New Look

I thought a pink background would be a good way to prepare to introduce our new little addition. She's not here yet and hopefully won't be for another 2 weeks. I at least need to get through all I have going on this week and then she can come whenever she wants. :)

Nursing Poncho

The credit of this great pattern goes to my SIL J. who taught me how to make these. So a big Thank You to her!

Materials:

1 yard fabric - cut into 2 pieces that are twice as long as they are wide. A good size is 18" x 36" - You have 2 options for cutting your fabric. 1. you can use pinking shears which will make hemming a bit easier, or you can just use regular scissors and have to make one more roll when hemming. (more on that later)

A small 2" x 1" rectangle of fabric

Matching Thread

Iron

2 pieces of fabric

To start sew the short side of B to the long side of A: 

Next, sew the short side A to the long side of B:

If it's been sewn correctly then when the points are aligned it should make a square:

Next, press both seams open:

Now to open up the neck. Choose side will be the front and make a 1"-2" vertical cut down from the neck opening:

Now, press back the fabric on both sides to to open up the neck:

To finish off the neck fold under the raw edges and sew around; playing with the fabric as you get to the back seam.

To add a little reinforcement to the front neck opening sew in the small 1" x 2" fabric piece:

Now just hem it all the way around!

 I should have taken a better picture of folding the corner, but just do a nice job of folding the corners over:

And you're done!

I hope that this is easy to follow. Please leave a comment with any questions or clarification that you may have/need.

Family Photos December 2012

It was great to see my family for Christmas and even better that we got to have pictures taken together!

Front-ish L to R: Doug (brother), Holly (SIL married to Michael), Riley (niece) Mom, Shelly (sister), Curtis, Me

Back-ish L to R: Michael (brother), Mikeala (niece), Dad, David (BIL, married to Shelly), Travis

My super cute nieces and an oh so cooperative Curtis:

Yay for Quilting!

Pretty excited about this!! If your looking to get a start in quilting this looks like a good place to start. :)

Quilts

Some may disagree, but I don't consider myself crafty or very creative. I am very much a left brain thinker (practical, logical, to the point). However, in the last couple of years I have come to really enjoy making quilts. I LOVE fabric and I would have a lot more of it if the budget allowed. I also love that there is structure and order to quilting and for the most part you just have to be able to cut straight lines and sew straight lines. The rules never really change and you can fudge a little here and there if you need to. Unlike clothes that have to fit someone when you're done and if they don't then you've wasted a lot of time and resources. Quilts just make sense to me.

Sadly about a year ago I put a stop to all sewing. Curtis was at that age where I couldn't sew in the room next to him without waking him up and there was no way he would leave me alone to sew when he was awake. So all projects got shut up in the cupboard not to be seen for quite some time.

A few months ago I was going through a bit of a rough spot of knowing who I am and what makes me me. A good friend of mine, who knows of my love of quilts, asked me what I was working on. I told her my sad tale of not being able to do much sewing as of late, but she saw my face light up when I talked about quilts and what I had been working on. She opened my eyes to one way I could find myself again. What a lifesaver she is. We discussed many other things that night, but I even noticed how different I felt when I started talking about fabric and quilts that I could be working on. Soon after that late night I got out my sewing machine and put a quilt top together in about an hour. It was so much fun and rewarding!

Another friend then shared a pattern for a pinwheel quilt that looked a bit challenging, but doable. While it was more tedious than I usually have the patience for I am so proud of how it turned out.

Here's a portion of the top. I'll share better/more pictures once it's quilted and bound.

I am grateful for other quilting friends who have helped me along the way and reminded me that a finished quilt top should never just be shoved in a cupboard! I am also grateful to have some sort of creative outlet and for those who encourage me to use it.

Happy Halloween!!

Curtis Turns 2!

Technically he's not 2 until Wed, but we celebrated early so that the family could join us. We started the day by freezing corn. Curtis really enjoyed helping the corn "swim" but he enjoyed eating it more!
Later in the day family came over to take part in the festivities.

Travis informed me that Curtis needed a tractor cake for his birthday so here you have it. Pretty well done if I do say so myself!

Curtis enjoyed all his gifts and was more interested in playing with each on then opening another. :)

He loved his tractor birthday cake but was a bit confused when we sang to him. He put forth great effort to blow out his candles and was successful with Daddy's help.

It was a great day and I really can't believe that he's 2! Time has flown and I can't imagine life without him. He is such a bright and happy kid. He is also opinionated and stubborn, but I wouldn't change a thing. :)