Saturday, May 30, 2015

Little Man Quilt

I recently finished a quilt for our second boy on the way! I really love Luke's blue and gray quilt so I modeled this one after it. Except in red and gray to keep with their room colors. Also side story.. I realized Luke's birthstone is blue sapphire and so is his quilt, baby-boy-number-two is due in July (he better not wait til August to arrive!) and his birthstone will be ruby and his quilt is red! I mean come on! How perfect is that?? Now I know God has much bigger things to orchestrate, but I definitely have to credit Him for knowing my OCD and sentimental self!


Finish size of this quilt is 36" x 45" and the squares are 6-inchers. Sewing down the ric-rac was the trickiest part for me, they're slightly crooked--next time I'll use more pins to keep it from slipping about. After purchasing the polka dot print for the backing I realized buying yards of each print was going to be slightly excessive. So after that I toned down my shopping zeal and purchased a couple half yards and mostly fat quarters for this project. Leftover squares were stripped down for the binding. Oh! And I actually machine quilted this one!! Simple stitch in the ditch, but it felt good!!




Getting more and more excited and anxious to meet this little guy! Let me tell you, he's busy busy busy already. Hoping for a few calm moments of snuggling with him and this quilt though! This is the first quilt I feel proud of creating. I feel like I'm starting to know what I am doing, sewing straighter seams, planning out design more, etc. Its been just over a year since I finished my first quilt and this is my seventh one! So I guess its about time I start showing some skills and confidence :) Big BIG thank you to all my friends and family who remain so enthusiastic and encouraging of my creations. You're really the best!





Thursday, May 21, 2015

What good is a race with no hurdles??

This has been one of those weeks where Thursday, today, feels like Wednesday of next week. Its just been so crazy! Had a particularly trying daycare day with a child who, to put it mildly, has separation anxiety. Then Cody had car battery trouble getting home from work, and then our water heater needed fixing. Oh and lets not forget we are prepping for our bedroom remodel/swap this weekend so I've been packing up our entire room! Thank goodness I have these two, soon to be three (!!!!), men in my life to remind me to have humor and we're all in this together!


Luke is the cutest little go-getter right now, always has to be right in on the action with us. He 'washes' dishes, helps with dinner, waters the plants... I just love it! He picks up Cody's level and inspects everything, turns pencils into makeshift screwdrivers, 'vacuums' and puts his laundry away! He also is super great at picking things up off the floor for me. Getting hard to do that with his little brother packed up inside like a jack-in-the-box!




I do have to highlight though that the blessing of this week was the timing of our tax return! We had some materials to purchase for our room remodel this weekend and our state tax return came in several weeks early meaning we avoided putting any of this project on our credit card. Can I get an AMEN! God always provides!




Thursday, May 14, 2015

Flannel Baby Blankets

I know I just got done raving about the easy peasy fleece blankets, but these double sided flannels are just as addicting! I had so much fun pairing fabrics for little-man-on-the-way. Although there is a boom of girls going around right now too, so I guess next I should venture into a few feminine choices! 





Each blanket is two one-yard cuts of fabric, sewn right sides together (inside out). Leave about a two inch section un-sewn so you can flip it right side out. Before doing so, it really helps to trim excess fabric off the seam line for a clean finish. I also clipped the corners on a diagonal for to help them lay flat. Once you've turned your blanket right side out, fold the raw edges in and sew closed as close to the edge as possible. There are many stitch options for this, I just did a normal stitch right along the edge in thread that would blend in. 




I alternated between sewing the in-set border at 1" or 2" from the edge. I'm slightly leaning towards the 2" edge as my preference, for now. Also sewing with minky was not as scary as I read! Just make sure to pin often to keep the fabric from slipping. 




I can't wait to wrap up our newest little guy in these blankets!! 10 more weeks to go!