Determined

I am determined to finish this quilt SOON.

I finished the quilt top before Baby came to us. I have finally found time to finish the quilt back. Hopefully this will mean making a quilt sandwich and figuring out my quilting design soon. I can't wait to snuggle under it. (Obviously, kitty can't wait as well). The pattern is from Elizabeth Hartman's book: the Practical Guide to Patchwork

Month by Month

Finding time to craft since my daughter joined the word has not been easy. The couple of projects I have done are for her. I've started an outfit tradition- showing off how old she is. Right now I'm going month by month, but have we get to one year I plan on doing this year by year.
Here is month one. I cut out felt and hand sewed it on to a onsie we already had. It gave it a nice bold look.

Here is month two:

With Valentine's day coming up, I couldn't resist the theme. Again, this is felt. I embroidered on to it and then hand sewed it on to a onsie. Baby is laying on a bit more of my Valentine's day crafting. The mat is not quite finished, but I'll have some pictures of it in time for the day o' love. It's been great to create. It all comes at the expense of chores that don't get done. Sometimes, though, the chores are not important and creativity takes precedence. I'm doing a lot of hand sewing, so I can stay close to my little gal. All it all, it's a pretty nice gig.

peace

may your new year be full of peace, love,and happiness.

a nursery tour

Between the dark and the daylight,

When night is beginning to lower,

Comes a pause in the day's occupations,

That is known and the Children's Hour.

I hear in the chamber above me

The patter of little feet,

The sound of a door that is opened,

And voices soft and sweet. 

-The Children's Hour

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Won't you come into our sweet nursery? All it needs now is our baby girl and it will be complete...

As you enter, you'll go through french doors we bought at a rebuilding center. My dad got them hung and Shawn carefully made repairs and painted the imperfections that come with buying used goods. 

We may as well turn on the light... oh, what's that?? An adorable light switch plate, thanks to my ebay addiction. Mama rabbit keeping her babies safe from Farmer McGregor.

Our little changing station. The changing pad is on top of an Ikea dresser (also found on the cheap... it had been returned. The best part of buying "used" Ikea goods? Even better than the discount? It's ALREADY ASSEMBLED. Priceless)
Yes, that is a stuffed bunny with a cloth diaper. I was doing some practicing. We are going with bumgenius cloth diapers. All I can say so far .... too cute to poop in. Way too cute. Sweetest little diapers EVER.

On to the closet. Built by husband. This closet had no shelves or bars or ANYTHING. Now, it's perfect. It's full of clothes and shoes and blankets and BOOKS! So many books! Thanks to the sweet shower my sister threw me- it was book themed and this baby will be surrounded with books from day one. Thanks to the shower my coworker threw me, we have clothes and shoes and wash clothes and all sorts of necessary things.

On to the crib. The curtains were made by me from some wonderful fabric from Mill End. Love that place. Also, there is another glance at the most wonderful stroller, a generous gift from my mother in law. It's perfect! And the car seat a dear friend gave us fits it perfectly. And yes, the diapered bunny from the earlier picture has ridden in both.
See that mobile? It's paper cranes, each folded by my sister.

Or course, the tour has to include this wonderful mural painted by husband. Finished and lovely. Rabbits in the garden, geese off to go a-calling, birds flying, mice scurrying. It has it all. 

The rest of the mural. Also, the rocking chair my parents bought when I was born. They have let us use it and it's the crowning touch for such a sweet nursery. Throw over it the quilt made from fabric my mother bought for me 30 years ago (thinking she would make a quilt for me) and it's all pretty darn nice. 

We have two lamps that were also gained through my ebay addiction... one it still waiting for a bookshelf to call home...

 

And that's it! The nursery! It's so full of constant reminders of all the love this baby will have, not just from us, but from family and friends. That perhaps, is the sweetest part of all.

and one final picture... husband working on one of many projects he took on during this nursery adventure:

And always with a smile, I don't know how he did it.

Finished quilt for baby

This quilt is finished and I finally have the camera to take pictures of it. And it's lovely. And much bigger than a baby quilt. This quilt will last baby Chandler for a long time.

The red is a linen I fell in love with at Mill End fabrics. It ended up giving the quilt a very different feel than I had first intended. The squares are all Beatrix Potter stories. They came from a panel my mom bought 30 years ago to make a quilt for me. It never happened, but she handed the fabric to me and ... well... here it is.

The fabric around the panels just came from my scrap bin. I finally have a wonderful collection of scraps and I can usually find bits and pieces to finish a quilt, without another trip to the fabric store. 

Of course, the classic Peter Rabbit:

I went with free motion quilting- the backing is just a dark blue flannel. Soft as can be. 

And here it hangs on the crib, just waiting for the little person to join the world so she can use it!

Of course... we have a nursery to show off as well. Pictures of that to come. 

In love with Oliver and S

I'm without camera right now, which is a shame because crafting and sewing has been going strong here. I finally decided to use my phone to take some pictures of my most recent creation... but I'll have to take more pictures when I have a better camera.
I just finished my second Oliver and S Ice Cream Dress. Both dresses are 6m. I finished the green one last August and the yellow one just tonight. Perfect.

The pattern was wonderful to follow. There were some new things in it, since I'm not really a garment sewer, but it all came together nicely. I love the detail these patterns give to the final product.

The little "v" in the pocket and neck gives it something extra. It's details like this I don't see in the patterns from the larger companies.

I enjoy the yoke on the pattern- how it attaches to the dress to make the sleeve. Plus, the pattern leaves almost no raw edges showing- meaning the inside is almost as pretty as the outside.

The yellow dress was fun- it's covered with bunnies and geese and cats. As I got close to the end and was selecting a button for the back, husband suggested a bright red button. This led to stitching a bright red line along the pocket and bottom panel.

I love how it turned out- and now I can plan ahead for it in future dresses and I can give it a cleaner crisper look. Here's the button on the back:

(Because it came from my phone, I'm having trouble turning it, but the idea is there)

Two pretty dresses for baby. Just a few (five!) more weeks until I get to meet her.

spooky crafting

"Ghosts and goblins all about!
Trick or treat we scream and shout!
Halloween
Halloween
Such a spooky time."
-from some beginning piano book, one of my very first recital songs.

This year I managed some Halloween crafting, to make our entry way a little...spookier. (Or perhaps, just more fesitive)

Teeny, tiny crocheted bats, thanks to a pattern found on ravelry.com. Don't worry, they are very very friendly bats.

I used a charm pack for the first time. The pre-cut squares? Very very nice. It made the table cover a snap.

I'm particularly proud of the free motion quilting. I tried something a little zig-zag-ish. It felt more like Halloween.

And slowly but surely, my collection of holiday goodness comes together. The trick (or treat) seems to be not expecting to have a house full of all hand made goodness in one year. Tackle a project here and a project there, and slowly it will come together.