Busy Making

I kind of don't want to give this quilt away. I love it so much -- especially the backing fabric. So lovely. This is for a wee boy who will arrive in a couple more months.

This fabulous thrifted fabric is soon to be turned into a dress. I'm both terrified and excited. Wish me luck.

Another Baby Boy

Some friends are having a baby boy in a few weeks. It's so exciting. I quickly sewed up this blanket and then wasn't able to attend the baby shower. So it's been sent in a package and hopefully has arrived at it's destination by now.




Love these fabrics! And look -- my favorite color combo!

Cafe Curtains

I finally took down from the kitchen window the dirty, half-broken blinds that were always trying to fall down onto William or myself. Now there are pretty, airy, non life-threatening cafe curtains in their place!

I whipped these up in an afternoon after months of thinking about doing them. I always work up things like this in my mind to be a big deal. And then I finally do it, and it's not a big deal at all.



One funny thing about these curtains is that this fabric was originally intended to be made up into place mats. I even had them mostly all cut out. Six months later, I found store-bought place mats that I liked and then had a pile of rectangles sitting around. So, to do these curtains, I had to sew all those pieces back together again. Haha! Which means the bottom curtain is a bit silly, but we'll just call it character.

Hoping for some inspiration...

...and fast.

Popsicle Posies

It's not actually cold enough to wear a scarf. But I did anyway. Because it's January and when else can I wear a scarf?

Hey kids. John's off being a rock star for the week so it's just been me and the babe. It's been lonely but we're cool. Lots of sewing, playing outside, reading books and watching movies (for me, after Will goes to bed).

Today has been a great day! First, it's been raining and overcast. Second, it's cool(er). And third, I finished my quilt top!

Um, amazing. Now do you see why I nearly died at the quilt shop?

I already mentioned this, but this is the Popsicle Posies Quilt using the American Jane "Recess" fabrics. I'm so so in love. I got the backing and the batting today and now I've got to quilt it. I was originally going to take it to be quilted by the same lady who did my last quilt. But...now I'm considering hand quilting. I've never actually done hand quilting, but I'm always getting bored and wanting to learn how to do something new. So...I just may do it. I think it'll add to the vintage-y, old-school-y-ness.

Love that red one on the bottom left there. I think I need more for Will's robot.

The backing is the same fabric as that green tiny dot border there. Adorable over-load!

I'm off to research the hand quilting what-nots. So wish me luck! I can't wait to start! (And if you have any tips, please let me know...)

Miss you, Daddy!

Turning Twenty

I finished another quilt! And this one is like, a serious quilt. With actual piecing (though easy) and actual quilting (though I didn't do that part).

The pattern is called Turning Twenty -- because it's done with 20 different fabrics. I thought it'd be easy to find 20 fabrics I love but it was actually really hard. Especially when going to only one store for them all. I kind of wish I had taken more time selecting (going on line, etc) because there are a few fabrics that I don't totally love. My favorites are of course the Amy Butler and Heather Bailey ones.

It was very easy. Each block is only 3 pieces -- just different size rectangles/squares. I think it only took about a week to complete the top. And then I took it up to Utah with me to be quilted by a lady my mom knows-ish. Then I sewed on the binding in a couple days. It's almost queen-size and we've been sleeping with it since I got it done about a week ago.

Blah blah blah.

And here's a sneak peak at the new quilt I'm working on -- Popsicle Posies Quilt (with fabric by American Jane, a new favorite!). This pattern/fabrics just about gave me a heart attack in the shop. My mom, sisters, brother and John can all attest to my weirdness. I was like, actually freaking out. I'm so stoked on it. I'm half-way done with the top, so I'll show you some more pics soon! I LOOOOOOOVE IT! Just you wait!

Sofia Blanket

On Saturday night we attended a really beautiful baby shower -- lots of twinkly lights and pink tulle and white linens. It was catered with some amazing Italian food, cake from Bread Basket Cake Company (as was the cake from my baby shower -- yummiest cake ever!) and attended by over 70 people!

The shower was held at the father-to-be's grandmother's house and I fell in love. The grounds and gardens of this house were my dream. Beautiful flower beds, fruit trees, lots of room for vegetable gardens, a beehive, grassy lawn and patios. There were even sheep next door. *Sigh*



But anyway, what we're really here to talk about is this Sofia Blanket that I designed and made for the baby-on-the-way. It's made with 3 different fabrics from Heather Bailey's new line. This fabric is so vivid and soft and with just some thin flannel as batting, the weight of this blanket ended up being so yummy. It was really, really hard to part with, but seeing how much the mommy liked it made it a bit easier. :)



So anyway, I'm thinking that I will make a few of these for sale on my etsy shop, once I get that up. My only worry is finding a good price point for something like this -- where it makes sense to cover the cost of the fabrics (this used nearly 3 yards of fabric total) and also so I could make a little bit of profit. What do you think? How much would you pay for a blanket like this? They would be made with beautiful, designer fabrics, the dimensions are approximately 30x36 and the batting is organic, un-dyed flannel. ???

