an impulse project for baby

I'm the appointment queen these days...

And because two of my appointments are a block or two away from my local quilt shop, I stopped in and bought a little kit for this blanket.

I had a crush on this Joel Dewberry Heirloom voile, and when I saw it combined with an oh so soft, low-pile creamy colored linen, I bought it.

Basted the next day, quilted it with an all-over meander last night, and got the binding on this morning.

If you'll notice the rice behind my husband is turning golden... almost harvest time, maybe this week...

If you ask my son when this baby's coming, he'll tell you at "harvester time."

On Tuesday, UPS is set to deliver the backing fabric for this quilt... hopefully I'll manage to finish it!

a foodie post... (with raspberry cream cheese coffee cake recipe)

Not a lot of sewing going on here...

but I did have a few food related somethings to share. :)

We have a lot of tomato plants, with a lot of tomatoes.  And my husband loves tomato sauce... (gotta have that lycopene, right?), so I wanted to make some.  Trouble is, peeling and seeding is a pain for me; I just hate doing it and it's messy.

With inspiration from my friend Amanda, I washed,



Chopped (skin, seeds and all), added some basil, salt, pepper and onion and simmered.



Threw it in the blender (we have a fancy-pants VitaMix blender my mom gave me; Amanda uses a hand-held immersion blender to make hers), and then in to zip-loc bags and in to the freezer.  They smelled delicious, and were so easy.

_______________________

Sunday morning, I made my husband's favorite breakfast -- a raspberry cream cheese coffee cake (we eat this every Christmas morning).

Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

3 oz. cream cheese

4 T. butter

2 c. biscuit mix

1/3 c. milk

1/2 c. raspberry preserves (we use seedless - and you can use a bit less too)

1 c. powdered sugar

1 to 2 T. milk

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Mix the cream cheese, butter, and biscuit mix until crumbly.  Blend in 1/3 c. milk.  Knead on floured surface 8 to 10 strokes.  Roll to approx. 8" x 12" rectangle and turn onto a greased baking sheet.  Spread with raspberry preserves down the center of dough.  Make 2 1/2" cuts at 1" intervals on long sides; fold strips over filling, sealing well.  

Bake at 425 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes.  Make glaze with powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla, and drizzle over warm coffee cake. 

Serve and enjoy.

____________________________________

And lastly, since I haven't had a pumpkin spice latte yet, I decided to make some pumpkin spice caramel corn (again, inspired by Amanda). :)

Recipe here. 

Enjoy!  36 1/2 weeks now... (Steiger came at 38, 1 day... we'll see what this baby has in mind, but I'm getting large!)

And baby... if you're a boy...

...then this will be your quilt.

I made it with sweet little puppy dogs, and colors that I thought were as handsome as you will be.  And I threw in lots of contrast... so you'll move your little eyes over all the different pieces.

The fabric is as soft as you'll be.

Even on the back.

Your big brother is getting excited to meet you.  Last night he was carrying his teddy bears around, telling me that he was holding his baby brother or sister, and laying them down gently, and setting them next to him to watch Finding Nemo.  (Though he is rather convinced you're a girl.)

Truth is baby, we're all exited to meet you.  

We're doing all we can to give you a happy entry in to the world.

Even if I can't believe how soon it is going to be.

------------------------

Specs for my bloggy friends - 

The colors were inspired by Aneela's puppy dog Pips.

Pattern is a modified Bento -- measurements courtesy of Kelly... (she lists them here)

The border is a gorgeous Slatey blue Cross Weave from Moda.  

Quilted in an all over stipple/meander, and bound with some French General wovens.

♥

on Quilt Story today...

Heather and Megan have featured my "if you're a girl" quilt on Quilt Story today. :)  (If you're new here... hello). :)

It inspired me to sit down and start quilting the "If you're a boy" quilt.

I have to say something I love about these two quilts -- they are both so "me."  Oftentimes I make things based on what I think other people would like (I make a lot of gifts), but these two quilts... I picked what I loved (in gender specific colors of course), and went with it.  Actually -- I did that with my "hospital quilt" too... 

We hit 34 weeks yesterday, and I am feeling it.  I need to take a 34 week picture, like I did with Steiger... 

Yesterday my house smelled like Thanksgiving.  I baked a turkey and made a big batch of gravy (mmmm....), and had a chicken (for chicken 'n dumplings) in the crock pot.  Today I need to finish the chicken 'n dumplings, make turkey soup, and make lasagna.  The freezer meal prep begins... (and the husband has been given strict instructions not to touch them until AFTER this baby is born).  I think I need to plan a trip to my grandma's swimming pool in there too... and a nap too, of course. ;)

♥

(I have to admit though -- even though I'm still pretty nervous about labor and how everything's going to go, I'm getting pretty excited to hold this sweet babe... and see who it is hanging out in there with me)

big and boring.

