cake & flannel

Alright.

First of all, I believe that if you don't put frosting on a cake & only make a single layer, it becomes "snack cake" & is a completely legitimate breakfast item, thus:

This kind of breakfast is particularly well-deserved on mornings when, say, the roads are kind of icy because of frozen-over snow & the schoolbus decides to skip your stop with no sort of notice whatsoever even though you had all assurances that routes were running as usual, meaning that you then spent the next two slippery hours in the car depositing your children at their various educational institutions (from which you are separated by several large hills + every other cautiously-driving car in the city), so by the time you get home to the cake it's not really breakfast time anymore anyway, & you are even more justified in having it as a late-morning snack.  (I will also mention that if you happen to find yourself in this exact situation, the cake you want is the chocolate one from Joy of Vegan Baking, only with 1/4 tsp ginger + 1 c chocolate chips thrown in.)

It hasn't been all driving through ice & eating cake around here recently, though, oh no.  I've been doing some sewing.

The auction quilt is moving right along, though I am holding my breath nervously as we get ready to start tackling the scary part, where we depend upon printable fabric to put a whole bunch of preschool art into the quilt.  We've tested & compared & planned, & I have a sketch & everything, but still, the fate of the quit depends on a printer, & it makes me nervous.

But!  Over the past few days I've had to put all things quilt aside & instead whip up a package to be mailed off to a short-notice baby shower.  (Ok, had to, you can be sure that I've been wringing my hands over being forced to sew tiny cute things with the excellent owl flannel I have been admiring all over the blogs lately.)

Bibs:  flannel front, terry back, adjustable snap closure.  I was going to use the Bend the Rules pattern, but had a hard time getting my scan to print out at the right size (though I now have the pattern pieces to make a truly gargantuan one, in case you're in need), & then I discovered this very similar but smaller bib pattern (in handy printable pdf form!) at Chickpea Sewing Studio. 

Here's one on my girl's 14" doll for scale.  I think it's a really lovely tiny size for a shower gift, so of course I had to make three. (I will actually be making four, it seems, since Rosyanna's modeling fee turns out to be a doll-sized version.  My daughter drives a hard bargain.)

Also, burp cloths:  11" x 18" each of flannel & terry, with a 1/4" seam allowance, turned & topstitched.  I think these are slightly bigger than the blog norm, but I wanted them to be large enough to usefully put under the baby if needed.

And a couple of blankets, each 36" x 36".  This one is a single layer of flannel, with dark brown flannel binding.

This one is doubled, with owls + green flannel basted around the edges & then bound with the brown flannel.  I thought the bibs were my favorite thing in this bundle until I finished this blanket, because, ok, those OWLS, plus the doubled flannel has a really wonderful weight to it.  (I am imagining these blankets will be put under or tucked around the springtime baby.  In my experience, the absolute best swaddling blankets are just big squares of flannel with serged edges; binding or doubling makes them too bulky to get a a good tight wrap around a tiny baby.)

Now it's back to the quilt & facing my fear of technology, which, now that I really think about it, is actually already rapidly diminishing in the face of my fear of the deadline.

Comments

[carrie]

I had to have that owl flannel when I saw it, too. I was thinking of making some bonnets and using it as the lining, but the flannel baby blanket looks great.

[Muralimanohar]

Damn...now I am REALLY REALLY craving snack cake for breakfast. :p

[amandajean]

ack! that quilt is so wonderful already!!!!!

[Mama Urchin]

So, the owls are too darn cute. I hope you have good printer results.

[Stephanie]

Love the quilt - can't wait to see the finished product! And I just made a flannel blanket too - I can see them becoming addictive, as quick and cute as they are!

[purple petunia]

dark brown flannel binding.

such a good idea.

I'm dying that I haven't tried it before.

[Jen b]

cute, cute. I had the same problem with the BTR pattern.

[Kirsten]

The squares look great! Never fear we will get it done :)

I have a baby shower looming in my future, maybe I need to get busy - thanks for the inspiration.

[Melissa H]

I can't wait to see that auction quit--it looks incredible!

[Julie]

Snack cake for breakfast sound fabulous!!
And I adore your baby gift!!! Bibs + Burps + blankets, all hand made - way cool. My fav blankets for my little one are also the big pieces of flannel I bound with flannel binding. I made them large so I could still swaddle my 5 month old, and it worked great.

[farncharm]

love the blankets.

[Angie]

I love the colors you used in your quilt, wonderful!

[Molly]

I can't wait to make a few of these bibs for my niece's new baby boy. Thanks for providing this link!

[Juliette Lanvers]

Thanks for listing my bibs!
Hi!
I gave you a 'You make my day award' on my blog.

I just love yours and follow it with delight!
juliette
www.chickpeastudio.typepad.com

[Juliette Lanvers]

Thanks for listing my bibs!
Hi!
I gave you a 'You make my day award' on my blog.

I just love yours and follow it with delight!
juliette
www.chickpeastudio.typepad.com

[cathy]

I'm pretty sure your definition for snack cake is correct, and I believe it may even be its own food group too. '-)
Enjoyed my visit here.
Cathy

[mydz]

lovely bibs you got there.

[Patrice]

I love that you put into words my thoughts exactly about cake without frosting fitting into the breakfast food category! Bravo!

[Jacquie Gering]

Stumbled onto your blog through flickr. Love the auction quilt. The vibrant colors you use are breathtaking! Spent too much time looking at all your work. Inspirational! Thanks for sharing. Oh...I'd never turn down cake...looks fab!

[meg]

The quilt is looking quite beautiful. I really love your color combinations

[StacyT]

OMgosh those quilt blocks will be such a work of art. I can already visualize the outcome... YUMMY!!

Oh and the snackcake, YUMMY too!! Drooling over here!

[blair]

where are you? still over there eating snack cake??

[Julie @ Letter9]

I am totally down with your cake theory. Definitely.