Happy Birthday Little Buddy!

My darling Andy turned 4 last week! He is such a sweet little boy and we have so much fun with him! For his party, we had a petting zoo visit. They brought chickens, ducks, bunnies, goat, and a pony. Andy and his friends had a great time and the weather couldn't have been more beautiful!

Here's Andy holding a baby bunny. They were so soft! For his party, I machine embroidered this t-shirt for him.

Here he is with his Happy Cake. I got the Tractor cake at Walmart and we added the chickens. It fit the theme perfectly and was yummy, too!

The design I used for his shirt is a faux-smocked tractor and corn from Applique Junkie.  I saw these stitched on t-shirts on etsy and thought it looked cute. You don't use a pleated fabric for an insert, you just stitch it right on the shirt. Definitely a quick alternative to hand-smocking an insert for a themed t-shirt. I mean, sometimes you just need to take a short-cut, right? She has many really cute designs for faux smocking. This was a quick and easy project and worked great. These would be nice for gifts too.
Happy 4th Birthday Little Man!!

A Little Quilt for Baby

This happy little quilt is one I put together for my Quilt Guild. It is my Guild's 30th anniversary this year and we are trying to donate 30 Baby Quilts to a special charity in our area. The quilts will be wrapped around a gently used baby layette and distributed to babies in need in our state.
I attended a Baby Quilt workshop in May, but I forgot to bring my camera, so I'll have to get a picture of that quilt later. At the workshop, one of our talented quilters donated a bag of these cheerful 9-patch blocks. I offered to take it home and piece a baby quilt from them. I was astounded to count 81 blocks in the bag!! I wondered what size quilt she made that had that many leftover blocks!
Anyway, I figured the blocks would stand out more if I alternated them with solid squares. I went with the dark tan so it would contrast with the white. I love the way it looks and we have enough left to do 3 more baby quilts! I will try to get another picture after someone machine quilts and binds this one.
Yesterday was my little Andy's 4th birthday, so I've been super duper busy getting ready for his party on Sunday. The weather is supposed to be nice, so I'm sure we will have fun! Back soon!

FLIP that Vote!

It's time to vote for the May Flip over at Frances Suzanne! I have strong feelings on how these contests work and I don't like it to be a popularity contest. If you have the most facebook friends, if you can post it on more forums, etc.- you win. I think people should vote based on which outfit they really love. So, I am not asking you to vote for me- just go take a look and vote for the outfit you like the best!!
There are some cute entries there!

I have my little Andy's 4th Birthday Party next weekend, so I am busy getting ready for it. Maybe I will have time to stitch him a cute shirt for the farm-themed party. Back soon!