Baby Quilt for K

I come from a family quilters so when my cousin, KU, announced she and her husband were expecting a daughter this fall, my mom and I started planning a quilt. My quilting experience is pretty much the T-shirt quilt for DH and mom hasn't pieced a quilt in a while. So it was a learning experience. We ended cutting 1.5 times the pieces because she used a different seam allowance for her first half and I made those blocks into a mini quilt so we had something for the baby shower (no pictures that I'm aware of).

Olive's Second Halloween: Planning

Originally, I planned to make Olive a little Iverness cape and Deerstalker cap out of herringbone stash fabric for Halloween- obviously she was going to be Sherlock Holmes. I even planned to have a red buttonhole. But then a bug hit and I started shopping for red suiting and yellow fabric. Why? Olive is going to be classic Carmen Sandiego. I loved 'Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?' and had the Where in Time computer game which I completely wore out.

Everyone loved this idea and so I have started another costume.
So here are the parts for her costume:

The Trench - I already drafted an un-tested Iverness so I need to omit the cape and draft sleeves (uuuugh, hate sleeves) and figure out the lapel situation. I know shades vary but I think a bright red would be good to be more eye-catching, but I don't want it to get too McDonalds-y.

 I'm thinking a Red Gab, it'll be lightweight enough to not bother Olive but enough structure for the trench.

The Shirt- I'll throw together a yellow dickie so Olive's not wearing too many layers. Maybe make a cowl neck or something

I'll go cheap and use lemon broadcloth. I could make a slinkie/sleazy-type-thing out a knit but I'm not sure I want to do that or not.

The Hat- I'm not how dramatic to make it. Olive's great about hats, as along as she can see, she's good. If I had my way it'd be HUUUGE- let red hat society huge.

I'm not sure which is the best method for Olive's hat- make my own felt hat (with an itty bitty crown) or piece a fabric one together. I'm thinking piecing might be better for my own sanity but felting would look cooler. DH wants a big hat too - but his contribution to sewing is ironing so there's that. I'm not sure if I should use ribbon or fabric band.

I made a quick sketch of what I was thinking but it just looked like puppy as a farmer, I hope that's not an indication of how this is going to go.

Make-Ahead Pasta alla Formiana

I'm on the hunt for reasonably healthy recipes to help DH's diet and keep my GI happy (thankfully are very complimentary concepts, those plus keeping DH's appetite happy are slightly different.) One recipe I came across was Picky Eater's Pasta alla Formiana, which she advertised as a healthier baked ziti. I like baked ziti, I like cheese but it violates #2 on my most wanted list so a healthier and potentially cheese free option was fantastic. Unfortunately, it was also vegetarian. DH likes meat, I'm indifferent. We had a 1/2lb of extra lean beef left over since TJ only stocks 1lb packages so I snuck it in.