Knee Patch and exercise my applique skill.

First day back at kinder and realised that 3 of my son's pants have holes in them, and 2 other pair are also getting a bit thin on the left knee area. My first thought was to go to shop and get a pair (just in case) and wonder how can I patch it up?

Once again the lovely blog land and google has rescue me --- thank goodness it's an easy job and super cute. My favourite is the monster knee patch, it would work nicely with any kind of pants. I use washable felt fabric for the job and Lite Steam-A-Seam 2 Fusible Web to help me bond it to the correct spot before I sew around it to secure it permanently.

  

Following the birthday party theme, I did a fossil knee path re-sizing this pattern. Again I use washable felt fabric that was given as a gift and applique it onto the pants. 

My son's favourite is probably the red Power Ranger knee patch. I go this idea when I saw a Lego Ninjago Knee Patch from Pinterest, but since my son is into Power Ranger I decided to make that instead.

All in a day's work, nice! Now let's hope these 3 pairs will last a bit longer.

A Belated update --- and it's not about quilting.

On the weekend my son turned 5, I am trying to adjust to this fact as it seems only yesterday I just met him in the delivery room! In some respect time flies when you have kids, 5 years seems like a blink of an eye and I was organising his Big 5 birthday party already!

Dinosaur bunting - idea from Just Me Prints

Birthday wreath

So instead of sewing I have been busy planning and preparing for his birthday party. It's dinosaur themed and I had a blast doing some paper and baking creations. 

Dinosaur bone digging site cake - idea from Donna Hay Kids' Magazine (Annual 9, 2012)

Oreo cupcake - cake topper from 3LittleMonkeysStudio

Fossil Cookies - Martha Stewart

Chocolate rock and dino rock - both from The Chocolate Box

The nest is made out of brown paper bag - ideas from Family Chic

Swamp Jelly with fish, turtle or frog gummy

Ocean Jelly with octopus and shark gummy

Dino sandwiches using DynoBytes Sandwich cutter

Hazelnut fingers with nutella filling

I stumbled across the Lemon Meringue Pie Fudge from a blog called Crazy for Crust, which is dedicated to desserts of all kinds. I would say her desserts are not the typical ones we eat in Australia and I am just curious what it would taste like. Hence I decided to make it for the party because I can make it 2 days ahead (as it being fudge it could stay fresh longer) and I happened to have a jar of marshmallow fluff at home!

I have never made fudge before and I am rather surprised how easy it was to make the Lemon Meringue Pie Fudge! The lemon flavour also cuts down the sweetness of the fudge and gave it a real nice balance. It is great for parties as you can only eat a few at a time. I would love to try her other recipes next time.

Lemon Meringue Pie Fudge - recipe from Crazy for Crust

I am very thankful of the modern age where we are linked by the touch of key strokes. Be it cooking, quilting or paper craft, internet have connected and shared people's talents/ideas across the globe and made planning a birthday party with so many fun and creative ideas. Simply wonderful!   

Simply Retro: Dapper Aiden Quilt

I have had this Retro Rocket Rascals Astronauts from Michael Miller for a few years now and I thought this is a great project to use up this cute fabric.

Making this quilt hasn't been exactly smooth. There are a few hiccups along the way as what I had original imagined in my head didn't quite work out in reality. One I made a few block I realised white solid isn't going to work and I had to dash to the shop and get something to match the intended fabric without stealing the light away from those cute astronauts. Contrast of the fabric also played an important role as essentially this is one of those quilt you only use as few as 2 fabrics. I ended up with multi-colored-small-dotted design in white. 

As it is a directional print slicing this fabric and sewing the blocks required a bit more planning but otherwise I am happy with the end result. The quilting is simple organic straight line, however I use a few different color thread alternating throughout the quilt.

When I first glance through the book this was my favourite design. Now it's going to a nice home waiting for a baby boy to arrive! Counting down the days now...