Thursday, May 24, 2012

Baby Girl Goodies

We had the big ultrasound today, and although baby was super uncooperative, she is in fact a girl and everything looks great - whew!  And I'm extremely excited that it doesn't look like I'll have to be on bedrest either.  Praying that doesn't change!  So with happy news, I did some retail celebrating and finished a quilt top I had started.  It's the "Cub Crawl Baby Quilt" pattern from Shape Workshops for Quilters.  I won this book from the awesome John Adams (Quilt Dad) himself when he came to speak to the Triad Modern Quilt Guild earlier this month.  It's made from a 1/2 yard bundle of Nicey Jane I've been saving that I had no idea what to do with.  I saw the pattern in the book, and loved the colors for the nursery, so this quilt top was born.


This was a great quick pattern and it makes a fairly large quilt (48 X 60).  I'm going to use the rest of the prints, that are all in the green and yellow colorway, for the back.


I had to splurge a little today and pick up some cute prints for the nursery at the LQS.  I spent way more on flannel than usual and got this cute and amazingly soft Ann Kelle print that will probably be a crib sheet.  I also got these adorable Riley Blake prints that I think will make some cute throw pillows.


I also have a bunch of fun stuff in my stash, stuff that I bought for "some day".  I am hoping they will have a place - maybe storage items?  They are home dec weight from JoAnn's, and the 2 on the right are actually from Dwell Studio!


I've had this Alexander Henry 2D Zoo fabric for ages, but since Evan is not a fan of pink I've never really had a use for it.  I'm thinking this will be another crib sheet.


Finally, I have this random home dec remnant from Hancock Fabrics.  I got it for a steal, it's wonderful quality and so pretty.  I was originally going to make a purse, but the print was a little too big.  Curtains maybe?


We are very excited and feeling blessed that all is well with our little one so far, especially since I was told early in the pregnancy that I was miscarrying.  So yes, I am overjoyed to be planning a nursery, even if it means losing a ton of space and being a little cramped :)

Can't wait to sew some cute baby stuff!  And of course big brother won't be left out, plenty of goodies in the works for him too, namely something to go with his recent superhero obsession.  What is it with boys and "getting" bad guys?

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Spring 2012

I am so excited to be participating in the Blogger's Quilt Festival this year!  I've been following it for the last few rounds and was not a blogger, so I am thrilled to be able to enter one of my quilts!

The quilt I am showing has been seen on my blog a few times, but not completely finished.  I call it my "Crazy HST Scrap Quilt."  The pattern/block is called Spring Blossom from The Big Book of Scrap Quilts.  This was a very difficult and time-consuming quilt to put together, no fabrics are repeated.  This quilt is special to me because it uses a lot of the fabrics that I've used over the last few years as I've taught myself to sew and quilt.  Pairing up the fabrics and making each block was a great opportunity to look back on all that I've done on my quilting journey.  Also, I like that the style of the quilt is very traditional, while the fabrics are fun and bright.  The mix of old and new is to me what makes quilting fun.







Piecing and work aside, the quilt makes a great fort for almost 3-year-old boys who've been playing in the sun and dirt all afternoon!!







Thanks for looking, enjoy the rest of the festival!

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Baby's First Quilt

For once I am feeling ahead of the game, I've finished a quilt for our October arrival.  My son didn't get a quilt until after his 1st birthday, so this is a big deal for me :)  I made this gender neutral, but we have since found out we are having a girl!  Of course, they told me this a little early (16 weeks), so we aren't painting the room yet, even though the tech was confident.  I have the big ultrasound this week, so we'll see if she has...um...sprouted into a he.  I don't think so, but you never know!    Anyway, on to the quilt!


The pattern is from Elizabeth Hartman, free at Sew Mama Sew.  It's a really quick pattern that shows off prints nicely.  I used Little Apples and a really cute bird print, as well as some of Tula Pink's Prince Charming for the binding and backing.  The Little Apples prints are perfect for fussy cutting and turned out very cute.


For the quilting, I did simple straight-line quilting.  In the prints I echoed the horizontal seams, while in the white sashing I did very dense lines.  I like how it adds a little interest to the plain sashing sections and mimics the pattern on the front and back.


The backing is leftover strips from the front as well as a chunk of Prince Charming, which I think matches perfectly in both color and style.  I think Baby will enjoy using both sides as a play mat.


Since we are mostly sure we are having a girl, I've already started on a girly quilt for the nursery.  Having pinks and feminine colors will be quite the change from my son's room, which is decked out in blues, browns, cars, and dinosaurs.  We can't wait!

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

WIP Wednesday - aka I'm Back!


Well, mostly back.  Sewing time is still much slower than I’d like.  But I have been busy over the last couple of months working on my latest WIP, which is….

Baby #2!

Yep – my little blond goober is going to be a big brother in October.  He tells me that it’s a girl and he wants to name it “Buck.”  Ah the thought process of a 2 ½ year old.

My first trimester left me completely exhausted. All.the.time.  I considered it pretty exciting to be able to stay up past 8:00pm.  Unfortunately, that’s when my son goes to bed, so I had no sewing time.  Now that I’m further along, I have loads more energy but am on physical restrictions from the doc that keep me from doing too much.  Not much of a problem for sewing except that I can’t crawl around on the floor to baste quilts, and my biggest sewing to-do list is completing a bunch of tops!  Looks like I’m going to have to figure out that table method of basting.

I did break the rules once to baste this quilt.  Luckily my hubby was willing to do a lot of the work.  This is my crazy HST scrap quilt.







I love it; just don’t look too closely at some of the mismatchy points!  The are no repeated fabrics and it’s all from stash, except for the backing fabric which I got for less than $4/yard.  The backing is from Hancock’s M'Liss collection, and actually has a nice heavy weight to it which made it really easy to quilt.



It doesn’t have binding yet, as I can’t figure out the best one from my stash.  I don’t want anything too crazy so I’ll probably be boring and go with a solid.

Also, I finished this easy peasy quilt top for the new baby.  Since this will be a fall baby and we don’t know the gender yet I thought Little Apples was appropriate.  There is also a cute teal bird print, but I’m not sure who the designer is.  The pattern is the Charm Squares Baby Quilt from Elizabeth Hartman, which is a great free pattern.  I actually made this pattern for a friend’s baby last year and didn’t want to give it away, now I have my own :)  At least this one I can baste it on the kitchen table!



We are also in the process of rearranging our house (slowly) to get ready for the baby, so beware of future house project posts.  Our 3rd bedroom is currently our den/sewing/office, and all of that is going to have to go to make a nursery.  We’ve already moved a desk into the living room, and now I’m looking for some type of sewing table/cart that can also go in there.  Losing my huge sewing space is going to be tough.  I feel like October is both really far away and really soon considering the huge list of projects to get us more baby-ready!

Linking up to WIP Wednesday!