A Dinosaur Quilt for Micah

After making a quite intricate herringbone quilt for a cousin's baby, perhaps I might be expected to do something equally intricate (if not more so) for my own offspring. Nope. I went super easy-mode on this quilt for Micah. Partially because I was 8 months pregnant. Partially because I found some adorable prints that featured better in larger pieces.

The front of the quilt is all flannel. It's so soft and cozy!

I found the perfect binding fabric! It has all the main colors of the quilt in it.

I used this adorable regular cotton print for the back:

Love and Flannel,

Leah Joy

A Josephine Doll for Josephine

Many moons ago, a friend sent me a link to The Josephine Doll pattern on whileshenaps.com.

I decided to make this doll for Josephine to give to her when Micah was born. That way, we'd both have a baby to take care of.

She named her doll "Dolly", proving that she's just as good at naming things as I was at her age.

Jo takes good care of her doll. She reads to her, changes her diaper, and gives her tummy time.

I sized the pattern up a little bit, so the finished doll is about 7" long.

Love and Pink,

Leah Joy

Herringbone Baby Quilt

This is a quilt I made this past winter for my cousin's baby.

I had so much fun picking out the fabric for this quilt.

I'm so pleased with how it turned out!

It was really fun to piece this quilt together and watch the pattern grow.

I even quilted it with the herringbone pattern, so I think the back looks just as cool as the front:

Love and Babies,

Leah Joy

Cinnamon Roll Couronne

Any other fans of The Great British Baking Show?

I was fascinated when they made couronnes, and wanted to make my own. I found a recipe for a cinnamon roll version, which sounded way better than anything they made on the show. I mean, come on. Cinnamon and sugar... Mmmm....

Once I got it into a ring, I took a picture, just in case it turned out horribly. I wanted to be able to see that it had been pretty at least at one point. :)

But it turned out beautifully!

And it sliced into beautiful cinnamon rolls.

While it was a lot of work, it's a beautiful result, and I would definitely consider making it again for a special occasion.

The only thing I would do differently is make some sort of rim around the edge of the baking sheet to catch all the oozing butter/sugar goodness. A lot of it dripped to the bottom of the oven and made the whole house smell like burnt sugar.

Mmmm....

Bonus picture of some football brownies I made for the Super Bowl. The laces were piped with a powdered sugar icing in a zip-top bag.

Love and Cinnamon,

Leah Joy

Christmas Truffles (2017)

And now for an out-of-season Christmas post!

Many of you may be familiar with my 'Cookie List'. It began in high school, as a way to give something to my friends, even when I couldn't afford a gift. It has since morphed into a way to give gifts to co-workers and church friends. (Read a better description here.)

Last fall, Caleb started a new job. At his previous job, he had a very clearly defined department, and it was easy to bring in a box of goodies for each person in his department. In his new job, the office is a very open space, and bringing in a box for just a few people would be, well, rude. Not wanting to make up boxes for all 30-something people in his office, we decided on a truffle buffet! (I know, right!)

Jo helped me bring in and set up a beautiful display of truffles. (It was also a great chance to meet some of Caleb's co-workers.)

Jo got to try one, too. Mmmm....

We also brought in a bunch of little paper-board boxes so they could pack some up to bring home. It was a big hit, and we plan to do something similar this year!

Love and Chocolate,

Leah Joy

Jo's Halloween (2017)

Yes, I am very far behind on these posts!

Looking back, it's funny that Jo went as Elmo, since we've barely watched any Sesame Street in months. She's far more into Daniel Tiger now.

I found the idea for this costume with my trusty sidekick (Pinterest).

Jo and I went to Once Upon a Child and found red pants and a red sweatshirt. I decorated the Elmo face with felt we already had. For the tutu, I bought a roll of 6" red tulle from Hobby Lobby and made a waistband of elastic (already had). This is the kind of tutu where you cut strips of the tulle and tie them on the elastic. While it's a super quick way to make a tutu, it does not hold up well against long-term (ab)use by a toddler. However, it worked well for the day!

Now I need to start thinking about a costume for her this year. Any ideas?

Love and Tulle,

Leah Joy

New House Tour: Jo's Room

I right away need to apologize for the picture quality in this and upcoming posts. I've mainly been using my phone, which looks fine, well, on my phone, but once blown up a bit, it's a tad grainy. Sorry!

Here's what Jo's room looked like after we purchased it (and moved her toys in, and stuck art on the one nail in the wall):

When we had first looked at the house, there were also purple curtains and a huge purple bed in this room, so we were ready to be rid of the purple. I don't know if you can tell in the picture, but the walls were sponge-painted two tones of lavender. They even painted the outlet covers, switch plates, and the actual outlets and switches, too. That's a lot of purple.

The room also had a very funky smell, which I can actually still smell just looking at the above picture. We had had the carpets professionally cleaned, and even after several baking soda and essential oil treatments, the room still smelled funky, so a coat of paint seemed like it might help get rid of that smell.

I chose a very pleasant soft pink (we call it Little Tikes Pink). My mom helped me paint the whole room, and we also did the trim in white. What a difference! (And it got rid of the smell!)

Then my mom helped me decorate! (Oh sorry, and Jo did, too.)

Until I was able to make new curtains for her room, I hung up the living room curtains from our old house.

The heart crayon art is something Chloe and I made with a friend several years back. It goes very nicely over Jo's kitchen. (Craigslist find!)

And here are the new curtains!!

They are fully lined with blackout fabric.

And they have beautiful unicorns!!!

The pink perfectly matches the walls (I actually chose the wall color to go with the fabric), and the bits of purple help tie in the existing carpet. But I love that having a teal background makes the whole room a little less overwhelmingly one color.

Love and Unicorns,

Leah Joy