Dino-Mite Birthday Party

Hiya-

If you've been looking for the upcoming QAYG post, you may have noticed that I've been neglectful of my blog the last couple of weeks. I thought that I'd share with you what I have been up to! I have been preparing for my Little's 3rd birthday party. It seems to me that often I become consumed with a quilt, fitness routine, or in this case...a toddler party!

I had so much fun planning this party. I'll be the first to admit that it took on a life of its own and that perhaps it might be a bit much...BUT I couldn't give up one thing I was so in love with everything.

My Little LOVES dinosaurs! We are talking obsession! So it was clear that a Dinosaur Party was a MUST! I started buy making a banner out of construction paper. I made a template in word for the pennant triangles. Then I inserted a text box in each of the three pennant triangles. I trimmed my construction paper down to 81/2 x 11 and then just printed. Each time I printed different letters and crossed them off to make sure that I didn't have two of the same color next to each.other. Then I used a hole punch to make the holes for the string and then I threaded the string through and hung it up.

I also used dinosaur themed library books, construction paper foot prints (176 to be exact), and large dinosaur figures that we already had ( I also borrowed some from my mom) to decorate shelves, windows, the fireplace etc.










I thought that the easiest menu would be a Nacho Bar: I called it the Cretaceous Cafe. It turned out to be very easy to put together because I didn't have to worry about my guests' special dietary needs because there were so many options. We made Chipotle Chicken , Queso, Pineapple Black Bean Salsa, Guacamole, Tomato Salsa, Veggie Tray w/ dip, Fruit Tray w/ Dip ( This is fabulous! I use plain yogurt), and Yellow Cake, Chocolate Cupcakes (Vegan Friendly), and Cookies.

If you'd like to have some of the other recipes, let me know and I'll email them to you. They are family recipes that I haven't put online. 





Cake Inspiration: I searched on Pinterest for a Dinosaur Cake that would be easy yet stunning, and Katie at Butterlust had the perfect one. She included her recipe for the cake, though I didn't use it because I was looking for a yellow cake. I also modified the ganache a bit because mine was too thin. I just added more dark chocolate to take care of the problem.

Cake Recipe: I love Rosie @Sweetapolita. Her cake recipes turn out wonderfully! I used this cake recipe for my sister's wedding cake and it turned out amazing!

Frosting Recipe: This recipe is a Swiss Meringue Buttercream also from Rosie@ Sweetapolita. It makes 10 cups which is a lot. But I used it to fill and frost a 3 layer 8 inch cake as well as frost my cupcakes. It is delicious and great for piping. It isn't as sweet as American Buttercream which is perfect for us!

I made some chalkboard fabric table runners so I could easily label all of the foods. It is great because these just wipe off and can be reused. You can find the Chalkboard fabric at Nancy's Notions.  I found a Chalk Marker at Walmart that worked great. You can use regular chalk, but I didn't want it to rub off around the food.

I also made my Little a birthday shirt to wear at his party. It was very easy! I purchased a plain shirt at Walmart, then created an image in a word document to print off on Transfer Artist Paper and iron onto the shirt. He loved it!















We also had several activities for the Kids to participate in at the party.

Dino Dig:
I set up a Dino Dig station for the kiddos. I purchased a large shallow tub and filled it with cloud dough and plastic dinosaur figures. The kiddos could dig around and find different dinosaurs to take home.  Cloud dough is awesome!! My little LOVES playing with it. It is a mixture of flour and baby oil.

Recipe: Mix 8 cups flour with 1/2 cup baby oil (I've heard mineral oil or veggie oil will work, but I prefer the smell of baby oil) For this bin I used 4 1/5 5lbs bags of flour and 2 1/2 bottles of baby oil. 







Dino Egg Hunt: 

I hid 60 large "Dinosaur" eggs filled with dinosaur figurines around the house. Before the hunt began I handed out dinosaur pillow cases I'd made as a take-a-way/egg basket. The toddlers had a lot of fun searching for them and packing them away in the cases.

Story Time: 
After all of the eggs were found, we sat down to open our eggs and look through the "loot". While they were examining their dinosaurs, I read a short dinosaur book.










Dinosaur Magnets: 
I have these fabulous dinosaur cookie cutters that cut out the silhouettes of the dinosaur as well as presses in the skeleton. They made perfect salt dough figures! I decided to glue magnets onto the back before the party and then have toddlers paint them using some neon temper paint.

