Wild Blueberries

This morning my toddler and I went blueberry picking. Just behind our house is a patch of wild blueberries. Did I mention that I love living in the country? At first I was very ambitious, because I know that these blueberries are fantastic for blueberry pies. As I started picking, my daughter was very helpful in holding the container for me, and eating the blueberries as I put them into the container. So I decided if I could get a cup of them without her eating them we might just have enough for blueberry muffins. I did manage to get the container away from her and pick enough. Right before she fell into a patch of mud and declared, "Dirty, Cold" so we had to go away.
Now a word about these east coast blueberries. They in no way resemble the beautiful large blueberries of the Fraser Valley that I grew up with. I happen to have some of those on hand right now as I found them at Costco. Look at them. They are so completely different that when I first moved here, I couldn't quite believe they were blueberries.

My Fraser Valley blueberries grow on these tall bushes and are perfect for snacking on. The Maritime blueberries grow close to the ground and people rake them to collect them. I know, raking blueberries! (My maritime friends are thinking, 'and the problem is?')
So I did bake these tiny blueberries into some delicious banana blueberry muffins. Here's the recipe:

1 cup unsweetened applesauce
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 bananas, mashed
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 cup blueberries

Heat the oven to 375°F. Prepare your muffin cups by spraying with non-stick spray. In a large bowl, mash the bananas, mix in applesauce, brown sugar, and vanilla.
Combine the flour, baking soda, and cinnamon. Stir into the banana mixture until moistened. Stir in the blueberries. Spoon batter into muffin tins.
Bake for 20 minutes in the heated oven or until the tops of the muffins spring back when pressed lightly. This made 24 mini-muffins and 7 medium sized ones. I had to do the mini muffins for the mini blueberries :)

Saturday Morning

It's a beautiful Saturday morning here. After returning back to full time work outside the home a couple of weeks ago, I'm so grateful for Saturday morning. What better way to spend it than with a cup of tea and to re-vamp my blogging life. My boys are happily confiscating all the blankets and pillows in the house to create the greatest fort ever, while my daughter is coloring away in her colour wonder book. I've been thinking about blogging and how I blog for a long time now. Over the years I've gotten so compartmentalized with my blogging. I have a blog for books, a blog for books, a blog for crafts, a personal blog and share on a parenting blog. That's just getting to be too many blogs. So many that I've become overwhelmed with it all. So I'm streamlining. I'm taking this little used crafty blog and making my own little personal space on the web. Whether or not I close down the rest and just blog it all here remains to be seen, but that's the way I'm seriously considering going.
While I'm at it, I never did show you all the dress I made for my daughter did I? I love it. She wore it to her baptism a few weeks ago and I got a lot of positive comments on it. Here are a few pictures:

I have to give a huge plug for Skype here. Skype is awesome. This is my first dress pattern I've done and I got stuck. So I Skyped with my mom. She knew exactly what to do and walked me through it. Fantastic!



*Do you like the new little signature I've added? I got it at My Live Signature and it was super easy to do. Moms Who Blog has a fantastic easy tutorial for it too.

Inspiration

I went to the fabric store yesterday and bought some material to make Olivia a couple of summer dresses - I hope it works. It's my first time following an actual pattern! I have a feeling I'll be skyping with my mom about this one!

Also, I've discovered a new facebook page that has taken up most of my morning. Someone has linked together a whole bunch of fantastic pictures for crafty parents. And now the list of things I want to make is huge! Here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ideas-Inspiration-For-Crafty-Parents/227305467298064

Bee Quilt!

Here it is! My bee quilt in completion. I've been working on this on and off since February. This is my second quilt. The first was a baby quilt made from a quilt kit. This one I made from reading a lot of quilting books and online articles and by spending a number of conversations with my mom on Skype asking, "Is this right?" and "what do you suggest I do here?" type questions. I'm pretty happy with it. Looking at it, I feel like I accomplished what I wanted when I first bought the material last fall. I wanted the bee fabric featured. And I wanted the back material to become the frame of the front. I know it isn't perfect and I still have a lot to learn about sewing and quilting, but I feel good about this.

My bee quilt

A glimpse at the back

All folded up

The Cutest Apron!

Don't you just love this little apron?  I first saw one like it on Flexible Dreams.  As soon as I saw hers I was on the lookout for the supplies to make one myself.  This apron is made from a tea towel, potholder and ribbon.  That's it.  So simple.  The toughest part was finding a cute potholder/tea towel set.  It was my first time trying pleats and I'm so pleased with how they turned out.  This little apron is on its way to my niece.  I hope she like it!
To make one of these yourself go to Flexible Dreams' Tutorial here.  Her instructions make it so easy.  I did this in one night, if I can do it, you can do it too!

Makin' Valentine's Cards

Last week I got away to a Card Making Workshop.  I found it through Meetup.com.  One of the other moms on one of the meetup groups I belong to recently became a rep for Stampin' Up, which is a high quality stamp company.  It was a lot of fun!
Meetup.com for those who haven't heard of it is a site you can join all across the world.  Each city has people who host groups looking for like minded people to meetup.  The range of groups is incredible.  I've met some great moms that way.
Onto the cards.  This was my first go at card making in a long time.  I'd made our wedding invitations, but they were very simple.  As well I made birth announcements for our first born 6 and half years ago.  I used to do a lot of scrapbooking, but since kids the scrapbooking has fallen by the wayside.  I will get back to it one day.
The cards were fun once I got into it.  Our host had a lot of product to choose from to use and a lot of samples to inspire.  Here's what I came up with.

 for my 6 year old son

for my 1 year old daughter

 for my 3 year old son

for my husband

Opinion Please

I've just cut out the quilt top for my first non-quilting kit quilt.  The only part I haven't done is cut out the rectangles for the border.  The directions need 40 3 1/4 by 5 1/2 squares.  I just don't know what material to use.  I have a yellow, but I don't know if it should be all yellow?  I still have enough of the other fabrics left to cut out some with those.  What do you think?