Baby Shower!

Ok, so I went to a baby shower a few weeks ago. I made that hip diaper bag. I also promised I would blog about the shower since it was the least awkward/most fun one I have been to ever.

First off - The party was planned by the Aunt-to-be and she did a great job. Within the invitation there was a piece of card-stock for us to return with little messages, drawings, pieces of advice etc for the parents and baby.

I chose to decorate mine with tsuru bunting and some quotes from the Series of Unfortunate Events books which are known to give generally good advice. The quotes I chose were...

"Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them"

"Your initial opinion on anyone or anything may change over time"

"If everyone fought fire with fire, the world would go up in smoke"

"It is always sad when someone leaves home, unless they are simply going around the corner for ice cream sandwhiches"(NOTE: this one has special relevance for me and the mom-to-be because our friends are moving away left and right, consequently I've had to buy my own ice cream sandwiches!)

"If you are allergic to a thing it is best not to put that thing in your mouth, particularly if that thing is cats"

Baby Cods is going to the most fashionable kid out there with the embellished onesies everyone made at the party. Bring on the puffy paint! These are the two I made.

The theme of the party was books. Everyone was encouraged to give baby Cods some new books or a book instead of a card. I chose to get her started early on Laura Ingalls Wilder books with Little House in the Big Woods. The house was decorated with books:

Mount Presents

Plus there was cake!

All in all it was a jolly good time and now we are just waiting for baby Cods to make her appearance.

Mount Tsuru - Bonus Pillow!

Remember my Mount Tsuru quilt from the last post? I used Janice's (Better Off Thread) Moda bake shop tutorial called Sunnyside diamond zig-zag. The tutorial is easy to follow. But, hypothetically, if you do not follow the directions correctly (maybe because you did not read ALL of the directions before you started cutting) you get to turn the mistake into a beautiful bonus pillow:

I turned my oops block into this pillow and used some Essex linen in flax for the back. 

Want to learn how I quilted this baby??

I actually used straight line quilting with my walking foot. I quilted the front and back with this same design. Quilting how to:

1. I cut out a petal shape from a piece of paper and traced it onto the pillow top four times (black lines below). Then I stitched over the line following the arrows.
2. Then I quilted inside each of the petals (pink lines below) echoing the first quilting line until I filled the petal.
3. Last I echo quilted outside the black lines until I filled up the rest of the pillow top (blue lines).

I'll address any questions you have about the quilting how to in the comments and please let me know if you try it out!

Mount Tsuru

My cousin Gretchen got married last weekend, and in true form, I made her and her new hubby a quilt. I used Janice's (Better Off Thread) Moda bake shop tutorial called Sunnyside diamond zig-zag. The tutorial is really easy to follow. I highly recommend it.

I christened my version: Mount Tsuru

It is made with a Tsuru fat quarter bundle and some shot cottons for the zigs. The background fabric is sketch. The zig-zags conjure up images of mount Fuji, don't you agree?

It was fun mixing and matching the prints:

The construction starts out the same as a lonestar block and wouldn't these be lovely as a lonestar! I especially love how the footprints make a spiral in the center.

Here is a photo of the basting with one of my favorite basting helpers. This photo caught him mid stretch...

The quilting is an allover meander in the prints with zig-zagging straight line quilting in the background. I love the texture the quilting created.

You can really appreciate the design on the back. Appreciate it!

The back is an Ikea print of what I thought was clouds but after I purchased it, I think it is actually men, which is kinda weird. Still, turned on its side they still look like clouds. I know you can't un-see the men now.

I added a label to the bottom corner with the happy couple's wedding date.

I bound the quilt with the dark blue shot cotton which I think frames the quilt beautifully. I hand stitched down the binding because a special quilt deserves the hand stitching touch.

Deets:

NAME: Mount Tsuru

SIZE: 58" x 65"

FABRIC: Tsuru by Rashida Coleman Hale, shot cottons, sketch in black

QUILTING: FMQ and straight line by me on my home machine. Aurifil #2000 (the perfect cream color!)

I'm linking up with TGIFF and Crazy Mom Quilts. TGIFF is sponsoring a giveaway for linkups of completely finished projects in October so definitely link up if you finished something this week!

