Birthday makes for a 3 year old

My nephew recently turned 3, and I made him some things.

First was a Fort Kit (as seen here on the interweb) using thrift store sheets and a pillowcase modded into a drawstring storage bag.

Fort Kit for my nephew.

 

He loves to ‘cook’ in his play kitchen, so I thought it’d be fun to make him some kid sized oven mitts. I made a pattern based on my full sized versions, and cut them out from some left over quilting cotton, thin quilt batting and muslin lining.

3 Layers pinned together. Mini oven mitts by HLB

 

Using 2 intersecting lines as my first stitch lines, I machine quilted the layers for each side. The initial lines were then used as guides for the rest of the quilting lines. I lined up my presser foot about a quarter inch from each one to make a grid pattern.

Quilting in progress. Mini oven mitts by HLB

 

Quilting detail. Mini oven mitts by HLB.

 

Once the layers were quilted, I added bias tape to the bottom edges. I used a small seam allowance to put each mitt together, then turned right side out making sure to clip/trim the inside corner between thumb and hand. I also added a hanging loop of bias tape into the seam.

Muslin lining. Mini oven mitts by HLB

 

A complete pair. Mini oven mitts by HLB

 

Last but not least, I made my first ice cream cake. In the style of a popular chain restaurant’s cakes, there was a chocolate ice cream layer, fudge sauce and cookie crumble encased in vanilla ice cream. In my version, I used some higher quality ice cream, and the fudge and cookie crumble were homemade and gluten free. My nephew is obsessed with a certain blue tank engine right now, so I made lettering and a chocolate outline on wax paper – tracing printouts underneath. Once they were transferred to the cake, I filled in with icing and icing gel. It turned out pretty well, but I know now that it mostly takes a lot of time. Each layer has to freeze before you can add another, and it helps to have a cold room to work in while decorating. The most challenging part was making a grey colour without black gel food colouring!

A DIY ice cream cake by HLB (a.k.a. Auntie Heather)

My nephew was asked what the cake was made of and he replied that it was ‘made of Thomas’.

A DIY ice cream cake by HLB (a.k.a. Auntie Heather) cross-section.

Making things for kids can be pretty fun. There is a lot of room for play, and it’s always fun to make mini versions of everyday things!

~Heather

Leave a Reply

Please use your real name instead of you company name or keyword spam.