design. Though if I really did this, it would look a lot different than this, using different fabrics and all. But I like the design together. It's kind of crazy busy, but fun! :)

Do you want to make this too??? I turned the block pattern into a pdf so you can print it out too!

You can find it HERE in my shop. 
(This is for PERSONAL USE ONLY! All rights reserved.
There is also a LIMITED USE license pattern available for purchase in my shop, giving you permission to sell items made with this pattern on a small scale.
Please link back to my blog or craftsy shop and give credit when due if using this pattern. Thanks!)

A few things to note if you are new to paper/foundation piecing:

• Make sure to cut around the outside of the shaded square. This is your seam allowance, so when you sew blocks together, everything will line up correctly.
• Adjust your stitch length to 1.5 - makes removing the paper easier.
• Sew just past the ends of the lines - makes it a little easier to pull the paper off when you're finished and not pull the seams out.
• Sew on numbers 1-9 first. When you get to 10-14, it really doesn't matter which side you do first.

If you've never paper pieced before, there are so many great tutorials online to help you learn. (This is the tutorial I used to first learn. It's really simple and basic. My first project was a pineapple block that I made into my seat cushion.)

If there is something that doesn't make sense, be sure to let me know! :)

If you make something with this I'd love to see it! 

Please share it in the from blank pages flickr group! :)

Made It: Gingerbread House

Merry Christmas!! :)

I LOVE this time of year. And one of the best things, although I have never done it on my own, is making gingerbread houses. Ok, I guess if I never take the initiative, it must not be the best (well, not my most favorite thing about Christmas anyway), but I sure do love it.

Yesterday we made gingerbread houses with the young women at my church. It was loads of fun. Hike and Baby were with me to help and I think they liked it too. Hike mostly just ate all the candy he could reach on the table, and Baby ran around the church and begged the girls for candy too. :) Thanks Dianne!

Here's how ours turned out.

I think Hike ate the top of the tree before I put it on.

Notice the flat piece of graham cracker under the roof, that is THE BEST idea ever! It makes all the difference in the world for keeping your roof on and so the walls don't fall down.

Thanks Tiffany for the fabulous idea! :)

Maybe in another year or two we'll start making gingerbread houses as a tradition at home. Until then I'm ready to start eating away! ;)

I'd love to see your gingerbread creations!! 

Leave a comment with your link and I'll be sure to stop by!

Linking up, so go ahead and check out the linky party buttons on my side bar (towards the bottom).

Oh so Yummy recipe(s)! :)

I have a love hate relationship with food. I really like it, but boy does it ever make life difficult! haha. I do like to cook, but when I haven't planned what we're going to have for dinner in advance, then I really hate cooking dinner. If a miracle happens, and I get a meal plan made for a week or two, and get all the shopping done, then cooking is my favorite thing! :)

One thing that always makes this difficult is figuring out what to have for dinner. Quite a while ago my SIL and I discussed putting a blog together where we can share all of our good recipes. I invited all of our sisters and a few other people, and it has turned into quite the nice collection. I still haven't tried all the recipes, but there are a few that have definitely turned into favorites. :)

One that looks, and probably sounds really weird, is Barbecups. But boy are they ever oh so good!!! :)

You can find the recipe at Delicious Beans and Things.

I am always searching for more good recipes! Do you have any you would like to share? You can either leave a link to your blog if you have them posted, or you can leave them as a comment, or email them to dbByDesign@gmail.com, and I will share them with everyone. :)