My UFO list

One of my "resolutions" for this year is to get caught up on my unfinished projects. I went through my huge bag where I had them all stored and figured out which ones I wanted to keep and which ones I had moved on from. I am hoping to have the majority of them done by the end of June. There are a few bigger projects that will not get done before then, but at least I will have a start.



The list as of now is:

- green and yellow potholders

- patriotic pot holders

- penguin pot holders

- nautical pot holders

- folded ornaments

- Snoopy baby blanket

- Diagonal Paths quilt (long term)

- Cotton Reels quilt (long term)

- Kaleidoscope quilt (long term)

- big embroidery floss holder

- travel embroidery floss holder

- fall tablerunner

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. Ours was nice and relaxed which is exactly what this pregnant woman needed. I am feeling pretty tired lately and ready to be done though I want him to hold out a few more days so that I don't have to stress about who is going to take care of the boys.

Here are a last few craft pics. I have one more project that I need to get done, but there is no rush on it and it is super simple.




Little baby booties. I am so happy I finally figured out this pattern. I love how they turned out and I will probably be making a few more pairs for the little guy.

Here is a Christmas gift all rolled up.

And here it is all opened up. It didn't turn out quite like I had hoped, but it is functional and cute so it will work.

Here is the baby blanket. It turned out really nice and cuddly. We will use it on the floor and probably over his car seat when it is really cold.

Lots of pictures...finally

I finally found the camera cord and had time to sit down and download the pictures. It has been a crazy week here with strange schedules, lots of appointments, and just stuff going on. I have been trying to work on my to do list and getting things crossed off. Only a few more weeks before this little guy makes his entrance and I am starting to get worried that everything isn't going to get done.

I have made some progress on my craft projects. I am happy to say that I only have a few small things left to do. I'm hoping to get them mostly done by the end of the week. Of course that assumes that everything goes as planned and I know that won't happen around here!






This isn't the best picture of my blanket I made for my friend's baby, but I forgot to take one before I wrapped it up.




This is a table runner I made for my grandma. She is such a hard person to buy for and she doesn't have a lot of room for knick knacks. I figure this will look great on her coffee table.


Here is the back. I'm not in love with this fabric, but it does fit in with the leaf/flower theme of the front fabrics.

Here is the front of little man's birth announcement. You can't really tell from the picture, but the Welcome is printed on the computer and the baby is a stamp that I embossed. It is a blurry on the one edge because I smudged the ink. Also, there is a line of swirls and dots that I embossed with clear powder so it just gives it a little sheen.

Here is the inside. Obviously our last name will go where the white box is. The name isn't set in stone, but it is what we are leaning towards right now. The stats are just place markers so that I could get all the spacing right. There is a be a wallet sized picture next to the stats when they are all finished. I am really happy with the way it turned out. Now I just have to actually make all of them!

Here is a hat that I made for the baby, but it turned out too big so Cooper has taken it. I love the colors of this yarn and will definitely be making a smaller one for the baby.

Here is the same pattern, just in a different yarn and definitely smaller.

And finally...

the dreaded Christmas present quilt. This thing has been a thorn in my side since I started it. I love how it turned out and am really happy that I did it, but man was it a long process.

Here it is all quilted. You can sort of see the little squares in the middle. I stitched in the ditch around the two squares and then did a smaller square in the middle.

The backing is a really big four patch. I couldn't decide which fabric I liked better so I used both of them. I like how it turned out because now the quilt is actually reversible.

And a close up picture of the binding that was the bane of my existence for hours and hours. I hate hand sewing, absolutely hate it. Unfortunately, hand sewing the binding looks 1000 times better than trying to use the machine so I sucked it up and did it. YUCK!

I still have to finish my mom's chicken picture I am making, make a few more hats for the baby, and I am hoping that I can figure out the baby bootie pattern that I found. I am almost done with his baby blanket too.

Baby blankets

I finished cutting all the squares for the baby blankets that I am making. Luckily there are just 21 pattern and 21 solid squares for each one. I am hoping to get the tops done within the next two weeks. It will depend on hubby's schedule since right now things are up in the air.

I'm not sure which one is going to be ours and which one is going to a friend. Once I get them together I will let the boys choose. I'm guessing they will choose the train one, but you never know with them.

I love these simple blankets. They are perfect for putting on the floor for tummy time or throwing over the car seat to get from house to car when it is cold.

