Baby Shower Gift

This is nothing fancy, but I thought I would share because this ball is crazy! My friend Nicole just had her third boy and her shower was last night. I didn't know what to make for her and have wanted to try this pattern out for ages. It's in the "Last-Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts."

The author found a ball at an antique shop years ago, and made several attempts to recreate it. It's an interesting ball and the way it's put together is really cool. It's called a puzzle ball, and I'm hoping it will be a fun little toy for a new little boy! Seriously, I should get free stuff for promoting this book so much.

I forgot to mention that the sailboat quilt pattern also came from this book.

Boppy Cover

I tried to use my old Boppy cover to help make this, but it was seriously getting crazy. They make them all weird and the pillow is such a weird shape anyways, I was really intimidated. I googled and found a few websites where they mentioned a blog called Economical Baby. Sounds like a great blog, right? Sadly, it no longer exists. But then I stumbled upon Vanilla Joy and she actually had the downloaded tutorial from Economical Baby! The luck!

When my ordered fabric for the baby's room arrived, I thought I bought way too much. But I'm slowly using it all and don't really have all that much left. Luckily the valance is the last thing on my list. I'm sure I'll come up with other stuff later. Or my friends out there who might be having boys- be ready for blue and orange gifts!

I was going to make a boat applique for the Boppy, but decided Dale would appreciate a whale so much more! And I didn't make anything yet with a whale on it. I used some left over blue felt, and embroidered a cute little face on him.

Here's the back of the Boppy. I used a zipper that I bought in a giant bag of zippers at the second hand store. Man, I love shopping there!

FYI: If you're going to make a Boppy cover for yourself, this tutorial was great- not that it's all that complicated, but it's nice to have the pattern. The only thing I didn't like, was in Vanilla Joy's pictures, the cover seemed really REALLY baggy. The tutorial said to do a 1/4" inseam, but I did more like 3/4" and I still feel like it's baggy. So my suggestion is 3/4" and then trim the seam. Or you could just shrink the pattern down a bit to get the perfect size. I also used a 20" zipper and it was perfect; the tute says to use a 24".

More Baby Stuff!

Dale stole the camera this past weekend for his YM camping trip, so I'm sorry for the long delay (MOM!) in posting these up. I finished the quilt on Friday- just in time to hurry and scramble something together early Saturday morning for Father's Day (before Dale got home). Is it anyone else, or did that holiday just creep up on you? I'll try to post up some pictures of that soon, but I have yet to take any...

I just quilted it with horizontal lines, nothing too outrageous. I thought about changing directions in each piece, but decided to make my life a little easier. I quilted it with the coordinating colors- light blue, white, cream, brown, and dark blue and kept the bobbin thread cream. The backing is the orange and cream stripe. Thanks again, Bri, for the idea to do the binding on the bias. I just wasn't thinking!

I used some of the left over scraps from the quilt to make this little pillow. I used a lumbar pillow while sitting in the rocking chair, nursing Brighton, so I wanted to make a new one to match the rest of the room. Plus, pink and green flowers don't go very well with blue and orange.

These are some decorating items I've been picking up over the last few weeks. The boat I got at Goodwill, I think, for $1. The little frame was from one of Brighton's baby shower gifts (that I never had a place for until now!). The whale, of course, from my sister. The lighthouse I found at a garage sale for $1. Finally settling on a name, I got the "M" from Michael's for 50% off! I just found the bird at the dollar store yesterday. The bottle in the back is from Goodwill too, $1.

When I was at Michael's I saw some bottles with twine glued around them, on clearance for $10. I figured I could do that myself!

Here's everything all prettied up! I have two wooden shelves that we've had no where to put until now. We'll stick those up on the wall in Mason's room, with all these fun goodies! The boat and lighthouse have been painted- not professionally, but they'll do ok. The bottle has some twine glued around it and I decoupaged some of the orange stripe fabric to the "M." I'm thinking all I need now is a nice starfish and another big shell.

