Sydney's 8th Birthday Party

Today is my baby girl's 8th birthday. I can't believe how fast time has flown by! Seems like just yesterday she was this tiny little 6-lb-baby with unruly hair and the biggest brown eyes I had ever seen! Well, her eyes are still huge, but her hair has calmed down quite a bit ;) This past weekend we celebrated with family and friends with the most colorful of parties I could dream up in this crazy head of mine.  Here are some highlights... (for info on the dress and the invitations, see my previous post)

The refreshments table:



Let's take a closer look at everything on here. I made every single thing except for the cake (you'll see why in a bit). These are rainbow fruit skewers:



Button (butter) cookies:



Nutella-filled croissants (like this):



Cheddar cheese-filled croissants:



Coconut crémes (I used this recipe but replaced peppermint extract for coconut extract and added about 1/4 cup of coconut flakes) YUM:



Fresh-squeezed lemonade and strawberry juice:



And then there was the cake, oh the cake! Like I said, this was the only thing I didn't make myself. I had a local cake maker do this based on this recipe. I just  wasn't ambitions enough to tackle it on my own, but you'll see in a bit why I wish I had. ;)



As far as activities go, I set up two stations for the girls. One was a coloring station. I designed my own Lalaloopsy coloring book, using downloadable pages from their Facebook page:



I pretty much just printed the pages -- 10 pages/dolls for each book -- and designed a custom cover for it. Then, I purchased crayon boxes for each girl.



Then there was a Sew-Your-Own-Button-Headband station. I used Scunci headbands and lots and lots of colorful buttons (like on this post). We used embroidery needles and topstitching thread.



There were 14 girls total, so I divided them into 2 groups. Half of them went to the coloring station...



And the other half went to the headband station:



Then, about 45 minutes later or so, they switched stations so that they all got to do everything...



But, by far, everyone's favorite activity at the party was the decorate-the-cake part! Oh, my, how much fun they all had with these edible ink markers!!!







One of the girls wrote "Eat Me" on the cake, so of course all the adults were giggling in the back like little school girls... haha



Then it was time to blow the candles...





This is what the cake looked like on the inside. And this is why I wish, in hindsight, that I had made it myself... the layers were NOT in rainbow color order as I requested! :( I know it's not a big deal but I am just anal like that and I wanted everything perfect! Can you blame me?



Well, the cake was delicious and no one mentioned the color issue (maybe they were just being polite) so I'd say the party was a success! Sydney opened her gifts...



And we took some group pictures with the birthday girl...



And of course, the obligatory "silly face pic" :)





Ahhhh... I can finally breathe... and rest! (well, at least until the next party!)
Happy, happy birthday to my sweet baby girl! Please stop growing so fast.

Blue Monday

I'm feeling quite blue this morning (but in a good way!). I started seeing quite a few color parallels as I was editing my photos so I thought it was time for a wacky-fun blog posting.


(Photo courtesy of Caroline Devoy.)

The ribbons you see above are fresh in from the manufacturer and ready to be worked into some happy little spring-time projects. The top two are from Jessica Jones and the bottom 4 are mine. But check out how well Jessica's aqua/chocolate bloom ribbon coordinates with my aqua/chocolate birdie damask! If anyone out there makes something using these 2 together, please share a picture!

These ribbons are the new jacquard collection available by the yard and by the roll at jcarolinecreative. I'm just giddy to get some of my Andalucia designs in the aqua colorway... and I know a lot of you out there are too, based on the amount of daily requests I get! ;) The kiwi/greens in these ribbons will be a perfect match to the kiwi colorways in Andalucia and the little splashes of pink will match the Petal colorways, so have fun with them! (I'm thinking: Easter!)

The color blue has followed me around this past weekend too. Jon and I celebrated our 9-year anniversary (yes, this time we didn't forget it!) in the windy city, sans kids! WOOHOO! We dropped off the girls at my in-laws' place in Chicago then checked into the Wyndham near the Magnificent Mile. Those of you who follow me on Twitter got my tweets from the Apple Store, where Jon & I drooled over the latest & greatest, and later from Borders where I tried to find the elusive issue of Quick Quilts featuring my article (I still haven't found it, by the way! haha!)

After window shopping in sub-zero temperatures (brrrr!) we headed out to Greek Islands. Jon wore a blue shirt & jacket... and we had blue menus.



And even our Greek waiter with the sexy Greek accent wore blue... OPA!
(haha, check out the guy in the back!)



After dinner we caught a late showing of the ... you guessed it: Blue Man Group!



