chevron wedding quilt (part two)

Pinning the quilt (started this summer, last mentioned here in November, finished very recently), took a little more than four hours and seven hundred pins, which wasn't much considering I worried about how to do it for a month.

I was lucky enough to have a more quilt-experienced friend to advise me to move my furniture and tape the backing to the floor super-taut. I used high-tack blue masking tape to stretch it a bit at a time, then layered and smoothed the batting and the top into place.

I pinned starting near the center, then towards the margins in quadrants, a pin in each seam and corner, and more along the edge.

Anyway, that's it for now. Anyone struggling with how, exactly, a gigantic, room-sized quilt gets pinned together in the middle of the night before a preschooler can ix-nay the ork-way, now has a bit of a heads-up, complete with nighttime photos.

More soon! Thanks for reading.

ultimate robot party etsy treasury

I'd been planning a tiki pirate party for the kiddo's next birthday; I like to start planning early so I can collect seasonal things that might not be available later (like the spider cupcake holders I picked up on clearance after Halloween last year, and later used for the Tektite cupcakes for our Zelda party, or the silicone tiki ice trays I picked up at the end-of-summer clearance, both at Target).

Well, I'll save all the pirate and tiki party goods for another year, because toddler interests are fluid things. He's really into robots right now, and it was getting to a point where I just couldn't ignore the little voice in my head telling me that the pirate / tiki thing (which seemed so perfect a few months ago) was not where his heart was anymore.

So okay. I start over at the beginning. And it's okay, really, because I hadn't gotten down to the hand-making yet, so the only energy spent has been spent shopping.

I started a shopping cart on Etsy last night that quickly spiraled out of budgetary control, so I thought I'd make a treasury list out of the items instead. I also added in a couple of things to the list specifically because it's a party treasury (like invitations and cake toppers) that I wouldn't personally buy because I'll be making those things myself, but I thought fellow robot party planners might find them perfect for their own parties.

Anyway, here it is. Click here to visit my treasury page!

Thanks for reading!

thrift store finds: thrift tiki!

I've had good luck (if unanticipated) over the last several months in finding vintage tiki mugs at various thrift stores around town. Here's my latest find, an Easter Island-style mug from Trader Dick's (of course!).

We might be doing an Enchanted Tiki Room party for the kiddo's next birthday party, so I'm thinking to hold on to it for awhile.

These have been in the shop for awhile . . . not going anywhere, apparently, so they might be invited to the luau, too.

Too bad these dudes already went to a new home. See you in another life, brothers.

Any tikis find their way into your life lately? Do tell!


p.s. These photos can be made bigger just by clicking on them, but you probably already knew that.

Linking up to:

Simple Design's Thrift Haul