stitching the day away...

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We had a great time with family and spent lots of time together. I was lucky enough to get some fun books and today was a day to work on a few things. I made an apron for a friend and also did some hand stitching. This is the wonderful book I played with

here is the apron i made:

the can saga continues...

In the true spirit of Christmas I decided to make my nieces and nephew something to keep them busy during their school break. I'm hoping that we do recieve the snowfall the weathermen have been promising! I threw together a kit to make a snowman. I saw one a couple weeks ago, but it came with a hefty price tag, so I made my own.

I threw in an old black derby hat, some wooden round things with dowels in them and painted black. I figured it would be easy to stab them into the snow. My mom fashioned a couple carrots for me out of tin foil and paper mache clay. I jazzed these up with some paint and threw in a scarf.

I think it turned out quite cute, hopefully while I'm visiting this weekend we can try it out!

can-o-fun...

My friends threw a shower for Max and one of the coolest things he recieved was an altered paint can filled with some cute outfits. My friend Carissa decorated one to match his room and it turned out super cute. I decided to get some paint cans of my own to try out. My sister's birthday is on tuesday, so I made her a can filled with cupcakes, candles, balloons, and party blowers. I think it turned out quite cute too. I plan to make my nieces and nephew a snowman making kit for christmas complete with a top hat, scarf, carrot nose, and all the trimmings for the eyes and buttons. I am going to make a paint can to contain all that fun stuff too. I think this will become somewhat addicting!!!

Our newest creation...

a stitch in time..

While camped out on the couch today I made this stitchery for my sister-in-law Julie. It's a gift for her birthday. Sometimes it really is hard to think of things to make, but I hope she likes this. It was the best project to keep me confined to the couch for the day. Now what to do for tomorrow...

bedrest and counting...

Since being on bedrest I've tried to find little projects to keep me busy. I know that most of the stuff I have on my "to do" list requires a sewing machine, so I used my up times during the day to sneak in a little sewing time...just to keep me sane. I finished my quilt top by piecing my blocks together and adding borders...now I just need to get it quilted, but who knows how much energy that task would require.

Other little hand work projects I completed are: a little owl pillow. Some reason I've been crazy about owls. They have gotten to be a big thing too. Here was a stab at a fun little owl.

Since Travis is big into fur trapping I had picked up this cute little racoon hat while shopping this past spring. It was a steal for only $.99 I just had to make something to match it, so I drew up a little sketch for another hand applique project. Since it was my first go on a onsie I quickly realized how darn stretchy this project was. Hopefully my next stab at it will be a better one. I'm not too happy with how my acorn turned out, but I'm sure this thing will get it's fair share of wears..as long as daddy picks out the clothes!

I just thought I would share an awesome gift. My wonderful sister-in-law made this quilt for Baby Baker. I love the colors and I know it will get used a ton!! Since I'm not to up on quilting with polyester it is something that will be cherished because I doubt I will ever take a stab at something like this. I simply don't have the fabric stash for something like this. I do however have to finish a top that has been completed already, so I will also use this quilt as a guide to finishing that.

WIP...

Since I've been MIA for quite some time I figured I best get back on track with my blog. Here is a work in progress quilt I started today. I have a goal of finishing this thing in a week. I might just be able to do it too!! I had stashed my bday money and quilt store gift certificate, so I was stoaked to get all these pretties!

I wanted to send a special congratulations to my friends Misty and Greg on the birth of their darling son Dylan. I'm so happy for you guys!! I had fun putting together a little package to send their way in Iowa. I had some left over chinese take out boxes from my wedding, so I've been jazzing them up via scrapbook supplies. They have turned out to be great fun. Now I just have a case left to work with!!

A few weeks ago Trav and I took a trip to the Black Hills to celebrate our 1st wedding anniversary. We had a great time and got to catch the beautiful fall colors. I'm so happy that the fall is on us now. Makes me look forward to the arrival of our bundle..any day now will be fine with me!!

