Sewing: Audrey's Kitchen Playthings

Ever since I sewed the aprons and tablecloth for my nieces and sister for Christmas, I've wanted to do some for Audrey. We decided to get her a play kitchen for her 2nd birthday, but it took forever to arrive (the darling KidKraft Prairie Kitchen was backordered and didn't arrive until a couple months after her birthday). When it was finally here we assembled it and set it in her room and I went to the quilt shop to see if I could find fabrics to coordinate. I used two of the Moda Dottie prints from her bedding and found some great red, gold, blue and white prints to go with!

I love this reversible tablecloth with ricrack.

I made the same fat quarter child's aprons as I did for my nieces. I made two so Audrey has one to share with a friend.

I had enough fabric left to make little napkins.

And, I crocheted a little blue washcloth and used a purchased red waffle washcloth for a dishtowel.

I found this vintage children's cookbook in my mother's things. Looks like it was published by the Carnation Milk company. I love the illustrations! I remember making things from it--especially the "1-2-3 Fudge Sauce." Can't wait to use it to cook with Audrey!

Now Audrey has everything she needs to cook, set the table and "eat."

Painting: Cliffs Near Zion National Park

After the portraits of Audrey and Zoe I needed to do something with a little less pressure! So I went to my stack of photos and found some images I shot down near Zion National Park last year. These cliffs are somewhere outside the park (north of the park) and I think they are so great looking!

This is a small one again, 8"x10", because I was hoping to finish it in one sitting. It took two, but it's still finished! I like it. I wouldn't mind it on one of my walls. Might work nicely for a present for someone too.

Painting: A Portrait of Audrey for Father's Day

When I gave David the Zoe portrait for Christmas I told him I thought it was a safe subject--he loves the dog, so he had to at least like the idea of a portrait of her. He said something about, "but I'd like a portrait of Audrey too..." So it was fixed. I was determined to paint one (put it on the "to paint" list for 2008). Especially since capturing Zoe's likeness felt about like doing a person portrait.

This portrait of Audrey is about life sized and it was such an amazing experience to paint it when I worked on it every week. It was like a meditation on my daughter for a few hours. Time in which I got to observe her beauty and appreciate the gift she is in my life. I love her and I can't wait to paint her more. I can imagine all kinds of compositions! This portrait is based on a photo I took of Audrey in our backyard. I love it because she had just been walking a few weeks and to me she appears to be rounding the corner from baby to little girl.

Audrey often has this kind of serious expression, so it captures her personality. This was taken last summer so now her hair is darker and she of course looks a bit older. It was interesting because as I was working on this portrait it seemed I sometimes painted her as I see her now rather than being as loyal to the photograph.

I chose purple for the sash on this dress because it is Audrey's favorite color.

A few times during the painting process I would pull this out and ask Audrey what she thought. The first time she immediately recognized herself so I thought I was on the right track.

When David opened this he didn't seem very surprised. I guess he figured I would paint Audrey. I felt it a strong compliment when he immediately started talking about where we should hang it. It has a prominent spot in our living room.

It's nice to have finished something I feel good about. I have decided that portraits are still my love. I enjoy all kinds of subjects but portaits are the most rewarding, in part I think because they are the most challenging.

It was so much fun to have my family come over to celebrate Father's Day and have Audrey show them her picture. She seems pretty excited about it hanging there on the wall.

Crochet: Coral Baby Layette

UPDATE: Photo of Scarlett in her little layette...

I have finished my first project for my baby girl: this crocheted coral layette. I saw the pattern in a Moda Dea Babies and Kids Collection 1 pattern booklet I bought for a sweater I crocheted for Audrey and I thought it was cute. I used KnitPicks Cotlin yarn in Island Coral instead of the yarn specified.

I love the way the pattern shapes the sleeves. You construct the bodice with essentially a cap sleeve and then continue the sleeves separately after the bodice. This would be darling as a cap sleeved sweater for my toddler! I'm thinking I could likely size it up by using a heavier gauge yarn and hook. Maybe I'll try it sometime after I finish all my baby projects.

I found these darling rose shaped buttons at Joann in the perfect shade of coral. They look appropriately vintage.

I improvised on the hat by making it shorter, more of a cloche. Who knows how (or when) it will fit my baby girl--hard to guess about head circumference. I improvised on the booties too. I made the cuff shorter and think it looks cute rolled like they are in this photo. They seem like they may be the kind of booties that would stay on. We'll see when she gets here!

Party: Audrey's and Kate's Second Birthday Party

For some reason we couldn't get all the families together on the same day this year to celebrate Audrey's and Kate's birthday. So I ended up doing two parties! A little much for mommy, so I think we'll stick with just one per birthday going forward, but it was fun.

First we celebrated with my sister's and my families. Lots of fun cousins around to play.

My sister had a great idea to fill a room in her home with purple balloons and let the birthday girls play. What could be more fun for a pair of three year olds?

The plan was for the birthday girls to wear matching outfits including the pink sweaters I made them (first one for Audrey and then a matching one for Kate last Christmas). It half worked! ;-) Which was just fine.

Christine made a beautiful cake with purple fondant dots to match the balloons and red velvet inside. Audrey loves red velvet! I wish I had snapped a good picture.

A few days later, party #2, with my husband's family.

Audrey wore a really darling party dress someone gave her when she was born. Because I am a bit crazy I decided I needed to crochet a little sweater for her to wear over it, but she didn't really wear it. One of the last minute projects this year that convinced me the two-party thing was too much!

I made a ruffle cake--lemon cake with almond frosting (love almond frosting!)--inspired by an issue of Martha Stewart Baby. I love the ruffles all down the sides of the cake. It called for Swiss Meringue Buttercream icing, which never works for me (per last year's cake for instance) so I used a friend's recipe for an almond buttercream. It was so fun to do and I think it looks so pretty! This is a six-inch diameter, three-layer cake, so perfect proportions for a little girl. I love the frosting color too...

Again, a bit nutty, but I made this other little outfit for Audrey too, undecided about what exactly she should wear and when, because this beautiful party dress wasn't very practical for partying! So she changed into her birthday kimono to open presents.