Susie's birthday bib and more

I've been working on a couple of projects for my little birthday girl, and here are some pictures. I'm linking up to Get Your Craft On at "Today's Creative Blog".

Bib and #1 onesie. The background is a vintage strawberry tablecloth someone gave me as a wedding gift. I thought it would be perfect to use for a springy first birthday party. I accidentally bought the "no-sew" iron on stuff, and at first I was bummed, because I couldn't sew the 1 on the bib. It's been handy, though. . . made the onesie very quick. Just hope it holds up in wash (it said it would!).

Here is the most recent (and incomplete) project. It started out to be a high-chair banner (going to make one for my nephew, too, and I thought it'd be cute for them to have banners with their names on them on their little side-by-side high chairs when they eat cake. HowEVER, I lazily made my triangle pattern as long as the 1/3 yard fabric I had so I wouldn't have to cut one side of it. So the triangles are huge. Perhaps they can be wall banners. . . like behind their high chairs. Here's a few photos of how I did (am doing) it.

#1 -- choose your fabrics. These chose me. I had leftover gingham from the bib and that fruit fabric I fell in love with in Susie's first "Mod Bonnet".


#2 -- make your triangle pattern. This was very easy. Just make a right angle triangle with printer paper and a ruler -- whatever size you think works. Then use the pattern on the fold of the fabric. I SAY it is easy. . . but I would not have thought of it if I had not found something similar on a blog. I just do not think creatively like that. . . on my own.

#3 -- print off letters and cut them out. I made these bold and 500 size font. Again, I'd do it smaller if I did it over again.

#4 -- let the birthday baby play with the paper scraps. After all, she does not eat paper too much anymore.

#5 -- trace the letters onto the fabric w/iron on stuff. TRACE THEM FACE DOWN. . . or you get this:
The letters were pretty big, so I found it helpful to draw a straight side, and then tape down the stencil while I traced the rest, as shown with the "E":#6 -- cut out the letters and iron them onto the triangles. This was probably the fastest part. I was glad for the grid the gingham gave me for some of the letters, because I really wanted them to be straight.

#7 -- sew onto backs, trim with pinking shears, and attach bias tape. . . still to do. . . OR, if I decide to call it, I'll just attach them with clothespins. Which would be ok, just temporary, which is a bummer. Votes on what I should do? Any ideas for what is quickest?

Don't forget to enter my drawing for Andrew Case's book Setting Their Hope in God! Drawing ends Sunday, Susie's first birthday!

Totey's Monster Birthday Bib

So, I have never before written a crafting post on my blog. But I really enjoyed making this bib for my nephew's first birthday, so I'm putting pictures up here, and linking up with Today's Creative Blog Get Your Craft on Tuesday!

I got the pattern for the bib here and made a couple of bibs with the pattern just as it was. Then I decided to make it bigger for my nephew (more space for the appliques).

I chose green gingham for the bib background (originally I'd picked orange with spots -- it seemed monster-y, but it was really dark, and the monster and cupcake didn't stand out). I LOVE gingham, and it was more babyish, I think. The monster, hat and cupcake I cut out of felt and scrap fabric (free hand . . . believe me, I'm no artist, but I looked for pictures of monsters for EVER before I started), and then sewed them on by hand using a small embroidery hoop (lots of blogs with tutorials on doing felt applique out there).

Next I sewed the green bib front to the terry cloth backing (using a machine I borrowed from a friend) and then turned it inside out. Final step -- sewing a little border around the edge to make it look more finished. I still don't have a fastener for it, but I might do a snap if I can borrow my friend's snap press again. Otherwise, I'll probably do velcro, but I've gotta wait for a new coupon to Jo Ann's. . . I'm all for making a project last a long time as long as I can keep getting my supplies for dirt cheap.

Possible next projects? Finishing the bib for my daughter's birthday (she and my nephew are having a joint party) and maybe making a flag banner with my leftover material! You never know!

Roasted Tomatoes and Ikea stuff

Last week the Courier-Journal (our newspaper in Louisville) had a whole big article on garden tomatoes, along with lots of photos and recipes( including the tomato tart). The article made me want to attack and eat the newspaper itself! The writer waxed eloquent, describing the flavor and color of summer's gems. I have since attempted to eat tomatoes at every meal since they are in their peak, and it's really almost like eating another food compared to the pinkish bland things that come around in the winter. I haven't been entirely successful, not because I am sick of tomatoes, but because they are fragile guys and they only last so many days from when I buy them at the farmer's market! I never run out of ways to eat tomatoes -- here's one of my favorites (okay, so we've veered off the book path, but it's tomato season right now, so please come along!).

Roasted Tomatoes

Cut small to medium tomatoes in half. Lay them open side up in a baking pan (I use a bread pan). Drizzle with EVOO, add salt and pepper. Roast them in a lowish temperature oven (300 or so) for 40 minutes or so. You may stop them sooner if the smell makes you stand in front of the stove salivating! I add pine nuts and a touch more EVOO for the last 10 minutes.

Holy cow! These things are amazing. I usually eat them with a hunk of bread to dip in the juices, but since I was out, I ate them with some steamed ravioli. It was amazing! I drank every drop of juice from the bottom of my bowl.



I also wanted to show you where my dear husband put up my recent Ikea purchases. I love that place. When we were there, my sister Anna said she wished she had a little house like me so that she would need some of their storage things. Ha ha! You crack me up, Anna! I was glad to find a few things that would help us get a bit more organized that also didn't break the bank.



Here are some hooks and things to keep stuff handy I need at the stove. These cute green mugs were only 58 cents! And I love the hanging basket that keeps the seasonings I use most over the stove.

Back to books next time, I promise.