Tutorial Tuesday: Child's Soft Chair

Peachy recently enjoyed playing with a friend's Pottery Barn chair like this one:

I decided to set out and see if I could make one for her. 
Pattern from Etsy: $5
Fabric from Mill End Textiles: $5
Foam: $45
Quilt Batting: $10
Other Notions: $5
The pattern was okay, but not extremely easy to figure out. I would say that it is for an intermediate sewer. I labeled my pattern pieces as I cut them out. This really helped me out as I was sewing. I also ended up putting the zippers in the wrong way. This made getting the foam into the chair cover a bit of a challenge. (Good thing I am married to an engineer.)

I am happy with how the chair turned out, but making it myself really didn't save me any money. If I were to do it again, I would try to get the foam with coupons or on sale.

My Good Friend, Poke A. Dot

I went with a polka-dot theme for Peachy's birthday bash. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a super easy party theme. Polka-dots are huge right now and I didn't have to search very hard to find the items I needed for the party.
It all started with these Wilton Sprinkles in Jumbo Confetti. I knew that even I, with my limited cake decorating abilities, could make a cake cute with these sprinkles.

I purchased card stock for the invitations using the sprinkle colors as my guide. I also purchased the Candelight stamp set from Close to My Heart.)

(Don't you just hate it when Blogger is a bad boy and won't cooperate with you? Really these pictures are the other way on my computer. Bad Blogger, bad, bad, Blogger.)
The cake was meant to look like a large cupcake. I didn't purchase the large cupcake cake mold, so a bit of it is left to the imagination. The base was made from two 9 inch round cake pans and then I used a metal mixing bowl to create the domed top. We frosted the rounds as you would a layer cake and then piped lines up the sides. After frosting the bottom, we placed the top on, frosted it, added the jumbo sprinkles and the candle.

(M even got in on the cake decorating action with his mad piping skills.)

The table cloth was made with white muslin and polka-dot fabric all purchased from Jo-Ann Fabrics.

The favors were little eye spy bags made with polka-dot flannel that I had on hand. (You can see them surrounding the cake in the picture above.) I will post a brief tutorial on how I made them soon.

My mom made Peachy  her large bib without even knowing the theme. Way to go, grandma. (We used to have bibs made in this style when we were kids. They are awesome at full coverage and can be decorated to match the occasion. You can't see in the picture, but mom put a cupcake with a #1 candle on the bib as an appliqué.)

I decided to make Peachy a little chair ala Pottery Barn as a birthday gift and just happened to pick a polka-dot fabric. The chair was a big hit at the party with the guests and Peachy climbs into it as often as she can.

Of course I made Peachy's #1 onesie. (You can always order one for your little one from my Facebook site, kiki b. omi designs.) I made her leg warmers out of a pair of knee high socks from Target. I will post a tutorial someday on that as well. Her skirt is from Target, her shoes are from a garage sale last summer, and the barrette is from Wal-Mart.

(Okay picture of me. Okay picture of the onesie. Not so hot picture of Peachy.)
I found these great buckets for drinks at Wal-Mart on clearance for $1.50!! Awesome!

I made the food prep super easy by ordering 4 foot subs from Wal-mart. (This was a very economical way to feed lots of people. We had plenty with the two 4 foot subs. So much that M and I worked hard all week at finishing the left-overs off before they went bad.) Throw in a veggie tray, a fruit platter, and some chips and you've got yourself a party!

Foodie Friday: Rhubarb and Apple Coffee Cake

I recently received the mother lode of rhubarb. (Or should I say, mother-in-law lode, since it was from M's mom? Don't worry, I won't quit my day job.) After slicing, dicing, and freezing 24 cups, I used the remainder to make two of these coffee cakes. I found the original recipe in my Taste of Home Cookbook. Since I had apples in the freezer waiting to be used, I decided to add them to the mix.

Ingredients:
-1/3 c butter, softened
-1 c sugar
-1 egg
-1 t vanilla extract
-2 c all-purpose flour
-3 t baking powder
-1/2 t salt
-1 c milk
-3 1/2 c chopped fresh or frozen rhubarb, thawed and drained
-1 c sliced apples
-3 T sugar for sprinkling (The original recipe did not call for this extra sugar, but I thought that it might be needed to take away some of the bite of the rhubarb.)
TOPPING:
-3/4 c packed brown sugar
-1/4 c butter (The original recipe called for the butter to be melted. After doing this, I decided that it may be better to just have it softened and using a pastry blender to mix it with the cinnamon and brown sugar. The melted mixture was hard to crumble sprinkle over the cake as the recipe directed.)

Directions:
1. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla; beat well. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with the milk.
2. Transfer to a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish. Spoon rhubarb over top to within 1/2 in. of edges. (I then sprinkled the extra sugar on top of the rhubarb.) Combine topping ingredients; sprinkle over rhubarb.
3. Bake at 350 for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack.

One Year of Peachy

We Love You, Peachy!

You're My Little Potato

Well, you are actually not my Little Potato. Little Peachy is actually my Little Potato. (How is that for confusing?) Thanks to the ONE YEAR (yes, you read that correctly) slide show I just put together for LP, that song is in my head. Not a bad song to have in one's head or in their one year slide show.

We had quite the weekend celebrating Peachy's birthday and Mother's Day. It started with the arrival of my parents Friday evening who were followed by M's parents on Saturday afternoon. Saturday was spent preparing for Peachy's party which was held late Saturday afternoon. The party was wonderful and deserving a post of its own. Sunday morning found me looking for our local paper to arrive before we headed off for church. Peachy and I graced the front page in a large full color photo!! A reporter had contacted me a few weeks ago about a feature story she was writing about moms who had their babies on Mother's Day. I didn't have to think long before agreeing to that one.

After church we all headed off to a 5k walk that raised $10,000 for breast cancer.

M's parents headed home after the walk and mine left Monday afternoon. (But not before we hit some of the fun stores downtown. One of the clerks even recognized Peachy from the paper!!)
I keep telling everyone that some days it is hard for me to even realize that I am a mom, much less the mom of a one year old. Yikes!
All in all, a wonderful long weekend celebration!