Receiving Blankets

(Bean's quilt, Baby H's receiving blanket, and Bean's burp cloths)

I've made two of AMH's receiving blankets so far; one for Baby H, and one for Bean. I'm not wonderful at sewing the binding on properly (I can't get both sides to be straight!), but I'm overall quite happy with how they've turned out!

Unfortunately, I only have a picture of Baby H's, as Bean's is packed snugly away in my hospital bag to bring to them when K has the baby. But something is better than nothing, right? Of course right!

I gave H's blanket to my step-sister D on Labor day. D and I have had an interesting past; as kids we didn't get along. As teenagers, we had a distant respect for each other. When we were forced around each other, we were friendly. Sometimes we spent some time together. But we were always STEP-sisters. I never felt close with D, or like she ever really considered me, my brother, and my mother to be part of her family.

But as soon as she had L, everything changed. She's loving, she's gracious, she's wonderful to be around. I genuinely enjoy spending time with her. I love making things for her; both her and J absolutely gush over anything I've made, thanking me 1000 times for the thought, using whatever it is as often as they can. For the AMH blanket, D&J have both thanked me at least twice, and commented to my mom how wonderful the blanket is and how much they appreciate it.

My mom says it's hard not to love someone who loves your kid so much. We definitely love L. He's basically my favorite person. Seriously, how can you not love this?

L, can you give Auntie a big smile?

Bean's Quilt

I finished Bean's quilt yesterday. Please forgive the poor picture, it was taken with my phone on a cloudy, pre-hurricane-y day.

Stats:
2 charm packs Dream On by Urban Chiks
Binding is from Carolyn Gavin's Spring Street
Backing is a solid piece of Robert Kaufman flannel in Celery (I *think*)

Bean- I can't wait to meet you little girl. I hope you have your daddy's eyes. I'm a sucker for green eyes.

So There's That

Today, I called my mom, got in my car, and drove to Joann's. There, I picked up a pattern (Simplicity 2274), a half yard of DS Quilts cotton (the name escapes me... Kitschy is involved, I think), and I bought a new sewing machine.

My old Kenmore was just that: old. My step-aunt bought it at a yard sale for 20 bucks. It was kept in her (Hoarders-esqe) house for x amount of time, then she gave it to me. It was a lovely, lovely thought. But it was not good. The tension was always off, it wouldn't pick up the bobbin thread any longer. I'd abandoned it a few months ago to go back to hand sewing.

But the influx of nieces coming my way has made me despair at the thought of two quilts to hand-sew, two receiving blankets to bind by hand, two of everything. And I'm sick of looking at all my quilt-y blogs and being unable to keep up. And so. My new sewing machine is here. Hooray 3 paycheck month.

For those interested (if any): she's a Singer Talent. Not the cheapest model, but very, very basic. I don't need much fluff, just something that can keep up. So far she's bound Baby H's receiving blanket, sewn 5 more rows onto Bean's quilt, and made a burp cloth for Bean.

Here's hoping there are LOTS more projects in my near future :)

Updates. Life Happens.

I know I post these "I'm around" posts every few months. But that's because I am.

It's really hard to motivate myself to craft with no sewing machine. It's such a production to get all of my hand sewing things out, and it's such a mess.

So, here are my updates:

• Nannying is over. I'm now a cubicle jockey. I'm so thankful for a job, but it's definitely not what I was planning on when I got my education degree.
• Moved into my parents house after nannying. A few months later, and I moved into my own apartment. Which is awesome. And soooooo small.
  
• Moving into my own apartment has shed some new light on things for me. First things first, closets. are. AMAZING. I've never really had a closet before. Oh man. One side is for my clothes, and one side is for my never worn clothes/ WIPs.
• Two rooms and a bathroom = no room for a desk or a sewing machine.
• Sewing machine doesn't even work. Need a new one. SO BADLY.
  
• P&K are having a baby girl, named O (I call her the Bean). I'm making her a quilt, and a receiving blanket made from AMH flannel and voile. That is, I will be once I find the motivation/4 hours to hand-stitch the binding on. Le sigh.
  
• D&J are also having a baby girl, named H. L's going to be a big brother! Of course this Baby H is also going to be getting a receiving blanket and quilt. Just need to figure out the logistics.
  

A Sneak Peek

So, mostly days at college are way too busy to do any sewing. Also, I'm too poor to buy more fabric for a project. And I have absolutely no room to do anything. BUT.

I did win those FQs of California Dreamin. And I do have a plan for them. And now I even have a little recipient. So, tonight, I got motivated (slash I didn't want to do that paper that's staring me in the face).

Here's a sneak peek of things to come...



