Mother's Day, Potholders, & Dishtowels, Oh My!

Happy Belated Mother's Day to all the moms out there :)  I had a relatively low key day myself which was perfect.  We spent the day gardening and Hubby made us a really lovely dinner.

For Mother's Day this year I was inspired by Rita @ Red Pepper Quilts to make my mom new potholders.  Knowing that my mom's potholders were in rough shape, they seemed like the perfect gift.  I used one of those mini charm packs which was enough for 2 potholders with a few squares left over. 

I layered the potholder top with a layer of Warm & Natural Batting and a layer of the Insul-Bright and did a little straight line quilting.  

Just finishing the binding.

 

 To add a little something to the potholders, I "made" mom a dishtowel.  I followed this wonderful tutorial by Kleio's Belly.  My pleat came out slightly off center {totally my fault} but, oh well, it's functional!  You can get two of these hanging dishtowels out of one full sized (15x24") kitchen towel.

Mom's second towel is still in progress but these literally take only a few minutes to make.  The most time consuming part for me was the button hole.  Well really procrastinating doing it.  I've done them in the past ----you know, on the old machine.  I was so intimidated by the new machine, with it's special button hole foot.  It was soooo darn easy.  You just pick the stitch number (#49 on my Babylock), attach the foot, line up the starting point, and press go.  Sew easy! (HA!)

Last Quilt of 2012

It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of Julie Herman's patterns and when I saw a sample of her Wonton pattern hanging in The Village Quilter, it was love at first sight!  

My mom had requested a quilt for a friend of friend's daughter who was having a baby.  The baby (a little girl) is a miracle baby.  The couple had tried for years to conceive and were unsuccessful.  They decided to give fertility treatment a try without telling their family as to not disappoint anyone if it failed.  It worked and their beautiful baby girl was born in December.

I started this quilt at the Philly Modern Quilt Guild retreat back in November and had the quilt top cut and pieced in an afternoon.  The pieces were cut using Jaybirdquilt's Hex N More ruler.  For the backing, I picked up a soft cuddle fabric in red and quilted with an allover stipple pattern.  The cuddle fabric was surprisingly easy to quilt with and was very forgiving in terms of tension issues.  I think it will be my go to backing for baby quilts because it's so soft and comfy!

Wonton Baby Quilt

Backed with soft, comfy, snuggle fabric :)

Quilt Stats: 

Pattern:  Wonton by Jaybirdquilts

Pieced & Quilted by Me.

Started on November 10, 2012.  Completed on December 18, 2012.

Fabric: ??  Some pulled from stash, Riley Blake, and Bungle Jungle by Tim and Beck for Moda.

Thankful for….

these two.

Things are so different this year!  Who knew last year that this year I’d have this little one!

She’s changed so much already.  It feels like she was just born yesterday but she’ll be a month on Sunday!

So much to be thankful for this year!  Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!

Baby Emma

She’s here!!

Baby Emma was born on October 27th.  She was a whopping 8 lbs 6 ounces and 22 inches long.  Everything went well besides the 25 hours of labor in the hospital. 

Emma is a little over two weeks old now so I snapped a few pictures of her on the latest quilt I completed.

This is a cheater quilt that I started at a guild sewing night.  I saw the fabric print on someone’s blog (can’t remember who) and knew I needed to make this for the baby!  It’s perfect for tummy time. I quilted it using an all over stipple and backed it with a  Kona cotton solid.  I saved the binding until I was “too” pregnant to feel like doing any other sewing so I finished it just days before Emma’s late arrival.

We’re all adjusting to being sleep-deprived and I almost feel like sewing again!

Sewing for Baby….

A couple of weeks ago, I went for an anatomy ultrasound.  I was on the fence the whole pregnancy about looking vs. not looking.  I wanted the baby’s gender to be a surprise, while Hubby wanted to know what we were having.

Well, we looked!  We were so shocked to find out that we are going to have a little girl!  I was so sure it was a boy, I even bought fabric for a little boy quilt.  I have to say there is something really special about knowing that I’m carrying a little girl, as opposed to a baby.  It makes the bond that much stronger…just my opinion (from someone who didn’t want to find out, so no hating please!).

