Distracted

This is what my family would affectionately call a "squirrel" project. As in, "Did you squirrel on the laundry, because it is still sitting in a basket on the floor NEXT to the washer?" I could not help myself. I bought two charm packs of Comma, by Zen Chic because I thought I was super in love with it and it turns out, I love it more in person! I will be buying and stashing yardage for sure when it becomes available. I decided to make a lap quilt for myself. I know, scandalous, making something for myself feels a little naughty.

I am going to sew them all up into scrappy 16 patch blocks with a solid patch here and there. I am so excited.

Linking up to Freshly Pieced today

 

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Chipping away....

...at my pre-baby arrival to do list.

You may or may not know that I am currently "baking" a baby girl. Good gracious does that take a lot of energy! Do you know what else takes a lot of energy? A three year old, who has absolutely no regard for Mommy's condition. I wouldn't change it for the world though. We feel so blessed to have a happy healthy daughter and to be adding to our small family.

Becoming a big sister is still somewhat foreign to our little angel. We have tried to draw parallels for her using her cousins and classmates as examples, but those babies go home and don't really affect her much. I am sure I am not the first (or last) Mom to worry about how baby 1 is going to handle baby 2, but I am trying to anticipate some of this issues and avoid the ones that I can and, hopefully, ease the ones that I can't.

I decided to put together a big sister bag. I plan to give this to her when she comes to meet baby sister in the hospital. Of course, I had to make a bag first. Thank you again to Jeni Baker's lined drawstring bag pattern. This size is bigger than the free tutorial provided on her site. I am definitely getting my money's worth with that pattern.

I also made this great little portfolio that we will add to the bag. I used this tutorial, making a few tweaks here and there. I really like how it came out.

The bag will also have her official big sister t-shirt, a small digital camera we have but no longer use, and a necklace made by my very talented sister (you can find her here). I haven't decided if that is a complete list or not, but it is certainly a good start. Do any of you have any suggestions?

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Katie

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts

 

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Go Bags and Baby Quilts

I finished my own go bag this week and my hospital bag is packed and in the car! I feel like that is such a huge accomplishment and it makes me feel more prepared.

Isn't she so cute and sunny? Seriously, if you haven't hopped over to Jeni Baker's site at In Color Order and tried this pattern, you really should. She has a free tutorial, but I have purchased the pattern and it is wonderful. It is so easy to follow and you can make any size you need. Check it out.

I am also experimenting with a no binding baby quilt. This is the first prototype.

A certain three year old was absolutely thrilled to be the official quilt holder for this photo session. She always wants to help Daddy when he holds up the bigger projects for me and she thought it was pretty special that this one was just the right size to do it all by herself.

My goal here is to stretch charm packs into great little quilts for Project Linus, a charity near and dear to myself and my family. I cut the backing to the exact size of the quilt top, "reverse basted" the batting to the backing piece, and sewed all the way around leaving an opening to turn. I have a few tweaks to make on the next one and perhaps I will take photos as I go and post a tutorial here. We will see.

Happy Friday!

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts

 

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Happy New Year!

I finally feel like I am coming out of the 'holiday haze'. We are working on getting back into our family routine and trying to get the house in order. Hopefully that will pave the way to more creative time for me, that I will then share with all of you. I keep telling myself we have some major adjustments coming, but I guess I won't worry about that too much until baby girl makes her appearance.

I can finally share with you a big finish in 2012. I made this runner for my mother-in-law for Christmas. At 70 inches long, it is one of the biggest projects I have completed. I am really proud of it and I believe my MIL loves it, which is most important.

The quilting was very time consuming, but definitely worth it. I stitched in the ditch around each star point and then echo quilted all the white spaces. Here is a close up.

The floral print is a bluebonnet and that was my jumping off point. I wanted to feature that in some way, so I whipped up these two hot pads to match the runner.

Amazingly, I also have a 2013 finish to share. I started this top late last year, but didn't like the way it was shaping up and of course, with Christmas looming all non essential projects were eschewed. Anyway, I decided my main squeeze needed a recliner blanket (what husband of a fabric hoarding wife doesn't?) and this was the result.

I love the colors and the Michael Miller Zoology print. It goes with absolutely nothing in the living room and is a bit juvenile, but I am fairly certain my two biggest fans could care less. I backed it with a twin sheet and quilted it with simple "straight" lines every two inches. It is super soft and a perfect size for him to use in his chair, with enough room to spare for the munchkin.

Wishing all of you a wonderfully creative and fulfilling 2013!

 

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