Do You Love Halloween?!

I love to decorate my home with Halloween and autumn themes, don’t you?  Although summer is my season of choice, it is a wonderful change when the fall air starts to crisp at night and the days are still warm and sunny. To celebrate, I created “Jack-and-the-Cat”, an autumn and Halloween hooked rug pillow that is featured in the fall issue of Primitive Quilts and Projects Magazine!

With this issue, you’ll get the FREE PATTERN, instructions and template, along with about 15 other wonderful projects by some of your favorite designers, including Kim Diehl, Jennifer Gaston, Dawn Heese and Tonya Robey (Mad Hen Designs). This issue will be available at your favorite quilt stores in a week or so and on newsstands in the first week of August.

If you’re like me and want your very own subscription to Primitive Quilts and Projects Magazine, just click here and be sure to mention Melanie Pinney or American Pie Designs when you subscribe and you’ll get an EXTRA ISSUE FREE!

ARE YOU A MEMBER OF MY BIRTHDAY CLUB?  I hope you’ll join!  Members receive a WHOPPING 25% OFF ALL PATTERNS AND KITS DURING THEIR BIRTHDAY MONTH!  Plus, a winner is drawn each month from all Club members with a birthday that month and the winner receives their choice of a free pattern from my website. It’s sooooo easy and costs you absolutely nothing ‑‑ it’s just my want of saying “thank you” to all my friends.  To join, just click here, or you can also email me your name, address and birthday month and I'll get your added.

SO WHO IS JULY’S BIRTHDAY CLUB WINNER? Congratulations go to Cynthia Brian of Kiowa, Kansas!  Cynthia, please visit my website at www.americanpiedesigns.com and email me with your choice for your free pattern. Everyone else who is a Birthday Club member and is a July birthday baby will be shortly receiving an email from me with a special code for 25% off all my patterns and kits for the rest of this month. Happy Birthday everyone!

That’s it for now ‑‑ be sure to check back in a couple of days when I post a new recipe and a sneak preview of my new quilt that has an easy checkerboard center and happy flower-filled borders you can applique by hand or by machine. Easy-peasy and so fun to make!  In the meantime, Happy Stitchin’!  xoxo--Melanie 

Meet the June Birthday Club Winner and make Lemon Cupcakes with Blackberry Buttercream Icing!

It's time to announce the June winner from the Birthday Club! Drum rolls and congratulations go to Jo Leland of Kingwood, Texas, who wins a free pattern of her choice from my website!


Jo is a member of my American Pie Birthday Club, and I hope you'll join too.  It's free and each month all Club members get a chance to win a pattern and also get 25% off all patterns and kits from my website during their birthday month! If you haven't joined yet, click here or send me your name, address and birthday month at melanie@americanpiedesigns.com and I'll get you entered. Good luck to all!


What's New?  I've been working on a new traditional quilt pattern that will be ready for release in the next two or three weeks.  It's a great pattern for both beginning and experienced quilters and in addition to some simple quilt blocks, it showcases a bit of applique in the borders that you can do by hand or machine. The great thing about this pattern is it shows my easy secret for choosing fabrics to achieve a planned scrappy look. I know choosing fabrics is one of the most difficult parts of making a quilt, but if you follow the instructions in this pattern, you'll find it really simple to harmonize your fabrics perfectly.  More on that soon!


Let's get to my favorite part -- Food!  I found this wonderful recipe for lemon cupcakes with blackberry buttercream frosting and I'm making a [second] load of them to enjoy with family and friends for our annual Fourth of July barbecue.  This recipe was a hit with the hubby, who packed them into his lunchbox and greedily pilfered them during the late movie while I snoozed.  I hope you enjoy this recipe.  Please feel free to share it with your friends!

Lemon Cupcakes with Blackberry Buttercream Frosting

(recipe courtesy of allrecipes.com)

Ingredients for Cupcakes (makes 24 cupcakes):

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 eggs
• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1-3/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup low-fat milk
• 1 lemon, juice and zest
•  
• Ingredients for Frosting:
  
  1 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cup seedless blackberry jam

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C)
• Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners
• Cream sugar and 1/2 cup butter in the bowl of a stand mixer until fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, and mix 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract into mixture with the second egg.
• Beat in flour and baking powder until thoroughly combined; beat in milk, lemon juice, and lemon zest to make a smooth batter
• Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups
• Bake in the preheated oven until cupcake edges are slightly golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool cupcakes completely
• Beat 1 cup butter with 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and salt until smooth and creamy. Beat in confectioners' sugar, 1 cup at a time, to make a creamy frosting. Beat in blackberry jam. Spread frosting on cooled cupcakes.

That's it for today!  I'm headed back to my worktable to continue working on that new quilt pattern.  Have a great week, and Happy Stitchin'!  xoxo--Melanie

Celebrate Spring with "Peppermint Patty" and Lemon-Sugar Bundt Cake!

Mmmmm, I love peppermint and I love lemon too, so we're going to have a little of both today!  I thought it would be fun to show you my new crochet pattern and follow it up with a wonderful recipe I have for Lemon-Sugar Bundt Cake.

