The Life, Designs & Crafts of Marie Haigh
Life is what happens while I am busy planning my next knitting design.
On Saturday, Elly attended my eldest grandson’s 8th birthday. As a surprise (on top of the pizza, cake and presents) was an animal show, Annie’s Menagerie. A lady brought in several of her unusual pets to show to the children. It was a big hit.
Of all the animals, which included hermit crabs, a cockatiel, a tortoise, a chinchilla and a hedgehog, Elly loved Freckles the bunny the best.
Elly and I are taking these cookies to a Valentine’s Day party.
They are the chocolate Valentine cookies from Pillsbury Best Cookies cookbook.
They have been taste tested and approved by Elly.
Me: “Are they good, Elly?”
Elly: “They are chocolate! Try them!”
Yep. She is my daughter. She loves chocolate like I do.
Yesterday Dan and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary.
As a sign that we have been married too long, we bought each other complimentary gifts.
Dan brought home a bottle of wine, a Cabernet Sauvignon by Clos du Bois for this was the wine that we both enjoyed on the Disney cruise we took last year, and a bottle of port because in my book wine is nice but port is delicious.
My gift to Dan was two wine glasses.
Unfortunately, one wine glass broke already when Elly accidentally bumped it and it rolled off the table and onto the floor.
For dinner, we had steak and Caesar salad. Though I had made a side dish of macaroni and cheese for Elly, she surprised me by asking for bite after bite of steak.
Two years ago, I would have been terrified to cook a steak at home, but watching an episode of Ina Garten changed my mind. She made it so easy. Rub some salt on the steak, I like smoked applewood sea salt, sear the meat on high heat, and pop it into the oven until it reaches the desired internal temperature. The steak tasted amazing.
Sometime this month or next, we’ll actually go out for dinner and leave Elly at home. It had been our plan to go out on Saturday, but Elly was so sick neither of us could bear to leave her. Thankfully, she is back to her happy-go-lucky self.
Before
After
The pictures look the same, no?
A side view is needed.
Before the seat cushion stuck out a full two inches from the chair base. It was so uncomfortable to sit in.
The seat cushion didn’t always stick out so far. It appears that my replacement foam cushions were thicker than the original cushions.
My original fix-it plan was to trim the seat cushion. Dan stopped me just as I was ready to cut open the muslin lining. He reminded me how long it had taken me to sew the slip cover. Wouldn’t it be easier to trim the back cushion?
Indeed it was. I cut a 2 inch depth by 4 inch tall section out of the bottom of the back cushion. Now the seat cushion fits snugly into the contours of the chair and doesn’t stick out.
It is much more comfortable to sit in. My feet touch the floor, which is a big deal when you are only 5 feet tall like me.
Elly was sick the week before her birthday party. Two days after her birthday party, she was sick again. This time, I got sick with her. Misery does love company.
No progress has been made on my Fearless February project. I’m too sick to mount the energy required for it.
Instead I put together a mini quilt.
The winter picture is from an old 1978 calendar.
To turn it into a quilt, I just cut the picture out, tossed the calendar section in the trash and added two borders.
The fabrics were picked out from the huge selection at Generations Quilt Shop. Gosh, I love that store. The fabric is divided by color so it’s like walking into a rainbow. But the main reason I love the store is because they always have just what I want. I have never walked out empty handed.
But back to the quilt, I used fusible quilt batting to secure the quilt sandwich together. Then, I stitched in the ditch along the border seams. The rest of the quilting will be done by hand.
While watching the now memorized movie of Tinkerbell and Periwinkle, otherwise known as the Secret of the Wings, I squeeze in a little hand quilting while listening to Elly as she excitedly tells me what is going to happen before it does.
(Machine embroidered quilt label purchased from CannStitch)
As mentioned in my last post, the Sue Bonnet quilt has been repaired with two days to spare. To do so, the entire top row of Sue Bonnet girls was cut off. Out of the 4 girls, only two could be saved. The saved appliques now adorn a matching pillow.
