Baby Safari Quilt Finished!

Sorry it's been so long... again! I've been busy with our new baby and I'm still in the healing process, but feeling much better. I returned to my sewing machine a couple of weeks ago, and finished a quilt I had started before my baby girl was born!

This is another quilt for my nephew-to-be who will likely be born later this month. My sister liked the Baby Safari fabric collection by Carina Gardner, since she's decorating the baby's room in an elephant/safari theme. I did a simple design using 2-1/2" strips and 4-1/2" squares. I chose the more boyish/gender neutral colors of the collection. I really love the colors! I did my usual meandering quilt design all over.  

I kept the back simple, using just the green tonal safari animals print. In my stash, I had some brown fabric with blue and green polka dots on it that I used for the binding. The quilt measures approximately 40" square... a nice size for tummy time! 

Since I was still a little sore, I had a little help with this quilt for the basting process. My wonderful mom came over and helped me crawl all over the floor and pin the quilt sandwich together. Because of her, I was able to finish this quilt just in time for my sister's baby shower. Thanks, Mom! :)

Up next... Halloween costumes! 

Baby Safari Quilt Finished!

New Baby!

Hello all! I've been away for awhile. Busy with this: 

Our baby girl, Anna Mei was born on August 30th at 1:24pm, weighing 7lbs, 1oz. I know I'm probably biased, but she is so beautiful! :) We are so in love! I feel like my family is finally complete, and I feel so blessed to have been given the sweetest boy and the sweetest girl! My husband has been so wonderful, helping to take care of all of us! My recovery will be a long and painful one, but totally worth it! I am so completely happy! No amount of pain can stop that! Big brother was unsure of his little sister at first. He said he was scared because her eyes were closed. LOL! But, he warmed up to her fast, and now he is in love like all the rest of us! He is so sweet with her and is a big helper too! I just LOVE my kids! :)

Needless to say, I won't be around very much over the next couple of weeks. We'll be busy getting to know our new baby girl, and having fun as a family of four. I plan on posting more when I get back to my sewing machine. As of now, I'm just waiting for these other "stitches" to heal enough for me to get back to some normal activities. 

Hope you all are having a great week! 

New Baby!

D-Day!

Hi, all! Sorry its been so long since I've posted anything. We've been very busy getting things organized, cleaned, etc., for baby girl's arrival. I will update with pics once I have a chance again. Today we are off to the hospital to have our baby girl via c-section, or as I like to call it, "baby-ectomy". ;) Hoping and praying everything goes well this time... would really love it if it goes better than last time. Either way, I'm planning on a long recovery and some quality time with my first daughter, and enjoying time as a family of FOUR! :) I'm really looking forward to seeing my son's reaction when he meets his baby sister for the first time. I have a feeling he will be a super sweet big brother, and I hope that the two of them have a fantastic relationship throughout the years. My husband has been a super big help to me throughout this pregnancy, but especially in the last few weeks, as he has been "nesting" much more than I've been able to. I know he will be a much bigger help after the surgery too, mostly because he has no choice in the matter. He rarely complains though, and I feel so blessed to have him in my life! If you have some time, a little prayer would be much appreciated, as I am very nervous about the big day. Thanks also for your patience, as I know it will probably be a while before I can post anything again. 

Have a great week, everyone! :)

D-Day!

Botany Quilt Finished!

I just finished the final touches on this quilt yesterday. I had the quilt top done since last year, but just now got to completing it. :/  I'm glad I'm getting things done, though. :)

I finished this quilt top last September (gasp!), as part of a quilt along that I joined in. Here's my previous post about it. I used the Botany fabric collection by Lauren and Jessi Jung for Moda. The quilt top was made using one jelly roll. 

I love the colors in this collection! I did my usual meandering stipple all-over quilting, using a gold-ish-brown thread. 

I kept the back simple, using the yellow fabric from the collection. 

I had some brown fabric on hand that I decided to use for the binding. 

 And, I added a little hand-stitching of the year and my initials. 

This quilt is going to some family members that have had a rough time recently. I'm hoping it will brighten their days a little. :)

Botany Quilt Finished!

Rain Gutter Bookshelves

I found this idea online, and thought it was perfect for us! We are always looking for great ideas that will save us some money, and this is by far one of the least expensive ways to install some bookshelves in a child's room! I think it cost us a total of $8 total! I definitely scored some brownie points with the hubby for being so frugal! :) Here's the tutorial we followed. And here's how ours turned out: 

My husband also recently painted our son's "Big Boy Room", and installed a new fan. We opted for a modern looking grey for the walls. I think it pairs nicely with the blue furniture in his room. I'll try to get some pics of the entire room soon. Still need to add some prints and decorations on the walls. I'm thinking we'll also add some more bookshelves as our son gets a little taller. ;) 

Rain Gutter Bookshelves

Lemon-Blueberry Muffins

Wow! It's been a while since I've posted a recipe on here. But, these muffins are definitely worth mentioning. I actually found a recipe online for lemon-blueberry bread, modified it a little bit (as usual), and made these delicious muffins! Lemon and any kind of berry make a really delicious combination, in my opinion, and everyone loves blueberries, right? Anyways, here's my modified recipe: 

Lemon-Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients:

1/3 cup melted butter, cooled to room temp

1 cup sugar

3 tbsp lemon juice (about 2 lemons)

2 eggs

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used whole-wheat flour)

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup sour cream

2 tbsp grated lemon zest

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a muffin tin, or line with paper cups.

