Summer Time Desert

It is summer time, it is hot and a good time for a cool and refreshing desert. This is Lemonade Ice Cream cake.  Very easy to make and very tasty!  I made it for a scrapbook gathering on Saturday and it was a hit. 

Pink Lemonade Ice Cream Cake

Recipe:

1 - two quart container of Vanilla Ice Cream

1 -  six ounce of Frozen Lemonade Concentrate

Graham Cracker Crust

a 9 x 13 pan or two 8" square pans. 

I make the graham cracker crust like the directions on the box of graham cracker crumbs.  Soften the ice cream and the concentrate.  Mix the two together and pour into the crust and freeze. 

I noticed after I purchased the ice cream it is now a 1.5 quart container.  I haven't been able to find 6 ounces of concentrate in a long time, I use the 12 ounces and it is just fine, not too strong of a lemon favor.  This time I used pink lemonade just to see, it is a nice light pink in color.

Well enjoy!!



Quilting Update

Here are all the Yo-Yos I have (19) finished, (1) almost finished as of tonight, and (14) with just centers.  When I am up close to the design wall I think when all the blocks are done I'll have to balance the blocks for color but when I see a picture like this I think the colors look just fine.  Well I am sure I won't be able to resist moving some of those blocks around or at least twisting them around.  I need to make more Yo-Yos I am almost out of them, again.

I have also been working on my Fresh Picked Flowers.  I spent a lot of time thinking about those borders.  I had even thought of a pieced border but the design I liked wouldn't fit the size of the quilt. 

I finally have two borders on.  When I saw the sample the scallops were only one thickness of the white fabric, so you could see the border fabric through the white scallops.  I did not like the look of that.  So I decided to make the scallops double thickness.  This then caused a problem with the direction the border will be pressed because of the thickness in the seam. 

The top border has been removed once. I first centered the scallops on the border after it was together I noticed the scallops where off center to the squares. So I centered them to the squares on the bottom border and that looked better. Of course I hate ripping but it had to be done. It looks better now. I am planning on doing a decorative stitch around those scallops.

I still haven't come up with any great ideas for quilting it.  Those are thoughts for another day.

I also had a lot of fun playing in EQ7 this week, drawing blocks and learning how to rotate photos on a quilt layout.  Those basket are now going the right way.  I also scanned in my fabric I have for the setting triangles and borders.  I think it will be lovely when it is finished.

Happy Stitching!

Farmer's Wife Sampler and EQ7

I am a member of the Yahoo group for the Farmer's Wife's.  I don't post there a lot but I follow the posts.  I haven't worked on this quilt since last August, I put it away to go to Quilt Camp last year and I have not pulled it out since. 

One of my friends and EQ7 students asked me how to make this progress chart she had seen discussed on the list.  I checked out the blogs that had the charts and knew I could do it.  The problem was it was after 9 PM after a long day so my tired little brain had trouble adding the blocks to the quilt layout.  I knew there had to be a simple solution and I even thought there has to be a set tool.  I was just too tired to figure it out. 

Today on Saturday another gal posted instructions with the one detail I needed to make it work.  And when I saw the step I slapped my forehead and said, "Duh, I knew that."  Thanks Rebecca.  I even had the photo set tool on my tool bar. 

Progress Chart

So here is my Farmer's Wife progress chart.  I want to make mine a king size quilt, so this a king size layout.  I will not be following the layout in the book and will be going more for a balance of color.  On this chart I just dropped the blocks in.  I have my border and triangle setting fabric, so I will scan them and add them to the layout but not right now.  The chart made me realize I am almost half way done.  So I should get working on this again.  Wait I have more important family project to work on.

Some other suggestions I would make. 

1. When you save your blocks name them with the full block name from the book, and the block number.  So when you import them into EQ7 you will have that information for the block notecard.  Use the same naming convention with each block. 
2. After you scan your blocks and size them in your photo editing software, make them the same size and small.  For my blog post I sized all my blocks 1200 x 1200 for EQ7 I am resizing them to 300 x 300.  This will help EQ7 open faster.  The blocks look fine. 
3. Went back and tried 150 x 150 and that works fine also. 
4. When importing your imagine do it from the Library not the Photo Worktable.  On the Photo Worktable you can only import one block at a time.  From the Library you can import multiple blocks.  I won't do more than 10 at a time so your program doesn't freeze up.  Ask me how I know.

Have fun!!
Happy Stitching!

They are Multiplying but not Fast Enough

What are multiplying you may ask?  I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count.  You got it Yo-Yos. 

I added all the center Yo-Yos to the blocks I have made now, which are thirty-four.  I am going to wait awhile before I make more blocks.

Here are all the Yo-Yos I have finished (15) or almost finished (1) as of this afternoon, and (18) with just centers. 

I am having a hard time trying to work on other projects I am enjoying this one so much.  I really do need to get to some of those other projects for family members. 

If you would like to check out this two posts on my other blog, you will see what I have been up to and see why July 5th is a special day to me.
http://meandmyancestors.blogspot.com/2011/07/4th-of-july.html

http://meandmyancestors.blogspot.com/2011/07/on-this-day-in-my-personal-history.html

Enjoy and Happy Stitching!