We are going to try and finish up the majority of our Christmas shopping this weekend. It feels very weird to be shopping in October since I am usually a last minute type of person, but I can't really do that this year!

Sneak Peek

Here is a sneak peek of the Christmas quilt. I am working on hand sewing the binding down on the back. For me it is a very slow process. I hate hand sewing, but it looks so much nicer that I force myself to do it.

There will be more crafty pictures coming soon. I have about 8 projects in the works right now!

Crazy weekend

It was a pretty busy, crazy weekend around here. After getting sick Thursday night, Cooper woke up Friday and still wasn't feeling good. He was whiny and mopey and just miserable. He slept on and off all day and just gave this pitiful little look. My parents came in Friday night and he was pretty clingy to me which is unusual for him when the grandparents are around.

Luckily Saturday morning he was pretty much back to normal and driving us crazy. My parents helped with a bunch of stuff around the house. We went out and bought the boys Halloween costumes. It was a very interesting experience. They were both so indecisive. Cody didn't want a mask, Cooper couldn't decide what he wanted, they both wanted all this extra stuff to go with the costumes. My dad was the smart one by staying in the car!

I finally finished the quilting on my Christmas quilt finished. It is drying from where I had to wash away the marking pen. Hopefully I will be able to get a picture of it tomorrow. I still have to make the binding and attach it, but at least the longest part it done. I love how it is turning out, but I will be glad when it is done too. I have too many other projects I want to work on!

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth

I swear I am still around. It has been crazy busy around here lately. Between end of the season softball games (they lost, but still finished second), swim lessons, doctors appointments and sick kids I haven't had spare second to get anything done.

Both of the kids have been sick this week. Cody started on Sunday with a cough and then had a fever when he got up Monday. Luckily it was gone by Tuesday. He was not happy about having to stay home on Monday. Then Wednesday Cooper was miserable. He was just whiny and crying and just plain upset. It was a long day and night, but luckily yesterday he was back to his normal self. Hopefully no one else in the house will get it.

I did manage to get my christmas quilt basted. I found a new technique on You Tube that I was intrigued by. I don't know if I really like the actual basting part, but I love the use of boards instead of taping it to the floor. First of all because I don't have a space big enough to lay this quilt out and second because this pregnant body has a hard time getting up and down off the floor.

Here is the first part of the technique. You can find the other part on the side bar once you load the page.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhwNylePFAA

I started quilting it today. It is going to take awhile, but I think it will turn out pretty nice. I am hoping to get some time to work on it this weekend, but we have a lot of stuff going on so not sure how that will work out.

When will I learn??

When will I learn to not start 10 projects at once???

Right now I am working on:

- the Christmas quilt. I have the top done, the back done and it is ready to be basted. Then it is quilting and binding.

- baby bibs. I have been looking for bibs that have terry cloth on the back because they absorb so much better, but I haven't had any luck so off to the sewing machine I go. I have one done except the Velcro and another cut and ready to be sewn.

- baby blankets. I have the fabric to do both mine and my friends, but haven't started working on them yet.

- car seat blankets. I have some fleece to make a small blanket to wrap around the babies legs when we are in the car this cold winter.

- a punch embroidery chicken wall hanging. I have maybe 1/32 of this done for my mom for Christmas.

- a crochet hook holder. My MIL wants a roll up crochet hook holder for Christmas. Right now I am in the planning stages of this.

Somehow I have to get all these done plus all the other pre baby stuff that needs to get done. Yeah I'm in for a busy few months. Hopefully my nesting instinct will kick in soon!

Be prepared for a sob fest post on Wednesday...my baby is starting Kindergarten.

Not much to say

There isn't too much going on around here. I made 6 trays of baked ziti and garlic bread for hubby to take to work tonight. That was pretty much the excitement for today.

I did manage to get two rows sewn on the Christmas present quilt. I hate matching seams! It was a nightmare on some of them. Luckily I only had to resew two and they weren't too hard to fix.

I have become obsessed with Debbie Macomber books. They are nice light, easy reads. I'm not a big fan of books that make me think. I read for enjoyment and nothing more right now. Someday maybe I will get back into heavier subject matters, but not right now.

I finished Someday Soon by her last night after only two days of reading. It was a pretty good book, though the last section didn't really seem to fit with the rest of the book. It was almost like she finished and then decided it needed to be longer or something.

Once I get started on a book I have to keep reading until I finish it. That's probably why I don't read very often because I get sucked in and lose contact with the outside world. When I was younger I would hate to stop because I thought of books like TV. If you stopped reading, the story went on without you. It's crazy I know, but it's how I thought.

