Avonlea's Quilt: Finished!

Saturday, February 28, 2009

I am so proud of this thing. My first "real" quilt and it actually doesn't suck! It's not perfect - there are tension issues and I got a little messy in some parts of the quilting. But I am in love with it. Photo overload, I know.

Ignore DH's legs. I still haven't found a good spot to hang quilts for photographing.

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The back.

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I decided to add a little personal touch and free-motion her name into the bottom corner.

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I love the way a quilt looks when folded.

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Folded nicely on her crib.

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And big brother had to get in on the action. He is so fascinated with all the things I make for his little sister. :)

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Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 6:00 PM 6 comments  

USA Quilt

Friday, February 27, 2009

After watching me work on the baby's quilt for so long (which by the way is FINISHED, I just need to take pictures), Sawyer proclaimed to me yesterday that he wanted me to make him a quilt with blue, green, yellow and orange in it. I started digging through my scraps and some fabric I've had laying around for at least two years caught my eye. I have this great Alexander Henry states and capitals fabric, as well as this map panel. I knew instantly I wanted to make him a quilt of the 50 states.

I was originally going to just do the panel on the front and the AH fabric on the back, but the cut I had was smaller than the panel. So instead, I decided to fussy cut each state and make a block to feature each one. Then I'll put the panel on the back. I absolutely LOVE how they are turning out so far. The blocks are so fun to make, too, since they're all different.

Here are a few of the blocks so far:

Texas quilt block

Arizona quilt block

Tennessee quilt block

I have all 50 states cut out, although I'm not sure if they will all make it onto the quilt. I'm going to try though.

states ready to be made into blocks

Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 9:57 AM 2 comments  

Taking the Plunge

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

My latest project is the most time-consuming: Avonlea's quilt. It's about 47" x 60". I didn't intend for it to be that big, it just kind of happened, but I'm glad now because it should be big enough to use on her toddler bed.

It took me a day to cut and piece everything, then another day of basting and beginning the quilting. This is 2 days of work so far and I'm about 25% done with the quilting. I'm doing free-motion quilting, which is where you lower the feed dogs and use your hands to guide the speed and stitch direction. The pattern I'm doing is called stippling, which is basically just a continuous squiggly line over the whole quilt. I've never done this on a scale this large before (in fact, this is only the second time I've done it in general), so it's a little intimidating, but I'm really happy with it so far.

I wish now that I had made the blocks a little more detailed and the sashing a little thinner, but I still love it. The back is really cool too, I can't wait to take a picture of it.

I have to say that this is really exciting for me. I have always been an avid reader of several quilting blogs, my favorites being a quilt is nice, Crazy Mom Quilts and Handmade by Alissa. I love to marvel at the intricate quilts they make. I could also spend hours browsing quilts on Flickr. Until now, I've been too intimidated to try anything like this myself, figuring I would just be an in-the-ditch quilter for life. I'm so glad I took the plunge though and can't wait to make more.

Okay, on to the pictures.

Laid out over the table:
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Close-up of the quilting:
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Here you can see the difference between a quilted section and unquilted section:
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Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 9:51 AM 1 comments  

Halfway!

Monday, February 23, 2009

Today marks 20 weeks. And I have quite the bump to show for it.

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Have I mentioned how much I love pregnancy? The ability to eat a huge meal and not worry about sucking your gut in afterward. Can't beat that. Okay, so that's not the only reason I love it, but it's a nice perk. I also love not having to visit an OB and step on a scale that measures 10 pounds heavier than my home scale.

The nerve and joint pain, I could do without - experiencing that already this time around. But I'm finally feeling Miss Avie move on a regular basis, which is fabulous. I love it so much. I felt her from the outside for the first time a couple nights ago and it just made me smile.

Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 8:30 PM 2 comments  

And the baby's name is...

name pillow!

And let me just say that I am severely disappointed in the magnitude of people who don't get the literary reference. Anne of Green Gables? L. M. Montgomery? Road to Avonlea? Ringing any bells? Seriously, about 99% of the people I know in real life have never heard of it. This makes me sad.

Anyway, for those of you who are in that same boat, it's pronounced Av (like have)-in-lee. The boys already call her Avie and it is adorable.

Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 6:57 PM 9 comments  

For Keisha

Saturday, February 21, 2009

This is the crib we ordered. $134 from Wal-Mart. Can't beat that.

Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 9:41 PM 1 comments  

Sickies and More Nursery Updates

Sawyer broke my heart a couple days ago.

He'd been loafing around, lethargic and grumpy, and spent most of the afternoon on the couch. He'd been telling me his "head and body were bleeding," his way of saying they hurt.

Then, out of nowhere he said, "Mommy, can't I just feel fine?"

My heart shattered into a million little pieces for my poor boy who didn't understand why he felt bad. Really, isn't that just the saddest? He then told me he needed to go to the doctor and I assured him that Mommy would take good care of him and we didn't need the doctor yet. He seemed satisfied with that, which made me feel a little better.

I thought for sure he would start puking shortly after that, but he never did. Has just been running a fever and had no energy or appetite. He's the sweetest when he's sick though, always asking for hugs and drinks of water. We went to Sonic for dinner tonight and he only took one bite of his corn dog and ate maybe two tater tots. Poor guy.

He perked up today when we showed him the baby's room:

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He's excited enough about it that he's FINALLY calling her by her name, and not "GoGo," which is the name he had given her since I first found out I was pregnant.

Speaking of the name - I think I may be spilling the beans soon, so keep your eyes peeled. ;)

Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 8:51 PM 2 comments  

More Nursery Progress

I feel like this is turning into a home makeover blog, but hey, I'm proud of my handiwork and like to show it off.

Last night we painted:



A couple days ago I finished the crib skirt:

crib skirt

And yesterday I made a quilted wall hanging. My first ever attempt at freehand quilting:

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Today we're hanging the chair rail and curtains. And after that, pretty much all the heavy lifting is DONE (other than putting together the crib when it comes) and I can focus on making accent pieces!

Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 12:46 PM 3 comments  

Stash revamp!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

I was inspired by a couple of the crafty blogs I follow and decided to reorganize my fabric stash today. As you can see, it was much needed.

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The serger is going on Craigslist since I never use it. I'd eventually love to have built-in shelves here to store my fabric, but for now piles will have to do. I still have several bins of minkee and other random fabric upstairs that I need to go through, as well as two huge carts full of scraps. Quilting paradise, I tell you.

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The fabric is stacked two rows deep. Back right corner is fleece. Next to that is chenille and knits/thermals. Then back left is decorator weight stuff (I really need to make some bags or something). Front right is minkee (yum!) and the rest in the front is all my cotton, since I use it most. There's also some satin binding there in front, as well as my scraps basket and notions box underneath. Oh, and some rolls of tulle that I need to break out and make some tutus for babygirl.

I feel so refreshed now and totally ready to start banging out some quilts now that I can see everything I have to work with.

Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 8:33 PM 0 comments  

Prettyful Window Valance

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

The window valance is finished! I hate hate hate sewing curtains so I'll just buy some white sheers to go under the valance. Isn't it pretty? Next up, crib skirt.

Ignore the green walls, I hung it in my dining room for the picture.



Close-up of the pretty edging.

Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 11:31 AM 7 comments  

Mission Crib Bumper: Accomplished

Sunday, February 15, 2009

After much swearing and extensively pin-pricked fingers, the first piece of the baby's bedding is finished. I'm glad I tackled the bumper first because it was definitely the most time-intensive part. I can't wait til I have the actual crib to display it on because these pictures just don't do it justice.

Oh, and that ruffle on the top edge? PAIN IN THE ASS. I wasn't smart enough to invest in a ruffler foot for my sewing machine and thought I could do it by hand. HA. That 400-inch long strip of fabric had other plans for me. Never again will I attempt to hand-gather a ruffle.

Anyway. On to the pictures.

The fuchsia and plum panels go on the inside and the yellow and white will face out through the slats. The big A will go on the back side of the crib (like this).

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Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 9:28 PM 7 comments  

Let's begin.

Friday, February 13, 2009

let's begin.

I am a few minutes away from slicing into that scrumptious fabric (eep!) and beginning work on squishy's bedding. Had to get a photo of the before, because things tend to get messy when I'm getting creative.

Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 9:02 PM 3 comments  

Crafty gifts are the best gifts.