In other news, I have final thoughts on P&K's quilt. If I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it so right I can't even stand it. Throw to twin sized quilt, quilted by me, with high quality fabrics. If all of these small projects have taught me anything, it's that I'm not at a high enough skill level to tackle a job of this importance, and I'm not really in a place financially where I can get the kind of fabric quality that I'm looking for. So, for now, I'll have to wait on it. Maybe for their first anniversary, or for a Christmas present. We'll see.

Break's Done

My spring break is now effectively over. Well, I have today. But that's it. I think I did pretty well on my list.

1. The two curtains for G are all done, AND I even made him another one for the other side of the basement. They fit perfectly, and I think he is really happy with them.
2. I got my dress all finished up. I can't wait for summertime when I can wear it!
3. I have everything I need for the Buttercup Bag. Even though I didn't get it finished, I can blame that on not being able to print out the pattern, and at least now that I'm at school, I'm capable of having it done.
4. I planned out entirely the California Dreamin quilt. Mostly I'll be using the Morning colors, but there will be some Afternoon colors (confession: Afternoon is my favorite of the two, and I can't bear to part with 2 of the quarters). Since it'll be mostly pink, it's going to be a little girl's quilt. Now all I need to find is someone with a little girl.
5. I have rethought and reworked P&K's quilt. More on that to come.
   

More Fabric for P&K

Just purchased this BEAUTIFUL FABRIC for P&K's quilt from an Etsy store called Whipstitch. I had previously bought some fabric there, and the experience was kind of so-so (10+ days of waiting for the fabric to arrive, plus a misunderstanding regarding the order). Long story short, I ended up leaving a polite, but honest review. I ended up pressing the negative button by accident; I meant to leave a neutral review, but had a headache and was trying not to look at the screen for very long.

The lady felt so badly that I had left a negative review that she offered to refund my shipping costs! I refused this offer, since I'm about 80% positive that the reason the fabric isn't here is the freak weather in the south right now that is shutting down federal buildings (including mail), and explained that hadn't meant to leave a bad review! I changed my listing to be positive, since she had been so accommodating for me. She was still bummed that I had only had a so-so experience, so she ended up giving me store credit!

And so, I bought this fabric for P&K's quilt:

It's from Tula Pink's line Hushabye, called Dragonfly in Aqua. I left the picture bigger so you could see the pretty design in it! It will be perfect in this quilt, I think. And I bought a WHOLE YARD OF IT! How much did I pay for a yard of this beauteous DESIGNER fabric? 2 bucks, plus shipping. Thank you Deb!

New Approach

Two fabrics I ordered for P&K's quilt came in today (the floral print, from Amy Butler's Love collection, and the dandelion print). And look a bit different in person than they did online. I guess that's the problem with buying over the internet, through pictures. Both are beautiful fabrics. I love them individually, and will NOT have a problem finding something to use them in. But together? Not so much.

The Love print I got just isn't going to work for a boy's quilt. I really like the dandelions, but they're a bit brighter than I had thought they would be. Think less mustard-y colored. I'll make it work. As far as I know now, I'm still going to be using the dandelion's in Patrick's quilt. We'll see how the other fabrics work in with them. I just wish this brightness didn't make me timid to buy the Dogwood print; in the pictures, they go together perfectly. But I don't think this bright green will match the muted olive very well.

I think I'm just going to start over. Use the four-square fabric as a jumping point, and just go from that. But in person. I'll go to Joann's and just look for fabrics that are along the lines of the original quilt. Not an exact copy, of course, but probably similar. She already knows I'm doing it anyway :)

P&K Quilt

So, the other quilt that I have in mind is going to be a wedding present for my big brother. I already have the top planned, and I am working on getting the fabrics coordinated and bought. I asked my soon-to-be SIL what her favorite colors were, and this is the response I got:

fav colors huh? I love soft yellows, dark purples. I like blues but in smaller quantities. Def lighter shades of blues and teals than the dark shades. I like green a whole bunch as well as hot pinks and I guess it's obvious I like red hehe.

So, I've been working on getting fabrics that are manly enough to put in a quilt for my brother, but that fit those boundaries. I've decided to focus on green, with some purples, yellows, and blues. I'm having a hard time with the blues; everything I like has LOTS of blue in it, or has a beautiful dark blue color.

Here's what I have already ordered so far:













Here's what else I want to order:

I need about 4-5 more fabrics, if I stick with two of the above. I'm thinking the middle and the third; the middle is a more manly print, and I'm basically just in love with the elegance of the third (hey Mom, it's named Dogwood, and have it in a BEAUTIFUL blue that I almost bought to use for you later). The only problem I'm having is that it's alot of floral prints so far (do the dandelions count as floral?)

Here's the link for what I'm planning to do with these fabrics, give or take a bit. It's from Cluck. Cluck. Sew.

Thoughts?