I'm officially in nesting mode. I've starting pulling out all the newborn baby stuff and am getting ready to go. Too bad I still have like 10 and a half weeks. Well, 9 and a half if we induce... :)

Quilt Along Update

I'm behind already... I've been working on stuff for little Mason's room and haven't been focusing too much time on making squares! I'll have plenty of work this weekend when I finally sit down and pump a few out. It's like day 58 or 60 or something like that. The above squares are #47-54. Not too far behind...

It's the Little Things That Really Count

Isn't it those little unimportant things that make all the difference anyway?

I've been tagged by my friend Megan. The game goes as follows:
* List Six Unimportant Things That Make You Happy
* Mention and link to the person who tagged you
* Tag six of your favorite bloggers to play along

Unimportant Things That Make Me Happy:

1.) I don't like text messaging. But I LOVE it when Dale will send me a random text every now and then telling me that he loves me.

2.) I love to sew, and on a great sewing day, I never have to pull out the seam ripper. Now THAT makes me happy. Also, not running out of bobbin thread in the middle of sewing and not noticing...

3.) When we're sitting down to eat dinner and Brighton starts singing "Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam" (well, just the "beam" part) with hand motions.

4.) A new pair of shoes. There's nothing quite like it, no matter how much they cost- $5 or $100- or how uncomfortable they may be. As long as they're cute.

5.) When Dale rubs my feet, and actually does a decent job. He's not that into rubbing, and usually zones out after 30 seconds.

6.) Drinking 2 or more liters of water a day. I feel good about it, and who doesn't like seeing that their pee is clear?

Now for 6 friends:
Brianne S.
Emily A.
Brittany G.
Laura G.
Jessica L.
Kim L.

Quilt Top

I did manage to get this bad boy finished yesterday. I honestly wasn't sure. It took me almost the entire day just to get all the pieces cut out. My goal for today is to get it basted, possibly some quilting done. But I do have a few quilt-along squares that I need to get done, so we'll see. So far I'm totally in love with it! I'm planning on binding, and backing, it with the orange stripe fabric and I hope that adds just enough to it. I have such a hard time visualizing quilts!

28 Weeks Pregnant

Officially kick started the third trimester yesterday. Twelve weeks to go, and I can't wait! Little Mason (we've decided... for now) is kicking me like crazy all day long, but mostly right as I lay down to go to sleep. Who knew it would actually get easier to fall asleep with someone kicking your bladder and practicing karate moves in your belly? But my sleep hasn't really started to suffer yet, which is always nice.

I had my glucose test last week and I'm not diabetic! Not that I was worried, but it's nice to know. I did learn that I'm anemic, so I have to take iron suppliments twice a day. But that's what happened last time with Brighton, so nothing really knew for me. And as of last week, I'm going to the doctor every two weeks. I seriously can't believe how fast this pregnancy is going.

I've gained a total of 17 pounds so far. That's a few pounds more than I had with Brighton at this time, but what are you gonna do? My scale, which has always been a good friend to me, has become my enemy in the last few weeks. We bought a scale that tells you your BMI. Not that BMI is always completely accurate, but it was a nice feature. It finally decided to tell me that I was overweight. I know, I'm pregnant and not fat, but I really question our purchase nowadays. And my thighs are officially touching- I can't wait to get this little guy out and get back to normal!

But at least I'm not as huge and uncomfortable as some of my friends and other ladies that I've seen. I saw one who was 26 weeks along, and she looked like she was ready to get to the hospital any second. Oh, and I wanted to share this: I saw a button on one of my friend's blogs that said, "I'm so crafty, I make people" with a little pregnant woman. Too cute. So maybe I can claim I'm "so" crafty, too, even when I haven't done anything "crafty."

Newcastle Picnic

We drove down to have a picnic dinner with our great friends, the Stephens. The park is right on the lake and they have a fun little playground that the girls enjoyed so much! This was their favorite- a sort of train and they could sit in here at a "table."

Brighton and Kaylin peeking out of the caboose.

Eric, guarding all our stuff. And it looks like he's digging in a little early...

