Author Archives: Jennifer Ofenstein

About Jennifer Ofenstein

Owner of sewhooked.com and fandominstitches.com. #quiltforgood advocate. Quilt designer, instructor, Talk to Me Tuesday founder & contributor, cat mom, and craft enabler.

TTMT #197 – Shhh

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Big Foot Slippers

First finish from my 2013 To Do list!

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Featured Pattern Texas Twofer: Set 3 (Paper Pieced) just $2 on Craftsy!

More to do than I thought!

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While working on my 2013 To Do list, I unearthed yet MORE projects.

Seriously, I stopped counting at 19. Believe it or not, I still have more, but for the sake of my sanity, I thought it best to STOP counting while I still feel optimistic about getting things done!

This is the list I’ve created for my own reference and your amusement. It includes projects from my last Talk to Me Tuesday as well as some other long-forgotten projects that still need finishing.

My goal is to finish as many of these projects in 2013 as possible. Let’s get to it!

2011 Five @ The Hive block of the month. To be gifted.

TO DO: Need to add top & bottom border, quilt and bind. Have border, backing and binding fabric.

Harry Potter Alphabet Quilt.

TO DO: To be quilted & bound. Have back/binding fabric.

Hand applique wreath.

TO DO: Needs to be bound with green fabric (shown).

Harry Potter swap block quilt.

TO DO: Needs a border, back and binding. To be quilted & bound.

Vintage quilt top.

TO DO – To be quilted, possibly by hand. Needs a back & binding. I’m thinking muslin for the back.

Vintage churn dash & reproduction fabric snowball quilt top.

TO DO -Needs borders, back and to be quilted & bound.

Green/Purple 10 minute block quilt.

TO DO – Needs borders and to be quilted and bound. To be saved for a baby gift.

There and Back Again signature blocks

TO DO – To be pieced into a top. Will need fabric for sashing and possible center piece.

Misc half square triangles.

TO DO – To be pieced into a quilt top. Have taupe fabric for solid blocks to include in piecing.

There and Back Again (TABABOM).

TO DO – Needs a back and to be quilted, bound.

Project of Doom Signature Quilt

TO DO – Finish the hand embroidery in the border, needs a back and to be quilted & bound. Will read “The Project of Doom 2011 Participants”

Embroidered block quilt top.

TO DO – Needs a border, back and to be quilted, bound. To be saved for a baby gift.

Topsy Turvy Trees

TO DO – Needs a back and to be quilted, bound

Orphan block collection, many more than shown in last week’s TTMT!

TO DO – Make into a quilt (or several!) for The Linus Connection.

Flannel quilt top (I have NO idea when I pieced this, most of these fabrics have been gone from my stash for years!)

TO DO – Needs a back and to be quilted, bound, to be donated to The Linus Connection.

Monkey fabric from Jewells

NEW PROJECT – Make into a quilt for The Linus Connection.

Australia fabric from Cat

NEW PROJECT – Pick a pattern and make top, hopefully king size!

Fabric collection from Kristel, won from one of her TTMT drawings.

NEW PROJECT – I would like to make this into a new bag for myself! Fancy that!

Well, that’s it. At least it’s all I can bring myself to post. I have a serious To Do list for this year, but it has not escaped my noticed that many of these are quilts that need to be quilted. So that’s the goal for this year. Get as many of these completely done as possible. Can I do it while taking care of my family, running Sewhooked and Fandom in Stitches, continuing to create new patterns AND having a job? Heh, who knows, but I sure as heck am going to try!!

Do you have a To Do List? I’d love to see it!!

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Featured Pattern Texas Twofer: Set 3 (Paper Pieced) just $2 on Craftsy!

TTMT #196 – To Do!!!

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Learn more about my favorite charity, The Linus Connection!

Sideways Shell Pattern

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Featured Pattern Texas Twofer: Set 3 (Paper Pieced) just $2 on Craftsy!

Apple Bundt Cake

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Oh, hi!

Thank you for all the well wishes and concerned messages. I’m feeling much, much better as the week progresses. So good, in fact, that I warmed up the house with the smell of baking apples last night. Both the warmth and the smell were amazing on a cold winter night!