Until next time, happy blogging!!

aww, some sweet relief...

I was put on bed rest on Wednesday and stuck out the rest of the week until Monday on the couch. I had some bad swelling in my legs and ankles accompanied by high blood pressure. The bed rest helped with the swelling, but my blood pressure has still been up and down since. Now I have protein in my urine, so after a full day of collecting that for the lab I now have to wait and see what my Friday appointment holds for me. I am now able to go to work, but have had my legs elevated while there. My swelling has stayed down, so I'm happy with that! I have 10 weeks to go, or 7 weeks until term, so hopefully my health can allow me to reach those dates!

Since I was on "" collection (i just hate the sound of that) today I was able to stay home to help with the ease of that. I decided to whip up a little blanket to help keep my spirits high. I bought some of that fun chenille fabric and a cute accenting fabric. I backed my chenille with some cotton fabric and added a few circle appliques...quilted and attached my binding for a fun little blanket readily available for my little acrobat currently kicking my ribs. I hope that I have many more opportunities to revisit my sewing machine before the arrival day, but if I can't at least I got something fun and cozy made!

pillows and puppies...

Here are a couple fun little items added to the baby's room. I whipped up a little pillow..and plan to make a few more.

My mom whipped up this precious little dog for the crib. It matches the mobile. Thanks again mom!!

what a great idea..sure wish I thought of that!!

I spent last evening with my mom. Sometimes it's just nice to have some one of one time. My dearest husband was out of town for work and my dad is on his Sturgis Ralley excursion, so what better time to enjoy some nice time together. Since mom is now a blog lurking addict, she has time to point out all the cool stuff I haven't had time to spy. I think once the baby comes and I'm home 24/7 I will be more into the lurking too...Anyways, mom pulls out this cool challenge she found. It's a 365 Challenge quilt. Basically it's a journal on fabric each day of the year and then when your year is up your complete your quilt with a border or binding or whatever you find most appealing. Mom then threw in the cool suggestion of making a "Baby's 1st Year Journal Quilt"...how cool, I can't wait to get started!! Here are some of the neat quilts from the challenge:

If this challenge tempts you like it did me, then here's the link to the tutorial on Leanne's House.

something new...

Since my baby carrier has a umbrella type thing attached I decided to make a little quilt especially for the chilly winter. I didn't want something too big that would hang on the floor and get dirty, but I wan't something quilt savy that somewhat cordinated. I made this little ditty yesterday and then realized that once I was done using it as a little cover up quilt I could use it as a table runner!!

Perfect fit!!

silly girl...

After my mom made a Silly Girl, I gave her a hard time calling it "Scary Girl", but after awhile she really started to grow on me. I decided to whip up my own..minus the nose..I really didn't like where it was positioned, so my Silly Girl will be smell challenged! Here's where you can get your own pattern.

99 days to go...sneak peak

Good thing that I still have 3 months to gaze into the babies room without a baby in it (insert sarcasm). I'm super excited for the day we bring our wonderful bundle home. Seems like I haven't had any problem finding little projects to do! We pretty much have a good part of the room done. Here's a sneak peak....

Here's the crib with many memories. My brother, sister, and I all used this as infants. My wonderful parents painted it white and mom and I tackled the bumpers together. Mom was also awesome enough to make my crib skirt for me. Thanks Mom!!

I still have some pillows and things to make to tuck in the corner (for looks), but until then I just drapped the quilt over the side. I love how my mobile looks attached to the crib. All of this is really making me anxious!

I don't know if you remember this, but I did another spin to create one a little different. Since we will not know what we are having until "d day" we have a name for each. If we have a boy we will name him Maxton, as we both love the name Max. If we have a girl we will name her Reagan. I made this banner reversable so depending on what we have we can just flip it to the correct side. We really have no reason to lean one way or the other, so we are excited for the surprise! I appliqued letters on the triangle fabric then satin stitched around each. I had some binding strips left over from the baby quilt, so I used that as the "ribbon" part.

