So Who Wants To Know?

Today was the day to get my belly all gooed up and take a peak inside at the little critter that's been growing in there for the past 21 weeks.  It's so fun to see all the little body parts...some were obvious and others just looked like fuzz to me...but I took the ultrasound tech's word for it and just agreed when she told me all the organs were there.  So here's our first little picture...

And my favorite shot of the little butt and feet that were curled up tight...

And the most exciting part...which I'm sure is the real reason you came to read this post...

It's a BOY!!



What A Hoot!!

A sad day has come when I have to pack up my sewing room for the move to our new house.  I hate having to put all my things in a box and just hope that they will soon find a place in our new home.  There won't be much sewing for me for a little while but I do have a project to share!!

What A Hoot!!

This little cuttie was a lot of fun to make.  I got to dig through my boxes of scraps for all of the owl pieces.

There was some straight line quilting through the owl squares and some random swirl fill pattern everywhere else.

An my favorite part was the jumbo ric rac I added to the top and bottom.  I just love the texture and color it added.

The quilt was a gift for my mom for her birthday.  She has a thing for owls.  I designed the label in Adobe Illustrator and then just printed on fabric.

Happy Birthday Mom!!



Hello Blog...Have I Got Some News For You!!

I have been missing from blog land lately...but for very good reason I do believe.  This photo might help explain...

YES, I'm pregnant!!  This wonderful little baby has taken over my body and given me no mercy.  Well, not until lately when my pb&j diet has evolved back to more grown up food and my bed time has been pushed back until about 9pm instead of immediately following dinner.  It has been a wonderful experience so far.  I am now 19 weeks along and we only have 2 more weeks until we can find out if it's a boy or a girl. 

So back to the photo above...my wonderful hubs (pictured) is a computer person.  He writes and trouble shoots html code all day long.  He spends hours in the evening surfing the internet.  And I have never known him to purchase anything without first doing hours of online research for the item.  However, when it comes to selecting a baby name he refused to look at any of the millions of names in data bases found all over the web.  No, he needed a real life 688 page book to hold.  I'm finding out early that babies will make you do some funny things.

So now that I'm feeling human again, let the baby crafting begin!! 

The start of our first baby quilt...

And some burp cloths I made for a new mom and of course our baby got a matching set as well...

Unfortunately, the list of projects I want to make keeps growing every day so now I must go to my room and make something!!

More Crochet Goodies

I love these little things...but I'm not sure what to do with them.  It's my second attempt at crocheting something.  I got the pattern from The Yvestown Blog over here.  She was going to use hers as coasters but I think they are a little small for that.  They might be nice if I had several more and I could attached them....but I haven't learn the whole attaching part yet.

In the mean time I will just lay them out on my table and admire them.

Mom Love

I know there are lots of fantastic moms out there in the world but I happen to be partial to my own and think that she's the best!!  So happy  Mother's Day Mom!!  I hope you enjoy your gift.
(We didn't get to see each other yesterday so she just has to ogle here over her surprise in a jar until we get together again.)

 I taught myself to crochet last weekend and this jar topper was the very first thing I finished.  (I got the inspiration from this post from Lilley Stiches.) 

Since I didn't want to just give my mom another jar of canned green beans or jelly (she's had enough I'm sure), I decided to tuck a little surprise inside and use the jar as a sort of gift wrap.

"Bottled with love for MOM (you're unforgettable)"

(a great printable from here)

After the jar is opened she can use the jar topper for a different sort of decoration...or whatever you do with little crochet goodies.

I can't wait to give it to you mom.  Love you!!

Wedding Quilts

I got married last May and when planning for the wedding I had a stroke of genius...make a quilt that people will sign instead of having a silly guest book.  My inspiration came from some of the siggy quilts that I had seen on the internet and I will forever treasure our wedding quilt and the smile it brings a smile to my face every time I see it.

I made a sign and embroidered a pen cup asking people to please sign our quilt.  My feelings are that if you are going to go handmade then go all out.  The embroidered pen cup may have been over-kill but I love it!!

It turns out that other people loved the idea as much as I did and I ended up making 2 more quilts for other people's weddings...

 Classic red and black wedding

 Embroidered names

 Quilt Back

Our wedding wishes for the happy couple.

And a very fun (and huge) blue and orange wedding...

As you can see mine is the only one without finished pictures.  That's because, sadly, the top is still in a box just waiting for some quilting.  Why is that I always put off the projects that are for myself?!

More burp clothes...

These are fun to make because they are like tiny quilt that is finished in about 10 minutes.  Who wouldn't love a quilt that can be done in only 10 minutes?!



Birthday Coupon

What do you get a 6 year for her birthday when she seems to have everything already?  I was stumped by this question when it occurred to me...how about a birthday coupon so she can pick it herself. 

I made this adorable little coupon book for my 6 year old niece.  I used a tutorial from Tatertots and Jello and modified it to be birthday book.  Instead of having multiple coupons like the tutorial, I made little pages to tell our niece how special she is to us.

Some photos...
 

And some little notes...

And, of course, the coupon...

The whole thing was made out of playing cards.

I wasn't sure how she liked it when she first opened it...

...but she opened the game as soon as we left the store and once we were home she sat in the car playing for another 5-10 minutes in the driveway before coming inside.  Later that day she told us that it was her new favorite game so the coupon book was definitely a big success.

Happy 6th Birthday Ms. Ashley!!

Quilting Lessons Learned

I haven't been able to do much sewing lately (which makes me very sad) so I'm going to share something that I finished a few months ago. 

Several people in my new favorite quilt guild (Cincinnati Modern Quilt Guild) have been asking and commenting about the quilting on my projects.  I will be the first to admit that the quilting process use to intimidate me more that anything.  I've found that the only way around that intimidation is just to jump right in and practice, practice, practice.....and take a class from Julie Lambert.  Julie makes the most FANTASTIC quilts and while that aren't really my own style of quilting (very traditional) I really feel like you can learn so much from her just on technique.  I took her workshop called Shadow Trapunto and finished these 2 little beauties...

There is a huge amount of stitching but they actually went pretty quickly to complete.

This quilt is made in layers with the top being a yellow batiste fabric with a bright orange fleece behind that was used for the trapunto and then batting and backing as usual.  Here's a closer look at the stitching...

The other little guy was just a sample that she put together for the class.  This one was a bright yellow fabric behind a layer of white batiste.

So my lesson learned is to keep taking classes from the most talented people.  Even if the finished projects aren't exactly your style you will still walk away with a wealth of information about techniques that you can carry over into your own projects.