In a mixer, beat together butter, sugar, lemon juice, eggs, and sour cream. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add dry ingredients to the egg mixture until combined. Fold in lemon zest and blueberries. Pour batter into prepared muffin tin. 

Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of muffins comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove and cool on racks completely... or enjoy hot! Yum! :)

Lemon-Blueberry Muffins

Going in Circles Quilt finished!

Well, I've finished the 4th and final quilt for my son... at least until he's older and decides he's into something besides robots, bugs, or transportation. ;)

Here's his "Going in Circles" quilt. I used Ann Kelle's super cute fabric collection, Ready, Set, Go!, along with some other fabrics I had on hand. I had seen this circle-in-a-square pattern in a magazine a while back, and I knew that I wanted to do it someday. I felt this fabric collection was perfect for it! The Easy Circle Cut ruler really made cutting circles much easier! 

I had to wash this right after I finished it, because I love the way the edges of the circles fray in the wash. It looks so cozy and soft! :) I did minimal quilting on this quilt, since I wanted it to stay a little softer. I just did some straight lines 1/4" along the horizontal seams. 

The only part I'm not super happy about is the back. I obviously still have a problem lining up my backs correctly with my fronts. :/  I used some Riley Blake Cheery Circles in green, along with a few leftover blocks to continue the circle theme from the front.

For the binding, I used Ann Kelle's Remix in Bermuda. The colors matched perfectly, and I love the stripes! 

My son is excited to have another quilt to swap out when he's feeling in the mood for a new theme! ;)

Going in Circles Quilt finished!

Very Busy Bugs Quilt Finished!

 I finished my son's Eric Carle quilt yesterday!

 I've decided to call it the "Very Busy Bugs" Quilt. :)

Using the panel, and some fat quarters from the Very Series collection, I made alternating modified large log cabin blocks. The "middle" square is a half-square triangle. My first time using triangles... but probably not my last. I really want to be brave and try a quilt using half-square triangles... someday. 

For the back, I used some leftovers from the collection in a strip between some Kona white. 

I was able to quilt this in half a day, and bind it in a day. I used the Eric Carle dots for the binding, which I love! It was nice to be able to put my swollen feet up and do some hand sewing yesterday. After I took these pics, I added "2011" hand stitched on the back. I'm excited to have this quilt in my son's room, along with all his Eric Carle books. We also have some posters that I'd like to frame and hang on the walls, after they're painted (hubby's job), as well as Eric Carle stuffed animals from Kohl's Cares collections. I'm excited to get everything done and post some pics of my son's new room!

I'm waiting on fabric for some other quilts, but in the meantime, I will be cutting fabric for future quilts... or working on either the baby's room or my son's big boy room some more. :)

Very Busy Bugs Quilt Finished!

Robot Quilt Finished!

Yesterday, I finished my son's robot quilt! 

It actually took me about half a day to quilt it, which means, either my fancy machine is super awesome, or I'm getting faster at quilting. Maybe both? I did my usual meandering stipple all over. I wasn't very excited about this quilt, since it is such a simple patchwork design, as well as a little bit busy, but I think the binding makes it look better. 

I used a bunch of robot fabrics from Kokka and Alexander Henry, as well as some grey solid. Since I felt there wasn't enough red in the quilt, I used some Riley Blake circles in red for the binding. 

I used more solid grey on the back of the quilt with an added block using robot scraps. 

I also added a bit of hand-stitching... just the year, so we remember when it was completed. :)

I also finished basting the Eric Carle quilt, so I should be finishing that one up soon too. Yay! I love getting things done! 

Robot Quilt Finished!

Busy... and Works In Progress...

So... here's what I've been working on this week...

I have finished three quilt tops for my son. I figure, instead of going with a theme for his "Big Boy" room, we will just swap things around every once in a while. Here is the Eric Carle quilt top that I finished for him using The Very Series collection of fabrics. One thing I tried different in this quilt... do you see my triangles? ;) I have a whopping two half-square triangles in this quilt. I am getting braver... 

Patchwork robot quilt. I'm not super excited about this one. I think it's a little too busy, and maybe I should have used more solids mixed with the robot fabrics. My son loves it, so I guess that's all that matters, right?

I'm calling this one "Going In Circles". I used the super cute Ready, Set, Go! fabric collection by Ann Kelle, mixed with some orange, yellow and white fabrics that I had on hand. I've been wanting to try one of these circle quilts for a while, and I think this fabric is perfect for it! I think I'm most excited about finishing this one up. :)

I actually made curtains for my sister's nursery using this fabric (It's a Jungle Out There, by Hoffman fabrics), and since I had leftovers, I thought I'd use them to make this nursing pillow cover. Here is some good info on how to make curtains (super easy), and here is a good tutorial for a nursing pillow cover. 