Sewing for a baby girl has been so much fun already!  Awhile ago I picked up Handmade Beginnings by Anna Maria Horner.  There were so many projects in it I wanted to make, but never had the time nor motivation until recently.

The first project I picked was the quick change trousers.  They are so cute!  I made the smallest size (0-3 months) and plan on making bigger sizes after the baby arrives.  The pattern provides sizes for up to 24 months.  The only con, if you can even call it a con, is that you have to copy each pattern piece since there are multiple pattern pieces printed on top of each other on one page.

The pattern itself was really easy and the pants are completely reversible!  The only trouble I had was sewing the hem on the legs, because of the teeny tiny opening. This was done relatively easily by just sewing a little slower than normal.

I’ve made one pair so far and have 2 more in the works….including a pair in this cute Parisville shell fabric.  I might have to snag some more of this fabric before it’s hard to find!

Next, I’m going to try the pretty as a picture dress from Handmade Beginnings in this Amy Butler fabric.  I think it’s going to be adorable!

Goodbye 2010 (and a quilty finish)

What a year!   I think I quadrupled the amount of quilts I made this year.  I learned how to free motion quilt and got an awesome new machine.  I’m sad to say goodbye, but I can’t help but feel like 2011 is going to be A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

I didn’t do so well updating the blog and my stash is WAY out of control.  2011 is gonna see some changes coming, but we’ll save that for the new year.

I’m so excited I can finally post pictures of this quilt.  I feel like I’ve been working on it forever and didn’t want to ruin the surprise for the recipient!

I started this quilt sometime in August…I think…for a Christmas gift for my mother in law.  Fabric is Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Fig Tree for Moda and Moda Bella solids.  It’s constructed entirely of half square triangles and is a 64 inch-ish square.  I saw the arrangement of half square triangles online…somewhere… and really loved it.  I love half square triangles but I think I’ll be taking a small break from them for just a bit :). 

Backing is Kona solids and a few blocks that didn’t work out so well in the front.  This was the only quilt I made as a Christmas gift this year and the timing worked out perfectly.  It was pieced, quilted, and washed with out any stressing over getting it done on time.  As for my mother in law….I think she liked it :)

I also made a gathered clutch ala Noodlehead.  It was my first time using the tutorial and I LOVED it.  I had to re-read one step a couple of times….but eventually it made perfect sense.

Fabric is Bliss by Bonnie and Camille for Moda (Love this line!).  I made it for my god daughter for Christmas after going into every store in the mall searching for a wristlet.  Nothing was age appropriate (she’s 11 and all the wristlets said let’s go clubbin’!) so I made my own.  She loves it and so does her mom; so I’ll be making another one this weekend. 

Spring Break – Jamaica Edition

The past 2 weeks have been a blur.  My birthday was during finals week (boo hoo) which was followed by a trip to Jamaica.  When you get older birthdays are just like any other day, except people are (usually) a little nicer to you and sometimes give you cake and presents.  This year, my mom made me a yummy birthday dinner and Hubby brought an awesome St. Patty’s day themed strawberry shortcake for dessert.  

My parents got me a chair for my sewing table which turned out to be perfect, plus I’m proud of the fact that I put it together myself.  Up until recently I had been using an ottoman (ouch!) or a chair from my dining room. 

Hubby got me a new camera which takes amazing pictures.  We weren’t supposed to get each other birthday gifts this year…which I of course followed, but he didn’t.  So I wasn’t expecting a gift, but when I went up to bed there was a camera on the tv with a cute little bow.  He’s so sweet!

After finals were over, we packed up and flew to Jamaica for 5 days.  We stayed at the Sunset Beach Resort in Montego Bay.  It was amazing…and so warm and sunny every day.  The food was so-so but everything else was great!

View from the restaurant where we ate breakfast each morning.

View of the beach….each day was this gorgeous!

Things to be thankful for....

~being healthy and having a healthy family. Knock on wood it stays this way for many years to come.

~my job. My company has laid off a few people and fortunately Hubby and I have managed to keep our jobs. Other companies in the same industry have either gone under or laid off a significant portion of their staff.