All this talk of blue is making me really crave Spring/Summer weather, how 'bout you? But since I can't have that right now, I'll be content with listening to this song over & over again this morning (the Weimaraner in that video looks exactly like the one Jon & I used to have in FL years ago! His name was Blu. I miss him.)

What's new on Cook It. Blog It!

First and foremost, we have a sponsor!! WOOHOOO! The fabulous Nikki from The Gourmet Mama Blog emailed me last week right before I went on vacation to pitch this idea to me and I thought it was fantastic. I would have jumped on it right away if I wasn't jumping on a plane instead, but alas, here we are. Better late than never, eh?



Click on the banner above to be taken to The Gourmet Mama's blog where you can find many, many healthy recipes and lots of inspiration even for us novice cooks. What I love about Nikki's blog is that she not only gives you clear instructions about how to prepare these meals but she also gives you the nutritional information for each meal. AWESOME! And check out her sidebar for loads of useful information including Cooking Measurements Conversions and even how to calculate your Weight Watcher points... doubly AWESOME!

Thank you, Nikki, for sharing your wealth of knowledge with us and as if that wasn't enough she has offered to add you to her blogroll if you use one of her recipes and blog about it. YAY!

So, what's going on in Cook It. Blog It! land? Well, we have 30 participants as of now and that is so amazing to me considering I just started this a couple of weeks ago. You guys have been busy cooking while I've been away, so I spent a little time this morning perusing your blogs and found a few favorites.

Today I am featuring SWEETS because I am missing my girls big time and I know how much they love their sweets.

First of all, my friend Eva makes a triumphant return to blogland with none other than a Blueberry Muffin recipe that is to die for. I just want to lick the screen because her pictures are always so amazing. I am dying to make this but I will have to wait until the girls get home or else I will triple my weight in no time! LOL! Thanks for joining us, Eva!

Next, I want to share this wonderful Berry Gallette recipe posted by fellow blogger, Amii. This dessert looks incredibly complicated to make but I don't feel intimidated because she has given us step-by-step photos (LOVE YA FOR THAT!)... and I mean, there are like 200 photos on this blog post... see for yourself! LOL! I need that many photos, though. Like I've mentioned before, I am a visual person, so this is the only way you are gonna get me to try something. ;) I like visiting Amii's blog because she has amazing photography and awesome music. Thanks so much for making me salivate all over my keyboard, Amii.

I can't talk about sweets without throwing some libations in the mix. I luuuurve me some sweet refreshing fruity drinks in the hot Summer months!

My friend Ash, from in.full.bloom, has posted a yummynumptuous Strawberry Margarita recipe, as part of yet another triumphant blogland return. heee heee... I just love how this club is bringing people out of lurkdom! ;) She calls it Love Potion No. 9 ... oooooh, kinky. And it uses one of my favorite flavors... lime. :)

Also, check out Amii's tropical concoction using L&A's Pineapple Coconut juice. YUMMMM! Add a little spiced rum to that mixture and I'm all set. ;) I think I might just walk around with a cup of that stuff for the next couple of weeks. LOL!!!

So, what's my contribution to Cook It. Blog It! ??? Hmmm... not much right now. I haven't been cooking up much since the girls have been gone. I've mostly been trying to find ways to make water appetizing. Yep, you read right. I don't like to drink water. And yes, my mother, and my doctor and my doctor's mother and my mother's doctor have told me all my life how important it is to drink water, but that is not the issue. I know I need to drink water... I just don't like it.

So, Eva told me to try the "cucumbers in water" idea. I think they call it Spa Water ??? It was pretty good... for water. And, yes, I know there's a ton of cucumbers in there, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do, right?

I did drink a couple of glasses of that stuff and it made it taste a little better but I think I enjoyed the Cucumber Sandwich I made even more. LOL! I just took the peel off the cucumbers, sliced them pretty thin, then put them on a couple slices of sourdough bread with some low-fat cream cheese. YUM!


I also tried putting some citrus in my water. I sliced some fresh lemons and limes and dumped them in. But I think I put so many in there, that it was almost a lemon-limeade. Oh well... I'm drinking water and that's what's important, right?!?!

Oh and as I was searching for some links on the internet, I found this recipe for Cucumber-Lemon Water...why didn't I think of that? ARGH! Oh well, tomorrow's another day. ;)

Am I the only weird one around here or do any of you have a water-drinking-problem?

Asian Invasion on Cook It. Blog It!

I'm so ecstatic about the incredibly warm reception of Cook It. Blog it! We have 18 participants already (check them out!) in only 2 days of being up and I have spotted our logo all over blogland. YIPPEE!

