Quilting Update

I finished piecing Nathan's toddler bed quilt a while ago, but ran into a couple snags when trying to top stitch it.  I confess top stitching is the part I enjoy the least, so after a couple machine mishaps I'm taking a break from this quilt until I get the inspiration to finish it up.  Luckily, there's no rush.  We're more than happy with Nathan in the crib.

In the meantime, I remembered that I had Halloween material at the very bottom of my pile.  I bought it on clearance a couple of years ago and never did anything with it.  In an effort to lower the material stash that is slowly taking over my closet, I thought I would make some type of wall hanging with it.  I think that will be this week's project since Halloween is only a couple of weeks away.

Next Project on the Horizon

I've had this fabric since before Nathan was born.  I originally was going to make a quilt for the crib, but quickly realized that's pointless for a newborn in the middle of the summer, so I decided to use it as a quilt for his toddler bed.  Luckily for me animals are just about Nathan's favorite thing on this planet, so I chose well without even knowing it at the time- not only that, but it matches his room perfectly.  I was looking for another project to do and even though he's NO where ready for a toddler bed (I'm hanging onto the crib as long as its humanly possible to keep him confined in there), I thought I would be proactive for once and start a project before I actually needed it - what a novel concept.  The other reason I chose to do this quilt is because Joel was complaining that every time I make a quilt I give it away.  In fact, there's actually only one quilt in this house that I've made and that's Nathan's baby quilt.  I've given away all of my other creations (with the exception of the pillow I just made).  For some reason I think it's more fun that way, but I'm appeasing my husband and making something that I will eventually need anyway.  It's a win win situation. 

Believe it or not - I'm not much of a patterns girl.  I actually would say the majority of my quilting ideas have come from this blocks book my mom gave me a while back.  I did one or two with a pattern when I was first learning and since then most of my quilts are put together by looking through this block book for a little inspiration. 

I think Nathan's quilt is going to use this one as its main block - maybe with a border.  It's nothing too fancy, but different than most of my other ones, so we'll see how I like it.  Let the fun begin.

Preparedness

With my pillow done in one evening I was looking for another project this week, so I'm putting together our 72-hour kit.  About a month ago I stumbled upon the coolest Blog of two sisters that break down preparedness into baby steps so that it's manageable and practical for your family.  You can sign up for their checklists and every other week for a year you'll get an email with the "next step."    
I'm in the middle of the 1st step- they send you an Excel spreadsheet to organize your Emergency Plans/Contacts  & guidelines for putting together 72-hour kits in case of a natural disaster/emergency.  I wanted to get this done before the inevitable ice storm in the winter.  Since our family has grown since I last put one together 2 years ago, it looks like it's going to be 2 tubs this time.  I need to add the diapers & wipes. :)
They also have products, food storage recipes and the works on the blog, so it's a really useful resource.  Seriously, check it out..... Food Storage Made Easy

Pillow Project

Amy's Creative Side had another "One Thing" Challenge this week.  I decided I wanted to make a pillow for the playroom (Cat in the Hat colors) using the tutorial in the Quilt Book I had been reading.  I got a little over zealous with Nathan asleep and Joel on-call.  I made the entire pillow last night.  Not bad for an evening's work.  Now I've got to figure out what project I'm going to do for the rest of the week. :)
PS- I'm starting to really like the red, white and black combo.

Random Inspirations

The last 2 weeks have been extremely busy around here.  I've been painting and putting together different rooms throughout the house- among other things.  Today I put some of the final touches on 3 of the rooms.  First is the downstairs bathroom-  Have you ever seen Rate My Space on HGTV?  I love that show where you find 3 inspirations and then they recreate a room for you using those ideas.  Well, oddly enough, my inspiration for the bathroom came from a gift bag I saw in Target.  It gave me the idea to paint the walls gray and use the color purple with some floral theme.  My second inspiration was my friend Britt's guest bathroom.  It had the cutest accessories, including little hand towels on a flat basket.  It's hard to tell in the pictures, but the flowers, lotions and hand towels are all varying shades of purple.  Here's the before (trying to decide what gray- who knew there were so many?)........

