Heather Steals from Nat over at Inspiration Cafe

Our new series, "It's a Steal" is in full swing right now.

 

It's a fun series where we "steal" or "knock off" a 

fellow blogger's idea and show you what we come up with! 

At the Inspiration Cafe, we are stealing ideas from each other...

so much fun!!!

 

 

It's Heather's turn this week and she has stolen an idea from Natalie over at NorthShore Days.

 

 

Click on the Cafe door to check it out!

Inspiration Cafe is looking for guest posters. If you would like to guest post, please let us know, we would love to have you.  If you would prefer a feature instead, feel free to drop us a line. New or old posts welcome.

Scrappy Trip Round The World...and me.

I wasn't going to do it.  I have too many other things going on.  No time.  And then a surprise came in the mail, my first ever jelly roll.  It was destiny stepping in, letting me know scrappy trip round the world is in fact in my future.

I would recommend using this tutorial as it gives clear and concise instructions.  Peruse the web and you will see a million versions of this quilt, this way you can find a version you really like.  Many just use scraps.  Which is awesome, because how many of us have a giant scrap bin just waiting to be used.  Mine is using Moda's Spring House line...and it is so bright, the colors really are perfect for spring and summer.

So, since I've given you the tutorial link to make this quilt, I am not going to give step by steps here, but I am going to give you some tips that I've discovered as I make it.

 

Lay your strips out.  You are going to sew this into a tube by stitching strip 1 to strip 6.  It's nice to make sure these two strips have a nice contrast as they are going to be next to each other in your block.

Iron the seams like this.  You want to alternate which strips have the seams ironed over it...this is for when you are lining them up later, you get a nice clean join.

Once you're done ironing, fold the strips in half, right sides together and sew them into a tube.  This is why making this quilt goes so quickly.  You don't have to cut and sew a million individual squares.

A trick I learned is once your tube is sewn, iron it one more time.  This will help to flatten it out a bit so when you cut, it's smoother.

It should be nice and even on all sides, making it easy for you to cut your 2.5" strips.

 You'll have a 1" snippet left at the end.  Save this.  You can use them as leaders and enders, or as I plan to do, incorporate them into the back of the quilt. I have a vision of a 1/4" strip going across it.  I hope it works.

See, a tube!  At this point, you want to decide which fabric you want to go through the middle of your block.  This will be the longest continuous diagonal of fabric.  I liked to pay particular attention to this so that all my diagonals were different.

Get out the seam ripper and snip the stitches by the fabric you want to be square #1, you are making your tube into a strip of 2.5" squares.

Now you are going to unpick each of the other tubes in the right spot so you have a diagonal pattern on your block.  This takes a bit of concentration.  Here's what I did.  I paid attention to the last square and the 2nd to last square in the previous strip.  In this case the pink and upholstery looking square.  I am pointing where you need to unpick the tube for strip #2.  Directly between the last and 2nd to last squares.  This is because the pink  is going to become the first square in strip #2 and the upholstery one is going to be the last one in the strip.

Now for strip #3.  See how I am pointing between the last and 2nd to last squares from the previous strip.  Unpick there.

 

I like to lay all my strips out next to my sewing machine.  This makes it easy to know which order to sew them in.  Plus I get to enjoy my handiwork.  

It's important to remember which strip is #1, just so you always sew in the correct order.  Because of this I like to put a safety pin in square 1 of strip 1.  Keeps me honest.

When you are sewing the strips together, you'll notice, because of how you ironed earlier, the seams of the squares alternate which direction they face.  This now comes in handy because they join up so neatly.  Put a pin there and on every seam join, and when you sew you'll have perfectly lovely points.  No gaps.

I can't wait to see how it turns out.  I have been having so much fun sewing it...partly because it's a quick pattern so you see progress almost immediately.

And lastly...a snippet from my spring garden.  The peonies are blooming and looking fine right now.  

Thanks for reading!

Heather

Mary knocks off Danni over at the Inspiration Cafe. Yummy maple cranberry spread and a DIY bird feeder that's so easy!

It's Mary's turn over at the IC and she has stolen two of Danni's posts and made them her own.  You have to see what she's done, because first, I want to make that Maple Cranberry Spread...like now, and second, I love how she repurposes some things she's no longer using and makes something fabulous out of them!

"Okay, let me tell you how yummy this stuff is... 

YUMMMMMMY!!!"

Simple, but so clever!!  Her birds are going to eat this up.  hehehe

To check out her post, Click Here!

Because a Million People Can't be Wrong...Spanakopita Crescent Rolls

My good friend Mary, from...

...has reached a milestone on her blog.

She has had over a million views, I know, right?!?!... and the ladies from Inspiration Cafe figured, well, a million people can't be wrong!  So we decided to see for ourselves what Mary's got that makes her so special, and show you all.  And trust me, girl has got it going on!

 

I decided to make her Spanakopita Crescent Rolls and they were so good.  These have been on my list of things Mary makes that I want to make since...well, she made them the first time.  They did not disappoint.  Of course, I have the attention span of a gnat sometimes...especially when it comes to reading recipes, and so I deviated, just slightly from Mary's recipe. 

I didn't remember to defrost my frozen spinach before hand, so I unwrapped it and defrosted it in the microwave for a few minutes.  Maybe 2 minutes, not enough to make it mushy, but enough so it was no longer frozen.  Then I squeezed the heck out of it.  You want to get as much moisture out as you can, probably so you don't have soggy crescent dough.

Mary says to saute your onions and garlic and then put your spinach in and mix it up a bit.  Well, I mixed the spinach in with the feta and dill.  But it worked out fine.  I just poured my onions and garlic into the feta and spinach and stirred it up good.  You add 1 Tbl. of lemon juice according to Mary, I just squeezed some in.  I like cooking more when I can cook on the fly.  It tasted amazing.  I don't know how much dill or lemon juice I put in, but, as every single crescent was devoured, it was just fine.

 

Clearly I just had wonky crescent rolls...otherwise they wouldn't have looked so weird.  Luckily the recipe is basically fool proof.  I proved it here.  Mine don't look nearly as pretty as hers, but I am guessing they tasted just as good.  With a little pushing and pulling and finagling of the dough, I got a nice seal around my filling and they cooked up real sweet.

So, if you're looking for something a little different to feed your family, give these a try.  They were easy and fun and a real husband-pleaser.  He even took the couple that were left over to lunch the next day.  They are pleasantly salty from the feta, with the tangy kick of lemon and the bite of dill.  And they meld so nicely in the flaky crescent dough.  I am thinking these as a side dish with some chicken kebabs and a cucumber salad, would be the perfect summer dinner.

Thanks Mary for the inspiration and wonderful recipes and ideas you come up with on a weekly basis, and thanks Mel, Danni and Nat for being in cahoots on this fun secret mission to expose even more people to Mary!

Remember to check out Sweet Little Bluebird for no-fail, great tasting recipes and fun crafts!  You won't be disappointed, I mean, a million people can't be wrong!

Please check out the other ladies of the IC's blogs, and see what Mary inspired them to make...

NorthShore Days 

Silo Hill Farm 

Mellywood's Mansion 

Thanks for reading!

Heather