WIP Wednesday

I'm back on the WIP train as they say. This week I am working on another tote bag. I am making another modified market shopping bag from Leanne at She Can Quilt. You remember my rainbowtastic one right...

Well I am making another using a mini charm pack of Odds & Ends fabric paired with essex yarn dyed linen in flax. This color palette is out of my comfort zone but I think I like it!

Turns out I didn't take many photos but here is a basting shot. I am using a cherished Too Muchery print for the lining. Hopefully I can finish this up today!

Linking up with Freshly Pieced.

Finish-A-Long Q4: Optimistic Goal Setting Time

I decided for the final quarter of 2013 - no more new projects. I do apologize but you will have seen all these photos before, however, I will complete all my leftovers:

1. Quilt for my bed. - I will take this one back out of its project bag. I will!

 

2. EPP. I have a lot of plane flights in the near future so maybe...

3-4.  Two charity quilts (boy and girl). My goal has been 2 charity quilts per year and I haven't made any yet so here we go.

Linking up with the other optimists at She Can Quilt. Let's finish up 2013 with a bang.

Finish-A-Long Q3: wrap up post

I've been pretty quiet around here lately but despite all that I managed to get 4 of 8 projects finished during the third quarter. Here is my quarter 3 goal setting link.

1. Quilt for my bed. - Not even touched. Sadface.

2. Diaper bag for a friend. Finished and gifted and blogged. Now we are just waiting for her baby to arrive!

3. EPP quilt (HA!) I knew I wouldn't touch this. I have a lot of plane flights in the near future so maybe...

4. Love is Patient mini quilt. Finished, gifted and blogged.

5. Periodic Table mini quilt- Also finished, gifted and blogged. Woot. This is the 2nd one I made and I liked it so much better than the one I made myself that I may just need to redo mine. It reads: "I do Science Periodically".

6-7.  Two charity quilts (boy and girl). I didn't touch these either. That bums me out the most. I try to do at least two charity quilts a year to give back. I will make these a priority for Q4.

8. Pattern testing a pattern -Done and blogged! It was the Sew Positive pattern by Don't call me Betsy.

Linking up with the finish-a-long party at She Can Quilt. Take a look at the other finishes.

The 12 days of Pumpkin

It's October now aka Pumpkin time. Therefore:

Need some PINspiration? Try these:

On the first day of Pumpkinmas my Pinterest said to me.... 

a pancake that's very pumpkin-y

On the second day of Pumpkinmas my Pinterest said to me...

 a doughnut that tastes like fall-y

On the third day of Pumpkinmas my Pinterest said to me...

 a cake that is effing craaazy

On the fourth day of Pumpkinmas my Pinterest said to me...

 some treats that are super krispy

On the fifth day of Pumpkinmas my Pinterest said to me...

Make your own pumpkin pie spice, it's practically free.

On the sixth day of Pumpkinmas my Pinterest said to me...

A twist on pumpkin pie (cheesecake!)

On the seventh day of Pumpkinmas my Pinterest said to me...

A warm bowl of soup, spicy

On the eighth day of Pumpkinmas my Pinterest said to me...

Bake pumpkin muffins so pretty

On the ninth day of Pumpkinmas my Pinterest said to me...

Make pumpkin butter for spreading.

On the tenth day of Pumpkinmas my Pinterest said to me...

Pumpkin waffles all maple syrup-y

On the eleventh day of Pumpkinmas my Pinterest said to me...

Learn to roast your own pumpkin seeds.

On the twelfth day of Pumpkinmas my Pinterest said to me...

Here are 50 more pumpkin treats.

Notes:

1. I haven't tried any of these recipes so, uh, sorry if they suck. In fact, what I usually do is take a recipe and pumpkinify it by adding canned pumpkin and some pie spices (ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, maybe allspice or cardamom). I find that you usually don't need to alter the rest of the recipe to account for the extra liquid. Some of my favorites is pumpkin pretzels topped with roasted pumpkin seeds and pumpkin cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting.

2. The credit for the idea behind this post goes to my friend Sarah M. who is pumpkin crazy and super cool. She also wrote the first four days.

3. The spelling of numbers with the -th tense is hard

Wishing you HAPPY PUMPKIN BAKING for fall.