Using scissors instead of a rotary cutter...

well at least for the most part. This morning, Abby decided that 4 am was wake up and stay up time. So after a lot of struggle...daddy & I decided to go shopping and walking. So we did that and came home around 6 am. By this time Abby was asleep, daddy had to get ready for work and I had to fill out insurance paperwork. Not very fun. Then at 10 I had a chiropractor's appointment. So this morning was very busy. Since Abby decided mommy & daddy woke her up really early...she took another nap and I decided to work on a art quilt. I have a few people whom I would like to make something similar for at Christmas time so I wanted to practice. I took a picture I had of Rocky and turned it into my quilt.

I think it turned out cute. I figured too that it would be a go project to work on as I didn't need to use my rotary cutter and I was pretty tired. Here is Abby recovering from her lack of sleep....and right after this was taken we discovered that she had cut her finger. We are not sure how she did it...however, she must have wanted to be like momma. Luckily, we didn't need to get stitches. Though she is wearing a sock on her hand now.

Some Pretties...

Today, Abby and I went out for a few hours so that daddy could take a nap. Unbeknownst to momma...Abby did wake up last night....though mommy didn't. I was very excited this morning thinking she slept through the night. Well daddy quickly informed me that wasn't the case. So to be nice, we went to the Farmer's Market in Watkinsville and bought some yummy bread from my friend Vanessa.

Then we decided to go to the local quilt shop. I wasn't supposed to buy anything...however they were having 60% off and I picked up 2 magazines and some fabric. Well one of the mags had a tutorial on how to make pot holders and I have always wanted to do that....so before going to the 4th of July party...Abby and I made them.

They aren't perfect but they are pretty cute. Abby was sitting so nicely next to Rocky and right at the last stitch...I looked over and his claw was hanging out of her arm. She was more scared of me yelling at him then the actual scratch. Not sure what happened, but I think she tried pulling his tail or something.

Yikes....

Well...I made a decent skirt. Now I have ruined it. :) I accidentially cut it with my scissors yesterday when I was cutting some fabric. So I am going to add some fabric tomorrow and create a new hem on it.

To go with it...I used some of the same fabric to make a reversible purse. It was fun and a bit hard as it took me 3 or 4 tries to figure out what I needed to do to make it reversible. I finally did it. It isn't perfect but I think it turned out cute.

Tomorrow, a couple of the fabric stores has patterns on sale...I might take a peek...especially since I am not a skinny minny, none of the larger sizes are in the economy packs.

What else. Abby has a new summer hat. She looks adorable. She now knows the sound of the camera and stops what she is doing to pose.

Lastly, here is the other project I worked on yesterday. Homemade pretzels. They are yummy. Also, since Abby is eating more solids I have been making my own. We started off with some baked sweet potatoes. Then a banana, and the last couple of days she has been eating homemade applesauce. It hasn't been too hard as I am also trying to use the crock pot for stuff. Tomorrow, I am going to cook up some butternut squash.

Have a great day...

It finally happened...

A semi decent skirt for myself. Last night Abby fell asleep about 10 or so..then she kept waking up. Daddy grabbed her while he was doing some computer stuff and after finishing some cleaning I decided to work on it. It was about 11 pm when I started and midnight or so when I finished. Very quick & easy. I even tried french seams on the sides.
TFL...

PS....She only woke up once...at 4 pm last night. Yeah.


PS2...My friend Vanessa made some yummy bagels today. So I am now trying to make some homemade pretzels. We will see how they come out. My wrists hurt a bit right now from all the hand kneading.

Reversible Baby Skirt

I think I might actually make a tutorial out of this. I figured out on my own how to make a reversible skirt. It is very similar to the reversible dresses out there. However, figuring out the elastic took me a minute....or two.
I did a straight skirt which isn't the best idea as it doesn't give her any "walking" room. My main goal with making this skirt for her was trying to figure it out so that I could make one for myself. I will probably make mine more aline though.

By the way...I used 2 fat quarters to make the skirt. One side is pink and white the other side is black and white.

Sew Easy....

Maybe that isn't quite true. I figured this was a pattern I could try and make for myself. It is cute on the but not quite so on. I found an online tutorial...I will have to find the link later. It is very similar to pillowcase dresses for girls. I love though that she gave a really detailed description on how to plan out your template so it is customized.

I used a knit...which isn't super easy to sew. Plus my arms aren't in shape for this look. But I figured I would try it. Step by step...inch by inch. Soon I will be a better sewer. (I keep telling myself that.)

I used some premade binding for the sides and strap...I might use some on the bottom hem. But since I am not going to wear it outside and it is knit I might just leave it unhemmed.

Thanks for looking....

I finally did it...

