Renewed

I won't say how shamefully long I went without making any new blocks for this quilt, but I know why. I was so bored with using the same teal and green fabrics from my stash and really felt that I wasn't even being creative anymore just randomly picking out different pieces from the pile to pair up.

I had already decided that I needed to go back on my "no pink" declaration I made when I started. I had a few pinks (still combined with an earthy green) that I was excited to start with. Then, my mother-in-law brought over a bag of her scraps. Nearly every piece was a green or yellow with pink flowers, all with earthy green leaves. I made eight new blocks, only six of them with pinks. The addition of one new color to the scheme has left me so much more excited to play with my other scraps. And seeing the finished blocks all laid out, I really like it better this way. The pink doesn't take away from the green and teal the way I thought it would.

Monday Moments

This is the first year we actually let my step-daughter wield the saw to carve her own pumpkin. A huge change from last year when carving pumpkins meant scooping out the guts, then drawing a magic marker face on it for her daddy to cut out.



Of course, not everything has changed since last year. Gabe is still far too young to appreciate what is going on with the pumpkins. He just tried to say pumpkin a few times and had a blast taking the top off, then putting it back on.



And this year, instead of licking the scrapers he decided to actually try to take a bite out of the pumpkin. He doesn't quite understand the food as decoration concept.



Here is the end result of our messy activity. For her first time cutting (hers is the cat), my step-daughter did an awesome job!

I'm no Bakerella

My sister and I briefly considered a woodland theme to her baby shower before we settled on the puppy idea. In the few days we were thinking about it I plotted out making some Bakerella style cake pops as shower favors. I was going to combine the directions she gave for Hello Kitty cake pops with the all body Easter chicks and make cutesy little owls.



I thought I had this in the bag. I've covered a million things in chocolate, I've baked many cakes in my time and I love to decorate. It was much, much harder than I thought. I am ashamed to say how many times I ruined a cake pop, and had to get a whole new thing of chocolate because I got crumbs in it. But I did get a few that looked at least somewhat like I was imagining.



I decided since I finally ended up following through with my idea a week before Halloween that I'd make some more sinister looking owls. I used some red confetti sprinkles for the eyes and switched up the color of the beaks and feet. Then added a little V of chocolate over their eyes.



I actually like my afterthought owls way better than the cute ones, but I still think they need some work. I think I'm going to e-mail Bakerella and see if she'll tackle my idea sometime in the future.

The worst part of this whole experience...after all of my hard work they taste terrible! It has nothing to do with the cake pops recipe and everything to do with the cake and frosting I used (peanut butter and peanut butter). Good in theory, awful in practice.

Monday Moments

It's official. I am no longer 28 as of today. We have a family tradition of going to the apple orchard every fall, and when the timing works itself out, it almost always seems to be my birthday weekend. Up there is my son enjoying his part of a birthday pumpkin spice donut. The closest there has been to cake in my house.



Lest you think that picking apples fresh off the tree was all we did for my birthday, I did get showered with gifts and dinner out (with no kids!) and I got to see the first movie I've seen in a year and a half in the theater. Very fun!



The orchard was fun too though, a completely different kind of fun where you get to watch the kids exploring things and learning about their world. Gabe has been coming to the orchard since he was in the womb, but I think this time was the first time he really realized what he was doing, and that apples were food. He mooed at every single tractor (a la Cars) and loved every minute of it. Which is always a good time for a mom who loves taking pictures as much as I do.

I don't get it

I'll admit, I thought the new Care Bears were adorable. I went out and bought one for my sister for her birthday even though she's in her 20's. I thought the new My Little Pony was adorable, and I was thrilled to death when my niece fell in love with the remade Strawberry Shortcake...but this Rainbow Brite crap has got to go!

At least the other makeovers stuck to the spirit of the originals. The Hallmark makeover of Rainbow Brite looks more like it was based off of the adult Rainbow Brite Halloween costumes than the cutesy cartoon I loved as a kid.



Ironically, I just rediscovered this vintage fabric panel I bought at a church rummage sale almost ten years ago. I have Champ (shown here), OJ, IQ, Hammy, Lucky and Romeo. I tried sewing Spark together about ten years ago by hand. I wasn't very good at that point and I'm not sure whether or not he can be salvaged. I painted them all with fabric glitter way back then and after seeing my not-so-hot job of sewing Spark I left them in a bag in my craft tote to be forgotten for ten years.



I obviously thought they needed a little jazzing up too, but not that much! This one is for the folks at Hallmark.

Vampire

The doll body is finished. Initially, I had thought she was going to be a young girl all dressed up for trick-or-treating. Now that she is done I definitely see why the vintage doll making book I was basing her off of called her a lady. I think now that she is an actual vampire, which flushes all of my costume ideas down the drain.



I don't like her neck. It's way too long. She looks almost alien. I have decided that she needs a high collared dress to hide this particular flaw. I found this site while searching for inspiration. Gorgeous, gorgeous dresses. I am quite sure I can't pull off something so dramatic, but I think I can maybe pull easier elements from some of these dresses and simplify them for my doll.

Monday Moments

I sent my husband and son out yesterday with the orders to be gone all day so I could get some housework done. They came home right around dinner time and I fully expected my son to be estatic to see me. After all, he has never been away from me more than twelve hours his entire life. I opened up the bathroom door and continued with my chores, waiting to hear little footsteps on the stairs. It never happened.

After a few minutes I went downstairs to see him. He grabbed my hand and drug me to the kitchen door, asking to go outside. I picked up the camera and let him make his way to the sandbox. I got him to smile for me once, saying, "CHEEE!" After that he pushed the camera away with his hand as if he were a celebrity and I was the paparazzi. Not even two years old and done with me already. I'm in for a lifetime of heartbreak with this boy.