finished projects

a dress for Ruby,

a sneak peek of a purse/diaper bag on it's way to Sarah,

and a baby doll that will be Ruby's only Christmas from us this year.

It feels so good to get something accomplished!
(I just noticed a color theme here...do you think I like the pink/red and blue combo?)

Grandma's 80th birthday quilt

I bought the fabric for this quilt last Thursday and started (with the help of Amanda - thanks!) on Saturday night. After many hours, until 2 am sometimes, I finished it this morning.

I knew it would be a lot of work, but my Grandma means a lot to me. I remember receiving blankets from her as a little girl and now she's making them for my kids. For that reason I knew I HAD to make her a quilt for this special occasion.

While not perfect, I hope it gives her some joy, knowing we all love her so much.

unbelievable!

Months ago I bought fabric on sale for this quilt. I thought I'd put it in my shop. But when I found out I was having a girl I hurried to make it and thought I'd keep it for myself because I love it so much! But then I had an idea. Why not put it on my shop for a ridiculously high price - much higher than any other baby quilt - and either way I would win with $ or a cute quilt.

I added it to my shop on Monday. It sold last night. Can you believe it?! For 145$, I might add! Who spends that much money on baby quilts?! Not that I'm accusing them. I'm pretty glad they did, especially since it cost me around $65 in materials and quilting only.

Anyhoo, now I'm a bit sad I didn't keep it, and Elton is sad since he really liked it, too (amazing!) But now I have some cash to get started on another one :)

what I've been up to lately

These past few months I have tried to squeeze in time for one of the things I love - crafting - and this is what I came up with. It happens to all be sewing, but one of these days I'll get to the scrapbooks, too! My super mom made us travel bags when we were kids, so I knew Sam needed one, too, for our long drive to California. Then I thought he ought to have a smaller version for waiting rooms, church, and such.

A little girl's apron.

I know I don't have one to wear it, but I thought it'd be fun to make. See the coordinating mom's apron.

Coordinating mother's apron. I love the colors and the flower. Sorry the lighting is so bad in these photos!

Little boy's pirate apron. I've looked and looked for cute, boyish things, and finally decided that I need to make them myself. This is one of the ideas I've been excited about. Do you think it needs a pirate guy or treasure chest???

Sam's bed quilt. It was my first try at machine quilting. I learned a couple things: use the spray adhesive for quilting and start in the middle. I messed it all up and just don't have the heart to start over after how many days this took. The next one will be better :)

Sam moved from the crib to a toddler bed and didn't have blankets large enough for the bed, so I made this. Now he's in a regular twin and this doesn't fit. I guess I just can't win!

Big view of our growth chart. I wanted it out of fabric so it could easily go from place to place and be taken down when they're older (but still could be pulled out to update it and see how they've grown).

Close-up view of our growth chart. I love the bright colors and lettering.

projects complete and I finally feel ready!

I bought this fabric for a blanket for Sam. But after making one out of other fabric, I thought I'd save this for the next kid (who knew it'd be so soon?!)The plan was just to put the cute farm on one side and the polka dot on the other. But after other recent quilting projects, I decided to piece the colors in. I love the farm fabric!
And now that I know John will be here for Christmas, he HAS to have a stocking, of course! :)

We don't have space for all 5 - any ideas?

And now that my stuff is done, I feel ready for baby to come...at least with the things he'll need. Who's ever really ready for what a new child brings?

Merry Christmas!

online class project

I was on one of my favorite sites (heidiswapp.com) and found out that there was an online class being offered for free at jessicasprague.com and it would take place the week Elton would be in New York. So I thought I'd sign up, not really knowing what I was getting myself into.

We made this book with TONS of story prompts to help me and my family record our experiences - past, present, and future. It really has gotten me excited to record my personal history as well as my little family's. And I might even change the way I scrapbook, too. :)

another quiet book

Yay! I finished one more quiet book for Sam. My RS church ladies group wanted to know what people wanted to do for a crafty Saturday together and I suggested a quiet book since I've been looking for one. This is what we did. It took a LOT longer than 1 Saturday, but it's done and I'm excited for the day Sam will be ready to use it without putting pieces in his mouth :)

one project down...many to go!

I've been looking for a quiet book for Sam. After looking all over, I decided it would be cheapest to make one myself. I know kids like pictures, so I made this ABC book up out of pictures from Sam's first 15 months. So far he enjoys it!

Yeah, I know I'm missing some pages, but I'm not quite smart enough for blogger. :) Does anyone know the trick to uploading multiple photos in the order you want? I'd like to be able to move pics around to change the order they appear on a post, but can't seem to be able to do that.

chair

Yeah, I completed a project and wanted to share. Elton had a couple old chairs, so I took this one and painted and stained it, then added daisies on the seat and back. Sitting out front, it collects some obvious dust on the black paint, but otherwise I love it! It was a fun project.

I also started some blocks that spell out "family". I just have some finishing touches, then will post that, too.

I'd take pictures of the new rooms, but they're not quite put back together again. Hopefully we'll have that done, then I'll show those pics.

A year-long project

Okay, this may have taken me a year to complete, but I have reasonable excuses! Like being pregnant, then having a new baby....at least it didn't take the 7 years my last quilt took :) I'm putting it on a quilt bar in the little room off my kitchen. I'm so excited!

"Maisie Garden" sign

When Maisie died we planted a garden in her honor, to remember the life she had. It is full of daisies that bloom at different times of the year. We love it! I've wanted to paint a sign to put in it for quite some time now and FINALLY did it this week, yay! This is it :)