A little something for everyone

As well as some double-sided burp cloths with fabric I had leftover from a gift to another mom last year.


Every savvy mom knows that you can't go around making new things for baby unless you make something for the G.O. (genuine original, aka, big) sibling too. So, Miss Savannah got two new fabric belts. One is made from Amy Butler's pink Wallflower fabric. This belt is three fabric layers thick and 3/4" wide and is super cute on her with her new jeans.


The second is an all-scrap belt made with two layers plus batting for strength and is 1" wide. They both do a great job of holding up her pants on her skinny little waist so she doesn't get plumber's butt - a common occurrence when she isn't wearing a belt.


And, I made a little something for Mommy as well. In many countries there is a long tradition of belly binding after birth. The purpose is to restore the body to its original shape as quickly as possible while providing support for the stretched stomach muscles that must realign and tighten again as well as the lower back, which is stressed more with picking up baby at a time when it is weakest (due to those stretched tummy muscles). They also help restore stretched out skin to its original shape and help mothers maintain good posture. Unfortunately, unless you live in LA or NYC, you can't try on a belly binder, you have to special order them and they are non-returnable items, which stinks if you don't get the correct size since the prices range from $60-110. So, I made my own out of a soft washable pima cotton with organic cotton batting for strength (both scraps from other projects). We'll have to see how it goes, I may end up shelling out the dough for one of the expensive ones anyway but I'm eager to try mine out. Belly binders are usually worn for 2 weeks to 2 months post delivery. In Mexico a belly binder is called a "faja" and in Japan a "sarashi". In some regions, women see a special belly binder whose job it is just to bind women or fit them for a binder.


My belly binder has a 2" velcro strip that can attach to a patch of velcro on the other side that is 4" wide. I hope the 4" strip gives me enough flexibility but in case it doesn't, I can add on another 2". It is 9" tall or wide so it will stretch from the top of my hip girdle to just beneath my lower ribs. Usually bellies shrink by 5" after delivery and then very slowly thereafter, although belly binding is supposed to speed up this recovery process and restore the body to its original shape faster.

April showers bring...

...more time to complete our inside projects.

The floor pillows I made for Savannah's playroom, plus the sofa pillows below. The floor cushions are big and soft - 24" x 24" and have removable cotton covers that can be washed in the machine.


And I finished my first Boppy or nursing pillow cover. I used a soft Minky fabric from my stash that Savannah had picked out a while ago in case baby is a girl. This was my first invisible zipper and it turned out well enough for my first try. I must have pulled on the fabric (Minky fabric is maddeningly stretchy) a bit because there is a small pucker around it. I'm so glad I make a 22" zipper instead of the 14" zipper called for. It takes just the right amount of pushing and pulling to remove this pillow cover.


See the puckered edge at the top where my invisible zipper is? All the rest of the wrinkles smoothed out after a day of "use" by a practicing future Big Sister.

Savannah snuggles with her Lovey, Bunny, while learning how to hold baby sister or brother. She also helped me pick out a Lovey for baby on Friday.

Pillows, pillows, and more pillows

While I've always appreciated how quickly a change of pillow cover can coordinate a room, I've never been a big fan of a pile of decorative pillows. My philosophy is function first, then make that useful item as beautiful as possible.

Since we're doing well with the tiling and grouting, I decided to go ahead and knock off some pillows for the sofa I ordered in red microfiber for the family room. I figure if I don't get it done before baby arrives, it might be put on the back burner for a long time and Savannah deserves a finished playroom of her own.

Pair of sofa pillows and covers for Savannah's playroom in Alexander Henry's Kleo on the front and Esprit stripe on the back. Removable with button and ribbon closure and machine-washable - a necessary feature for young kiddies!

I made the playroom curtains in Alexander Henry's Mocca fabric so I decided to use the coordinating Kleo and Esprit stripe fabrics for the sofa pillows. Both pillows are an easy 20" x 20" square and I made a back flap of fabric with a button (that Savannah selected herself) so I can machine wash them.

The back view of the pillow covers in Esprit stripe with the turquoise ribbon and bright red buttons Savannah picked out for the button closures.

I want a very child-friendly playroom with safe floor space for moving and playing so instead of cluttering up the space with extra furniture, I'm making floor cushions that are 24" x 24" for the kids to sit on. Savannah tested the pillow forms out at JoAnn's and loved the big ones best. JoAnn's is having a 50% sale on all pillow forms this week by the way, including their "Nurture Nest" U-shaped pillow form, which is identical to a Boppy (except it's only $10). Coming up next - two coordinating floor cushions.

Pesto is the besto!

I love how easy it is to make a fresh pesto sauce at home. I haven't been able to eat store bought pesto sauce for the past few years now that my taste buds have adapted to the real thing.

