Bluey Baby Shower Day Of

I spent all afternoon in the kitchen the day before the shower. First, I prepared the fruit salad which consisted of watermelon, pineapple chunks, green grapes, blueberries, apples, and strawberries. 

Next came the homemade lasagna, I had followed this Delish YouTube tutorial. 

Then with the oven still hot, I made coconut cherry macaroon cookies, the devil's food sheet cake (cake mix with homemade frosting), and my fruitcakes for Christmas. One big change to the fruitcake, rather than wrap the sherry-soaked cheesecloth cakes in foil, I vacuum packed them. They will reside in the frig for the next 2 months. 

All went well with about 25 in attendance. Lots of disposable diapers received. 

The piece de resistance the baby heart quilt. She received lots of onesies and baby shirts. 

Baby clothes sewing to follow. Things seem to be coming together for the little girl's arrival.

Bluey Baby Shower

The Bluey baby shower for my daughter will be held on Saturday, 10/25. This image was taken at Wally World where I bought most of the decorations.

I am making a chocolate devil's food sheet cake. First time using a cake writing gel. The best YouTube tip was to use a toothpick to write out the message first. Next, keep the gel working in a continuous line without a break. I figured that might be the case - similar to free motion quilting - slow, steady, one continuous line. 

Now baby will have the summer or first crib quilt I created for this event. I fell in love with this heart flannel one with wool batting - the winter quilt. The patchwork piecing and the baby fabric borders came in the same $6 bag at thrift. I combined the two and added the lilac-colored flannel backing/binding. 

Here is the haul for baby. I will keep the dress with me for now. Hope to have a wardrobe unveiling of garments I've made for her. For now, she will receive the cute as a button jacket.

Girl Dress Retro Rocket Rascals

So excited to get to my girl dress project, 1996 McCall's 7940. I have had this tres adorbs fabric for quite awhile now - Retro Rocket Rascals by Michael Miller. 

It was the first time I had sewn a Peter Pan collar. Biffed on the first attempt, nailed it on the second. 

Ran out of the retro rocket fabric so I supplemented with a pale yellow backing. Such is Life Living with Remnants. 

The buttonholes were another new thing. My quilting machine a Baby Lock Jazz 2 came with both the quilting attachment and the buttonhole setting on the machine. Praise be to the Baby Lock machine designer. In home economics in the 1970s, we had to figure out the dimensions of the buttonhole manually. It took me a couple of days learning how to work the attachment, I have it down for the next garment. I should have made a prototype first. 

The baby shower is set for Saturday, October 25, 2025. Rachel gave the A-OK for a Bluey-themed event with purple and gold colors. 

Finally found the fabric pull I intended for the New Look 0185 pattern. 

On the eBay seller front, my sales have been worse than awful. Usually sales pick up after summer ends. This year not so much. Perhaps a collective tightening of the purse strings. I had hoped to pay off wedding expenses before Christmas hit. 

It is official and as I suspected. Quilting posts are much less popular than sewing posts. I will admit that patchwork quilting has improved my sewing skills. 

Bought a bag of fabric at thrift and this pieced heart-themed one with matching baby fabric was included. I have bumped all of my other projects to whip up this throw. I removed the purple strips borders shown in the upper left of the image. I don't have any fabric in my stash that marries well with the pieced top. The baby print will be used as the border fabric. Wool batting and a flannel backing for this quilt so it will be warm. 

The crib quilt I intend to give her is not what one would consider warm. It has a thin cotton batting and would serve better as a wall hanging. 

Off to cut the New Look pattern.