This post serves a purpose no greater than a way to connect with my bloggy friends.  I have very little sewing related to share, but figured I might say hello anyway. :)

I knew there was a good reason part of me feared the end of pregnancy.

I'm huge.

Here, I'll show you a picture from camping a week or so ago.

You'll never guess what happened to us while we were camping.  

I've whined about this before, but we got attacked by squirrels while we were camping.  

THIS IS THE SEVENTH TIME!!!

The car is still being worked on, going through insurance takes longer, but at least it's covered.

It cut our little camping adventure short by a day, which was a big bummer, but thankfully, Jay's parents were there to rescue us, and drive us back down the mountain (they had come up to visit for the day).

*sigh*

(I told you I was huge - and no, Steiger wasn't in to the family picture)

In happy news --

- I got the "If it's a boy" quilt basted, and hope to quilt tonight.

- I have two fabric packages coming in the mail this week -- Secret Garden from Sew Love Fabrics (I pre-ordered it), and some Sophie from Burgundy Buttons.  I have been in love with this particular print for quite some time... (and have an entire girly room built around it in my mind).

- I've been swimming almost every day... it feels so good on this belly, and I'm hoping it will keep me in some form of shape for labor. :)

- I've also been napping.  Napping is so sweet. :)

- My friend Amanda is coming to sew with me...yes, the Farmer's wife chica.

Anyway, not much substance here, but I miss everyone. :)

♥, Tracey

Miss Molly's Petals quilt

Other than cooking a baby -- this was a big project for me this summer.

My niece Molly was moving in to her big girl bed, and my brother and sister-in-law hired me to make her quilt.

It is a double size, but has a long drop, so the quilt ended up measuring queen size in the end, and was definitely the biggest quilt I've ever done myself.

So big, in fact, it was hard to get a good picture.

The fabrics are all from Riley Blake (Sweet Divinity and Quite Contrary), so I decided to enter it in to the Riley Blake contest... (I wasn't chosen as a finalist, but my friend Amanda was... so vote for her!)

The pattern is Camille's Marmalade.

I resized things a bit so that it would fit her bed perfectly.  

And it does. 

Because my sister-in-law wanted a scrappy look (rather than using a consistent solid like in the original pattern), each piece had to be carefully planned in conjunction with all the others.

I quilted it at my friend Amanda's house (she has a sit-down long arm) with an all over loopy design.

I am so happy to say that they love it.  ♥

WIP Wednesday - folding fabric

I have a real problem when it comes to getting my laundry off the couch and in to whichever drawer or cabinet it may belong to.  Normally, it sits for quite some time until I begrudgingly fold them, and hope that I can beg Jay to put them away for me.  It all goes back to my childhood... From the time I was eight years old, I did virtually all the folding for my family, until I left for college.  If you know anything about high school boys, you know... that's a lot of clothes.

Anyway.

The kind of folding I've been working on this week isn't that kind.

I have stored my fabric in plastic totes.  The trouble with those plastic totes is that, in order to not have to climb in to the closet to get them... I leave them out.  Then, digging through all the fabric to find what I'm looking for... well, that wasn't always easy either.  So after promising my husband over and over that the fabric all over the house situation could be improved, he went and picked up a new (to me) hutch from my mom's storage shed.

And I've got four totes down, with a couple more to go.  

Here it is...

On the top I put my "blenders" -- sorted pretty much by color.  The top shelves have the 1/2 yards (or whatever is cut to the WOF), the bottom shelf has my neutrals, solids, and fat quarter size pieces (far right are my French General pieces too).

I'm making "mini bolts" for the bottom shelves.

I started earlier today, after the UPS man brought my comic book boards (yes, I do like French General).

And then we went swimming (because swimming, while pregnant, feels SO good I can't even say)...

So these neutrals are still waiting for me.

-----------

In other news...

32 weeks tomorrow.

Linking to Lee's  

Speaking of Lee -- She has entered a beautiful fabric in a contest... You should go vote for her here.  

This is her fabric swatch... so cute methinks.

Speaking of contests... I entered my niece's quilt in Riley Blake's "Cruisin'" contest... You can see it here, and vote for me in a couple days, should you be so moved. :)

(I'll do a full post then, but it really turned out cute).

I made a cream pie last week.

and put strawberries on it.

Thank you for all the love on maybe baby boy's quilt  (and the belly too).  I really need to find me some energy to get that one, and this one all finished!  Steiger decided to break his water at 38 weeks... which gives me 6 weeks to go!  Eeps!