Here's a wall by the window. I purchased the mirrors at a garage sale for $1.00 and painted them. Used a shelf made by one of us kids in middle school, painted that. Found a funky vinyl vase at a crazy day special sale and added a flower, my mini-artist man, and placed my little patent leather shoes from my childhood. I think it turned out very nicely!

This a shelf I hung and just added a picture of mommy and daddy. I still have a rocking chair to get in the room along with my changing pad and all those fun supplies. I will show another picture of those areas when they are finished. For now I just enjoy the sleep time I will get before my 99 days or so are over.

a warm gift...

My brother-in-law is getting married next weekend and for their gift I made a cozy couch quilt. Their wedding colors are red, black, and white. I decided to use those colors in the quilt. I love bed quilts, but since they will be honeymooners I thought they needed something to cover up with while cozing together. I hope they enjoy it. I was pretty speedy with this one as I started it on last wednesday and just finished the binding tonight. That's pretty good for me! My favorite part had to be the quilting. I loaded it onto my mom's quilt frame and Grand Quilted it.

there's a hole in the bucket...

I've been working on some dying and stitching of some burp clothes. I purchased a pack of cloth diapers and thought I would make some useful things out of them. I dyed my diapers and then added a band of fabric to them after tri-folding. I think they will look pretty stylish on my shoulder no matter what else seems to mess them up! The only problem is I have a long way to fill this bucket up!!

i'm so lucky...

This is my new favorite piece of furniture. It was the high chair that my father used when he was a youngin. I'm so privileged to get to use it for my own child. My mom spent a couple hours scrubbing on it and dad added a couple layers of polyurethane and fixed the tray. He gave it a fresh coat of blue krylon paint too.

I think my favorite part is that it collapses down to a little work station for when our child gets a old enough to color, draw, or get a little crafty with mom! Another great plus is that it has a dog on it. What a perfect match for the new room!

i'm back...

Where have I been? I've been a very bad blogger, but a very busy person! Travis and I have been busy redoing our guest bedroom to make way for our baby. We had drop tile ceilings to remove and sheet rocking to do. Painting, trim replacing, and new carpet to install. We did not end there...we have slowly been creeping into the kitchen to get that finished up too.

I've also been busy trying to find the perfect things for the baby's room. I hit some rummages and found some really nice things to revamp. I do it mostly for fun, but it's also a great way to put my signature on things. My parents have been spoiling me left and right lately. They repainted the crib that was once mine and Dad has been busy getting his old high chair ready for his first grandchild. I feel so honored that my child will get to use something that was once my fathers!

Mom has been so kind to quilt my baby quilt for me, sew up my tiny little "devil scotties", and help with whatever it is I've needed....and I can't forget my sister Robyn, she got herself a serger and has been practicing making me recieving blankets....who could ask for more?

I thought I would share the little project I got done tonight. I searched for an old mobile to use for guts and then had mom help make the little scotties that was made from a pattern from AllSorts. I crafted some pom-poms and some mini yo-yo's...curtesy of my yo-yo maker (the smartest new invention!!)

Here's my before:

And now, the after...

need to get motivated..

I haven't been too productive lately, but did get all my blocks pieced for the baby quilt. I ordered the rest of my fabric, and I started working on a scrapbook for the baby.

I need to add an inch border and then a five inch outer border yet, but you get the idea.

Instead of getting a baby book I decided to just work on a scrap book. I'm using my baby book to get an idea of the sorts of things that need added. So far I have a page on "how we found out"..doctor visits, baby's firsts, and some random pages for pictures. I look forward to adding to the book over the years!

beam me up scottie...

This weekend held a whirlwind of events. Friday night dinner date with Travis, rummage sale excursion, quilt guild, severe weather, and Sunday afternoon quilting. I'm happy to say that I'm back in the swing of sewing mode, so now it's time to get some stuff accomplished. I worked on my baby quilt for the nursery and have about 60% of it done. I have all the blocks cut out and all the scotties appliqued on. This week I have a goal of getting it all pieced together and ready for quilting..."no pressure". I need to finish a mother's day gift and work some more on my brother-in-law's wedding quilt, but I'm just happy that I'm not too stressed over any of it.