And the after......

  The next room is Nathan's room.  My inspiration for this came from some bed sheets at Ikea that had really fun and bright animals all over them.  Roberto designed a bunch of decals for me.  You have to check out his website Graphical Interiors. The decals are ALL over my house and I LOVE them!
Before I put up the decals, I painted the room a light khaki color to replace the yucky utility paint (the khaki color is one of the stripes from the curtains  in the room).  I was going to make curtains, but then I found some that matched for $14 at Wal Mart and thought, "Why in the world would I go to all of that trouble if these work just fine?"  So, Wal Mart won out.

I also have pictures of the kitchen that we painted an olive-ish gray-green.  The inspiration for this was Autumn/Tuscany colors because of the wreathe that I have from our wedding reception.  The final step for this room is to find or make some curtains.  The current plan is to make them, but I haven't found the materials I want yet, so we'll see. 
Here are the before pics (you can tell I was really debating what color to paint the kitchen.  I made a last minute change and am really happy with the results):

  And the after......

 

One last decal to show you just for fun...I feel like a personal saleswoman for Roberto's company. :)

 

It pretty much sums up the motto of our home. 

Operation Quilt Completed

I finished the binding on the quilt this afternoon.  That's a good thing, because next week I'm focusing on the painting and decorating of my kitchen, so I wanted to finish the quilt and mail it this week.
I think it turned out cute.  My only complaint was the thread specifically for hand quilting that I used for the binding, but I didn't realize until half way through that it doesn't have as much give to it, so the quilt is a little scrunched.  Oh well- I'll know for next time.

I decided to do a wavy, swirly top stitch to counteract all the straight lines. It gives it more texture and a little more fun with the bright colors.  Well, time to go get the boy from his nap.  He's up there giggling and babbling.  I wish I knew what he was saying, because he's clearly amused by it.

Wall Love

A friend from school gave me a Pottery Barn gift card and I found the cutest Dr. Seuss shower curtain there. (Thus, the Dr. Seuss recent craze).  My Brother-in-Law designed decalls for me to put in Nathan's bathroom and playroom.  I'm so excited, because it looks SO cute! This may possibly be my favorite room in the house right now.........

The light reflection makes the paint look yellow, but it's actually white.  Aren't they so cool?!  Roberto did such a good job.  I love it!

This is one of my favorite Dr. Seuss quotes, so I put it in the playroom.  Nathan loves having a cat on the wall even if he hasn't figured out it's a specific character yet. :)

Stay tuned for the next decal job...... Nathan's animal room!

Fleecy Fuzzy

I don't know how to describe it, but some students that you teach become part of you and your family. You just love them.  I saw some of my kiddos in General Music, Chorus, and then after school for Select Choir and the musical every day, and they saw a lot of Joel and Nathan when we performed at venues or at rehearsals.  You couldn't help but be close to them.  There are a bunch of them that I'm truly going to miss this Fall.  Bobby is one of those boys that I would adopt in a heartbeat.  He was my right hand man- my Stage Manager, and just so dang cute.  I'd keep him in my pocket if I could.  He even stayed after the last day of school to help me clean up the music room.  His Grandma told me they consider us his adoptive parents and it just about melted my heart and made every moment at school worth it.  I have wanted to do something nice for him to thank him for all of the extra work he does for a while now, but I wanted to make sure I wasn't teaching at the school anymore, so that it couldn't be construed as inappropriate in any way (it's a sad world when you have to worry about those things, but it's true).

My mom showed me how to make a fleece blanket.  I was surprised how easy they are to make.  I'm so used to taking forever piecing things, so this was a pleasant fast project.  I don't much care for the Steelers (in fact, I typically root for just about any team playing against them except for maybe the Dallas Cowboys), but they're Bobby's favorite team, so there you have it.

PS- I love this wavy stitch.