Woven Block Baby Quilt

A good friend of mine from way back when and his wife just had their first baby. And it's a girl! Squee! Everyone seems to be having boys lately, and I was excited to get my pink on! I used part of a jelly roll on it that I had previously used (in conjunction with a matching charm square pack) on this quilt.

I used this free pattern from Moda Bake Shop for the blocks, only made 9 of them, and then put a small border around it to bring it out to about 40 inches square.

For the back I pieced a few lengths of fabric together, then split them, rotated, and inserted a column of blocks I made with the various leftover fabrics--I was excited when I found a few of the charm blocks left over from the last project! Some pink polka dot binding and I was good to go!

Neutrogena Bzz Campaign

I got a new Bzz Campaign to try out! One of my favorite make-up brands--Neutrogena!

Some info about Neutrogena:

Recommended by dermatologists (and your mirror)

Neutrogena^® is known for making radiant skin a reality with their skin care products, so we should have known they’d do the same with their makeup. Forget diamonds — Neutrogena^® Cosmetics are the only best friend a girl needs, enhancing your natural beauty while helping to improve your skin’s healthy look.

These were the products I got to try:

• Neutrogena^® MoistureSmooth Color Sticks for sheer, shiny color that continuously conditions lips
• Neutrogena^® Healthy Lengths Mascara for 100% longer looking lashes
• Neutrogena^® Crease Proof Eye Shadows for 12-hour wear that instantly revives and brightens eyes

My reviews?

The Moisture Smooth Color Stick was my favorite of the group. It has the best fragrance (something sweet and fruity that I can't quite place) and is very moisturizing. The color I received is Sweet Watermelon. It's a bit too light/shimmery for my tastes, but it looks great over my darker lip stain. I will definitely buy this product in the future, in different colors.

The Healthy Lengths Mascara was my second favorite product. It is really great at being clump-free and goes on easily. It's not quite as thickening as I would like. I might buy this product.

The Crease Proof Eye Shadows was my least favorite product of this group. The colors I received were fairly neutral--Lasting Taupe and Constant Copper. I had trouble getting the shadow to show up on my lids, it seemed like no matter how much I applied I still couldn't see it. They didn't seem particularly long lasting to me since I couldn't really tell I was wearing it. I will not buy this product in the future.

Quick and Dirty Body Butter

Ok, the body butter isn't actually dirty, everything is crystal clean to start with, I promise! But my pictures are less than inspiring and my recipe is ridiculously easy but I still thought I'd share. I actually never know what to call this.

In the soap and lotion making world there might not be strict, consistent definitions for certain applications, but in general I consider a lotion to contain oil and water in an emulsion, and body butters to be, well, butters (shea, cocoa, mango, kokum, etc.) So this little recipe that is a mixture of Oil, Butter, and Palm Stearic? Eh, I guess I'll still call it a body butter.

This is a pretty greasy recipe, I have some friends who live in drier areas who like it, or use it in winter. I wouldn't consider it an everyday moisturizer for most people, but a heavy-duty, occasional one.

I keep all my recipes in percentages so I can make any size batch any time I want with minimal math. This particular batch (well, 3 batches really) happened to be an order for a good friend.

This is my recipe, but please don't get overwhelmed at the complexity!

MareMare's Body Butter

70% Liquid Oil
15% Solid Butter
15% Palm Stearic (Stearic Acid)
Vitamin E oil (a few drops)
Fragrance oil (use to smell, keeping under manufacturer's percentage recommendations)

For two batches I used olive oil, the third was half olive, half jojoba oil, along with shea butter and 3 different fragrance oils.

Weigh first three ingredients into large pyrex bowl. Microwave in thirty second/one minute bursts, stirring in between. When melted fully, or very close, remove to counter and begin stick blending, trying not to incorporate too much air into it. Stick blend occasionally as it cools. When it begins to thicken slightly, but is still a pourable consistency, add in fragrance oil and vitamin E oil. I like to add a little fragrance, stir, and then add more if needed. For 22 ounce batches I probably used around 10 mL of fragrance.

Since this does not contain water, there is no need for preservative. Pour into bottles or jars and allow to set up overnight. Label immediately if you are using different fragrances so you don't get them confused.

Since this was for a friend who needed it sooner rather than later, I just slapped some labels on with the fragrance. The body butter is on the left. As you can see it is very thick and definitely not the prettiest. On the right is my rash creme, also 3 ingredients: unrefined shea butter, tea tree oil, and lavender essential oil. It's wonderful on my contact dermatitis and it's also great on bug bites!

My friend likes earthy, musky scents so I made her 2-3 bottles or jars each of Dragon's Blood, Moroccan Rain, and Oakmoss.

Glade Fragrance Review

 

Have you heard of Bzz Agent? It's a cool program to try products for free and review them! I was recently asked to review some of the Glade Expressions air freshening products and this is what I think after using them for a while:

The Glade Expressions Oil Diffuser is much nicer looking than many fragrances out there. By looking at it you might think it's a piece of decoration, not an air freshener. I got the Pineapple and Mangosteen fragrance, which smells very sweet and inviting. I do wish that the fragrance lasted longer than the 30 days the packaging says, but I will be happy to purchase refills when mine is used up.

The Glade Expressions Fragrance Mist comes in a special holder and the holder is squeezed to spray the fragrance. My holder is a clean, bright white which I think looks nice. The fragrance I got is Cotton and Italian Mandarin. It is fresh and clean smelling with a hint of sweetness. I used the fragrance recently when my nephew was sick in the living room, and it covered up the smell very well.


Full Disclosure: I was given coupons to try these products for free. The reviews are my own opinions.

Catching Up!

Just when I started to get into the rhythm of blogging a little more regularly, boom, nothing for two months! Oh well, you do what you can, right? :) The last couple months have been so busy! I'm now the Vice President of the Portland Modern Quilt Guild, and my duties include keeping up on all of our social media, including the blog, flickr, facebook--along with monthly guild and officer's meeting, helping to plan the following month's meetings, Sew Days and other events!

Besides my guild duties I've been busy sewing up a storm (why is everyone having babies at the same time? Spread 'em out, people!), planning vacations for the year, doing lots of yummy low-carb cooking, and you know, working my two part-time jobs. Also, a friend and I started a Sewing Circle a few months back, so there is usually one night a month we get together to sew. We've been having a lot of fun hosting those, sometimes we get a lot of work done, and sometimes it's more about good conversation and laughter!

Here are a few of the projects I've been working on lately~

I started making a quilt for my mom for Christmas a few months ago...well I didn't finish it in time for Christmas, but I was able to give her a quilt top for Christmas...just like I did with my boyfriend last year! Maybe that's going to be my thing, a Christmas quilt top :)  I did manage to finish this before January was over though! I switched up a few blocks here and there from the original pattern. The pattern, by the way, was in a book that I was generously given by Angela from Cut to Pieces when she was clearing out some of her craft books and offered them up for grabs on her blog. Thanks so much, Angela!

I made this giant block baby quilt for my friend Eva. The quilt I made for her first baby was only my second quilt ever! It was fun making this one, thinking about how far I've come in a few years with my quilting and what I do differently now!

  This project was a mini quilt I made for a personal swap with a friend. I love the paper pieced block!

I'm currently working on some more fun projects, baby quilts plus a few other things, so I will post those as soon as I am able (ie, after the recipients have them in their hot little hands!).