I don't much care for Valentine's Day, but my hubs is a sweetie so I wanted to do something for him without spending money. I also needed to practice hand-stitching quilt binding, and he likes showing his military pride. So voila, a quilted service flag is born. He loves it. :)



Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 6:32 PM 0 comments  

Basic Bow Tutorial

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

I've been getting lots of questions about how I make my bows, so despite my absolute loathing for the sound of my own voice, I made my first video tutorial. I may do more in the future with different techniques depending on the response to this one. Enjoy!

Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 7:55 AM 5 comments  

First Baby Dream

Sunday, February 8, 2009

At each appointment with my midwife, she always asks if I've had any dreams about the baby. Last appointment, I had to say no. But yesterday, while napping on the couch, I had an extremely vivid dream about her. I want to write it down here so I don't forget it. It'll be cool to look back after she's born and see if any of it is true.

For some reason we were out of town when I went into labor. Not sure where we were, but as a result I ended up giving birth in a hospital. I still had a natural birth, but the actual moment of giving birth was blacked out in the dream. It flashed forward to me holding this gargantuan baby and begging people to tell me how much she weighed, so I could announce her arrival on Twitter (yes, I'm a nerd). They all seemed to think it was some hilarious joke to not tell me her weight and it pissed me off. She was huge though, had to be around 11 pounds. And she had quite a bit of reddish-blonde hair.

The weird part was that at first, I thought she was a boy and was calling her Daniel. Weird because that has never been a name we have considered. I told the boys to come meet their new brother. Then, it occurred to me - oh yeah, I was supposed to have a girl! I unwrapped her and pulled back her diaper and sure enough - all girl. I told DH, "Oh, it's _______ ______!" The name we have chosen for her, plus the middle name that I like and DH isn't crazy about. I told him that of course this means we have to use that name now, so there.

The dream ended with me nursing her and then her sleeping peacefully in my arms. She was so pretty and I got several good long looks at her face. It will be crazy to see if she actually looks like she did in my dream. And if she really has that much hair - I'm expecting a baldy.

Speaking of Little Miss, my brother officially moved out this weekend. Which means I have an empty room and can start the NURSERY! I got paint tonight and will probably get it on the walls this week. It'll be two-tone with the Rose Dust on the bottom and Cornmeal on top, separated by a white chair rail.

Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 10:35 PM 2 comments  

New Sister

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Finally, some estrogen in the house! Now Little Miss and I will have a feminine companion amongst all these boys. We'd been talking for awhile about getting a third cat, and I happened to be looking on Craigslist the other day and found the perfect candidate. Her name is Lulu and we brought her home yesterday. She is SO pretty and fits in perfectly with our boys.



Best of all, we got her completely FREE and her previous owner also gave us all her supplies. She is up to date on shots and a very healthy kitty.

The boys (all four of them) LOVE her. Zach and Julius have been following her around since she got here. They are dying to pay with her. Unfortunately, she wants NOTHING to do with them so far. I'm letting her camp out in my bedroom most of the time and will just bring her down every now and then for small doses of the boys until she gets used to her new surroundings.

The hilarious part is that Zach and Julius are now pacing the house, searching for her and howling like they lost their best friend. Poor girl isn't going to know what to do with all the attention.

Here's Zach and Julius meeting her and cornering her, trying to get her to play. Heh.

Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 9:26 AM 1 comments  

Break out the pink...

Monday, February 2, 2009

Because she's definitely a GIRL!







And my 17 week belly shot:

Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 12:25 PM 5 comments  

Tomorrow is the big day.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

I go for another anatomy scan tomorrow, and most importantly, the confirmation that this girly still has her girly bits. I really hope she hasn't grown any new appendages, because if she has, the baby boy will look pretty funny wearing all the bows I've been making. Who knew it would take a baby girl to get my crafty motivation back?



Oh yes. I'm not ashamed to admit that I plan to make her one to match every outfit. I've waited a looooong time to have a little babe that I can dress all frilly and dainty.

I already painted the plaque that will eventually be transformed into a bow holder as well. Yes, she has a name, and I doubt it will change because it took me way too long to painstakingly paint those letters to redo it. Sorry about the blur. It's still a secret! The 'A' is all you're getting.



Tune in tomorrow for a dangle vs. spout report, as well as more pictures of our sweet most likely girl.

Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 10:08 PM 3 comments