Finished!

It took me just a little longer than I had hoped, but who cares! I finished my quilt, and am very happy with it.

It is far from perfect but I love it regardless. Making this quilt taught me so much and definitely makes me excited to tackle another project like this one.The basting was where things went a little funny. I basted, but didn't do a good enough job. I ended up having to take a whole bunch of quilted lines out. Then I took apart the layers, and decided to spray baste it instead. It worked like a charm (with my husbands help:).

I did make the mistake after my first basting attempt of trimming the edges before the quilting. When I spray basted, it was hard, and almost impossible to line up the front and back properly. So the back is a little crooked. Also, the quilt turned out just a tiny bit smaller because I had to 're-trim' the whole thing.

My binding is very skinny, because my seam allowance was way off. I wasn't paying attention. I guess things like that shouldn't be done after midnight...

This made for not very nice looking corners, but I don't care. It is finished, and I am happy with it.

Maybe sometime down the road if the binding really bugs me, I'll take it off and replace it. We'll see!

I am going on holidays next week, and I am sorely tempted to start this.

It looks like something horribly addicting. But it is a project with small pieces, which would be nice for using scraps, and for taking along.

I might be doing some cutting tonight!

Something Finished

The quilt is coming along, finally. I have half of it quilted, and hope to have it completely quilted by the middle of this week, and maybe even have the binding on by the end of this week.

I needed a break though!

I really wanted to make something quick and simple, so I ended up making a Sweet Little Dress (which I have made probably more than 300 times by now, so it doesn't take me very long anymore!).

I have this thing though with diapers showing under dresses. For some reason I just can't get myself to put a dress on my daughter without covering up the diaper (unless it is a cloth diaper, because they don't look like a diaper, they just look cute!).

So I decided to make some bloomers. I used a pattern from Amy Butler's 'Little Stitches for Little Ones'. It was really easy to make these. I did pre-press the hems and the elastic casings (before I do any sewing), as I find it comes together much easier and faster when I do this.

I made the dress size 6-9 months, and it was a little big, and the bloomers were 6-9 months as well, and they are on the small side. They fit fine, I'm just not sure if they'll still fit fine next week ;) Next time I think I will go up a size.

It came together in one evening, and it was a lot of fun. I just love this fabric!!

Girly fabrics

I don't know how long I've drooled over girly fabrics. I just never dared to buy them. I think it was mostly because I would want to keep them to make something for 'the-girl-we-might-someday-have'. And what if we would be blessed with just boys? Then all that beautiful girly fabric would just sit there unused...

But...the girl did come along, and so did the girly fabric. Today actually...in the mailbox!

Summer Song from My Minds Eye, for Riley Blake. I loved this line from the first time I saw it. These are the Orange and the Green fat Quarters, and the Pink is still on it's way to my mailbox.

I also finished my first Rag-quilt, but did kind of a half job. The next one will be better, but here is a picture anyways:

Quick!!

My daughter Stella is almost 4 months old. She is suddenly really starting to get into 'blankies'. You know, an (often) flannel receiving blanket that gets dragged along on every trip, and if it isn't available at bedtime, bedtime simply isn't going to happen.

Both our boys were very attached to theirs. Our 5 year old Benjamin still has his, although he can do without if he needs to. His is falling apart at all corners, and I have repeatedly snipped pieces off of it, and then just tied a big knot in the corner. But I am not allowed to throw it out. I can see it being stored somewhere and him sneaking in the closet, just for a 'smell'.

I loved Benjamin's blankie. Lucas' not so much. It was just to big to be taken along, and it was a very dark colour blue with a black trim. Just not my favourite.

So...now, before Stella latches on to one of my ugly boring receiving blankets, I am working on making a rag quilt 'blankie' (actually two) in fun happy colours.

I am making two, so we will hopefully won't be faced with a lost blankie, and also just because I couldn't pick between the two colours.

I loved the flowers and gingham fabrics in blue and green, but I liked it in girly colours too. So here we are. Two bright colour combinations. After all...babies love brights, and so do I!

Squares are cut, ready to be made into 2 'blankies' tonight. No other receiving blanket will stand a chance!

Motivate Me

I am having a hard time. Mostly to be motivated to do housework.

It seems like I have all the energy in the world at 10 PM. I do a few things (like put away laundry, tidy up some rooms, work on my projects) but then bed time comes to soon.

I always feel like tomorrow will be a great day to get things done, but by the time tomorrow comes, I feel drained of all of that energy.

I look at the things that need doing, and I look away. It is kindof that 'out of sight out of mind' thing that is going on here...

I needed to bake some cookies, as I am getting company tomorrow.

My first batch came out perfect. The boys each tried some, I had 8 cookies left of the first batch.

My second batch didn't cook that well. They came out thin and not done enough, so when I went to take them off the sheet, they all crumbled apart. Seriously...all of them!

My last batch...yeah, uhm... here it is:

These are NOT chocolate cookies. They are NOT supposed to be this brown. Ahem...

(excuse the side-ways picture, I currently don't have a way of turning it)

Hey, I still have 8 cookies left. That should cover for tomorrow!

My biggest next project, is to redo our computer room. Right now, it has a computer on a desk, a piano, and a whole lot of junk in that room.

The desktop pc is supposed to go downstairs into our basement, not to be used regularly anymore. I always use my macbook, and my husband just got a laptop as well. No need for the ugly beast that never works anymore.

I love my piano, but this is what it looks like, almost all the time:

All this stuff just doesn't do the piano justice, and the room is awfully messy.

I get to fiddle with this room and if it works, it might turn into a sewing room...I just don't know if I can keep a sewing room neat enough for it to be on the main floor.

Here are some things that made me happy today...

For some reason little shoes (of any kind) always make me happy. These are for my daughter. They were hugely on sale and I couldn't resist. They are still way to big for her, but I still like to look at them :)

I just finally finished pre-washing my new diapers that I bought. I love the look of cute fabric diapers in rainbow colours! Silly...I know.

And my daughters soft flannel quilt that she got from a friend of mine, I love it! And it looks like it was made for our playpen, but it was most definitely a coincidence!

And this...

This makes me both happy and really scared!!

I basted this, my first real, big quilt.

Now the next step, really scares me: quilting it.

I haven't ever done any free motion quilting, so I am staying away from that. I tried my first line of straight line quilting the other day, but it just didn't go that nicely. It pulled/distorted the fabrics a bit, so I took it out. Now, I am scared to start again.

But I will. Tonight. Hopefully.