This is especially exciting to me because it not only gives me new, creative mealtime ideas, but also gives me instant blogging topics even when I don't have anything cool of my own to share. LOL!

So, this morning, as I was perusing through the club members' blogs, I came across 2 recipes that I absolutely MUST try because they look amazingly delicious and also because my family is nuts about Asian food. We eat Thai, Vietnamese and Japanese every chance we get!

First of all, check out this amazing Sukiyaki recipe from new blogger, Michelle of Chez Mish. The dish looks complicated but she assures us that it's easy to make. It has all of my favorite ingredients so I think I might have to try it. Plus, Jon took one look at that picture on my screen and said "I want that for dinner!" Uh-oh! Thanks, Michelle, for sharing your amazing recipe and photos with us. I look forward to learning more from you.

Next, I came across this amazing tempura recipe, courtesy of Katarina from LikeFlowersAndButterflies. She said she combined Jamie Oliver's recipe with her own photos and since I am a total visual person, I was drawn to Katarina's awesome imagery... and salivating all over my keyboard... thanks, girl! She takes you step-by-step through the preparation of her tempura batter, even giving you little tips here & there. I love that because, as I mentioned above, I am a visual person and often times reading about how something is made doesn't actually register until I see it.

I will be featuring your recipes from the Cook It. Blog It! club hopefully every day (unless I'm on vacation or way too busy doing something fabric-design-related), so if you have something new up, please let me know so I can check it out and link to you. My family is gonna LOVE me this Summer thanks to all you guys and your awesome cooking skills! :)

Oh, and a special THANK YOU goes to Lisa of TheMommyDesigner and Pam of SewGracious for promoting our club on their awesome blogs. It was such a delightful surprise seeing our logo up there. Thanks so much, ladies!

If you'd like to participate in our Cook It. Blog It! club, please leave a comment with your URL after this post and I will get you added to the blogroll. Don't forget to grab the logo for your side bar, link to the blogroll so everyone can check you out and join our Flickr group (there's already lots of lovely photos to peruse on there).

Happy Cooking!

That Darn Meme

I keep trying to dodge it, but it just keeps coming back... like Freddy! And to quote my dear friend Nic, "I've done the 7 Things Meme a jillion times before." But I will indulge you guys one more time only because I came up with a funny idea this morning. In a small group I belong to, we've been chatting about weird things we've eaten (or regularly eat, in some cases!) and so I thought... "OK, I could do that 7 random thing meme about my weird food tastes, since it seems to be so intriguing to most."

So here it goes... Oh, wait, I'm supposed to link to those who have tagged me. OK... let's see... I've been tagged by Toni, Melissa, Michelle and most recently by Clara (boy, after writing it all down like that I all of a sudden feel popular! HA!) And if I missed anyone... so sorry.

OK, so now here it goes... Seven things that I eat regularly -- or have eaten in the past -- that most Americans wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole:

1. Liver, liver paté and liverwurst. I will take a liverwurst (Braunschwiger) sandwich over pretty much any other sandwich in the world. And I LOVE all sorts of patés... chicken liver, goose liver... even duck liver paté. Oh, and turkey gravy isn't good unless it has chunks of the turkey liver floating in it. YUM!

2. Tripe. If you don't know what it is, look it up. No, I don't go out of my way to eat tripe and it's certainly not my favorite texture, but I have eaten it several times as one of my favorite Vietnamese dishes contains tripe and I don't pick it out of my plate... just consume it with the rest. ;)

3. Octopus. It's much yummier than calamari, especially when sautéed in olive oil and lemon. My girls adore it too.

4. Raw Oysters. If they're on the menu, I get them! And they're an aphrodisiac too... wink, wink.

(I could insert all seafood, cooked or raw, that I love here but then this list would well surpass it's 7-item limit)

5. Condensed Milk. Nope, not as an ingredient in cakes and pies. I eat it straight out of the can... with a spoon... like others would eat ice cream or yogurt.

6. Escargot. Again, if you don't know what it is, look it up. And again, not my favorite, but I have been known to eat it several times before just for shock value. LOL!

7. Sardines. OK, I lied... I had to insert one more seafood item on this list because I just love them so much... especially when they come canned in tomato sauce and spices. I love to eat them with Export Sodas.