Now I am off to watch some fluff TV and head to bed. I have to find my kitchen again in the morning!

Finished!!

All the block for my Christmas present quilt are finished! I am so happy to be done with that and on my way to assembling the top.

Here is it all laid out. I just kind of threw the blocks down to get an idea of how it was going to look so it might look a little wonky in spots. I love the way it turned out and I think the recipient will be happy too!
Here is a close up of the corner. Those dots don't show up well, but there are tiny brown dots on the green pieces.
I signed up for a binding how to workshop at a semi local quilt shop. I am excited because I suck at doing binding and I really want this quilt to look nice. I hope to have the top together in another week or so. We have a lot going on this weekend/week so not sure when I will squeeze in some sewing time. For now I am just happy to say that those block are DONE!

I haven't had a chance to do much in my sewing room the past few days. We've been doing stuff around the house and finishing up some errands. I did get a chance to run to the fabric store and pick out some flannel for our baby's quilt and our friend who is also having a boy. I think we will keep the trains since my boys are obsessed with trains and give the fire truck one. Once I get some more progress on the Christmas quilt I'll start working on these.




I did sneak in some time to make a little drawstring bag for our camera. I hate big bulky bags for my tiny camera. We are headed to an amusement park soon and I wanted some to keep the camera safe. It isn't my best work, but it will do.

Hopefully I will be able to make some more progress on the Christmas quilt tomorrow. Depends on if the boys are better than today!

Nesting..

I think nesting is starting to kick in. I have been more productive in the past few days then I was the first 20 weeks of pregnancy!

Hubby painted the boys room today. It looks really good. I'm hoping we don't have to do a second coat, just some touch ups, but we will see.

I finished sorting through their toys. Just have to have some help moving stuff around and find a place to put the toys that are going out. I finally decided that we need to rotate their toys around. We took all their toys away about two weeks ago and for the most part they haven't missed most of them. I separated them into stuff to go in their room, stuff to go downstairs, stuff to put away, stuff for the yard sale, and then garbage.

I also finished all six pumpkin rolls for him to take tomorrow. I just have to cut them up after they set up in the fridge overnight.

And finally I did get a few minutes to sew. I finished up six blocks for the Christmas quilt. They are turning out really nice. I am also thinking about working on my mom's present tonight, but not sure yet. We wouldn't want to be too productive in one day!

Instead of spending my night working on this project...
I spent it working on this one.
The picture is cruddy I know, but it is a pile of 6 unfilled pumpkin rolls. I made them all tonight, then tomorrow I will fill them and Sunday hubby will take them to work.

I did get all the pieces for the Christmas quilt cut last night. The upper pictures are some of the blocks laid out. I love how it looks and I'm looking forward to working on it tomorrow.

Now I am going to plant myself on the couch and watch some mindless TV!

Productive day

My sewing room is finally set up. I am so excited. I spent this morning working on some minor clothing repairs and ironing the fabric for my christmas present quilt. If they boys cooperate and go to bed easily tonight I plan on starting to cut the pieces out.

Here is a quick tour of my own little area.

On the left is my rolling cart of fabric that I posted about earlier. Then my new sewing table. I am really excited about this. Hopefully it will help my shoulders.

Here is my new big cutting table. It is HUGE! I love that I can lay more than a yard of fabric on it at a time. It is also just the right height for this short person.

This is the rest of my supplies. I would like to get it better organized someday, but for right now this works pretty good.

Here is a big view of the space. Ignore the Gatorade bottles. The rug is new and wouldn't lay flat.

I am hoping to have some progress pics tomorrow.

Things are moving right along here. We finished drywalling the utility room this weekend. I have my sewing area all laid out, just have to get everything moved back in and set up. I am hoping to have everything done by this weekend assuming my pregnant body cooperates.



Here is a sneak peek of my Christmas present quilt fabrics.



These are the fabrics for the blocks. It is hard to make them out because I had to use my old camera, but there is a dark brown one with green and almost gold dots. The lighter one is green with brown dots.



This is going to be a backing fabric. It is similar to the overall design of the front so I think it will look really nice together.

Quilty stuff

I finally got all of my fabrics organized. It was a task let me tell you. I know that I don't have as much as a lot of people, but for someone that only gets a chance to sew every once in awhile it is a lot.