I had some luck rummaging and found my mobile guts so I can start making my custom scottie dog mobile. I found some mirrors that I plan to paint with some funky color for the walls in the baby's room and I also stumbled across the cutest antique child's chair. I think I will keep the finish as is, but I think I will jazz it up with a cushion to match the crib bedding, quilt, and rocking chair pads. I'm so excited that everything is coming together for all of it. Next weekend is demo time for the baby's room. I need to get all my quilting stuff cleared out and wallpaper taken down along with shelving and drop ceiling.


Here are some pictures from the weekend:

Near I-90 after tornado went through.

Scottie dog blocks for baby quilt.

Cute child's chair

something to work on...

My microscope slides finally arrived today! I needed something to practice on so I decided to make a pin for our secretary at work. Tomorrow is her 50th, and since I have been yaking her ear off about how I really want to try this soldering stuff, I thought I would whip up something for her. It definitely doesn't look as good as Roxanne's stuff, but hopefully with some more practice I will get a little better. I think the hardest part was scoring and breaking the glass. I might need to get some tips on this. My main problem was getting the slides broke so that they lined up evenly. I guess it leaves me something to work on!

things on my mind...

I feel 100% better! The morning sickness still comes and goes, but I'm just lucky that it is something that doesn't keep me from going to work. I get home and I'm definitely see a change in my energy. I can now stay up until 10pm!! That's quite a feat as before it was only 8..didn't leave me much time for cleaning, cooking, or quilting! I hate using pregnancy as an excuse for not doing much, but I guess I have no other choice on that one.



I was inspired by Laura's pick on colors for her baby room, so I decided to use the same color scheme. I just love it. We think we will find out what the baby is when the time comes, but like most mothers you are never 100% sure, so this will be a safe choice. If we do have a girl I can priss it up with some bows.

Here's what I got so far:

I definitely had to throw in some Oh So Soft Minky! I love this green color and thank Mom for picking it up for me!! I can't wait to get starting on all this sewing! I still am in search for some aqua and lime fabric, but I still have time for my search. I also want to make my mobile, so this summer I will be hitting the garage sales in search of a mobile just so I can use the guts! I'm sad to let my sewing room go, but I plan to keep my counter top and change the skirt on that to match the babies bedding. I think that way I can cut back on the changing table and just make a pad so diaper duty won't be as hard. I love the counter top as it is the perfect height for doing any standing work, so I am happy to utilize that great thing I have!

Since this is my parent's first grandchild it's so fun to see the excitement they have, I've already been spoiled as mom and dad are quick to offer a hand and offer any furniture they have! My mom has a rocking chair that she is giving me. They are going to get it painted white for me and then I plan to us Anna Maria's great idea and jazz it up like this.

So, thanks to Roxanne, I have this huge want-ability to get into making jewelry with solder and microscope slides. I have all I need except for the microscope slides, for the past few days I have felt like such a school child anticipating the mail's arrival. Once they get here I plan to dive right in, I can't wait!!!

while I got some stuff accomplished...

I took a very fun class this weekend! It was a machine quilting class. I made a quilt with 25 5" inch squares and then learned 25 new quilt designs for each square. While some of them never did make it to the quilt I did enjoy some of the variations of others. It was nice to get a quilt done and fun to learn so many new things! I think I will use this little quilt as an extra in the car or wherever.

I also completed a cute little table runner for some color on our little sofa table. The sofa table is actually a revamped little children's dresser that was mine when I was younger then sent to my aunts for her use...when she asked if I would like it back I couldn't pass up the storage that I knew would go along with it. I love the yo-yo runner..it just adds a little bit of me too it!!

I'm slowly regaining some energy and quite happy about that!! Hopefully in no time I will be back to my full time quilting and crafting!!