Baby SEWING!

Lisa is having her baby tomorrow! I am so excited! I finally found some time yesterday to do some baby sewing! It felt so good too because I have not gotten the sewing machine out once since we moved. And of course these projects also represent fabric that I have gotten out of this apartment!
A few weeks ago, we took a trip to Mill End Textiles here in town and I got an awesome deal on broadcloth with my online 60% off coupon. I plan to back a lot of blankies with the broadcloth we found. The new baby needs a satin edged blankie and I was desperate to find some bunny flannel. These bunnies were a bit cartooney for my taste but they were the best we could find. I do like the colors though. I zig-zagged this thing to death because I want it to survive thousands of washings and last forever.
Little Erik is now sleeping in a toddler bed and Lisa said she could not find toddler bed blankies anywhere. I dug through my stash of little boy fabrics and found 2 blanket combinations. I bought these puppies in Mason City and the backing came from Mill End. This was the first time I'd ever used double fold bias tape to bind a blankie. I used this tutorial and it went fairly well. This blankie is only 45" wide. Usually when I make adult bed blankets, I keep the backing about 3 inches wider and longer than the top piece and just fold and turn under the raw edges and top stitch them to the front to finish the edges. In this case I didn't have any fabric to spare. I don't think the bias tape was any fussier than pinning on satin binding and turning corners. Even though the tape is stitched once on the wrong side, I still went around twice zig-zagging just to make sure it stayed put.

It is also worth mentioning that I got SUCH a good deal on fabric at Mill End. I bought almost 30 yards of fabric and yet ended up spending more on the binding for the blankets!

Dishy

Dave and I drove up to Red Wing for a little field trip. We shopped around a little looking for a Red Wing stoneware pie plate. I was really surprised by how expensive the stoneware was. We found a couple pieces but the dishes were deeper and curvier than I liked. I don't know if there actually is a difference between a "pie dish" and a "pie plate" but I guess I like a piece more like a plate. In the end we found a cheaper one in the seconds room and of course I had to try it out when we got home.

I thought a Red Wing crock would be nice to stand knitting needles in but passed because of the price. Instead I spent more than 4 times what I paid for the pie plate on Pyrex in the antique store! They had a medium rectangular baker with its lid in my favorite color and a set of 3 rooster patterned bowls in the same color. I have 3 other pieces in that color and pattern so I was very happy to get them. And as much as I absolutely hate the antique dishwasher in our apartment, doesn't the Pyrex look nice against the vintage sea blue rack?

The lakes in Minnesota opened up over the weekend. Just one week ago, we walked around our walking lake and there was still a sheet of ice on the surface. It was a chilly windy day and our eyes were watering and noses were running and one week later the temps were in the 80s! Hard to believe! I had to take a picture of this ice life raft. These were regularly placed around the lake and I don't think I'd ever seen one before. This must be something truly Minnesotan.