Warning: Self-Pity Ahead

Have we talked about how my husband is the best ever? If not, we really should. Because he is. John just took the babe somewhere so I could have some much needed time alone. He was out of town all weekend so I was a single parent -- which was totally fine, but it was tiring to never get a break. And then last night and today William was just way more cranky and sensitive than usual. I got probably 5 hours of actual sleep last night. And I need more than that. I'm tired. And spent. So thank you, sweetie, for giving me a little time.

I've had a rough day, emotionally, too. Remember this clothing crises/melt-down I had, eerily enough, exactly one year ago (it actually was September 22 -- creepy!)? Well, it basically happened again today. I'm just so discouraged. I'm in this horrible in-between stage where nothing fits. Stores do not carry my size. "Normal" stores don't carry anything big enough and "plus-size" stores don't carry anything small enough. Am I the only person who wears this size??

So anyway, I was trying to find a skirt or a new pair of jeans. I tried on several pairs at varying stores and it was just ridiculous. I ended up in a horrible mood wanting to either kill myself or kill the whole world. My wardrobe right now is so pathetic. It consists of one pair of ill-fitting jeans, about 5 t-shirts in varying degrees of disintegration (I'm never buying clothing from Target again) and a couple cardigan-type things that are not weather appropriate yet. Anyway, it sucks. I'm pissed. I'll just have to continue looking and feeling like an idiot for the next few months (as I have for the past year) until I get down to a "normal" size. Blah.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I love love love this fabric combo! This will be turned into something for a baby shower coming up...



Anyway. Moving on. Saturday was EXCELLENT. I went to my favorite local quilting shop to spend my birthday money and was instantly greeted by a display of my favorite designer's fabrics! Heather Bailey just came out with a new line and I've been dying to get my hands on some. The quilting shop did not previously carry her stuff, so I figured I'd have to buy it online. I'm so happy!! Plus, it turns out that the shop gives you a percentage discount of half of your age if it's the week of your birthday! I had no idea before going in there and it was very exciting.



I also got some Amy Butler fabric which I'm stoked on. I hadn't seen her there at the quilting shop before either. Woot!

Another exciting thing: Back on December 26, 2006 our favorite Indian restaurant burned to the ground. It was heartbreaking. Luckily, we had just eaten there days before. Happily, this Indian restaurant happens to in the same center as my quilting shop and while I was there on Saturday I saw that the restaurant was back in business! Every month or so we'd drive by to check on the rebuild progress and I could see that it was close to being done last time. So, last night John met me and William there and we had some amazing chicken curry and chicken makhini (sp?). Yum! No other place can beat it. William liked it, too!




As for my quilt progress, it's coming along. It's far from perfect, but I think it's going to be cute. If I had actually like, read any sort of instruction before starting it probably would be better, but it's not too bad. Now I know all the things I should have done differently by learning the hard way.



I got some fabric for the backing that doesn't exactly match or even really go with the front, but I loved it too much. Plus, this quilt is for me, so it goes together if I say it does. And I think I've decided to tie rather than quilt it. I was looking at these two quilts I have that were made in the 1930's and they are both tied and there's just something so nice and home-y about them. I guess I'll have to research how to tie a quilt without one of those big frames. Embroidery hoop??

So, anyway, happy fall, you peeps. I'm so happy that it's now officially autumn and I am hoping for some appropriate weather soon.

Also, my sister Beth recently introduced me to the devil incarnate: Fried Ice Cream Ice Cream. It's just store brand but it is quite possibly one of the best things I've ever eaten. The cinnamon/honey combo rocks my socks off. And also makes it impossible to fit into clothing, apparently.

Logically

When I have 3 projects I need to get done by certain dates (baby shower, birthdays) what do you think I do? Start a completely unrelated and irrelevant project, of course!

I am making myself a little lap quilt out of fabric scraps. My craft cupboard is really kind of out of control (mostly cause the organizational system in it doesn't really work for my purposes) and I need to get rid of some stuff. So...scrap quilt!

I don't actually know what I'm doing. I'm just like, doing what I think makes sense. We'll see how it turns out.

I cut out a million 3x3 squares until it seemed like I had enough for the size I wanted. Also, until I ran out of scraps.

Now I'm just sewing them into strips and pressing the seams. Then I'll sew the strips together. Still not sure how I'm going to quilt it -- either just doing vertical lines like the last two quilts I made, or tying. I'm still too intimidated to try to do machine quilting at this point. Plus it would require actually like, researching and learning what to do, I think. Way too much work.