I had a random can of apple pie filling in my cupboard that I wanted to use up, and after a little internet searching, found a recipe on the Lucky Leaf website. I used the low-sugar version of the apple pie filling and we skipped the glaze, but the cake was still delicious, especially with a warm with a cup of coffee!

Sugar Dusted Apple Bundt Cake (Lucky Leaf)

Lucky Leaf’s printable version of this recipe

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons sugar (for pan prep)
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon (for pan prep)
3 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
⅓ cup orange juice
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 21-ounce can LUCKY LEAF® Premium Apple Pie Filling

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan or bundt cake pan.

In a small bowl, mix together 2 Tablespoons sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle bottom and sides of pan.

Combine the flour, salt, baking powder and 2 cups sugar in a large bowl. Stir in the oil, eggs, orange juice and vanilla; mix well. Add LUCKY LEAF Premium Apple Pie Filling and stir. Pour batter evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake uncovered for 1 hour. Let cool for 15 minutes.

Invert onto serving plate and cool. Drizzle with citrus glaze if desired.

Optional Glaze:
In a medium bowl, beat 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 Tablespoon orange juice for 1 minute or until smooth. Add additional orange juice by the teaspoon if needed for desired consistency.

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Featured Pattern Set: Fairy Tale Femmes (Paper Pieced Set), $7 on Craftsy!

TTMT #195 – Short

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Talk To Me Tuesday Livejournal Community

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Featured Pattern Set: Fairy Tale Femmes (Paper Pieced Set), $7 on Craftsy!

TTMT #194 – Progress

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Featured Pattern Set: Fairy Tale Femmes (Paper Pieced Set), $7 on Craftsy!

12 for 2012: How’d I do?

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A year ago, I posted this invitation here on Sewhooked:

Choose 12 UFO projects to complete in 2012, earmarking one for each month. Number your projects so you can keep track: January will be 1/12, February 2/12, etc. My plan is to work on big projects and small projects on alternating months so I don’t get overwhelmed by how much I have to finish.

The goal is to have 12 completed projects by the end of 2012. When you finish a project, post about it anywhere else you like to share your crafty goodness, your blog, facebook, YouTube, etc.

If you don’t have 12 UFOs, then earmark any extra months for projects you’ve been wanting to start, keeping in mind that the idea is to have a finished project at the end of each month.

The invitation to work towards completing 12 Unfinished Projects in 2012 was taken up by many of you and you shared your UFO stories right along with me. A big THANK YOU to everyone that played along. Whether you completed one project or twelve, I hope you ended 2012 feeling accomplished and one step closer to your goals!

Definitions of some initialisms used in this post:

UFO = UnFinished Object – a project that has been set aside and allowed to collect dust. Chances are it’s existence has been forgotten until it’s pulled out of whatever dark hole it was stuffed into. While there, it probably multiplied like Tribbles, leaving many more UFOs than you remember putting there in the first place.

WIP = Work In Progress – Always in danger of becoming a UFO, a WIP is a project that is currently being worked on, and will hopefully become a…

FO = Finished Object – What all projects dream of being. The object of much blog activity and excitement and a good source of personal pride. The Ultimate Destination of a UFO and WIP.

2010 UFO list and the follow-up post.
2011 UFO list.
12 for 2012 Project List and 2011 Follow-Up Post

Below you will find the current state of my 12 for 2012 list. It does not include any new projects started in 2012…and there were a lot of them! The date in parenthesis is the birth year of each project. I’ve also included quilting methods because it’s one of the most common questions left in comments. 😉

Bear Paw Pass Around Blocks, aka Papa Bear (2008)

12 for 2012 – 1 of 12
Started 2012: As a quilt top. Originally from a pass-around that my bee did in 2008.
Now: FO, Completed and gifted! Border added, and straight line quilted on my Baby Lock Quest. Gifted to my hubby, Eli, because I had never made him a quilt before.

InuYasha Quilt (2010)

12 for 2012 – 2 of 12
Started 2012: as a bag of t-shirts and random fabrics and the Shoji Screen pattern
Now: FO – Completed and gifted! This quilt was made for eldest out of InuYasha t-shirts as well as a couple of t-shirts shared by friends. Also included are a hand embroidered block (top right) and a stenciled block (bottom left). Free-motion quilted on my Baby Lock Quest.

