Mickey Mouse Name Display

Since we were using the theme of Mickey Mouse, I did Blake's name in the design of Mickey.   I used cardboard to cut the letters, card stock to cover them and hot glue to stick them to a piece of painted 4x4.  Worked out great.  Ears were added using painted Styrofoam balls attached with tooth picks.

Rice Crispy Mickey Pops

Rice Crispy cookies have been around forever and they are great to make cookie pops.

I began by making the cookies as per the instructions written on the box.

 When they cooled a little, I cut them using a Mickey Mouse Cookie cutter.  Do not leave them too long because they will be more difficult to cut.  I dipped a stick in chocolate and put the stick into the cookie.  I left them for a while to harden so that they wouldn't break when picked up.

Then I melted some chocolate and dipped the ears into it.

Put them into a plastic bag.  Mine were too long so I had to cut them.  Then I tied ribbon around the stick to hold the bag in place and finished it with a sticker on each side.

These are fun to make and they look great, but they are time consuming, so if you decide to do something like this make sure to give yourself enough time.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Pops for Mickey Mouse Birthday

It is difficult to believe that a full year has passed since Blake was born.  Today we had his first birthday party and if you saw the invitations you know that it's a Mickey Clubhouse Theme party.  It took place at a swimming pool and the kids all enjoyed the pool.

As a party favour, I made some chocolate pops.  I was not able to find a Mickey Mouse mould, so I used a happy face and attached pictures of Mickey.  I saw an idea on a blog (... At Studio D) to make a box to stick them in so that's what I did.  It looked something like the one I did.

I started with a shoe box that I just covered with Mickey Mouse colours.  Then I put some Styrofoam in the box to stick the sticks in.   

To make the Mickey Mouse that is stuck in the middle, I used Styrofoam balls, painted them black, and used tooth picks to keep the ears in place.  I also used a wooden dowel to hold the Mickey Mouse head in the box.

 The chocolate pops were made...

I printed some clip art from the internet and pasted them on black Bristol board, put the pops in bags and attached the tag by punching a whole in it and using ribbon

 They were yummy!

Mickey's Lollipop Invitations

A couple of months ago, Allison and I were discussing what to do for Blake's first birthday.  She had decided that she would like to have a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme, so the search for ideas began.  I read somewhere about a lollipop invitation that was done in the shape of a lollipop with a stick.  We decided to use a large lollipop and stick the invitation to it.

Here is the front and back of the invitation.   I don't have any fancy cutting machines for scrap booking or card making, so we were forced to cut everything from templates we drew.

Trip Around the World

This quilt is one of several Trip Around the World quilts that I have done.  It is an easy quilt to make and it can be completed in a relatively short period.  I know people who have done one in a weekend, but not me.  This one took me a couple of weeks from beginning to end.  There are many patterns for this quilt on the internet and elsewhere and sometimes the patterns tend to complicate things.  I am going to do the "Coles" version of doing a quilt like this.

Here is what it looked like in the end:

Materials for a Double sized quilt:

Select 7 colors that complement each other and buy 3/4 metre of each one.  These make up the blocks in the quilt.

Select three colors for the borders.  I prefer to select the colors that are in the quilt already.  In this case I selected the solid colors for the borders.   The borders are also different sizes so the amount of material varies.

Small inside border:   2" strips -- 1/2 metre
Middle border:  4 " strips-- 1 metre
Outside border: 4 1/2" strips-- 1 1/4 metre  (Note:  This border is optional and makes are a larger quilt.  I bought a queen sized batting for this quilt since it is wider than a typical double sized batting)

(I know I am combining two measurements here.  In Canada, material is sold by the meter, not by the yard. A yard is about 3" less than a metre.  Yet, I normally use inches when measuring vs centimetres.)

Backing:  I bought 6 meters to ensure that I had enough to do the binding.

Wash and dry all materials prior to cutting into strips to ensure that any shrinkage will occur prior to sewing.

Step 1:  Cut the 7 colors for the main part of your quilt into 4 1/2 " strips.  (5 Strips of each color).

 I also like to make a swatch when using a pattern that refers to numbers.  This pattern suggests arranging the colours from light to dark, which is what I have attempted to do.

Step 2:   Sewing the first row.

Take one strip of each colour and sew them together in this order based upon the colours in your swatch:   3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 1, 2.

Step 3:  Cutting the blocks of the first row.

Press the first row colours by pushing the seams away from colour 3.
Fold the piece so that it is easier to cut into strips.
Square the piece by cutting off a small strip at the top.

Now cut 8 strips from this piece.  They will be 4 1/2" wide.

Lay the strips to one side.  These will be your first row strips.

Step 4:  Sewing the second row.

Take a strip of each colour and sew them together in this order:  4, 5, 6, 7, 1, 2, 3.  (Notice that for the first row it began with colour 3, the second row begins with colour 4 and ends with row 3.)

Step 5:  Cutting the second row.  Do the same as you did with the first row, also laying the 8 strips to one side.

Step 6:  Sewing rows 3 to 7.

Again take a strip of each colour, sewing them in this order:  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
Repeat this until all strips have been used.

Step 7:  Tubing rows 3-7.

Before cutting rows 3-7, take each panel and sew it into a tube.  That is sew colour 1 and colour 7 so that the colours make a tube.

Step 8:  Cutting rows 3-7.

As you cut row 1 and 2, cut the tubed panels into 8 pieces each.
When they are cut, each will look like this.

Step 9:  Cutting the tubes to make rows 3 to 7.

Row 3:  Take 4 tubes and separate one seem so that the colours are in this order:  5, 6, 7, 1, 2, 3, 4
Row 4:  6, 7, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Row 5:  7, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Row 6:  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Row 7:  2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 1

Step 10:  Sewing the rows together.

Make four squares by sewing rows 1-7 together.

Step 10:  Rotate the four blocks so that colour 3 is pointing towards the centre.

Step 11:  You will have noticed that you still have 4 row 1s and 4 row 2s left.  Sew the row 1s to the row 2s.  

Step 12:  Sew 1 of these four to each of the square blocks on the end.  This gives length to the quilt.  The picture is not real clear, but enough that you see that I am prepared to add rows 1 and 2 to the top portion.  

Step 13:  Take one of the leftover tubes and open it so that it goes between the two boxes.  Repeat this for the other half of the quilt as well.

Step 14:  When to two half are completed, you will need to select a colour for the centre block.  and make a  strip that will complete the pattern when  both halves are together.   Now the pieces can be assembled to make your quilt.

Step 15:  Add the borders.  I usually do both ends first with the first colour and then add the same colour to the sides.

Step 16:  Place the bottom of the quilt, the batting, and the top together and prepare it for top stitching as you would for any quilt. Then add the binding.  

Once again, Lexi moves to the quilt.  With great speed I might add.

Vintage Chains Quilt

I have finished another quilt-- this one has been 3 years in the making.  It is one of those projects that often took the back burner to other things I was doing.  I decided a couple of weeks ago that it had to be done before I started another.  So here it is.  The pattern that I used is on-line so I will post a link to the site.

 http://quilting.about.com/od/quiltpatternsprojects/ss/vintage_chains.htm

The quilt is made up of two types of blocks.  This is one of them-- The five patch chain.  20 of these are needed.

This is the other block- the Chain and Knot block.  30 of these are needed.



These are the triangles that are attached to each end of a row.  The rows are actually assembled diagonally, instead of the typical horizontal row.

Lexi moves in to claim the quilt.  Yes, she will probably spend many nights on this one.