Wish me luck!

Will-a-bee

Finally...here's William's room!


John rocked the taping for painting the stripes. And he and our friend Eric installed the chair rail. They did a really fantastic job. Then Ruth helped me paint it. You may recognize the quilt in the crib -- my mommy made it and I love love love it. The wall color is most acurately represented in this first photo. The next two are kind of wonky.



These prints are by John W. Golden, who I found on etsy.com. They are amazing. The prints say The Sensible Owl, The Happy Bear and The Crooked Fox. I just about fainted straight away when I found them. It was like a dream come true. And they inspired the rest of the room. Please go check out John W. Golden!!

I looked all over the place for brown crib sheets. They simply do not exist. I searched the entire Internet and...nothing. Apparently brown is not a baby color? Am I crazy for wanting brown sheets? So, I found twin size brown flannel sheets on clearance at Target and just turned them into crib size. I felt cool. And I got what I want. Though, since it's become 1 Million Degree Season here this week...the flannel is probably not the most comfortable. I'm keeping my eye open for some good brown cotton.




You can see the new closet doors that John installed. I'm very impressed with his handyman-ness. It's a whole new side of him I've never seen before. We've never been able to DO anything anywhere we've lived before, so it pretty much is awesome. So now all I have left are the curtains, which will be in the below fabric (Fungus Among Us from superbuzzy, of course). I'm really excited about this print. It's probably my favorite fabric ever. And perfect for a little Will room.




Tomorrow: The Bathroom!

Many Things

I'm still working on getting decent photos of some of the finished rooms of our new place. So, until then, here is a list of things for you.

1. My favorite breakfast lately. Trader Joe's Greek-style Fig Yogurt and a banana. I can't stop eating it.



2. I want this tricycle for William so bad it hurts. I think $230 is perfectly reasonable, don't you? It's from Poshtots. Don't ask me how I got on their mailing list, but everything is ridiculously cute and ridiculously expensive. Thanks, Satan!



3. There are lots of babies on the way! We have no less than four couple-friends who are due between now and September (three of which are having boys!) I just placed an order with Superbuzzy for these fabrics to make some little blankets. The only problem is...I want to keep them all for myself!




I just have to find a fabric for the back side of this last one. No idea what to do.

4. More fabric. These ones are for me! Don't have any plans for them yet, but I couldn't pass them up!




That's all for now...but if things go according to plan, I might have something exciting to show off later today!! Now I'm off to Home Depot (heaven help us, I'm so sick of that place) and Target (please no!). Have a lovely Saturday!!

P.S. It's 83 degrees and windy here. My most despised weather of all. Yuck.

Hi, Did You Miss Me?

Unbaked pumpkin pie is one of my favorite colors
Hello, no baby here yet. He's not due until next Wednesday anyway so...I need to be patient. I'm really tired of the swelling and the being a beached whale and whatnot but, I'm happy to wait for him to come when he's ready. I just hope it's sooner than later. :)


Please take note of the best looking pie crust I've made to date. It's only taken me 14 years to get to this point.
We've apparently started a tradition of having a Pumpkin Party every year at the beginning of October. This was the 3rd year we did it and I hope to continue. Pumpkin is just too yummy to not celebrate! We had Ravioli with Sausage and Pumpkin Sauce (I forgot to take a photo but believe me, it's delicioius. Please try it!), green beans, baguette and of course, Pumpkin Pie. In previous years we've also carved pumpkins but, that just wasn't going to happen this year. And when you have your Pumpkin Party, don't forget to watch It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.



I did decorate for Autumn though and it's so fun. It's 85 degrees outside and we have the AC on, but at least it looks somewhat fall-ish in here.

I've also done quite a bit of sewing in the past few days but unfortunately, don't have photos of it all cause my brain is pretty spacey lately.



First is this Bath Caddy for all the baby's bath things (we don't have enough cupboard space for anymore towels or toiletries) which will hang from the closet door. This pattern is from Amy Butler's In Stitches and the fabric is from superbuzzy.com. I was WAY intimidated by this project. It entailed using interfacing and canvas and boning and had about a million steps. Yikes. But I did it! Sewing certainly has taught me some good life lessons: don't get overwhelmed, take things one step at a time, take risks and to pay attention to details. They really make all the difference.

Exciting News: Our good friends, Cary and Erin, beat us to the punch and had their baby boy yesterday -- 11 days early! I finished the blanket for Quincy (hi, cutest name ever) last night and sent it out in the mail this morning, totally forgetting to take photos first. I used the same Scalloped Baby Blanket pattern from Bend-the-Rules Sewing that I used for this helicopter blanket but in these fabrics I ordered recently from superbuzzy.com. Just use your imagination. :) Congratulations, little family! We can't wait to meet the new guy!