Yeah! I finished my first quilt. I quilted and bound it today. I didn't do the best job in the world...shhhh!!! Don't tell anyone. However, it is done and I can finally say I did it. I will know now for the next one what to do.

Abby seems to enjoy it.

Quilt Time

This afternoon while Sheldon watched a movie and Abby kind of took a nap. I decided to work on the vintage quilt. I was originally going to create a 9 patch...then it turned into a 4 patch. Which it is kind of. I am going to make a second quilt using the left over pieces. It will be just a basic quilt.

They both will be baby/dolly blankets. I am hoping maybe tomorrow I will be able to quilt them and try my hand at binding.

Projects and their current status....

I thought perhaps if I laid out my projects and their current status...I might finish. (LOL)

Quilts
Abby's Quilt---Haven't touched it since class ended. I am afraid of ruining it. It needs to be quilted and bound.
Rubber Ducky Quilt--Front & back are pieced. Needs to be basted together..quilted and bound.
Vintage Quilt--In the starting process. Creating 4 patches. (3 have been completed.)

Blankets
Finished several
Christmas & First one for Abby, Plus, I made her a tag blanket and a rock n roll chic blanket. These are easier.

Clothes
Grandma and I finished her Easter dress before she left.
I just finished the pinafore dress that grandma and I cut out. Found out it was too small for Abby. Since her head is so big.
Finished 1 reversible dress for Abby. Need to finish the other one.
Bought fabric & pattern to make me a dress. LOL We will see how that comes out. I might make a skirt first.
Need to buy fabric and make dresses for Full Bloom's auction.

Any other projects....
Yes, I made 2 pillows.
Made a tea wallet.
Made a notebook cover.

Hmm....I have tons of quilt ideas and fabric for them. So we will see what happens. Completion is the name of the game right now.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my birthday....I am 36. WOW. I am feeling old. But at the same time it is fantastic and great. This is the best birthday ever. It is the first time I am a mommy and I have the best husband. What more can a girl ask for?

The last couple of days, I have been working on a reversible dress for Abigail. I am having quite a few problems with creating it and am being creative in finishing it. Once I figure it out 100% I am going to do a tutorial as it seems all the ones I have read seem to leave out a step.

However, here is my baby girl in her new outfit. It just fits her. Plus she is already reading Mothering Magazine. She is starting early.

We are home...

Hi

Abby and I are home from visiting cousin Leland and the rest of the gang. He is doing very well. I don't think he likes his shots very much but he is learning to adapt. I think right now it is harder on mom and dad then on him.

I do have to admit though...being around 3 kids for 3 days was way too much for me. Poor Carrie & Dave I was constantly shushing....I like my noise volume a bit lower. But I did try to get some one on one playtime with Caleb as Leland hung out mostly with mommy.

Little Abby watched and watched all the action...she had so much fun. (She is exhausted now.) Though she did get hit in the head twice...once with a remote and then with a ball. She was like what the heck happened. She doesn't get a lot of rowdy play like that at home.

I was supposed to orginally come home on Sunday but I left Saturday instead...I was exhausted too. Abby didn't sleep very well and was up about 4-5 times a night and not napping during the day. Daddy was very happy to see us. We went for a walk on Saturday and went to the library and out to dinner. Here is Abby and Daddy...he is already exhausted from having us back.

Abby in her sweet Easter dress (which is still too big) that grandma Susan and I made.

Then on Easter Sunday we ended up at Memorial Park for a walk. It was very nice and almost relaxing. Abby is off on her sleeping still, so we haven't been getting very much sleep. Plus we both came back with a bit of a cold virus.

Abby Pics & Sewing

Hi,

We decided to take a picture of Abby in her new Exersaucer...we bought it off of craigslist. It was really nice not to pay full price. Abby is still a little small for it but she really enjoys it for about 10 minutes at a time.

Today, I decided to finally try to make some pillowcases. I had 2 pillows that Sheldon and I bought when we went to Italy 2 years ago. They were just travel pillows so we were going to toss them. So this is what I came up with....

I am pretty excited. They came out pretty good. Sheldon said they look pretty professional. I made them so that they can open and be washed.

TFL

Grumpy Gertie...

Need I say anything more....

Grumpy Gertie and other yummies for Abby...

Grandma Susan has been working on a wonderful gift package for Abby. I sure how she appreciates all of this one day. I absolutely love and appreciate it. It was so fun opening up the box and seeing everything that was in there. Plus, I hope one day I can sew as well as she can.

She took a thrift store find doll and turned her into a priceless keepsake. I couldn't believe that she was the same doll. The outfit is a bit warm for our 80 degree weather right now...but I don't want to change her into another outfit. (Grandma even knitted the hat.) Plus she made a pinafore and a couple of other little pieces for her. So cute.