Here is the rolling cart full of fabric. I love using this because it keeps it clean and I can see through to find a fabric pretty easily. It only backfires when my sewing stuff is all packed up and I see all the projects I could be working on.

The top drawer has all of my fat quarters, charm packs and small cuts of fabrics. There are some fabrics in here I absolutely love, I just can't figure out what to do with them.

The middle drawer is all the bigger cuts of fabrics. I have enough fabric to probably make at least 5 queen size quilts in this drawer. Ignore my ugly foot, I had to hold the drawer so the thing didn't fall over on me.

The bottom drawer has all my holiday fabric. It is mostly Christmas because I have an obsession with Christmas fabric. Again with the ugly foot!

The tote has all my flannels and a few misc pieces of fabric that didn't fit in the cart. I always make a flannel blanket for new babies so I have lots of leftover pieces. I have 4 baby quilts to make for babies that are due in December, January, or February so I'm sure this tote will get added to soon.

Now I just have to wait until hubby's arm heals so he can finish the last of the drywalling. He is doing pretty good, just really sore still. He has pretty much full range of motion which is really good, it just hurts.

Hello, my name is Heather...

and I'm a fabric addict.

Since my sewing room is right now in repair, I having been organizing my fabric stash. I knew I had a lot of fabric, but geesh! I really need to get some projects done. Luckily I've been pretty good and not bought anything lately. Most of the fabric I have now is from Joanns because we didn't have any quilt stores around us. I will still probably buy some from there, but now that we have some decent stores around here and I've found the joys of Internet shopping I will probably start buying better quality stuff. It will work in two ways, nicer fabric and less stash because it is more expensive.

I will post pictures when I finally finish the project. I'm hoping to be done in the next couple of days, but with two boys and hubby' schedule who knows.

I am also doing the fabshophop (http://www.fabshophop.com/) which is a virtual shop hop. You visit a store on the list, register, and depending on how many stores you visit you can win different prizes. It is a lot of fun and lets me see all kinds of new fabrics and projects.

Tonight I am off to a Pampered Chef party. It should be intereting since I've only met the host. I am sure I will come away with all kinds of gadgets I don't need since I am a sucker for those kinds of things.

Finally healthy

Finally everyone in this house is healthy. The kids still have a little cough, but it is getting better. I am so done with colds and crud. Spring has to get here soon!

I've been working away on the kaleidoscope windows quilt.





This is what 900+ 1.5" squares looks like. It is an insane amount of cutting. I now know why I usually work with big squares.
























Here is one block laid out. I really like how the colors go together. I was worried that it would be too bright, but the red and yellow are more muted so it balances out. I learned that the sewing is going to definitely be time consuming. Matching all those little seams is a challenge. And wow does it shrink up a lot. I knew it would lose a lot, but I was surprised by how much!




I get my hair cut tomorrow and I am so excited. I've been putting in a ponytail everyday because it is so annoying. I have an idea of how I want it cut, but I am going to let the stylist have her say.

Other than that Jeremy has the weekend off and we have no plans. That is a first. Cody might have a birthday party to go to Sunday, but other than that we are free. Sadly we will probably spend the weekend cleaning. YUCK!

Newest Project

I have two patterns that I designed a few years ago and I can't decide which one I want to start on first. They are based on Moda Marbles fabrics that I've had forever. I will eventually do both, just not sure which one I want to focus on first.






I love this one because it looks like steps or tumbling color blocks or something. I'm just not sure how I want to handle the black. Do I want to do them in little squares like the colors or do I want to do them as larger segments with squares to fill in? Decisions, decisions.



























This one is nice, but I think that I will make the sashing black to make the blocks pop more. This one is daunting because it is 1.5" blocks. I'm thinking I will stick with this one first though because I have the pattern all figured out.







Other than that dilemma I haven't done anything crafty. Things have been so crazy around here and I just haven't had the desire to sit down and work. First thing I should do is clean my sewing area and machine after doing the car seats. I delivered them this weekend and they loved them. Thank goodness!

Pics

It is amazing what you find when you pick up a little bit. I found the camera batteries inside the boys play bag. A logical place to look right?!?

So here are pics of the potholders. They aren't great because of the lighting in our kitchen and the camera is starting to die. I can't wait until we can find a new one.





































After taking the pictures I realized that I have to redo the hanging hooks because they aren't centered on the holder. They hang all wonky now.

I am hoping to get the table runner done this week. It is fighting me tooth and nail so it depends on who is more stubborn!