After a wonderful dinner, Bri and I got the girls into their swimsuits and set up to start playing in the sand! Brighton had her shoes on at first, then got sand in them, and that was NO GOOD! I took them off and she was a little unsure for about 30 seconds, and then decided it was so much fun digging in her toes and the shovel. Kaylin, who is a "shoe-keeper-on-er" even took her shoes off to play in the sand. Way to go!

The girls had to switch buckets and shovels several times- couldn't decide which ones they wanted- but it was a fun time with the Stephens! The weather has been wonderful and Saturday evening was no exception. Thanks for having us visit!

Lack of Crafts

Not too much crafting going on this week. I've been busy CLEANING and ORGANIZING my craft room! While it's been functional, it has been no where near ideal for creativity. I thought about taking a before picture, but it would just be too embarrassing to share. Everyone thinks I'm so clean and organized; best not to ruin my reputation.

All of my stuff is now organized and put away in the closet. There's really nothing left in the room except for my desk and another Tupperware drawer thingy. Everything that you see on these shelves was in piles all over the room, on the floor. LITERALLY covering the floor. The room is so much nicer to go into now. And it's great to close the door on all my stuff and not have to look at it!

But I did get some of my squares done yesterday for my quilt along. I now have 46 done; 24 to go!

Helping Daddy Wash the Car

There's a HUGE inside joke with us and Dale's brother and his wife about making our children help wash the car. So we decided it's never too late to get started.

I remember being VERY little and helping my dad wash the car. It was one of my most favorite things to do with him. I loved the bubbles and the soap was pink- even better. I loved the smell of the hose water. My dad even let me use one of those special brushes for the tires. One of the best memories I have with my dad.

There's no way I'm letting Brighton miss out on those fun time and these great memories. And it's another excuse for her to wear her cute swimsuit.

Pay It Forward: Gift #3

This gift had to travel all the way to Utah! I hear they've received it FINALLY and am so excited to share it with you!

I've been friends with Scott for a long time. I remembered that his favorite hymn was "Families Can Be Together Forever" and his wife, Kristin, does their family blog, which is called "Our Familyz Forever." I figured that would be a great theme for my gift to them!

Kristen had some super great photos taken around Christmas time (I think!) and I loved this one. I actually want to get one with Dale, Brighton and I like it.

So, I did some tweaking in Picasa- made it black and white and increased both shadows and highlights. Then I painted that image onto a canvas! Pretty fun, I think. I'm definitely going to make something like this again.

Kristin, Scott, and Emily I'm glad to hear you enjoy your new gift!

Reminder: I haven't seen any blog news about other Pay It Forward gifts going out. Get your butts in gear! It's already June and you only have until the end of the year!

Baby Shower Gift

My friend Megan just had a little girl, and this morning was her baby shower. I've been DYING to show off these cute little things, so now I can!

Did I mention how in love I am with Alexander Henry's Apples + Pears? Because I am. I like how it's very NON-traditional for baby items. I made this little tag blanket for Aubrey to snuggle with and chew on when she gets a bit bigger.

And the other side of the blanket is this soft lamb's wool kind of fabric. I was going for some nice texture.

I also appliqued some of those pears and apples to a little onesie. And because no girl should ever be without ruffles falling off of her...

... here's the back! So fun. I used this tutorial. I'm sure I could have figured it out myself, but it's so nice to have some one tell you the measurements and give you the step by step.

Then I wrapped it all up in this little purse that Aubrey can use when she gets bigger. Thanks Bri for the tag blanket and bag inspiration!

Congrats Megan! I'm so excited that you have a little girl to be all girly with!

The Garden Is Sprouting!

Ok, Dale and I are NO experts when it comes to gardening. We know nothing about it, and just thought we'd kind of wing it this summer, see how it goes, and learn for next year. Dale is better than I am at keeping things green. I killed a potted cactus a few years ago, seriously, a cactus, and a house plant not too long ago.