Savannah also adores pesto and makes most batches nearly by herself. I should've known at 8 months when she used to crawl around and eat my fresh potted herbs (basil, rosemary and thyme) until there was nothing left of them that she would be a pesto lover too. Savannah won't eat my fresh marinara sauce or my roasted red pepper sauce but she'll eat pesto with a spoon as if it were yogurt. Here's our recipe:

Easy Peasy Pesto Sauce Recipe

1. Wash your sweet or Italian Genovese basil leaves in a colander and use a clean kitchen towel to blot the extra water off (if you accidentally use the spicy Thai Basil leaves, you'll burn your tongue and might swear off pesto for a year!).

2. Add to your food processor:

• 1-3 cloves of smashed garlic (by taste and size of garlic cloves)
• 1/4 tsp to a 1/2 tsp of Kosher or sea salt (by taste - you can always add more later!)
• 4-8 Tb good extra virgin olive oil
• 4-6 Tb of your favorite nut (toasted pine nuts are the most commonly used but we prefer raw walnuts and raw pecans)
  
• and about 2 cups of fresh basil leaves pinched from their stems

3. Pulse together until well blended. Add more olive oil if needed.

4. Add to food processor some Parmesan (about 2-4 Tb or so) or other aged cheese (if you're vegan you can omit cheese altogether, or make it extra cheesy for your kids) and 1 Tb of canola oil (see below). Pulse together, taste for adjustments, and enjoy.

Notes: If your pesto seems to be missing something, try a few turns of the pepper mill.

If serving over pasta, consider adding a side bowl of freshly diced tomatoes when they're in season. The sweetness and juiciness of the tomatoes accents the pungency and saltiness of the pesto very well and gives you an extra serving of fresh fruit and fiber.

If you've never tried it, you might try substituting raw walnuts for toasted or raw pine nuts in your pesto sauce. Walnuts have the best flavor for pesto in my taste buds' opinion. In many Amish communities across America, sunflower seeds are used in place of pine nuts in pesto sauces.


Sara's secrets

When making pesto at home, replace 1Tb of olive oil with 1Tb of canola oil per batch of pesto. The canola oil, while having a higher amount of polyunsaturated fats, will keep your pesto from oxidizing (a natural reaction that many herbs, fruits and veggies have when exposed to oxygen in air) so it keeps its vibrant green color without turning brown.

It took me a long time to discover this and while my pesto always tasted great when I stored summer and fall's bounty in the freezer for winter (or even for just an hour in the fridge before company arrived!) it always turned brown on top no matter how much olive oil I poured over it. Now my pesto is a bright beautiful green without any preservatives no matter how long I store it!

Notes: You could also try using sunflower oil or safflower oil if you're out of canola oil but I don't recommend using these oils based on their fat profiles - extremely high in polyunsaturated fats and extremely low in monounsaturated (aka good) fats. I also don't recommend cooking with canola oil since it easily breaks down into trans-fatty acids when heated.

Labor of love - Nana's memory quilt

I've been working in secret on a memory quilt for my mother in law's birthday. This is my first memory quilt and the fastest I've tried to pull off a quilt of this size.

Smiling faces and poems for the front. And yes, this started out as five large disappearing nine patches. (Guess I'm on a roll with those!)

The back is pieced with a strip of 8" fabric and notes from her grandchildren. They are all cute messages, but I think my favorite is the footprint of baby Evan. That tiny footprint pretty much says it all.


Some details up close.

The practical:
My husband thought purple was her favorite color and I rarely see her without a Vera Bradley bag of some sort usually in purple, blue or green, so I chose fabrics in these colors from my favorite fabric designer, Kaffe Fassett.

It's lap size (50" x 60") because my mother-in-law is a knitter and while knitting warms up your forearms, it leaves the rest of you chilly unless you're sitting beside a warm fire or can knit while walking on a treadmill...

Because of the high recommendations it received, I used Printed Treasures sew-in fabric for the photos and artwork. I haven't had a chance to wash the quilt yet since I just finished in time for her surprise party today, but I've got my fingers crossed that all the positive reviews are accurate when they promise the printed fabric can be washed.

Savannah's picture in the quilt. She was most excited to have been placed in the same row as her cousin Abby - the girls share the same temperament; imaginative, creative, sensitive, affectionate.

The rest:
I really wanted to make something special for her birthday. As I started the project I realized that this was not so much a gift from me as it was from all of her grandchildren - their smiling faces with toothy grins and cute notes of love and appreciation for their Nana. That's what makes the quilt special. Really, it's all these little people that make up her legacy. I hope she enjoys it.

Things I learned:
No matter how alluring the thread-count and manufacturer's name, don't use tightly-woven fabrics for the quilt back. Even though it seems simple and plain to use a quilter's cotton or a muslin for backing fabric, it is easier to baste and quilt and hides needles and threads better.

