Quilts [or, All Hail Maternity Leave!]

Wow.  I'm getting stuff done!  Each time I bend down to pick a fruit loop off the floor without wincing is a joyful occasion.  Being pregnant is a beautiful miracle...but by the time the 3rd trimester reared it's ugly head, I was so over it.  I'm excited about being able to get out in the yard again; I've got some split-leaf philodendrons I'm itchin' to completely destroy.  I'm excited about quilting again - thanks to being able to crawl around on the floor to baste and stand-up-sit-down to iron.  Yeah, baby!  I'm back!  Here are a few pictures to let you in on what's been going on:

About a year and a half ago, I started on a stacked coin quilt and never finished it.  Why was it relegated to the bottom of the project pile for so long?  The ignoramus in me thought it would be cool to try out 1/4" straight-line quilting.  Picture many monotonous hours at the sewing machine.  Picture a really cruddy job of sandwiching the quilt, which evolved into a really bunched up backing.  Now, fast forward to about a week before O was born.  He needed a quilt, so I dusted this little Michael Miller/Amy Butler quilt off, finished quilting it [no matter the many flaws], bound it up in a nice complimentary blue, and deemed it suitable for my sweet boy.  I love that it's actually complete!  There's nothing like scratching a project off the To Do list, especially one that you thought you'd never get the gumption to finish.  And, I actually really love it, bunched up back and all.  All I've got is an extreme close-up; O was busy laying on it at the time.

Up Close and Personal

The following is a quilt for Miss P.  I never made her one when she came into this world and I figured it was about time.  The pattern is a fun freebie, courtesy of Elizabeth Hartman of Oh, Fransson! - a favorite quilting blog of mine.  She calls it the New Wave quilt, and I've got all sorts of fabrics that would do wonders with this pattern.  The fabrics in P's quilt were purchased as a quilt bundle from my go-to online fabric store, Fabricworm.  The owner does a really fabulous job of picking out fabrics from various designers that look amazing together.  She sells them as fat quarter or half-yard quilt bundles.  It's a lot of fun to browse the fabrics she's coordinated...and extremely hard to not buy something for a future project.  The New Wave quilt uses 12 fat quarters and some neutral sashing yardage.  I'll be quilting this puppy soon.  P will be ecstatic; the backing fabric is an ode to Owls, a Suzanne Ultman fabric.  

New Wave Quilt for Lil' Peezy

Suzanne Ultman Kiss Me, Hoot Hoot Spring

I had some extra fabric left over from the bundle, so I played around a bit with the scraps and came up with a wall hanging...or a really small quilt.  It's 40x40, and I used the Wonky Cross tutorial on the Oh, Fransson! page.  It was fun putting together, but I can't say that I'm loving the finished product.  I'm going to go ahead and quilt it anyway; maybe it'll charm me then.  

Impromptu Wall Hanging

That's all for now!  What have you been up to?

O is Here!

April 15, 2011

2:16 PM

9 pounds 12 ounces

20 1/2 inches

He's a sweet, handsome boy.

Quilt Progress and Some Extras

So glad that O is here!  I can't wait to meet him.  Here's his quilt - not quite finished. I just have to finish sewing the binding.

I made P a pillowcase to go with her quilt.  I used the tutorial here. 

And here is a pic of the monster H made for P.

P's 2nd Birthday

I saw your text about posting pictures of P's birthday at 2AM this morning.  Yes.   I do have to be at the hospital at 5AM this morning.  Yes.  I probably should be getting some rest.  Yes.  There are lots of things I could be doing that are more constructive, considering I'm a lady who is about to give birth in a few hours.  Obviously, though, I'm looking for a little distraction!

Little Miss P turned 2 this month!  S and I are, of course, in awe at how quickly she has grown.  She has gone from this...

Brand New P

...to this...

P in Pigtails

...in the proverbial blink of an eye.  She makes us laugh constantly, fills our hearts with so much joy, and absolutely refuses to go to bed without fighting until she succumbs to exhaustion.  Without a doubt, the favorite part of my day is picking this little ragamuffin up from daycare and seeing the smile that crosses her face when she notices I'm there.  I have to scoop my heart off the playground each time I see her little toddler-style run from the slides and into my arms.  [This is a great time to point out, considering the impending events of this day, that I am absolutely bewildered that I will be able to love another as much as I love this little girl.]

So, to the birthday details!  Being an avid reader of design blogs, such as Design Sponge and Ohdeedoh, I have been inundated with party theme and decor suggestions for kids.  And there are some truly wonderful ideas out there...for someone who is not 8 and a half months pregnant and mother of a child who would prefer not to be surrounded by tons of people.  So, there were no pom poms, letterpressed invitations, designer cookies, or water bottles with labels that coordinated with cupcake toppers.  For Little Peezy's 2nd, it was just me, the birthday girl, S, and a whole lot of fun.

We started the day out at KD's, our go-to 24-hour diner, for breakfast.  Her Maw Maw met us there.  Then, we headed to Jo's Party House to pick up a cake.  P was thrilled with the buttercream-frosted white cake with polka dots we picked out, and later insisted on eating as many dots off the cake as she could grab.  With cake in tow, we headed to Lock Park on Ryan Street.  She slid on slides and swung on swings to her heart's content.  After shaking the playground mulch out of our shoes, we found ourselves at the Seawall so she could hang with some of her favorite animals - ducks.  Of course, there was another playground involved...and a bit of a tantrum when it was time to leave.  After a nap, S fired up the grill and cooked hot dogs and hamburgers while P and Dexter, the golden retriever, ran around like wild things in the backyard.  She had a good day.  We had a good day...and it was all spur-of-the-moment, didn't-have-to-plan-a-thing fun.  Here are some pictures to prove it:

P and her Amazing Dad, aka My Amazing Husband

Hmm.  Looks Like Tiny Toddler Fingerprints in the Cake.

Pure Bliss on a Slide.  Ah, to be a Kid Again.

      
Mama and Daddy love you, P!