For Miss Abby she made her a pair of baby shoes. We had done a bunch of web hunting one day and grandma took back with her a bunch of patterns...and this is what we came up with. I don't know off the top of my head who created the original pattern. I will try to find out and post it here. I know that we found probably about 10 different patterns. The shoes are darling and they fit her....though Abby has her daddy's feet...short and wide.

She also included an Easter Bunny and a darling box filled with all of Grumpy Gerties clothes. We also found a few other dolls along the way and grandma will create outfits as she goes....One is Happy Hannah, and then 2 cabbage patch dolls...a boy and a girl. I cannot remember there names. If we are even luckier maybe grandma will write some stories to go....you can see that we came up with Grumpy Gertie at the same time we came up with Crabby Abby. We figure when she is older she will get a kick out of Grumpy Gertie but get upset with Crabby Abby.

First Quilting Class is over...

I am a bit bummed. However, I had a lot of fun. We were missing one of the women today as her daughter had a baby....so I think she was having even more fun than us.

I want to take a few more classes though most of them are offered during the day and Sheldon won't be able to watch the baby girl so I will have to see what else I can do.

As for my quilt...it isn't done. We worked on practice quilt tops so that we can figure out how to bind and quilt. That was nice. So this week I need to work on those 2. The binding will probably be the hardest part. I think I am really going to enjoy the quilting process.

Take care..

Jennie

PS...it was pretty funny. I had everything together and left for class. After getting there I realized that I forgot my sewing machine. Duh!!! I thought it was a bit easy getting out of the house this morning.

My first quilt....

Here is my quilt top so far from my class. The first picture was my original size that I was going to do. First it was supposed to be 6x8...then I decided to do 5x7 and it finally ended up being 5x5. (I figure I am going to be a small project girl...but that might change over time.) I know..there are tons of errors on it. But I figure for my first one it isn't too bad. I have a big oops in the top row but I figure Abby won't mind and I am definitely learning from my mistakes.

One of these days I will start putting more details into my blog posts. However, my brain is still mush right now. I think of tons of things to say but I am always exhausted when I try to type them.

On another note. We had a snow storm last night and received about a foot of snow. The power went out around 3 pm and we had to figure out what to do so that abby didn't freeze to death. Luckily the power came back on at midnight so we didn't have to worry too much. We just had her wrapped in her flannel blanket that my friend Vicky sent her.

Here is a picture of the snow.

Learning to Sew...

Hi,

It has been another long time in posting. I have been busy with Abby and learning to sew. I am currently taking a beginner quilting class. It is a lot of fun. However, I am not very good yet at getting my strips cut straight nor an accurate 1/4" seam. So we will see how my quilt comes out. Plus the other day I ended cutting myself with the cutter...ouch!!!

Even though it is off topic....(well to me she is always on topic). I thought I would include our newest picture of Abby. She loves her mobile.


To get in the sewing mood I made a journal cover for a crafting friend who won a contest I held. (I just have to mail it.)
Then I started working on some fabric ATCs. They were fun to make...though they used up a lot of thread. I am not done with them yet, but I have finished 2 so far.

Today I was looking at ways to organize my "sewing" room (no longer cardmaking room) and found a great way to fold the fabric. So I spent some time doing that today. Then this evening I figured I better work on my class project. I had a lot of homework which I didn't finish as I figured that spilling my iced tea meant it was time to stop.

My Life Now....

My hands are quite chapped as I get to wash bottles about 6 to 8 times every day. It has been only 6 weeks but I already don't want to see another bottle again for the rest of my life. :)

However, when I look at my baby girl...I figure it is all worth it. She definitely doesn't like sleeping by herself. She takes about an hour to an hour and a half to go to sleep if we have her by herself. If we hold her...it takes about 10 minutes.

Here Abby is getting her belly time. As you can tell she uses it as a chance to catch up on sleep. She will usually last about 5 minutes before she starts crying. She is already beginning to scoot forward...so we won't be able to leave her alone on the couch for long.

Sleep seems to be the theme of the day. Rocky is enjoying Abby's bed. We find that all 3 cats will sleep whereever she sleeps but only when she isn't there. I guess they want to feel special too.

Grandma Susan & Grandpa Chuck will be back this week. I haven't made any progress on the baby dress. So, I decided that I better do something and I have been wanting to make Abby a Christmas baby blanket. First I did a little tag handheld blanket and tomorrow I will make a stroller/carseat blanket. Hopefully, this will make up for my slacking on the dress. It is a lot harder than I thought it would be.

Thanks for reading and hope you have a wonderful Christmas.