Baby Quilt 3.0

Those of you who are long-time readers of the blog will know that I've been down the baby quilt road twice already for my brother's sons (first here and then here).  When Chris and I found out we were expecting our own little boy, I thought it was only appropriate that he get a quilt too.  Fortunately for me, Chris was more than excited to help out!

We decided to use a variety of animal prints and rainbow colors for the quilt.

As per usual, I decided on the most difficult and fabric-consuming pattern possible.  Anyone wanting to try a durnkards path pattern, it's not that hard, just make sure you use one that's actually reversible.  Unlike mine (notice awesome CAD drawing).

Once we had the pattern and the fabric, we cut out all the pieces (not pictured - awesome curved templates made out of beer boxes - always classy around here).  Then, Chris spent two nights pinning everything together while I was out of town for work.

I got everything sewed together; then, we worked through several layout options before settling on this one.

More sewing, and some piecing together for the back, because I never get the backing fabric quite big enough,

and we were ready for quilting.

We are both really happy with how everything turned out.  I'm sure you'll be seeing the quilt in action over the next few months and years!

(ignore my toes... just be glad there's no belly in the picture.  It was a challenge!)

Now, we just have to wait for our little William to make his grand entrance!

Camera Bag

I've been eyeing my friend Amy's camera bag for several months now and, when I saw the price tag on the "new and improved" version on the manufacturer's website, I decided I would just make one for myself.

Chris helped me pick out fabric that he would be willing to be seen holding and I got to work, measuring, cutting and sewing.  Nothing like trying to make something out a pattern...

In addition to plenty of padded removable panels on the inside, I also added two zippered pockets to the outside and made sure the handles were long enough to wear across your body - much more comfortable for all day carrying.

I finished it up just in time to give it a test-drive on our weekend getaway to Washington DC.  I think it was a hit!

Baby Quilt 2.0

Right up until the moment Holden was born and my brother finally revealed his real name, I referred to my newest little nephew as "2.0".  I found this much more entertaining than either my brother or his wife.  I suppose my vision of two little boys running around their house was funny to me and a little bit terrifying to them, so I'll forgive them for not laughing at my joke.

In what is now officially a tradition for my brother's kids, I finished up Holden's baby quilt today.  The construction of this quilt has taken the better part of the last four months because of my time in Atlanta.  It started out in the usual way, with a photo from the internet and an afternoon with CAD.

Then, came the shopping, cutting, and sewing.  

The good idea fairy said half square triangle blocks wouldn't be that hard... she's a liar.  I don't think a single block ended up square in the end - no thanks to seriously crooked fabric.  None-the-less, I managed to get all the blocks put together and arranged into this nifty pattern.

Only to have Jeeves (our robot vacuum) eat them for lunch one day when I forgot to close the door to the sitting room.

After some more arranging, and a three month cooling off period while went to Atlanta, I finally got the front pieced together.  Then, I made some super-cute little boat squares to help me make the backing fabric a little wider.  Nothing like having the quilt face end up 6" wider than you anticipated...

I stitched a message into the back (note to self - next time use 18pt font), quilted the front following the pattern and colors of the big diamonds on the front, then started on piecing together the binding.  

Now, I've never attempted to use real, big-girl quilt binding before.  You know, the bias cut kind.  And... now I know why.  What a pain.  I didn't have the option to roll over the edges like I did last time, but I will make sure I have that option on every quilt from here on out.

You're supposed to be all fancy and hand stitch it into place, but after the amount of folding and ironing that went into getting it ready to go, I wasn't really up for hand stitching.  Plus, a nice top stitch is sturdier.  And this quilt is going to a little boy.  Sturdy is good.

The finished product turned out great.  My favorite part is the little boat squares on the back.

Congratulations to my brother and sister-in-law, and welcome to the family Holden!!