Don't keep your magnetic pin cushion anywhere near your sewing machine. The magnet can cause your machine to go haywire.

Keep an assortment of sewing needles on hand for troubleshooting issues that arise with different fabrics when sewing. Sometimes the best needle for quilting is not a quilting needle but a denim needle or sharp needle.

EQ6 quilting software can be really helpful, when you have limited fabrics or time and can't "play" around with a design. After using it for a week, I give it an 8-star rating (out of 10) since it is missing some features that would have made it easier to use. Here are some of the designs I considered:

A modified log cabin - I almost made this one but thought I was too short on time. The heart in the bottom corner was an applique I considered adding, but it seemed to draw too much attention away from the grandkids.

Another layout for a disappearing nine patch quilt. In the end I decided I wanted the kids' pictures and art to be the showcase, not a more artistic design.

A straight-forward alternating square block pattern that I still really like, but was worried that my choice of such vibrant fabrics might not blend as well with this design.

Up for air

Between work work (my business), work on the house (renovations and projects), regular home work (cooking, cleaning, child-rearing, etc), and the work of growing of a baby (I'm starting to feel uncomfortable in my body), I've been running pretty ragged lately. Here are some of the quilting projects I've been working on (a few of which are actually completed).


I finished Baby Sophia's quilt yesterday. I've been working on it in bits and pieces between other things and finally had the chance to quilt it over the weekend and bind it yesterday afternoon. I really like the way it turned out. I think a baby would be fascinated by its bright and contrasting colors. I made a mistake in shifting the back fabric while quilting it together and had to piece together another scrap to finish the back but, that's what quilting is all about anyway, using the pieces of what you've got to make something different, whole and useful.

Tacked up to the design wall - can't imagine I ever lived without one.

Here's the back in bright pink and white polka dots. Very colorful!

I've also been experimenting with two different disappearing nine patch quilts inspired by another quilter's work. I've been trying to make one for a little girl who was sick in the hospital and has now recovered but I think it's too bright and cheerful now that's she's home with her family again...


Here are the squares up on the design board, just hanging out until I finish it up.


See what I mean - BRIGHT! BRIGHT! BRIGHT! So, I may put this aside for now and finish it for charity later or for another sick child. I will have to find another quilt to make for this special little girl so the next time (hopefully there will never be a next time but since the doctors don't know what's wrong with her...) she's in the hospital, she will have a warm, bright cheerful thing to take with her.

Here's another disappearing nine patch I started with some Moda fabric from a 5" charm pack. It's not fabric I would normally buy so I've had it sitting around my fabric stash for a long time. It might end up turning into a doll or bear quilt for Savannah.


One minute, you think you're a nine-patch...


and the next you find you've been turned upside down...

In the meantime, I broke my fabric diet and purchased a large amount of Kaffe Fassett fabric to make my next quilted wonder with a special person in mind. Kaffe Fassett is my favorite fabric designer and whenever I need a little winter therapy or rainy day pick me up, I just browse their latest fabrics. Plus, I found a new Kona cotton fabric line with a 200 thread count that JoAnn's is selling for backing fabric. I love it. It was hard to stop rubbing my cheek against it so I think it will be a great addition to a future quilt. Until it arrives though, it's back to home renovations. This weekend we tackle the basement tiling project...

Baby William Quilt - An Afternoon on Oahu

I finished Baby William's quilt today - but Savannah says it could be a girl quilt or a boy quilt.


Here it is up on the design wall. It measures 36" x 42". This quilt reminds me of Oahu - the varied colors of the ocean and sandy beach, the hibiscus opening every morning with the rising sun and closing up into twisted little umbrellas at night, the intoxicating fragrance of plumeria.

It's reversible, two quilts in one since the back is also pieced. So far my fabric diet is working out well and I've used up two yards, 4 fat quarters and some other random fabric bits I've had in my stash on this quilt alone. Most of the fabric is from Kaffe Fassett, probably my favorite fabric designer, but there are plenty of other odd bits thrown in from Jo-Ann sales and other project leftovers. The binding I made from the leftover fabric bits and I just made it - with only three inches of double-fold binding to spare.


Here's the back of the quilt, which could also be the front. Instead of bright white like the front of the quilt, the back uses a scrap of fabric I had leftover from another project and is a sandy natural colored cotton.

I free-motion quilted it in three different styles - stipling for the white sashing, big round circles for the squares and a back and forth curve all along the borders. Hopefully there's enough contrast here for the stitching to show. I'm not a perfectionist when it comes to free-motion quilting but really enjoy it. The variation and texture it creates is fun for babies.


And here's the design board I made from homasote last weekend (and love!) already in use with another possible upcoming project using up some of my Kaffe Fassett fabrics for a green and navy and maybe orange or yellow quilt top. But first, back to the painting and tiling and other house chores...

