Celebrating a QBee Birthday!

I don't know what you all in the outside world think ... but in our remote corner of the planet ... we all can't believe that we are approaching the middle of February!  Don't get me wrong ... we are not complaining ... our days are getting longer at a very quick pace!  It's just that time is marching on ...although ... there are some aspects of aging I embrace ... like celebrating a QBee's birthday!

Hmmm ... a gift ... I usually have a Happy Unbirthday Party for all the QBees once a year ... you can read about the 2010 party here.  So when their real birthday comes around we usually do something simple ... like go out for lunch!  Today we celebrated QBee Valerie's birthday!  With lunch of course!

Recently, Bonnie Hunter shared a unique "catch all" or "scrap bin" that while in California, quilters in her class were using.  She liked them so much that the woman, Chris, gave her one (here) and then blogged a tutorial on how to make them (here)!  I was just itching for an excuse to make one ... and along came Valerie's birthday!

Begin by gently taking apart a square shaped tissue box.  Please refer to Chris' tutorial for official instructions, she is much better at writing directions than I am.

Cut a piece of fabric that is larger than your box.  Chris used glue.  I'm not a glue kind of girl, so I used fusible web.  Iron a piece of fusible web that is slightly smaller than your fabric but larger than the box.  

Remove paper and fuse to the front of the box.  Be sure to do this on a nonstick surface.  Trim fabric with fusible as shown above.

This is what the front looks like after all the edges have been turned and fused in place.

Using a strong fabric glue ... secure the ends of the box together.

Next use the glue to secure velcro to the two side tabs.

The boxes are intended to be stored flat, which makes them extremely convenient to travel with.

I intend to sandwich mine between two rulers when packing for a quilting class or sew-in event.

This is what it looks like when it is folded into its three dimensional shape ... I can just see it at Valerie's sewing station filled the thread ends and dog ears!  Love it!  Thank you Chris for sharing this terrific idea!  I can't wait to make another ... and another ... and ... well ... you know me!

A birthday and Valentine's Day ... sounds like the perfect excuse to dillydally in the kitchen!  I'm a big "Bakerella" fan!  On a recent post she shared an idea for making Whoopie Pies as a Valentine's Treat!  One of the QBees is allergic to chocolate so I made strawberry ones.  

I don't have a cookie scoop, that would have made getting them a consistent size much easier! ;-)

They would make great cookies just like this ... straight from the oven!  I will be making a note of that!

These really were fun and easy to make ... the most difficult part of the whole experience was finding two cookies that were the same size! ;-) No ... seriously ... I am getting a cookie scoop!

I was very pleased at how they looked after the filling was applied!  They really were fun and easy to make ... I highly recommend them!

We had a fun afternoon ... showering Valerie with gifts and affection ... catching up with one another ...

... and talking a ton about our upcoming quilt vacation!  Minnesota Shop Hop here we come!  We are beside ourselves with excitement!

We had a weekend filled with big fluffy flakes of snow...

...perfect weather for dillydallying!  I hope your weekend was filled with dillydallying too!