Ugly Sweater

Chris's work Christmas party was yesterday, and, in accordance with holiday tradition, it included an ugly sweater contest.  My parents and I found a green beauty of a sweater at a local thrift store.  It came complete with old-lady perfume smell.  A quality find if I've ever seen one.  Chris and I spent about an hour on Tuesday night adding a snowman, a Christmas tree, jingle bells, and other assorted decorations to the already ugly sweater.

Chris wore our creation with pride through the streets of downtown San Antonio, earning lots of funny looks and one "Merry Christmas."  In the end, his over-the-top enthusiasm for the sweater pushed him past the other competitors and onto the winner's podium!

 He's a real looker, isn't he?

Pillow Making

Over the past couple of weeks Chris and I have been busy painting, unpacking, and generally trying to make our house look like we live here.  The room that has been our main focus so far is the master bedroom.  We always start our decorating efforts here because we want our space to feel complete and settled as quickly as possible.  We decided to vary our traditional green and white color scheme just a little bit in this house, so I went in search of some new pillows and window coverings!  Have I mentioned that I LOVE having actual stores to shop in?  After much searching, lots of purchasing, and a fair amount of returning, we still couldn't find just what we wanted.  Que the sewing machine!

I used a pillow cover that we purchased for the living room as my pattern,

found some fabric on sale at Joann fabrics (love that place), and went to work cutting, pinning, and sewing.

About 10 minutes later, we had the perfect new accent pillow for our room!

I'm excited to do some more sewing for our house in the days and weeks to come.  I'm also really excited for the arrival of our new duvet cover (someone ate a hole in our old one...).  Once the whole room is put together, I promise to post pictures of the before and after!

Baby Quilt

*If you are my little brother or his lovely wife… please stop reading now.  You can come back and read once my package gets to your house.  The rest of you, read on!*

My brother and sister-in-law welcomed their first child into the world earlier this week.  Archer is the first grandchild for my parents, so his arrival is a pretty big deal.  I decided that a handmade baby quilt was the perfect way to welcome Archer to the family.  I started looking for patterns online and came across a pattern I loved by Amy Butler.  She has loads of free patterns on her website.  Go check it out if you’re looking to make a quilt.  The pattern was for a queen size bed, so AutoCAD and I had a little fun re-sizing the quilt to baby-size.

My next challenge was ordering fabric online.  Thankfully, my mom did a little reconnaissance for me and found out where my sister-in-law had purchased her fabric for the nursery curtains.  The lovely Stitch Stash Diva helped me pick out the perfect fabrics for the quilt, then sent them my way!

Fabrics and a new rotary cutter blade in hand, I started cutting…

…and cutting some more.

Then, I sewed…

… and sewed…

… and sewed even more.  Finally, I had a stack of finished blocks. 

Now, I had to cut them into perfect squares.

Done! 

Next step – arranging the squares for the front of the quilt.

And more sewing…

and some more sewing (I used almost two spools of thread before all was said and done!).

Once the front was finished, I added the batting and the back and got to quilting. 

The rest of the quilt had gone pretty smoothly, but I am NOT good at quilting.  Ugh.

I had to take a break for a few days after I got the quilting done.  One, because my fingers were tired from all the pinning and sewing.  Two, because Archer hadn’t made his debut, and, therefore, I didn’t know his name yet!  As soon as he was born, I stitched a welcome message into the back of the quilt.

Then, I trimmed everything to fit.  There was a small casualty from the rotary blade – those things are razor sharp!  Yes Mom, I know it’s an actual razor.

Finally, I finished the edges of the quilt using the super-awesome-mother-approved method of rolling the edges.  Professional quilters… just ignore this part.

The finished quilts looks pretty good if I do say so myself.

I folded everything up and tied it with a cute bow. 

Now, I just have to wait patiently while I makes it’s way across the ocean and half a country.  I’m counting on my brother and his wife being too tired to check the blog before their package arrives.  Sorry if I spoiled the surprise guys.  I was excited to show everyone what I’ve been working on for the last two weeks!