We finally planted all the seeds last weekend (I know, but better late than never!). We didn't do any starters in the house. I was just lazy and didn't want cups all over the place and, again, we figured we'd just "learn by doing" this year. Here's some of the cucumber peeking out of the ground. I think I'm supposed to thin it out in a bit- I'll have to double check. But hey- it's growing! In our super crappy soil that's mostly rocks and clay- yay! We figured, if the strawberries can handle it, perhaps the veggies can too.

And, my family will LOVE this- here are my radishes! I say MY because Dale has already told me he's not going to eat them, ever. I guess it's just me and my family that love radishes. More for me! I know that I have to thin these little sprouts out soon.

Yay, they're alive! Maybe I have a green thumb hidden somewhere after all. I can't wait for more little green guys to peek out of the ground!

Brighton's Village Frock

I can't believe I forgot to share this with you earlier in the week! Again, that pile of WIPs is getting pounded into- I've had the fabric sitting on my desk with the pattern ever since Dale got it for me for my birthday.

I am IN LOVE with this pattern, and so grateful that I had my serger. It seriously looks so professional, at least to me. And Dale- the great husband that he is- paid me the awesome compliment that it looks like something you'd buy in a store! The pattern was VERY easy to follow with great illustrations and precise directions. I only wish that Brighton could fit into it now.

I worked every free moment I had last Friday and finished it up last Saturday, ready for her to wear it to church on Sunday. The smallest size on the pattern is a 2T, but this seemed like it would fit her. Nope. I've got a few more months to wait, as do you, to see her in it.

FYI- If you end up getting this pattern (link), add a few inches to the length of the dress if you don't want it to be too short. The designer of the pattern tends to like things short (as she puts it at the end of the instructions- I guess I should have read ahead) and the dress is the perfect length now- who knows what it will be like in a few months. I've got my fingers crossed it's not TOO short by then. But I guess it gives me plenty of time to make a matching set of bloomers?

Reusable Grocery Bags

I have a pile of things in my craft room that are "Works in Progress" (WIPs) and I'm starting to finally dig through it and get stuff done!

I've been wanting to make these bags for at least a year now, so I finally did it (thanks Bri, you motivated me after you made yours!). I used a fabric shower curtain that I bought at Target on clearance for $2. I got four bags out of it and still have some fabric left over- we'll see where it pops up. It's a lightweight canvas material, so it should hold up to use. Isn't it so fun!? The fun thing about these bags is they have a little pouch sewn to the inside, so you can fold these up and store them in your purse or glove box, or just tossed into your trunk. They're always handy!

I think they'll make grocery shopping fun again! And you can feel even better about using bags that you've made because they weren't made in a sweatshop (if you know the reference to that one, let me know; maybe you'll get a prize).

First Strawberries

We've got like 20 strawberry plants in the backyard. I love them, they're my favorite, and that's why we have so many. I've been checking them EVERY SINGLE DAY anticipating some wonderful goodness in my mouth. Yesterday afternoon, Brighton was so excited to help me pick the ripe ones. She carried them around in this little bowl and couldn't wait to dig in. She even started saying "strawberry" and running around laughing.

YUMMY!

Monday Sunshine!

Man, I am just lovin' this weather! Lots of sunshine and it's hot! Brighton and I are spending most afternoons outside, playing and having summer fun! Here's Brighton with her *new* outside toys!
We went garage sale hunting Saturday morning and picked up some great finds- Dale found old baseball cards, I got four embroidery books and 3 quilt pattern books, some fabric, new shoes for the little boy, some old dress shirts to alter into summer dresses for Brighton, a new shirt for me, an apron for B, these two riding cars, a plastic green bucket that I thought would be great for B to hawl around rocks, and a wooden lighthouse that I'm going to paint for the baby's room. I think that's it... but we only spent $26.50! I love garage sales. And B has no idea that these toys aren't new- I think that's what I love the most. Whenever I tell her we're going to go outside, she says, "outisde, cars" because she knows she gets to play with them!

I put out the sprinkler so the kids could cool off. Sawyer was looking a little hot and ran through a few times himself.

B loves the sprinkler!

She kept running back and forth, laughing and shreeking. It was such a fun afternoon!