Also, an edit, I said previously that homasote is made from 100% recycled paper and that isn't true. It's made from 98% recycled post-consumer paper (they use 300 tons a day!) and the water they use in the manufacturing process is 100% recycled in their closed loop system. Anyway, it's a great product and we also plan to use it to insulate the door to our mechanical room where it can be noisy.

Sophia's cow quilt top - Just say Moo

I finally made the decision on Sophia's cow quilt - more white was the answer (and then more pink, and then more cows when I ran out of that fabric).

I added white sashing which helped to break up the oh so much color and contrast and decided that I wanted the quilt top to be slightly larger, so I added a 4" border in a leftover fabric from my stash. It wasn't quite enough to reach the corners so I had to fussy cut the last four cows out of my fat quarter to finish the quilt. I feel guilty for not binding the quilt and quilting it first before displaying it but I haven't found my warm & natural cotton batting yet with a third of our house in boxes again.

Amber wrote in to tell me of her useful site, My Web Quilter where you can play around with square and designs online before diving into your fabrics and cutting them up. Very useful website and you can even add sashing and borders, etc.

Now that I see the tremendous task ahead of us in finishing the basement, where my project room will reside, I know it will be a few more weeks until the space is livable again. Until then, my sewing machine is installed on one side of the dining room table where it's getting regular if not daily use in between a rush of other activities.

The binding will be a thin black bias, made of scraps if I have enough leftover (I may not). Savannah selected a super soft pink minky fabric with stars on it for the backing. The quilt top measures 44" x 44" and I can't wait to free motion quilt it and give it that wonderful crinkly texture.

Quilt block dilemma - Sophia's cows

There was something about these little moo cows that caught my eye on a recent trip to the fabric store for something entirely different. Savannah liked it too "for a Sophia" so we stacked up some coordinating fat quarters and half yards and brought them home for whenever I might have time to start thinking about making something for baby. I was hoping to make two simple, alternating quilt blocks in contrasting colors for baby's undeveloped eyes. But I can't find a decent pattern to contrast with this block that I do like. Here's my first block attempt (it doesn't work at all but I really wanted to find a way to use the cow print and polka dots).

I think this quilt may be suffering from a lack of white space. Maybe I'll try removing the stripes and replacing it with white fabric. Unfortunately, I can't find any of my white fabric at the moment since it's all packed away in boxes. I'm reluctant to purchase new fabric since I'm trying to put my craft room, which is the dining room table until the basement is tiled, on a fabric diet. I also considered embroidering "Moo!" on white squares that would alternate with the cows but I usually waste fabric when embroidering on small 4" squares like these. Plus, then I'm back to wading through boxes to find my white fabric...


Cute little moo, moos. Wonder what I'll come up with for a Baby William quilt. With the fabric diet in place, I may have to use up my Kaffe Fassett stash for a bright, gender-neutral quilt.

Playroom curtains complete

Between books and a busy schedule of work crews shuffling in and out of the house, I've been working on completing Savannah's playroom curtains. She picked out Alexander Henry's Mocca fabric and the timing was excellent because I found it on sale for $5/yard (Alexander Henry fabrics are never $5/yard!). Lucky me. If I convince Kevin of the red sofa for the kids playroom, then some pillows in the same fabric will go on the sofa. If not, I'll make floor cushions for the kids or fabric baskets to organize their toys for the room.

The floor for the playroom has been leveled and poured and the radiant heating is working very well. It's soooo nice! This weekend we'll paint it in Sherwin-Williams' compatible cream using their low-VOC paint called Durable. No, I'm not supposed to be painting so I'll only do some trim work with my NIOSH respirator on. Here are some early pics of the curtains, which are 100% cotton, machine washable, and lined. The ring clips Savannah selected make it very easy for her to slide the curtains open and closed -an unexpected child-friendly feature.

Holy cow - look at that color!

One curtain up before we installed the locally-made, custom, double-honeycomb, light-blocking insulating shades with side tracks for added draft prevention.

In the design room (which is currently the kitchen table!) pinning the lining to the fabric. These are large panels - 90" across for each of the two panels and with the heavy lining the largest part of my job was "fabric management" not sewing, cutting or pressing. The window is 100" across. I'm so glad these weren't floor-length drapes! The lining by the way was purchased with a JoAnn's gift card from my mother-in-law - great idea!

The curtains with the new shade drawn. The shade blocks sunlight (important for tv glare for family movies and when the summer sun is too hot). They are very insulating as well so reduce heat-loss from the house with their impressive R-value. The local company that custom makes these is Comfortex. It's another great way to save energy for your home, since windows are responsible for a large amount of heat loss. My only regret is that we picked out the shade color while the room was supposed to be painted in rice grain, a neutral warm grayish color like the shade. Now that we've changed the pallette, the color looks more like it belongs in an office building....