busy busy busy!

I've been so busy lately...working, helping Chase keep his cool when he has a 10 page paper due the next day...but I've managed to finished lots of fun projects!

First - and I'm so excited about this I can't believe I didn't post about it immediately after I finished it:

I finished my very first hand pieced (but not hand quilted - still workin' on that) quilt!

It's for our niece - who will be born in the next couple of months!



There's cute green fabric with little butterflies on it, brown polka dotted fabric, a nice pink fabric with one of my favorite patterns, and some ivory fabric with little white stars.

As I mentioned earlier, I hand pieced the whole quilt top together (that's all the squares). Then I took the quilt and all my supplies up to my mom's house - cause she's a much better quilter than me! She helped me make the quilt sandwich (quilt top, batting, and backing) and then I quilted it on her brand spankin' new machine! For my next project, I'm definitely going to hand quilt, but I just didn't have the time to spare for this project.

I think it turned out so cute, and it was the perfect weight and felt so soft! I hope our niece loves it to pieces!

Also, for the baby shower, I was asked to make cupcakes!!! Woooo!!! I love making cupcakes. I just like looking at them! They're so cute and colorful and happy!

For these cupcakes, I used my favorite Red Velvet cake recipe from alpineberry who says she got the recipe from marthastewart.com, but I have never been able to find this exact recipe on marthastewart.com, so I always refer to her blog.

Anyways, I very much wanted to have pink velvet cupcakes for the baby shower, but I'm afraid the final concoction didn't even come close to pink. The cupcakes were more a dull red. So I was a little disappointed that they turned out such an ugly color. But they still tasted great, despite being slightly dry from being a little overbaked.

At least the frosting was to die for! I love this cream cheese frosting recipe. It's so light and fluffy and yummmmmyyyyy!!


I'll give you the recipe - but only if you ask nicely. Just shoot me an e-mail and it's all yours. Trust me. It's heaven.



Also, I started an herb garden!!! I planted all the herbs from seeds just yesterday, so nothing's peeking out of the soil just yet, but I'll keep you updated.

Let's see....on the top shelf, from left to right, we've got Parsley, Basil and Rosemary, the three herbs I use most. And a sake set!? How'd that get there?

And on the bottom shelf (from left to right) is Sage, Dill, Mint, Chamomile, Lavender, Chives, and Cilantro.

I hope these seeds sprout!


And since it's been so nice out (save for the temperature), I've been sitting outside with the puppies a lot.



Not that it's all that exciting - but it's definitely pleasant. Gershwin is always on the lookout for other dogs and squirrels and rabbits and Busby is always watching Gershwin. Aren't they cute!? (Please forgive Gershwin's awful haircut. It's my own dreadful handiwork.)