~almost being done grad school. Only 4 classes to go! Yay!

~my family. I have such an amazing family that has been incredibly supportive through all the phases of my life, from high school, to college, to marriage, to grad school. The get-togethers aren't as frequent as they were when I was younger which is why the holidays are my favorite time of year. I can't wait to see everyone!

~ and finally Maggie. Yes I am thankful for a crazy, rambunctious puppy! She is a great companion to Paige and is literally a 50 pound, cuddly, lap dog. I'm glad we were able to save her from the shelter system.

So what are you thankful for this year?

Birthday Celebrations

Today is a very special day for my family.  Today is the eleventh of September, also known as my Dad's 50th Birthday.  I have mixed feelings about how to celebrate the day and I can't imagine how my dad must feel to have his birthday forever marked with the tragedy known as September 11th.  We remember those lost on that day....But still we celebrate, especially this year, and this milestone. 

For dad's birthday, I surprised him with cupcakes at work.  Dad only works about a mile away from where I work so it was actually quite convenient.  I'm very glad Dad decided to go to work today as there will be a special surprise waiting for him when he gets home.  I am very much like my father...I hate to be the center of attention.  I hate to stand out in a crowd.  Let's hope Dad is not too angry with me for my present!



So Happy 50th Birthday to the best dad a girl could ever have!!!

Oh and don't worry!  I'll be picking a giveaway winner shortly :)

Maggie Mae

As if life couldn't get any crazier...we adopted a puppy! All sewing/quilting has been on hold since Tuesday...even though my blocks for the zig zag quilt along are ready to be sewn together...

Last Friday night we went to the animal shelter to look at a few dogs...we put an application in for no dog in particular so Hubby and I could properly discuss. That night we decided to adopt a chocolate lab puppy that we thought was 10 months old. A call on Monday led me to believe we didn't stand a chance at getting her due to how many applications they already had. Tuesday afternoon we received another call from a woman who was fostering the siblings of the puppy we wanted and offered us her sister. The puppy was from a litter that was brought up from North Carolina...and was only 13 weeks old, not 10 months.

We went to meet her that night with Paige at the animal shelter. It was all up to Paige at that point, because if Paige didn't like her, it was a no-go. The girls met and really just ignored each other. There was too much else going on at the shelter and too many other scents to get a real sense of how they would be.

Our first night was hell! The puppy cried every hour in the crate. We got no sleep! I really don't think we knew quite what we were in for. Each day/night gets better, but at first I really questioned if we made the right decision. Paige seems happy. The puppy who we finally named Maggie Mae is very attached to Paige. Everyone is adjusting...well almost everyone. It took Spike a few days to come downstairs, but Annabelle still won't come down. She'll come around eventually...I hope.

We took Maggie to the vet yesterday and she was given a clean bill of health. She was treated for a few things while in foster care so we were happy everything came back ok.

Some day Maggie will be a great dog....but for now she's just a puppy!

The Great Escape

Happy 4th of July!!

I love summer and spending time with family/friends, so this is one of my favorite holidays.

Hubby and I hosted our second annual 4th of July barbecue this year, but on July 3rd! The preparation/shopping was overwhelming and there were some minor fireworks incidents at night but overall it was a good time.

The following day we were sitting (recovering) on the couch before going to a family reunion when I noticed our window was open and the screen was nowhere to be seen. Spike (my kitty) would like to explain what happened from his point of view. At this point in time, Annabelle is pleading the 5th. She's not very talkative to begin with anyway!

"I jumped up in the window to watch the birds and the screen fell out. I tumbled out the window and meowed really loud. Annabelle came to see what was going on and she jumped out the window to come see if I was ok. Luckily I have nine lives! I told Annabelle we needed to go wait on the porch because we aren't allowed outside. She thought the porch was to the right and I thought it was to the left. She wouldn't listen to me and I didn't want to get in trouble! When I got to the porch, I couldn't open the door so I thought it'd be better to wait under the porch for you to come find me. Good thing you found me, cause I was getting really hungry!"

