Quilt for Iris!

So, I wanted to make something for Iris that she could take home to remember us by that would be useful, yet last a long time.  The obvious answer?  A quilt :)

This was a tricky one to design because I wanted it to be fabric that I thought she would choose, but we have pretty opposite styles, and I also wanted to be excited about it and think it looked cute.  

I saw a quilt here that totally inspired me and I knew Iris would love something like this.  Once I saw that, I got to work drawing up something similar and managed to secretly work on it only when Iris was at school for about 2 weeks until the piecing was all done. And miraculously, this is how much black thread I had left:

 My neighbor has an awesome quilting machine setup and she let me use it for this quilt.  It's not a long-arm machine, but a regular sized one, that is meant for quilting, and set up on a large quilting frame.  So basically, you can quilt a whole width of your quilt and about 6-8" of space.  I decided to alternate between a row of hearts and a row of stars since I'd never done this before and I thought it would be good practice.  You can totally tell which row was my first, but I think I pretty quickly got a feel for it and it was SOOOOO much faster and better looking than trying to do it on my machine.

After finishing the binding, I wanted to take pictures.  Unfortunately...

 I guess it looks comfortable?

 So I moved it to a chair in another room, but as soon as I did that...

 So then I moved it back to another room and tried to drape it down from the kids' table.

 I did manage to get in a few shots before...

 I thought maybe folding it up and having it small wouldn't be tempting but...

 I guess it looked like a nice padded seat.

 Anyway, I'm so pleased with how it came out!  It's soo different from any other quilt I've made and it's really fun and looks like Iris to me :)

Believe it or not, before I did this, I quickly whipped out a quilt made of ONLY SCRAPS (which I'm SO proud of) to donate to my 10 year HS reunion prizes.  A fellow classmate owns a long-arm machine quilting business and she said she's quilt and bind it for me.  I wanted to wait and take pictures after it's completely finished, but here's a preview:

:)

Sushi!

I know with all the Japanese food we've been making around here, you've all been wondering when we would try sushi.  Well, you can finally rest peacefully.

Some of the ingredients we chose to have on hand:

cucumber, Japanese fish sausage, avocado (not typical Japanese)

Imitation crab (that's the best we could find...)

Tamagoyaki (basically just egg.)

This is what the fish sausage package looks like

We decided to use this powdered vinegar packet for the rice, since neither of us has made sushi before and it seemed easier.  It was easy.

This is the dried seaweed (Nori) we used, though there are a bajillion different ones to choose from.  I don't think it matters which you pick...

I love the ingredient list.

We bought the sushi mat for a few dollars at an Asian market- the two sides were not the same and we weren't sure which was the top.  Both sides seemed to work equally well, so I guess it doesn't matter.  (We are professionals and our expertise should definitely be trusted.)  Then you put on the nori and spread out the rice.  I think it's better not to let it be layered on too thick, or your roll gets really fat.

This one has cucumber, fish sausage and tamagoyaki (egg).

The only tricky part is just making sure you tuck the end under so that it gets rolled up.  Make sure you press and squish it all together rather firmly.

Iris's first sushi roll!  **sob**

We started out taking pictures of every one so we could remember what we used, but I quickly forgot to do that, and we just threw all kinds of things in there every time with no real system.  This one is fish sausage, cucumber, avocado and crab.

After awhile, we started getting a bit more creative and rummaging around in the pantry and fridge.  I got out a can of tuna and we put some lettuce in this one as well as Japanese mayo.  (though you could use regular mayo just fine...)  We decided the ones with mayo in them were our favorite.  I wonder what kinds of flavoring things they do at restaurants?

My first sushi roll :)

I discovered that it's easier to cut them cleanly if you have a cup of hot water handy for dipping your serrated knife in.

Here's the cut roll..

Minus the ends.  They never look pretty so I just ate them. (all of them... let's just say I didn't really have any room for sushi by the time we were done...)

Oh, and we saw these at the Asian market and decided to get them (again) because we really like them.  It's just breaded shrimp that you fry up in hot oil until golden.

Iris got some Japanese cartoons up on Youtube to entertain the kids.  There was no talking in this particular one and The Frog thought it was hilarious.

