Happy Easter, Happy Spring

Look what's peeping out in my garden-- 

Won't be long now!

  

This is the time of year when a quilter's fancy turns to--PASTELS! Or at least mine does . . . I don't usually work with brights or pastels very often but I definitely get the urge in Spring.

This little Feedsack Flower Garden quilt (from American Doll Quilts) is one of my all-time favorite springtime quilts and honestly, it's so much fun I've made several over the years. If you don't have the book to follow the pattern, it's easy. First, get out your '30s scraps. 

         

For each block, trace five hearts ( I used a 1 3/8-inch template) onto fusible web (I used Lite Steam-A-Seam 2). Then fuse them onto the wrong side of assorted pastel fabric scraps, cut out and fuse onto a 4-inch light background square in a circle. (If you're making the quilt with 12 blocks, yes, that's 60 hearts you have to cut out . . . )

Sew the blocks together into 4 rows of 3. Hand quilt in the ditch along the blocks and along the outside of the "flower" about 1/16 inch away from the edge to make it puff up a bit and give it that hand applique look without the work of applique. Give the flowers a good shot of steam to make the fabric pucker a little. To make the scalloped design in the borders, I used a small cup to make the curves.

Gosh darn cute!

Today I'm making a Carrot Cake for Easter dessert:

Carrot Cake

3 eggs

1 1/4 cups oil

1 1/3 cups brown sugar

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups flour

1 8-oz. can crushed pineapple

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

4 carrots, grated

 Still have to find a recipe for a good cream cheese frosting, yum.
 
 

 
I hope you all have a great Easter holiday! I'll let you know how the cake turned out . . . .