I swear this list could go on and on, but I will have mercy on you since I know most of you have already thrown up a little in your mouths. OH, and for those of you who are in my group or have had the "weird food" discussion with me before and are wondering why I didn't include "maggots" in this list, well... I didn't actually consume those maggots. They were in my mouth for a split second and I spit them out as soon as I realized it. So, if you guys hadn't vomited yet, that little tidbit of information outta do the trick. ;)

Oh, and I am NOT tagging anyone because I'm sure pretty much everyone in blogland has done this one once or twice or a jillion times like me. But, if you haven't been tagged by some strange reason and would like to do it, please consider yourself tagged! Oh, and please post a link to your Meme so I can check it out!! :)

Back in business!

I sewed and sewed and sewed, ate some sushi, blogged and sewed some more and VOILA! my orders are almost all finished. If you shopped during my April Fool's SALE, you should be receiving your package sometime this week! All I have left to finish is a couple of orders that I haven't received measurements for yet. So... if you ordered from me but haven't sent me your info yet, please do so and I will get your items out a.s.a.p. :)

This means that my store is back up... YAY! No new items yet, but they'll be coming up soon! I promise. :)

Etsy Buy Handmade modkid

The Perfect Day

Ever have one of those kinds of days where you look around you and everything seems to glow? Yesterday was like that for me. My day started out great: I completed a custom order in record time, drove to the post office and visited a couple of my favorite quilt shops in the morning. Then, after lunch, I surprised Sophie & Sydney with a new bucket of sidewalk chalk. I couldn't believe I found this for $1 but they acted like I handed them Disney World in a bucket. Gotta love kids! My friend, Kristen, told me earlier that if we got the chalk wet, we could get the most vibrant colors, and she was right! K, the girls thank you for that awesome tip! :)




We went outside to play and I cuddled up on my favorite lounge chair. The weather was perfect: sunny and just a little breezy, not too hot and not too cold. As the girls created their masterpiece (nice, but not as cool as this guy's work) I rinsed some berries so that I could prepare my family's new favorite Summer dessert: berry parfait. I cannot believe how often I find myself making these! And I love them & crave them so much that I even named one of my new Summer custom designs after it.

But as I sat outside staring at this shiny colander full of gorgeous, perfect berries, that weird "glowing" experience started to happen. The grass was glowing, the sidewalk art was glowing, my daylilies almost looked fake... like they were plugged in or something! Even the kids were glowing! I ran inside to grab my camera because I wanted to capture the glowing beauty.


Hmmm... maybe I should do a series of designs inspired by flowers...

Home-bound for Easter

It was about 30 degrees outside all day on Easter Sunday (we even saw some snow flurries through the window), so it was really no weather for outdoor Easter Egg Hunts or any other activity of the sort. But we made the best out of our holiday by preparing some fun indoor activities for the kids.

First, we did an indoor egg hunt. Jon & I got up before 7 am because we knew the kids would be up soon after and hid 40 eggs all around the first floor and basement of our house. It was amazing to see those girls work their magic... they found all 40 eggs within 5 minutes (with very little help from mom & dad!) ;) I didn't get to take pictures of the egg hunt because it happened so fast, but here's a picture of Sydney proudly displaying 2 of the 18 eggs she found on her own.

Then it was on to egg decorating. I pre-boiled a dozen eggs and Sophia hand-dipped them in various colorful solutions, added stickers, glitter and decorations of all sorts. Here she is in the midst of the project...

And here she is proudly displaying "her favorite". And in case you are wondering... yes, we hung out in our pajamas all day long. Since we weren't going anywhere there was really no sense in getting all dressed up and uncomfortable. ;)


Finally, we made a little yummy project that we borrowed from my friend Ash (infullbloom). She had the most wonderful idea and I knew that the kids would just love it! We prepared the "rice krispy treats" mixture and placed it on a muffin pan forming a "bird's nest" look. Then after they were cool enough the girls had a blast adding all the little "baby eggs" to the nests. We used Whoppers Mini Robin Eggs for ours (because I LOVE malted milk candies!) They turned out soooo cute! :) You can find the full recipe for this delicious and fun-to-make treat here on Ash's blog.


In the afternoon, in between all the Easter-related activities, I even had time to squeeze in a little studio project. I'm so excited about it and will share pictures as soon as it is finished. Jon's dad was down here for the weekend, so he helped me do the carpentry part of it and I did all of the painting and sanding.

That evening we had the most wonderful home cooked meal. But the part that made it *extra special* was that I didn't have to cook it. Jon made a delicious roast in the oven, and served it with home-made garlic mashed potatoes, steamed asparagus, and sautéed mushrooms & onions... the meal was EXCELLENT and the perfect ending to a perfect day! :)