now he's three!

Oh my what a birthday celebration it was!


I'm thrilled with how my Hello Cupcake penguins turned out! The biggest hassle was trying to find all the components needed for these. I went to no less than 5 different stores looking for plain mini donuts and donut holes. The mini donuts I only found in a multi pack with powdered sugar and cinnamon donuts but I am absolutely convinced that plain (the cakey kind) donut holes do not exist. I ended up using glazed donut holes that were less than round but in the end all came out well.

The other big challenge that I did not know about was that after dipping the penguins into the black frosting they need a long time to set up. Like 6 to 8 hours. I only had 3 hours and the beaks and wings kept drooping and sliding down until I had them in the fridge for a while. Other than that these were actually very easy to make.


I made this penguin pinata based on this one I saw on Pinterest.  I'm on Pinterest by the way! Best thing since sliced bread.


I did two layers of paper mache and it was just the perfect hardness for a small group of 3 to 6 year olds.


The birthday boy has been intently playing with his new toys ever since.

party prep

I'm in complete party prep mode for a boy who is turning 3! We'll be celebrating with a penguin themed party (odd theme for September but the birthday boy chose these cupcakes from the Hello Cupcake! book and I went with it).

Inspiration for these party favor bags from here.

I'm already pooped from all the cleaning but I know it's going to be a fun time!

Sugar Plum Forest Pattern

A couple of weeks ago when August was coming to an end I started to get that feeling that Christmas would be here before you know it. Hey, if you walk into Hobby Lobby you would think that Christmas is next week! Anyway, I know it's early to be thinking about Christmas but I don't want to be caught off guard this year. I am SO excited to share this pattern with you!

Sugar Plum Forest Mini Quilts

One pattern, two adorable mini quilts.


And for you, my special readers, I am giving you 15% off anything in my store! Use Coupon Code: QBE15 (expires Sept 20th). The cool thing about these quilts is they can be left out all winter.
Now, to get started on all the gift sewing I have planned! Good thing I still have over three and a half months left!

Jack's quilt

My forth finished project for August is a twin sized quilt for Jack's new big boy bed. The colors in this quilt are totally different from what I normally work with. I am usually drawn to bright colors for quilts but I LOVE how this quilt came out because it reminds me of fall and I absolutely love fall colors. Most of the fabrics came from my mom's fabric stash which was nice.
When I was trying to decide on a design I was really inspired by this quilt I saw on Flickr. I loved the wonkyness and scrappyness of it. Now I admit, I don't do wonkyness and I was a bit stumped on how to go about creating the vision I had in my head. After searching and studying the different methods (thanks to this list of links from the knottygnome knits!) I came up with my plan. Of course, after I had finished the top I found this tutorial using the "stack and slash" method (what I also used) which would have saved me time spent thinking it all though. I was thinking I might also do a tutorial so that others can see the similar but slightly different way to make this kind of quilt. What do you think?


I'm really so happy with how it came out and how it looks on Jacks' bed. I'm almost done with his "big boy room" makeover and I can't wait to show it to you! The look I'm going after is sort of vintage boy scout/smokey the bear/outdoorsy and I think this quilt fits into that scheme perfectly.


I hope everyone had a lovely Labor Day here in the States yesterday! I spent the majority of the day relaxing, enjoying the incredible weather and working on a new pattern (more on that tomorrow!).

Innocent Crush Colorbrick Quilt

At last, it's finally done! I used a fat quarter bundle of Anna Maria Horner's Innocent Crush fabric in the warm colors. The hand quilting took a bit longer than I thought it would but I absolutely LOVE how it came out! This one is mine, all mine. 

This was my second Colorbrick quilt and it's just perfect for showing off those gorgeous fabrics.

I used pearl cotton no. 8 for the quilting, ecru for inside the blocks and alternating light pink, dark pink and orange for outside the blocks. I didn't use a hoop or frame or anything for quilting, I just basted the quilt really well and tried to keep it smoothed it out in my lap as I went along.

The stitches are not perfect but I like it that way.


So, this was my third finished project for August and I'm feeling good about the progress I made to meet my cleaning/finishing goals.

~the fair~

The other fun event I look forward to in summer is the North Texas State Fair. It has a much more small town fair feel than the State Fair of Texas (in Dallas) does and I really like it. It has a number of free things for the little kids to do and it's small enough that you only have to spend an evening there, which is all Jack can handle anyway. The important thing is that I got to eat my annual cheese nachos and funnel cake.

The petting zoo is fun.

This is what Jack did when we asked him to go pet the baby goat so we could take a picture.

And, on total impulse and after reading this post from Amanda, I entered a few of my quilts.

It was hard to tell how many entries were in the categories I entered (seemed like there wer hardly any) so for all I know, this second could be out of 2. But it was fun to see them hanging there anyway!

I cannot believe it is September already!!! I have 2 big finished quilts to show you I just don't have pictures of them yet.

Looks like we'll finally dip below 100 degrees this weekend and I am so, SO excited about it!