Rather than rip out all the quilting stitches, I cut around the Sue Bonnet appliques, leaving the batting and backing attached. Then, I bound the edges with bias tape. Finally, I attached the Sue Bonnet mini quilts to a remnant of machine quilted fabric with a simple running stitch. For good measure, I quilted around the Sue Bonnets dresses to make sure the appliques stayed in place.
The pillow was made in the regular fashion though I did insert a zipper first. I am after all giving this to a 3-year-old who will almost certainly get it dirty. Being able to just wash the pillow cover will make my job easier in the laundry room.
The quilt was much easier to fix. The hardest part was picking out a fabric to bind the edges with. At first, I was going to use yellow, but I couldn’t get an exact match to the original yellow. In the end, I chose a vintage looking fabric that complemented the flowery fabrics used in the doll’s dresses. The fabric is also similar to the pillow fabric without it being too matchy matchy.
Cutting the top line of Sue Bonnet girls did make the quilt too short for Elly’s twin size bed, but I’m OK with that.
The original quilting did require a touch up here and there where the stitches had fallen out. Reworking the stitches reminded me how much I enjoy quilting by hand. I already have my next 3 quilts planned in my head.
Elly woke up this morning and the first thing she said was “I am 3”.
Then, she spent the next 4 hours asking me if her friends were here yet.
As soon as her friends and family did start to arrive, Elly began to ask if she could open her presents and put candles on her cake. It was hard to wait.
Because Elly is my only child and because I love birthday cakes maybe even more than Elly does, I made her not only a birthday cake but also cupcakes in two sizes.
The cake was a yellow cake from Smitten Kitchen’s new cookbook. The icing was a melted chocolate yogurt concoction.
The cupcakes were chocolate zucchini cupcakes with purple cream cheese icing.
After cake came presents.
After presents came more playtime with her friends and family.
Whacking her uncle in the head with a balloon is always good fun.
Happy Birthday, my sweet Elly!
Without planning it, I have started a tradition that I’m not entirely sure I can continue.
It seems that I have made Elly a quilt or a blanket for every year of her life plus an extra year.
The quilt I made for her birth
The blanket I knit for her 1st birthday
Look at that chub! I miss it.
The quilt I made for her 2nd birthday.
And now the quilt I repaired for her 3rd birthday.
The odds are good that she will get yet another quilt for her 4th birthday, since I have one in the works for her.
It should be mentioned that she doesn’t lack for quilts and blankets. Her great aunt hand stitched her a Winnie the Pooh quilt for her birth. Her Gram has crocheted her 4 blankets plus made her 1 quilt. I have actually put away all the store-bought blanket I received at my baby shower, since handmade blankets are far superior in my book.
Victoria of the Ten Thousand Hours of Sewing blog is hosting a Fearless February sew-a-long. The goal is to sew something that you have been too scared to tackle.
It is just the kick in the pants that I need to finish the slip cover for the wing chair.
Months ago, I made the slip cover for the seat cushion.
Yet, the chair is still hidden beneath a store-bought slip cover that doesn’t fit, being designed for a different style of chair. It irritates me on a daily basis.
It’s true that other projects have demanded my attention, but I could have made time to sew the slip cover. I have been avoiding it like the plague. I even put the fabric away, too scared to cut it up.
Victoria says the way to tackle such sewing fears is to just pick up the scissors, turn on the sewing machine and just do it. Her sew-a-long promises lots of encouragement, which is good. I’m going to need it.
The shawl was blocked last week.
After, the edges were folded under to make a hem and to keep the stockingnette stitch from curling. The hem caused the edges to ruffle just a little. The ruffle may come out with another blocking, but since I like the look, I’m keeping it.
I’m also keeping the shawl. Elly will not receive this for her 3rd birthday.
The lacework is too fine. I spent too many years knitting it. I envision a Barbie or a babydoll getting their hand stuck in the lacework and pulling it. The thought of that happening made it hard for me to breathe. Clearly, I would not be OK with Elly rolling the shawl into a ball and tossing it in her baby collection.
It was Dan who came up with the new home for it. He told me the shawl was beautiful and could be used a doily, since it was too small to be used as a real shawl.
Sometimes, Dan comes up with the best ideas.
The Life, Designs & Crafts of Marie Haigh 