I’ve never shown the finished quilt that my 10-year-old daughter Emma made for her doll Ruthie.

She machine pieced the Dresden Plate and borders and appliqued the plate by hand.

The other thing she did by hand was the quilting.  Yes, I did think about having her restitch this section.  I have concerns about its longevity ; ).  But I didn’t have the heart to make her redo that much stitching.  By the time I spotted it, she’d gone on for inches.

Plus, it is so dear.  I love those big stitches.

Practice really does make perfect.  Just look at how much her work improved!  Her hands are so small, it was hard to rock that needle back and forth.  I was proud of her that she kept at it.

She has been thinking about quilting it more… but decided to take a break before she decides for sure.

I told her it was up to her.  She is the quilter.  She gets to make her quilt exactly how she likes.

She even sewed a little hexagon throw pillow and pillowcase to match.

Lily also finished the quilt top for her doll, Kit.  She did such a beautiful job with the hexagons and her color choices.  It turned out so lovely.  Now for her hard decision- to hand quilt or machine.  Since her quilt was all hand pieced, except for the teal border, she is a little wary of hand quilting.

She is ready for some time on the sewing machine baby.

Again she is the quilter… and it’s up to her.

They are both already planning 1940’s style quilts for their other dolls Molly and Emily…  both machine pieced.

This past Saturday a few friends and I got together to quilt.

My husband packed up the kids early and took them to Park City for a day of skiing.

I had the house to myself to for a few hours and then an afternoon of whirring sewing machines, good food, inspiration, and best of all, great company.

I couldn’t go empty handed, so for a treat, I made a dessert I’ve been craving.  It’s the dessert my mom made just about every Sunday when I was a girl.

Texas Fudge Cake.  Her recipe has buttermilk in the batter.  Which means I LOVE it.

My mom always left the last row of her cake unfrosted.  Can you believe it?  I didn’t like frosting, at all, as a child.  I scraped the white part out of Oreo’s and the frosting off of cakes.  I think back now on all those cakes my mom frosted, carefully leaving that last row just for me.  Even if I didn’t realize it then, that was a way she showed her love.

On Saturday, I was on my way to making a sheet cake, until I thought about plates and forks and a spatula… and so I made cupcakes from the batter instead.

I love frosting cupcakes with a pastry bag.  Since I’m still not the biggest fan of frosting, (unless it’s Key Lime cupcake frosting) I don’t like two or three inches of frosting on a cupcake trend.

Decorating cupcakes with a star or a round tip makes them look really nice, but is still very easy.

If you haven’t done a lot of cupcake or cookie decorating, be sure to add sprinkles to every row or so, before the frosting begins to set up.

Here’s my mom’s wonderful recipe:

Mom’s Texas Fudge Cake

1 cup butter (2 cubes)

1 cup water

1/4 cup cocoa

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. soda

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Combine butter, water and cocoa in a sauce pan.  Bring to a boil and remove from heat.  Add flour and sugar into a stand mixer or large mixing bowl, pour cocoa mixture over and stir to mix.  Add buttermilk, eggs, vanilla and soda and beat well.

Pour into a greased and floured 9 x 13 pan.  Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.  Allow to cool before frosting.

Frosting:

1/2 cup butter

1/3 cup cocoa

5 Tablespoons milk

Powdered sugar

Chopped pecans or walnuts for topping optional

Stir together butter and cocoa in saucepan over medium, until butter is melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and pour into mixing bowl or stand mixer.  Add milk and powdered sugar to desire consistency.  Frost cooled cake and top with chopped nuts if desired.

For cupcakes, makes 24.  Pour evenly into cupcake liners in a muffin tin and bake at 400 for 14- 16 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.