The drop was about 7 feet from the ground. I obviously have no idea what really happened, but I was panicked when I couldn't find my babies. I heard Spike meowing and found him right away under the porch. We searched the house for Annabelle again...and then I started to really panic (and cry). She hides so well and is scared of everything. I searched the back yard and barely spotted her brown and black butt under the deck. Hubby crawled under and pulled her out. She was limp so my first concern was that maybe she got hit by a car. Once I got her in the house she was fine, she's just petrified of everything.

Sleepy Spike laying in Hubby's clothes.

Annabelle cuddling on the couch.

More Easter Recipes...

As a newly married woman, I'm dividing my holidays between my new family and my "old" family. This year I celebrated Easter dinner with Hubby's family. MIL was serving ham and I CANNOT have ham on Easter without pineapple souffle. I couldn't imagine Easter dinner without it, so I made it.

Pineapple Souffle (Super Easy!)

Ingredients:
~½ cup butter, softened
~½ cup white sugar
~ 4 eggs
~1 (20 oz.) can crushed pineapple, drained
~5-6 slices bread, cubed

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. Cream butter and sugar.
3. Beat in the eggs. Beat well.
4. Stir in crushed pineapple and bread.
5. Pour in a casserole dish or glass baking dish. Bake at 350° for 1 hour.
6. Serve warm!

Notes: The recipe calls for more sugar (about 1 cup) but it really doesn't need it.

Review: I loved it. I did have to make this twice though. The first time I completely melted the butter and decided to use it anyway. Big mistake! I remade it, just prior to putting in the pineapple so it wasn't that bad. My second version could have used about 5 or 10 more minutes in the oven though (my oven is weird).

Six Months Ago Today

I married the love of my life and we went on an amazing honeymoon to Mexico...

Six months later, it's business as usual! I still procrastinate and just got around to approving the final layout for the wedding album. We still need a new roof. Our dog still needs some obedience training. We still live next door to the same annoying people. The only real changes are I'm getting better at cooking (i think) and we might (but probably not) get another dog.

Most of today will be spent cleaning the house and cooking. The only time we clean the house is when we have people over which is not nearly enough. We are having my brother and his family over for dinner tonight. I'm making spaghetti, meatballs, and sausage for dinner plus peach cheesecake for dessert since it's so darn easy to make.

Happy V-Day!

Hubby and I celebrated our 1st married Valentine's day together! We exchanged cards and a bag of green m&m's for him and a tiger stuffie for me. Normally we put alot of money into Valentine's Day but with our recent purchases and the economy it's money better left unspent.

Our recent purchase for Hubby's birthday:

It's awesome! I couldn't see wasting money on another Dell laptop with Windows Vista...so I'm not a PC. I'm a MAC baby!! The iMAC is currently sitting on my desk, with it's fancy printer, while my laptop and printer(s) are homeless. I bought Hubby the wireless keyboard and mouse too. We've been uploading CDs onto it all weekend since Hubby lost all his music when his Gateway crashed after which his iPOD died.

Saturday morning, Hubby helped a friend move and I spent the morning with my mom. We went to the gym and had a good work out, went to the supermarket, and even fit in a quick trip to the fabric store. Hubby and I had dinner with my parents, my brother, brother's gf, and brother's gf's son instead of fighting the crowds of couples trying to have a romantic dinner on an overrated non-holiday. Mom made meatloaf topped with mozzarella cheese, twice baked potatoes, spinach, and green beans. I made an Angel food cake for dessert which we topped with strawberries and whipped cream.

I really tried

I was supposed to get organized for Christmas this weekend. I was supposed to get the decorations out of the attic, put up the lighted garland, even attempt to put lights up outside. I went shopping for lights, but found none. I know exactly what I'm looking for (me, picky?, no!) but haven't found the right lights yet. The rest of our decorations are (still) in the attic and I am a failure.

Saturday was (supposed to be) my decorating day, only it wasn't. I spent the day with Hubby's mom and our crazy dogs and went to visit Hubby and his dad working on the Christmas tree farm in the crazy, freezing cold. I forgot my camera to capture all of the picture perfect moments of the day. I met two beautiful dogs (and one really mean, yippy dog), picked out our Christmas tree, sat around the fire trying to keep warm, and stayed out of the way of the men at work.

