Picnic Quilt

Here it is completed! Sorry it's a little wrinkled in these pictures it has already been used a bunch... and I hadn't had a chance to clean it when I had the opportunity to take the pictures

 I am SO happy with the way it turned out-- taking the pictures was the first time I saw the back laid out and I think I might like the back more than the front! It's just so yummy and simple! So the pattern, appliqué designs are all mine... but it is all super simple stuff

 I ended up hand quilting the hole thing in loopy swirls that come out of 3 of the bee's bums- it's random and funky stitching, I probably could have kept my stitches smaller but we've been using it and it hasn't been a problem yet

 I painted on the bees stripes- the bee's were impossible to find before and now they pop out at you.

 I added embroidered detailing to the flowers.. I could have gone for days doing this but I tried to keep it simple. I ended up machine stitching my binding on- so much faster and this quilt will be through the wash so much I figured it would hold together better that way.

 And just in case you were wondering 4 grown ups, a baby and a dog fit easily

 Micah enjoyed us all being together so much that he decided to sit up on his own for the first time while we were taking the photo below

 Then Grandpa let him ride Brinkley!

So much more to show you guys!

Quilt in Progress

Well one week became two... my bad

I thought I would share more of my planning process... I had been wanting to do something with bees so the picnic quilt seemed like the perfect place

Yes I did make the gargantuan quilt more complicated... and I kicked myself the whole time I did it but it just HAD to be done this way... 

Here's a peek  of the top. Mum and I spent a good two hours pinning it in place... the whole sandwiching process is my least favorite part- even over quilting- and misery loves company so mom helped and the guys entertained us... much more fun then doing it on my own! (oh Uber undid the safety pins for us...and dad watched Micah in addition to entertaining us I don't want to forget that part- very helpful)

As for the two weeks part things just got crazy busy around here - I did in fact finish the quilt completely on Thursday and about a hundred other things... so I will be back to play catch up and show you everything next week- promise!

elephant baby quilt and OCD-ness towards bobbins...

I have been having the urge to make a quilt so I finally gave in ---

It's baby quilt size 35"x24" 

And it's now in my shop.

Here's Micah modeling 

When Heather posted about needing bobbin storage it reminded me how unhappy I am with the mess of thread currently in my sewing box so I did some goggling and found this idea and decided to try it out

It's fantastic!

 I actually bought 3/8 tubing because they were out of 1/2 and to me the 5/8 looked too large. It was only $.38 per foot and out of the 1 foot I cut about 40 rings... super cheap and awesome... it's sad how happy this makes me!

I made a dress

With Mums help - of course! It was fun but I will never be a regular clothing sewer... way to many instructions, and I am fully aware this is a super simple pattern!

I LOVE it! It's made from Modern Meadow Herringbone by Joel Dewberry in Lake

Unfortunately I won't get much use out of it until next year since it's not nursing friendly 

But I have another one in the works that we altered to hopefully take care of that problem! Of course it has been in the same stage of incomplete for over a week now so who knows when I'll get around to finishing it!

Happy Birthday to me - To you! AKA the Stand Mixer Cover Tutorial

Please go here for the full tutorial

Color Book and Smelly fish

I finished Micah's Color Book. Which has been on my long term to do list forever -- it really wasn't in my plans to make it now but I had time to raid Mums scrap bags so it moved itself to the top of the list! Mum tried to show me paper piecing which is really cool... but I ended up trying to use too many different pieces and being new to the process I ended up being lazy and gave up.

Here's all of the pages before I put the book together

And here it is put together. It's turned out pretty large I think it's about 7x8" and somewhere between 2-3" thick.
I embroidered the front page for texture and hand stitched each page to the cover.
I LOVE the way the spine turned out!
The color names are freezer paper stenciled
And I tried to do something different and funky with each patchwork page
I also tried to have some sort of texture fabric on each page.

I am really happy with how it turned out... especially since I didn't start this with any sort of plan I just let it evolve as I worked on it.
So I realized yesterday that I hadn't shown you all this awesome hat Sherie knit. Micah has the coolest aunt!
I mean who doesn't need a fish eating their head?
I think the one above will go in his photo album!
And this one is Ubers favorite. He's not super steady in his bumbo seat yet his daddy's been working on it with him... don't worry he is heavily supervised when we put him in it - Micah not uber... though I do tend to supervise his dad too!

Closet Organization

Finally a completed craft project... of course the smaller easier one is mine!

I wanted a hamper and a way to separate different sized clothing in Micah's closet ... this is only one bar there is another bar above plus a drawer with larger sizes... I kept forgetting where the different sizes begun and ended which is really irritating when you are trying to get a sometimes fussy baby dressed... so after a few days of brain storming I came up with this solution

Wraps for the bars. I wanted to be able to read the sizes looking into the closet so the plastic sideways discs weren't going to cut it for me...plus I wanted to make mine... I am totally jazzed with the way that they turned out. I just did quick hand embroidered numbers and stole moms sewing machine (while she held Micah... see she helps with every project) to sew them up and used iron on Velcro. If anyone is interested I can do up a quick tutorial ... it may take me a few days... lol...
Next the hamper. I had made a quick drawing of my idea and had cut all the pieces out roughly to the size I wanted them and then threw the project at mum to complete ... which she was really nice about doing (not sure how long that is going to last! : P )... she of course made the whole thing even better. For some reason she is not super happy with it and told me I could blog it... Personally I think its fantastic and I wanted you all to see what an awesome job she did with someone else's half baked idea.

So I have ONE more thing to complete and then the nursery is done (for now). Ubers parents are here tomorrow so I am am hoping to steal some crafting time this next week while they spend quality time with Micah. I really can't wait to show you the completed project!

Now for some gratuitous baby shots-
Micah visiting his Dad at work!
Micah with his amazing grandparents -can't wait to show you some pictures of him with his other set of equally amazing grandparents ; )
And AGH! Uber clean wrapped in a towel Micah! How stinking cute is this towel?

Alright I am off to chew on my baby!

Because, who doesn't need a stump?

To read about this project go here.

Thundercats

Remember Ubers cousin James and his wife Ashley? You've seen them a few times before on my blog most recently from our Memorial Day weekend trip. What I don't think I've told you yet is that they are also expecting their first baby in January- we found out in May when we visited them but we were sworn to secrecy... BUT not only can I tell you they are expecting I can also tell you that they are also having a BOY!!!! How exciting is that? Uber and I are stoked that Baby MAC will have a cousin (2nd cousin?!) so close in age!

So notice the awesome Thundercats shirt James is sporting in the picture above... it got LOTS of attention on our day trip into Atlanta from all sorts of different grown men. (I should add here I didn't know and still don't really what the Thundercats are all about) ANYWAY I was brainstorming something fun to send up to them and thought it would be awesome to make the boys matching Thundercats onesies...
Yeah I am pretty thrilled with the outcome! And Uber is totally stoked about it so I'm pretty sure James will love it to!
Something else a little crafty... With Mums expert help I was able to make a bunch of double sided fleece washclothes for the baby I love having someone around who is willing to read the manual on your sewing machine and tell you how to do things.
20 washclothes for less than $5 ... can't beat that!

Lots more baby stuff to come! I know you are SO excited!