Some more Layouts

Here are some of my new layouts (all made with Scrapbook Gone Digital kits)



What do you think?

Recipe for Brownie... less fat

I don't know about you, but I decided to try to bake with less fat. After reading a lot about applesauce, I decided to try it.
Today, I want to share with you the recipe of the brownies I am making: with 50% less fat.

I am using a brownie mixture. I get the stuff from Costco: It is the Hershey's Triple Chocolate Chunk. My kids love it, and, well, I love it too.

The recipe that is on the box, asks for 1/2 cup of oil, 2 eggs, and 2 tbsp water.

I never bake with oil. Yes, I am picky: I just do not like the taste. I always use butter instead.

So, to reduce the butter that I used to (I substituted one-to-one, that is, I used to bake the brownies with 1/2 cup of melted butter), I decided to use the applesauce.
Here is the recipe:

Brownie with Less Butter

1 Pouch of Brownie Mix (Hershey's brand)
2 eggs
1/4 c melted butter
1/3 c applesauce (better if it is without added sugar)
1 tbsp water

Mix until the mix is all wet (I never over mix). Bake 325 F for 50 minutes.

Hope you like it. I made this recipe 3 times, and my children did not miss at all the butter that I took off the recipe.

Progress on Ka-Bloom Quilt

Some more pieces were put in place in the quilt. I am still working on the top part of the quilt. I changed the tree behind the house (the problem is that I decided that I will NOT use only Batiks... Not sure why, but I decided that - may be it is the challenge to coordinate with the design) :-)
Anyways, it took a little while to unglue the tree. There were pieces that the tree was also attached to (not only the sky, but the tree and the house). The other non-batik trees look good: The thing is to look further from the picture (like a painting).

I am happy with the way things are looking. I might still put some more pebbles on the pathway: I already put some because I did not like the way the light and dark fabric were distributed. The pattern does not ask for different fabrics, but I thought that I could use two fabrics instead because I do not have a fabric with good beige variations, . I will check back after I put the "shadow" that goes on top of the pathway.


In the pictures, you can see that I left some margin on the sides of the quilt. I did that because I want to trim the quilt before sewing the frame pieces. Based on another quilt that I made, the sides can get a little crooked... So, this will give me some margin to play, and adjust the quilt.
What do you think?

The Making of Block 1 of Full Bloom by McKenna Ryan

So, I decided to make the Block named Ka-Bloom by McKenna Ryan. I love her quilts! I know it is going to be a journey. I cut all the pieces already, and separated in plastic bags. Organization is key! Here are some pictures of the quilt-to-be.


I already "glued" the top background trees and the house with the window boxes full of flowers. I am not sure I like the tree behind the house. I think I will take that out eventually. But I am let it be there for a little while.


This picture is a close up of the house. The flowers are really tiny!!!

I am enjoying making this quilt. I will post some more progress pictures soon.
What do you think?

Knitting for Giving

I was busy during the summer break. I have two kids. We did lots of things during the summer. However, I made sure I put aside some time to do something for others. More and more that I think about others, I think about babies, and mothers, that are not as lucky as my family is.

I was very lucky that both my children were all very healthy when they were born. Unfortunately, some babies are not as lucky as mine. There are lots of babies that are born before their time. These babies usually need a little hat to keep them warm. So, during this break I knit 4 hats, based on the pattern in the YouCanMakeThis website. The pattern was designed by Rebecca Craig. Here is the link .
I created two layouts (links are here and here) to showcase 2 of the hats: the other two are similar. I am donating the hats to a local NICU (probably Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose).

Another Layout

I just posted a new layout to my gallery ( myluco gallery ). If you have questions how I did, please do not hesitate to ask. Thanks.
I used the same kits mentioned in my last post.

A New Scrap Page

Just posted a new layout to my gallery ( myluco gallery ).

This layout was created using the following SgD Club Products:

http://www.scrapbooksgonedigital.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=30&products_id=518

http://www.scrapbooksgonedigital.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=30&products_id=519

http://www.scrapbooksgonedigital.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=30&products_id=520

What do you think?

Cup Quilt

I am making this quilt for quite a long time. It is composed of 4 equal design of the same quilt. One of the 4 parts is almost done. I only need to put the binding. Yeahhh!!!! The piecing is composed by very tiny pieces. Take a look.

The main block is composed of 3 separate parts.




The cups are from a fabric that had them already printed. The whole inspiration for the quilt came from the cups. They look so pretty, so Victorian.

The blocks on the top are made with half triangles. When you joined both triangles, the result is a square that is around 1 inch. Each block is composed of 16 squares (32 very small triangles). It took me a while to sew these blocks. The quilt is quite simple: I quilted, by machine, sewing in the ditch.

Finally, I needed to put the 3 layers together. The stripe blocks were used for this purpose. Each strip is one inch wide.
What do you think?

My first post!!! Showing a knitted shawl

This is my first post ever in my blog. How exciting!!! Today, I will show a project that I worked sometime ago. It is a knitting project.

This shawl was done using a pattern offered by Lion Brand company ( link here ). It is a very easy pattern (the name is ¨Easy Triangle Shawl¨ ). The way you knit is very interesting: you will think that you doing something wrong. However, as soon as you start binding off, the shawl reveal itself!

Here are some details of the shawl:

This picture is a close up of the lower edge. Because of the way the stiches are done in the middle, you end up with this beautiful knit center.

The ¨fringe¨ is done in crochet. Very simple: just chain. The effect is fantastic.

This pictures shows the stitches in the middle. Simple to do, and with great effect.

I made this shawl one more time using a very fine thread. Everyone loves it also.

What do you think?