The party was a lot of work but it was all worth it because my Little LOVED every minute of it. I'm not gonna lie....so did I!

Now that the party planning is over with for another year, I can get back to quilting and sharing what I've learned.

QAYG 1: Trouble choosing a quilting motif? I've got a fast easy solution!

Alright Quilters-

I started working on my 36" QAYG blocks. For these blocks I am focusing on the quilting. I thought they would be perfect for working on my Free Motion Quilting proficiency. But I have found that before I could work on the proficiency side of the FMQ, I actually had to make a decision regarding the quilting itself.

I find myself experiencing a kind of paralysis when it comes to completing a project. I work frantically to complete a quilt top, but then once the top is pieced I seem to freeze. I fear ruining a beautiful quilt top. I agonize over choosing just the right quilting design for the quilt I'm already in love with. How can I best enhance the blocks and fabrics? What if I choose a design that detracts from the block or clashes with the fabric prints?? All those hours spent picking fabric, cutting, and piecing would go down the drain. This last step....becomes frustrating.

I know that I am not alone. I have heard many of the women in my quilting group say they experience this same frustration. I am happy to say that I think that I might have found a solution to our problem. At least, I have found a way to audition quilting motifs and practice on my quilts in a meaningful way that is also cost effective!

I had purchased the vinyl before Christmas for making Eye Spy bags for the littles in my family, and had a lot left over. I was racking my brain for something to do with it when it hit me. It is so simple that when I thought of it, I kicked myself for not thinking of it sooner. I could use the vinyl to audition quilting motifs.

You will need a large piece of clear vinyl, expo marker or vis-a-vis, quilt top, quilting design inspiration (I am currently reading Shape by Shape by Angela Walters) and camera.

My piece of vinyl is 36"X36". I am planning on binding it using some of my leftover binding materials to keep myself from drawing off the edge. I haven't yet, because the pieces I am working with are smaller than the vinyl, so I am not concerned about drawing off the edge. If you are working with a smaller piece of vinyl or larger quilt top, then I would bind my vinyl before I tried auditioning any quilt motifs.

Lay the quilt top down and place the vinyl overtop. Now comes the fun part. I auditioned many different quilting patterns- both overall and custom. It was amazing to me that designs that I thought I'd love, I couldn't stand. I made sure to take pictures before I erased a design, so that I could compare them to each other before I made a final decision.

Once you have made a decision of the motif you are going to be using, then sandwich your quilt and pick your thread. I love contrasting threads on my fabrics, because the quilting really stands out. I typically like to use a variegated thread because it can pick up all of the different colors in the fabrics that I use.  I do have to admit that recently I have become a fan of the blended threads used in negative space quilting.

I started quilting my design using the larger quilting foot. I call it the "Starship Enterprise". I have used this quilting foot for a bit now, and I've really liked it, but I was struggling to quilt smoothly. So I changed quilting feet to a closed free motion foot- I think that it is also called a darning foot- and my quilting became so much smoother. I think that I will continue to practice quilting with this foot for the time being and let the "Enterprise" take a much needed break =).

I am pleased with the quilting motif that I choose, and I am going to be auditioning my quilting motifs from now on. I will be confident that I am no longer going to ruin my quilt top. I am hoping that this little change will help my UFO pile decrease =)

I hope you have found this tip to be helpful. What are some other methods you have found to get past the paralysis?

Happy Quilting-
J

Get Ready for Valentine's Day: Free Printable

Dear Valentine's Day Groupies-

This post is for you! I am going to take a quick step away from the quilting world for this post...so please enjoy or forgive depending on your relationship with Valentine's Day. I couldn't let Valentine's Day pass without sharing my Little's Valentine's for his friends this year. They turned out so stinking cute!

He is obsessed with dinosaurs at this particular point in time, so I in turn have dinosaurs on the brain. I started playing around with some ideas for Valentine's Day- all dino related and full of really awful punny puns. 

These Valentines were so fun to make. I found a word cloud maker online called Tagul that was free and relatively easy to use. Check out the link to create your own custom Valentine or download my pre-made Valentine's below. 

I hope you find these as 'dino'mite as I do!

Raptor Valentine

Stegosaurus Valentine