Project of Doom Signature Quilt (2011)

12 for 2012 – 3 of 12
Started 2012: as stack of awesome signature blocks collected from the 2011 participants of The Project of Doom.
Now: WIP, Top pieced, borders added & embroidery in progress (not shown). This is seriously a WIP…I’m working on it now!

Granny’s Signature Quilt (2010…and the 1930s)

12 for 2012 – 4 of 12
Started 2012: As an in-progress hand quilting project.
Now: FO – Complete! Hand quilted, trimmed, bound. I also have a partially compiled list of who all the people on the quilt are thanks to my mom’s help.

(2010)

12 for 2012: 5 of 12
Started 2012: as a quilt top. Designed, pieced and hand embroidered by me. Free patterns available here. This project started for me as a design in 2010.
Now: FO – Complete, and how! Quilted by Shannon Shaw.
AAQG‘s 2012 QuiltFest Winner: Judge’s Choice, Overall Award for Creativity, Honorable Mention (2 Person Quilt)

Embroidery BOM (2011)

12 for 2012 – 6 of 12
Started 2012: Hand Embroidered sampler blocks made in 2011. I undertook this project to learn how to hand embroider for The Project of Doom. The blog that offered these blocks has since disappeared.
Now: WIP, Top Completed, needs borders.

New York Beauty (2012)

12 for 2012 – 7 of 12
Started 2012: as a variety of blocks and a lot of pieces.
Now: FO, Completed and gifted! This was actually completed early in the year and gifted to our nephew, Marshall. Quilted on my Baby Lock Quest.

5 @ The Hive (2011)

12 for 2012 – 8 of 12
Started 2012: As a few blocks and a lot of fabric pieces and patterns. Block of the Month from Honey Bee Quilt Store in 2011.
Today: WIP, Quilt top completed. Needs borders, quilting and binding. To be a gift.

Vintage Quilt Top (2010)

12 for 2012 – 9 of 12
Started 2012: As a vintage quilt top, a gift from my hubby in 2010.
Today: UFO, I have made no progress on this quilt.

Hand Applique (2010)

12 for 2012: 10 of 12
Started 2012: as an applique block
Today: WIP, has been hand quilted. Needs to be trimmed, bound, labeled and have a sleeve added.

Harry Potter/Magical Swap blocks (2007/2008)

12 for 2012: 11 of 12
Started 2012: As assorted blocks received from various Harry Potter and magically themed swaps.
Today: WIP – Blocks sashed and pieced, needs borders. Also, I have enough blocks left for another quilt, so they’ll end up on my list for this year.

Churn Dash/Snowball (2011)

12 for 2012: 12 of 12
Started 2012: Snowballs & Churn Dash blocks pieced.
Today: UFO – I made no progress on this quilt in 2012. Needs borders, to be quilted and bound.

My Final Score:

10 out of 12 projects worked on

5 complete!

Did you participate in 12 for 2012? Check out:

I intend to continue the tradition of finishing unfinished projects in 2013, though in a less epically organized way. Because of the success of my own 12 for 2012, I now have a lot of completed quilt tops that need borders and/or quilting! THAT is what’s on my list for the year!

Look for my 2013 To Do list to come later in January!

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Featured Pattern Set: Fairy Tale Femmes (Paper Pieced Set), $7 on Craftsy!

All that Glitters is FANDOM!

TTMT #193 – Balance

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In which I talk about 2012 and what’s to come in 2013.

Look for a 12 for 2012 report card coming soon!

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Featured Pattern Set: Fairy Tale Femmes (Paper Pieced Set), $7 on Craftsy!

Mutt-stache by woozelmom!

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This very wonderful quilt was created by my friend Linda, aka woozelmom, for her son Matt using Mustachio! and her own applique design of their adorable dog, Milo! Just look at the detail on Milo, especially the monocle, isn’t it fabulous?!

The gorgeous quilting is by Shannon Shaw of Rock Creek Quilts.

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