Lucille's Shabby Chic Baby Quilt

Continuing my blanket making spree, I sewed this quilt for Katy's soon to be baby girl! She's going all pink, all girly-girl for the nursery. It was especially fun to live through her vision! The finished quilt size is approximately 50" x 52", quite a bit larger than crib size. The front and back don't necessarily coordinate perfectly, but a girl's got to have options you know!

The front started with two fat quarters cut in half, hot-dog style once. From there I cut six more fat quarters in half, hot dog style, and then in half once more. The gray border was cut in the same fashion out of fat quarters. Instead of trimming down batting to fit, I purchased two yards of the 'cheater quilt' fabric for the backing and lined the inside of the quilt with two layers of light pink fabric. The pinks on the front of the quilt are very light, so I was hoping a pink liner would help to enhance it all. 

Two yards of pink polka dot fabric gave me plenty to trim out the backing and fold over for the binding. I also had plenty of extra backing fabric and used this tutorial to make a matching envelope pillow. And now we just patiently (or not!) wait for baby!!!

Below is a approximate supply list. I still over-buy and over-measure so I can trim down at the end instead of being a 1/2" short somewhere! But if you are a more experienced seamstress, I'm sure you could trim down the fabric supply list to be more efficient. One day...!

Fat Quarters:

2 pink with white roses (the largest front rectangles)

1 plain pink

1 pink heart

1.5 white

3 gray

2 yards pre-quilted backing (needed a 48x48 piece)

2 yards pink polka dot (cut into 4-7x56 strips)

One more quick thought: the pre-quilted fabric is double-sided, so just adding binding to that would be a fun and easy blanket as well!

Chili Salad

This is my lazy dinner. For the nights when I really just want some salty tortilla chips, cheese and sour cream. I layer it all on top of a bed of lettuce topped with chili. Usually when I make chili, I do a huge batch so I can have frozen portions ready to go for nights like these too. But if all else fails, a can of chili will work too (especially when camping!). 

Not real mind blowing, but its oh so satisfying! 

Fabric Edged Flannel Blanket

Its been blanket crazy over here lately. Get ready for a few fabric banana posts! The first one I'll share is Luke's first camping blanket. Emily & I spent a day touring her city-wide garage sale day. We stumbled upon a lady selling flannel for $3/yard in every print imaginable! I scooped up a yard (she cut sweetly cut a generous yard) because I loved the print and could justify it with making something for Luke. Originally, I thought I would add a satin edge to it, but I saw this green chevron in the bargain bin and that was that. Its a perfect match!

I took the long route in making the fabric binding, cutting strips of 6" width and ironing over the raw edges. And then again ironing a crease down the center of each strip. I saw the fold-over technique on several sites, but I'm really happy with my chunky border instead! Maybe next time though..

It has its fair share of imperfections and extra seams where I didn't quite stay within my seam allowance lines, but thankfully I have a really fabulous little supporter who will love it anyhow!

Isn't this print just the best ever?? Can't wait for snuggly, family fireside nights wrapped in this!

DIY Footprint Stepping Stone

The list of advantages to marrying a carpenter is growing again. This past Mother's Day, Cody whipped out a grid of concrete forms (6" x 6"), mixed up some fine concrete and together we made a keepsake. I was originally thinking of using thow-away pie tins or bread pans as a form, from what I've read those methods work equally as well. I am so, SO happy with how they turned out, and the Grandmas are happy too! 

I 'wrote' out the details with a wooden kabob stick and within a day they were dried to cute perfection. One major factor in this project was fully rinsing and baby wiping Luke's feet in between each pressing to severely limit the skin exposure to the wet concrete. And it also makes for a cleaner footprint, but it was especially important for keeping his baby feet soft and precious! I would also recommend not writing too close to the edges, we had to a little corner repair work on this one (up by the top the of the "L"). The stones were dry enough for gift-giving after 24 hours but aren't fully cured for nearly 48 hours. Once dry, they pretty much just slide right out of the forms.We are probably going to add a wooden border to it as well, since fine mortar isn't as sturdy overall. From what I hear though, the Grandma's are happy with it indoors on a plate stand anyhow!

I think we may just have to repeat this project every few years, although the size of the stepping stones are going to become quite large if Luke continues to grow like Cody!