Finally, I also finished another project yesterday but I can't show you until the end of January when my friend Nellie's baby arrives. It turned out so cute! I want to show it off right now!

Alright, well this pregnant lady needs to go lay around some more. 39 weeks! I'm definitely feeling every one of them right now.

Take care! Check in tomorrow for pics of the knitted Vintage Car Coat. Darling!

Scallops

It's like the blanket is cloud-shaped!
Here's the quilt that I made on Thursday. I'm so so happy with it. It's probably one of my most successful sewing projects to date. I did a really good job on it, if I do say so myself.

The pattern is from Amy Karol's book Bend-the-Rules Sewing. It's SO good. This is the second pattern I've used from this book and I love it even more now. The directions are so simple and easy to follow. And there are drawings -- which I desperately need.

Both fabrics are from, of course, Superbuzzy.com. Next projects on the list: two birthday presents for two lovely girls, a bath caddy for the baby, and hopefully my yarn from the UK will show up soon so I can finish the little sweater I have mostly done.

Today is looking to be at least overcast so I'm happy. Got to spend most of the day on the couch or in bed though and we're going to dinner at a co-workers house tonight. Woot. ;)

Have a fabulous Saturday and weekend! P.S. Tomorrow is officially Autumn! And in celebration, I'll have a whole new look here for the season. Yum.

Misery Business

I think I need professional help. Actually, I don't even want to be cured. But, I must admit that I have a serious fabric addiction. Half of the time I spend online I spend looking at fabric. And making lists of the fabrics I want. 90% of the time I don't actually buy anything...but my goodness do I have a sickness.

Thanks to the day of my birth, I recently came into some money. I was intending to save it for post-baby clothes but of course that didn't happen. Here's what I ordered today from good ol' Superbuzzy. The fabrics were too perfect and I was scared they'd disappear if I didn't snatch them up immediately.

Exhibit A:


Exhibit B:


I can't talk about what this fabric is for yet, but my goodness, it's just too much for me.

And another goodness-gracious moment is this band Paramore. John and I listen to them almost non-stop and we're going to see them play in November (if I can handle leaving my one month old baby). They're just simply the best band out right now. They make me positively giddy. First of all, they're adorable. Second of all, they have REAL songs. What a concept, right? Third, Haley's voice is amazing and I want it. Do yourself a huge favor and go listen.

Okay, Really Now

Seriously people, why am I still awake at this hour? It's 2:30am and I mentally feel like going for a walk, doing laundry and running some errands. Physically though I hurt all over and am exhausted. But my mind just will not let me rest. It's so aggravating.

In addition to thinking about all the things I want to get done, John has a bad tooth ache and I'm afraid my tossing and turning will wake him up. Now that he's finally been able to fall asleep, I don't want to compromise HIS rest. Add in worrying about some friends and family and it's just a recipe for disaster around here. I soooo want to be asleep!!!

Since we're here, I guess I'll show you the kimono robe that I made for Ruth's birthday present. The pictures aren't great cause the lighting was bad and I didn't have a model to wear the robe seeing as how I'm approximately the size of a sea lion at the moment. But, it'll give you an idea.





The pattern is another from Amy Butler's In Stitches. I was initially really intimidated -- this is probably the most complex thing I've ever sewn -- but I just took it step by step and it actually was quite simple. So, I felt pretty cool. Also, this is the fabric that I bleached out -- it was WAY too bright yellow. And this is what the robe is supposed to look like (photo from the book):



Doesn't it make you want to drink some chai and watch the rain? I wish that's what I was doing right now...

I Love Getting Mail A Lot

Getting things in the mail really is one of my most favorite things ever. I almost wish that email, texting and instant messaging didn't exist so that we'd all be forced to write good old fashioned letters and cards more often. Though, knowing most people, I'd probably never actually hear from anyone.

So, I just have to order things online to get mail. Seems like a good enough reason to me...but I'm sure John would beg to differ. :)

Here are my fabulous fabric orders I've received recently. This one is from Cia's Palatte and both are Denyse Schmidt prints. And both are WAY brighter in real life than online. I did bleach out the yellow one before using it for its intended project (which I'll post about after it's gifted) and it made a big difference. I like the bright pink though.


These next fabrics are from Superbuzzy. Some baby boy fabrics and some for gifts.




The one finished project out of all of this that I can show off now is this apron I made for Nellie's birthday. The pattern from Amy Karol's (aka Angry Chicken) new book Bend-the-Rules Sewing. I LOVE this book. The patterns are so simple but darling and different. Not to mention all the great tips she has at the start of the book -- a couple of which have already really improved my technique.


Not the best picture ever but I had to get it taken and packaged for the post since it was already 2 weeks late. Ooops!

More finished projects soon!!