I also made some PJs and a matching burp cloth for my nephew-to-be. Found this cute flannel fabric in the selvedge section at Joann's. Can you tell what my huge mistake was on the pants? 

Duh... I cut the fabric upside-down! Oops! :/

I also made some car seat coolers for my nieces at my mom's request. I have one niece who loves giraffes, and one niece who loves horses. So, I chose fabric that suited them. :) Now to load them with ice packs!

That's it, for now. I will be working on quilt backs this week, and I hope to start quilting on at least one quilt. My son requested the robot quilt to be finished first. Not sure how much I can get done before baby #2 arrives, but I'm gonna do the best I can! :)

Busy... and Works In Progress...

New Ideas...

I've been busy making quilt tops for my son. I've decided instead of having a theme in his "Big Boy" room, we will just change things around every once in a while. Luckily, he's just like his Mama, and loves a lot of different things. So far, I have an Eric Carle quilt top done, and a robot themed quilt in progress. I also plan on making a transportation quilt using Ann Kelle's super cute Ready, Set, Go fabric collection. 

So, I had some little scraps left over from his Eric Carle quilt, and I couldn't see wasting the cute little bugs. Here's what I did instead... 

I just made some super easy applique onesies, using The Very Busy Spider, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and the Very Lonely Firefly. I used my fancy schmancy Viking sewing machine to make some letters on a separate piece of fabric, and left it shabby, so the edges will fray a little bit in the wash. Underneath the spider, I put "I'm Busy"... the caterpillar, I put "I'm Hungry"... and since I thought it was too sad to say "I'm Lonely" under the firefly, I opted to sew "Wide Awake" instead. These onesies will be another little gift for our nephew due this fall. 

I also made a caterpillar onesie for our baby girl... due in 2 months! I can't believe we are going to meet her soon! :)

I've been busy getting things cleaned up, and getting the baby's room together. Hopefully I'll have a couple more finished projects to show you all soon! Have a great weekend!

New Ideas...

A Baby "I Spy" Quilt...

I finished another quilt this weekend!

This one is a baby-sized "I Spy" Quilt for my new nephew... due this fall. I started this before I knew if my sister would be having a boy or a girl, so I used mostly primary colors, or semi-gender-neutral colors. I decided on a stacked coins design for the middle, using 3" by 5" rectangles, alternating solids with prints, with some white sashing in between. This is a great way to use up scraps too! :)

To make the quilt more square, I used some green fabric for borders on the tops and sides. I decided on a brown with polka dots fabric for the binding, and added some ribbons for "tags" as I was sewing on the binding. I did a simple quilt design of wavy lines, and added some hand-stitched letters at the top with the words, "I Spy...". 

I left the back a simple piece of fabric I had on hand... white with yellow and green dots. In the bottom right corner of the quilt, I hand-stitched "2011". I've decided that it will be a good idea to somehow tag the year the quilt is made on all my quilts from now on. :)

I am working on some quilts for my son now, so more pics soon, I hope! 

A Baby "I Spy" Quilt...

Quilt for Craft Hope Finish

I finally finished my quilt for Craft Hope Project 13 on Monday. I don't know why it took me so long. I guess life just got kinda busy. I sent this out yesterday, as well as the bracelets from Project 12. 

I am pretty happy with how it turned out. I love that it was so simple to put together, and I love the rainbow colors. It would be a great quilt for a kids room! I think I'll have to make a similar one for us to keep here. :) I did simple straight quilting just along the 1/4" seams of the blocks.

I used Anne Kelle's Remix fabric in the Bermuda Zig Zag color. I love how that turned out too! It was the perfect rainbow-y choice for this quilt! I hope that this quilt puts a smile on the face of someone affected by those nasty tornadoes in the South. 

I'll be working on a few projects this week. Some Father's Day gifts for my family, and a few more quilts. Also trying to get things in order before baby #2 gets here. :) 

Quilt for Craft Hope Finish

Craft Hope Projects 12 and 13

Here are my works in progress for two Craft Hope projects going on right now. Click on the button above to learn more about Craft Hope, and to join in! :) The deadline for both these projects is June 15th.

Here's a pile of bracelets my friends and I made at my baby shower. I am so grateful to everyone for helping me make some bracelets for Craft Hope Project 12. These will be going to some orphaned kids in Russia, and hopefully put a smile on their little faces. During times that I need to put my feet up for a while, I might try to make some more using some leftover embroidery floss. 

I just finished this quilt top today for Craft Hope Project 13. A simple pattern using some fat quarters. I wanted rainbow colors, and I was so glad to have found all the colors I wanted in my stash. I am extremely lacking in purples for some reason. I will probably finish this quilt this week sometime. I'm planning on a simple solid back, and simple quilting. I'm also hoping to make at least one more to send out... we shall see. :) These quilts will be going to the tornado survivors in the Southeastern US. 

I'm also working on another quilt, but I can't post anything about it yet, as it will be a gift. ;)

Hope your week is going well! 

Craft Hope Projects 12 and 13