a case of the Valentine's...

Seems like I've really been hit by cupids arrow lately! I've really been into all things red and pink and I think it certainly shows....well, in any case...Happy Valentine's Month!!
FYI...Max has been so smiley happy lately, but I think he wonders what the heck I'm doing when I pull out the camera...he just stares at it like it's some medical device...I'm hoping he grows out of that, but I'm just enjoying his cute expressions for now!

a little one bites the dust...

Here's a little quilt I finished for a certain little 2 year old. Max and I went to her party yesterday and had a great time! I think she liked her pink quilt that is just her size!

stitching away...

It's been a pretty crazy week! Last week I got my new laptop. I've been busy trying to get the programs on it that I need. Still working on my photoshop, so I can get some pictures edited and work on some birth announcements for my new niece. I also had 2 little linus quilts to finish up, a gift for my grandma, and a couple other little projects to complete. In between that time, I've been doing a lot of embroidery. It's my new favorite past time cause I can cuddle with Max on the couch while working on my stitching. Here is a pillow I completed for my grandma.

This is fresh from the hoop, but still not complete.

It will be a little wall hanging for my newest niece Ava. She is so adorable. We went down to Yankton to visit her on her birthday last Saturday and I got some cute shots of her with Max. I have a feeling they are going to be great friends. It's hard to believe there is 2 months and 3 weeks between them. It's easy to see that my baby sure has grown since he was even smaller than her!

quilt, quilt, quilt...

I've been busy preparing for a slough of birthday parties coming up. Saturday I have a first birthday party to attend for my friend's son, who also happens to be my husbands cousin's son. I am going to make Holden a little quilt of his own. Not quite a bed quilt, but just one he can haul around with him. Think more alongs the lines of a Linus blanket. I also have a 2nd birthday party to attend where I plan to do the same thing. I will show pictures of those when they are finished (i still need to make a trip to the quilt store to grab some more boyish stuff). In the meantime, I finished my sister-in-law's carrier quilt, baby curtains, and broke down and just purchased a boppy pillow cover. I figured my main goal is to get the quilt all quilted....but I guess that requires a nudge at my mom to finish her quilt so I can get mine pinned on the quilt frame! We just found out that they will possibly be inducing Julie on friday if she is favorable for that, so sounds like we will have a busy weekend ahead of us!

Some of you know that I am not a fan of any type of warm or hot drink. I've never been one to enjoy that type of thing. I guess my reasoning has always been the fact that I think a liquid should quench your thirst and something warm or hot doesn't do that for me...I blame my track and field days for that....

Well, on 30 Rock the other night I heard a quote that I will like to use to describe my unloving: "Oh, I don't drink coffee.I don't drink hot liquids of any kind.That's the Devil's temperature." That was just about the coolest thing I had heard in a long time!!

in anticipation...

I've been very busy quilting lately. My sister-in-law is due to have her baby in the next couple of weeks, so it was my duty to make the quilt, curtains, boppy cover, and little quilt for her carrier. It's been so much fun! I finished the top yesterday. I need to get it quilted, but plan to put it on the frame and use the Grand Quilter as I'm not a huge fan of rolling it up and trying to quilt it on my machine. I have quilt guild on saturday, so I'm excited to take what I have done along. Other than that, I've been busy doing my "doodle stitching"...it is so much fun! The book is awesome, I recommend it to everyone!!

I had won a pattern at Closeline Club, so I used that pattern to make this quilt. It only requires 8 fat quarters, and then of course border and backing. It was a real fun and easy quilt to make!

My sister-in-law lives on a ranch. They don't know if they are having a boy or a girl, so I used Robert Kaufman's The Cow Says Moo fabric.

I thought I would throw in a pic of my little guy. He is growing in leaps and bounds daily! I can't believe he is already 10 weeks old. Where have the days gone? He did quite well with his 2 month shots and is now up to 12 pounds. Each and every day I see his personality come out. What a character!

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!!