 The finished product!  (We made way too much FYI.  iI's much better on day 1 than day 2.  I think we ended up cooking 6 or 7 cups of rice and did probably 12 rolls.)

Both of the kids liked the sushi!

Peach tended to unroll hers and eat the insides first.

I think The Frog liked to dip them in soy sauce (but I thought the soysauce was over-powering)

By the end, we got a little crazy with our insides.  We did one with egg and cream cheese and some fish thing (that one was really good).  We also did a kimchi one (i know, it's Korean, but Iris loves the stuff) and we used Iris's very last pickled plum.  When her mom sent them, she shared them with Jay and I.  She just popped hers in her mouth and said, "I love these!!" So Jay followed suit, while I timidly took a small bite.  After an amazing look on Jay's face, (that looked something like below) he spit it out in the garbage, and I commented on how there was no way I could finish mine because it tasted like someone had just poured salt on a cube of salt and asked me to eat it.  I'm telling you, this thing was SALTY!!!

So anyway, she took her last one and cut it up small and put it in a sushi roll.  It still made Jay do this:

I quite agreed, but at least he didn't spit it out this time :)

I love that Peach transfered her stickers from herself (you can see them above) to Iris and how they are still upside-down.

We decided that some more color would have been pretty... maybe some red or yellow bell pepper or slightly cooked carrot?

Anyway, it's official!  We like sushi :)

An apology to those who are finding out on my blog and deserve a phone call and deserve a phone call...

Here are a few unrelated things I would like to remember/feel the need to share.

 My favorite Japanese treat has come out with a grape flavor!  Iris's mom knows it's my favorite, so she sent us some to try.

The verdict?  It tastes exactly like grape bubblegum.  I prefer the original.

 This is what Peach does when you're eating something and she wants some...  Except she comes at you like this, like you had better hurry and share or she might eat YOU!

 Another classic Peach face.  She is such a spaz sometimes.

Oh, and here's me on a typical morning, changing Peach's diaper.

 And The Frog requested we take the next one.  He's been requesting photos of himself and his achievements lately.  This next achievement is probably one of the top 10...

 And Peach looking adorable as usual.  How can you say no to this?

 This is a stuffed raccoon I found in the garden when I prepped it.  It had decided to hibernate in the dirt, under the leaves, all winter long.  I somehow convinced Peach to release it from her clutches long enough for me to throw it in the washer.  (but not the drier.  It's wet here...)

 It's one of her new favorite things.

This is after helping me make some bread.  She knows how to make it look like serious work.

Oh yeah, have I not mentioned I'm preggo?

huh...

Yep.

Kid Conversation

I have other things I need to update with, but that involves getting the camera and uploading photos, so this will have to be enough for now...

Tonight for Family Home Evening (one of the highlights of The Frog's week as he always asks "do we get to have family home evening tonight?") we talked about missionaries, since we are having "the missionaries" (as Mormons refer to them) over for dinner on Wednesday.  (A rare occasion in Provo, since there are so few missionaries and so many LDS...)

Me: The Frog, do you know what a missionary is?
The Frog: Yes.
Me: (a bit surprised) You do?  Well, what do they do?
The Frog: They mish.

The Frog often says "yes" he knows about something, but then when you question him to expound further he responds with, "tell me".  Hilariously and confoundingly, Peach has now picked up on this habit, except she'll say "tell me" when you ask opinion questions such as, "what's your favorite color?" or "do you like your sandwich?"

Kid Conversation

My kids say the darndest things, but I've been really bad about recording the best ones.  The Frog gave me 2 in two days and so I felt like I needed to be sure and write these down.

Setting: The Frog is banging on my locked bedroom door wanting to get in.  I finally let him in.
The Frog: Mom, why'd you lock the door?
Me: I was waxing.
The Frog: So, are you all done ear waxing now?

Setting: The Frog has confiscated Iris's, collapsible, blue, Ikea laundry hamper and is running around the house with it over his head.
The Frog: Mom!  I'm a blue bug!
Me:  Cool!
The Frog: What's Peach?
Me: Well, she's wearing yellow fuzzy pajamas so maybe she's a baby chick!
The Frog: And what are you?
Me: Hmmm.  I'm a red.... a red...
The Frog: A red cow?

Thanks.