Finished another DIY mystery & received the other snowmen blocks!

This is the 2nd book in the DIY mystery series by Jennie Bentley.  I know these books are good because I stay up late reading them! LOL!  Usually when I get tired I put the book down and turn out the light but with these last 2 books I've been staying up later not wanting to put them down.  I have 2 more of these books and according to the publishing dates,  she's written one every year since 2008.  So, there should be one more written in 2012.  If you want to know the order in a series you can look it up on your computer by searching for the author's name or if you're not near your computer you can look at the data in the first few pages that gives you the publishing date and thus the order of the series.
Here are the blocks I received yesterday.  I didn't go to Guild but one of the gals was nice enough to drop off the other blocks although I realized I'm missing one.  There's supposed to be 10 including mine but I only received 9 totally.  But without further ado....here they are!  They are so cute but mine really stands out for it's unusual color scheme.....there are mostly blues although I was not told there was a rule for color.

   The guy above reminds me of the Michelin man!  Cute juggling the stars....and below is the jolliest!

This one is perfectly sewn and so sweet!  I love the background fabric too....just like a snow storm!

Another one in a snow storm...they DO like snow!

I love this guy with a green scarf and stars shining brightly!

At first I thought this one was a ghost (I have Halloween on the brain right now) but then I realized it was a "melted" snowman!  What a great idea.....but poor snowman.

It amazes me how with just a ruler and angles quilters can make anything! 

  Love this little guy!  Too cute! 

Now, you can all give me suggestions on what I can do with all these.  They all look fine together except mine! LOL!  Oh well, maybe I'll make a Christmas throw with the others and turn mine into a picture or pillow.  Hope you had a great day!

Quilt blocks done and carrot cake being consumed in celebration! LOL!!

Ta Da!!!!!  Drum roll please...the blocks are all done and yes he/she is "armless" and will remain so but in my defense I did add a little jingle bell to the end of the stocking hat to make up for not having any arms.  LOL!
A hint to all you quilters out there or novice ones at least.  Square up your block BEFORE you add your embellishments.  I have a plastic square which makes it so easy to "square up" your block at the end.  I had made the background blocks 14" to be safe but the finished size needed to be 12 1/2".  Usually, I could just lay my plastic transparent square over the block and zip, zip with my rotary cutter and it would be done but oh no.....I couldn't be smart about it until it was too late.  I realized that with all that "stuff" sticking up on the block there was no way I could use my square so, of course, I had to do it the "hard way".....evidently, that seems to be the only way I know how to do things! Ha! Ha!   But they're done and I dropped them off yesterday as I have an appointment today so I won't be able to go to Guild.  I hope they like them!
I also got my carrot cake baked and frosted and partially eaten!  My reward!  The cake is good but the frosting is TOO sweet in my mind.  Whoa Nellie.....I can barely taste the cream cheese! 

I got the recipe from All Recipes website which I can't seem to link to the exact recipe but it is carrot cake by Marc Boyer and it is 5 stars. Just search for carrot cake. I will definitely change the sugar requirement.....I can't take things that are super-sweet.  I must not be used to it.  I thought it was a lot of sugar but I went with it but next time I will cut the sugar in half for the frosting.  I have a sweet tooth but it's not THAT sweet! LOL!  The cake itself is very good and moist though.   The cake batter has crushed pineapple in it in addition to the grated carrots and nuts which helps keep it moist.  The batter was so soupy I thought I'd made a mistake and it wouldn't bake up but it did!  Miracle!
I had some great herbal tea to go with it too.  I love this tea it is SO tasty.  I also love the fact that there are "no strings attached"! Ha! Ha!

Now that the blocks are done, hopefully I can get my life back to a semblance of order and normality but that might be an oxymoron!  Have a great Wednesday and stay safe if you're in the path of severe weather like it is predicted for us later today.  (Part of the reason I wanted to get this post out early).  TTYS!