Are you as eclectic as I am?  I love to jump from one kind of project to another, so in between the patterns I've been creating for fall and the new summertime candle mat I'm working on, I couldn't see any reason not to get "Peppermint Patty" finished!

"Peppermint Patty" is a super-fun crochet hat pattern I created during a long road trip with my hubby.  It's available through my Etsy shop at http://www.etsy.com/shop/lollypoppers, and you can get it in full-color downloadable PDF format or by paper pattern through snail-mail. The pattern includes complete instructions and some extra tips that are good for any crochet project (a teaser page is shown below):

And how about that recipe for Lemon-Sugar Bundt Cake? This cake is incredibly delicious and just right for spring and summer entertaining. It's moist and sweet and tangy and supposedly keeps for several days, although it is always gone at my house before I can find out!

LEMON-SUGAR BUNDT CAKE

I originally found this delicious recipe at www.melangerbaking.com and it's become a favorite. If you want, you can double this recipe to suit the larger volume of a 10-inch bundt pan which you bake at 350F (180C) for 40-45 minutes.  The regular recipe shown below can be baked in an 8-inch round cake tin or a 4"x8" loaf pan for 25-30 minutes. This recipe is also delicious substituting orange or lime for the lemon.  Here we go!

Ingredients for Batter:
2 sticks (250g) butter, room temperature
4 tablespoons lemon zest (about four lemons)
2 cups sugar
6 eggs
1-1/2 cups whole milk
3 cups all purpose flour
1-1/2 tablespoons baking powder


Ingredients for Syrup:
3/4 cup of lemon juice
3/4 cup of sugar

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 180C (350F). Beat the milk and eggs together in a small bowl. Set aside. Sift the flour and baking powder in a separate small bowl. Set aside. In a large saucepan, combine the butter and sugar on low heat until melted. Whisk in half of the milk/egg mixture until loosely blended. Whisk in half of the flour mixture. Repeat in the same order with the remaining mixtures, finishing with the flour. Gently stir in the lemon zest and then pour the batter into your prepared pan.  Bake as directed above or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to a wire cooler.

Immediately begin preparing the syrup. Bring the lemon juice and sugar to a boil in a small saucepan. Using a toothpick, poke a few holes around the cake, and then drench the cake with the hot syrup.  Allow the cake to cool in the pan, and then gently remove it. If you keep the hubby away, this cake keeps well for 3-5 days stored at room temperature in an airtight container.

It's back to the worktable for me  With any luck, I'll have a new summer candle mat ready for you to enjoy in a few days. As always, have a great week and Happy Stitchin'!

xoxo--Melanie

Introducing "Fall Is In The Air" and a Recipe for "Easy Rhubarb Crisp"!

I hope you like my new release, "Fall Is In The Air", a cute 34" x 34" quilt you can make from wool or wool felt!  I like to think of this as a cheater quilt, because not a single piece is done by sewing machine.The block sections are cut, temporarily attached with washable fabric glue, and then stitched together with a simple embroidery stitch called the blanket stitch.  Because we're cheating, your points and seams will come out perfect!

The pattern is $9.99 and I've included diagrams for each of the 16 blocks, full-size templates for the lettering and leaves, a color photograph and illustrations explaining the simple embroidery stitches used to embellish the quilt.  You can make this quilt from wool or wool felt, and I've even created a kit containing all the wool felt you need to complete the quilt, in case your local fabric store doesn't carry all the colors.  You can see a close-up of the quilt and more information by clicking here.


How About a Recipe for Memorial Day Coming Up?  My husband thinks all I do is stitch, but boy, is he wrong!  In between 4-wheeling, snowmobiling, dangling a worm from a hook and stitchin', I also like to cook now and then.  I really enjoy taking special foods along when we go  crappie fishing over Memorial Day weekend, and with that in mind, I want to share a recipe straight from hubby's heart called . . .

"EASY RHUBARB CRISP

THE CRUST AND TOPPING:

1 cup quick oatmeal     
1 cup brown sugar
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional) (gotta have nuts!)
Mix together the oatmeal, 1 cup of sugar and pinch of salt.  Add the butter and cut it in until it resembles course crumbs.  Divide the mixture in half.  Press half into a 9" x 13" pan to create the "crust". Set the other half aside for now.


THE YUMMY FILLING:

              

4 to 6 cups rhubarb, chopped
1 to 1-1/2 cups sugar

PUTTING IT TOGETHER:  Mix the rhubarb and the 1 to 1-1/2 cups sugar.  Spread the mixture evenly over the "crust" you created above.  Sprinkle the remaining crust/topping mixture over the top, adding chopped nuts, if desired.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.  I like to serve it warm with vanilla ice cream.  Mmmmm!

I've got to get back to my worktable now.  I'm working on a couple of new projects I want to get released in time for everyone to finish their's for summertime decorating.  Have a great week, and Happy Stitchin'!  xoxo--Melanie