In preparation for my Project 365 challenge, I've been carrying my camera everywhere. For some reason, I took the camera out of my purse and left it home on Saturday. Why? The world may never know. Part of it may be that I got up at 6:30am on my day off. So instead of pictures, you'll have to settle for the promise of pictures in the future. Promise!!

Thanksgiving + Scrabble = Blah

I celebrated my first Thanksgiving as a married woman with my Hubby, his parents, my parents, my brother, his gf Rachel, and her kiddies Micky and Lawrence. Everyone came over to our house which meant I had tons of cleaning to do since Mom is allergic to my 2 kitty cats. There was overabundance of food: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, mac & cheese, yams, green bean casserole, cranberry, peas/carrots, and deviled eggs. For dessert we had apple pie (secret recipe by Hubby's mom), pumpkin pie (secret recipe by my mom), and gingerbread (by Rachel).

Tables set for 10

It was all delish! I have a habit of overestimating the amount of food to make for a large crowd. Ten is considered a large crowd for me when I'm used to only cooking for two. I cooked a 21 pound turkey so we would have plenty of leftovers. Dinner was yummy but with so much food, I only had a small taste of everything before I ran out of room on my plate. After the dinner clean up, a game of Scrabble ensued much to my dismay. I loathe Scrabble, always have, always will. Hubby's family (i.e. mom and grandmom) like to play after dinner at family gatherings so I'm trying to get used to it. Big Step: I took over mom's spot in Scrabble when she had to leave because of her allergies.

Now we're looking forward to a 2nd Thanksgiving dinner at Hubby's grandmom's on Sunday. Yay more turkey, boo more Scrabble!

Back to Reality

Happy Monday!! - if there is such a thing.

This weekend was our first non-wedding planning weekend home. It was awesome. Saturday and Sunday I slept in until 9am (wow!).

Saturday I didn't really do anything....I laid on the couch all day, took a nap, and around 6 went to a b-day party for my brother's girlfriend's son. Hubby and I stayed out and had a few drinks before calling it a night.

Sunday I woke up too late for 830 mass....ooops! I laid on the couch almost all day except to go to the gym around noon. It's been about 2 weeks since I'd been to the gym and I surprisingly didn't have any problem with my normal workout. Time to step it up I guess!

The best part about being married: I'm so done dieting. My dress fit... so now I will eat what I want, whenever I want. I will however keep going to the gym so I don't gain weight but I'm done eating salads/fish every day, skipping out on having bagels at the Monday morning work meetings, and having a salad for lunch while Hubby has a double cheeseburger.

Hubby and I watched Rambo during dinner last night and it wasn't that bad. I actually liked it. After dinner/movie, I cut out fabric for a dress for mom. I forgot how long it took to cut fabric for a pattern! All that pinning, ugh! Today after work I'll assemble it and post some pics. It's a simple dress so hopefully it'll take 2 hours or less!

Heartbroken

Saturday was unfortunately eventful. FH and me came home from the beach which put me in a foul mood. I'm always depressed coming home from vacation but even more so this year because I had to deal with the reality of completing my take home final for Wednesday and wedding craziness. FH ran out to a "draft party." He's in a fantasy football league. Football is the only sport I really can't tolerate. As a kid, it was always on in our house all day and night on Sundays and I grew to hate it. FH is really excited about football so it's all he tends to talk about from September until January. Poor me! FH had a good time at the draft and had a bit to drink. Needless to say I picked him up from the party and we didn't speak to each other all night expect to throw a few jabs (verbally!) here and there.
FH woke me up around 9:30 Saturday night with terrible news. Paige's BFF and FH's family's dog Caseygirl was very sick at the vet. Casey was a beautiful, gentle, and loving girl. We miss you so much!

Soft and Crafty

I finally did it! I joined the gym again. The best part about my gym are the yoga classes that I've missed for the past 2 years. I'm sure the first couple of classes are going to be painful until my body remembers the poses. I hope yoga/exercising will help with the stress I'm feeling from the wedding. Oh, and I guess this means Wii Fit was a failure!

I joined the gym on Friday but didn't make my way there until Sunday. It was a busy weekend full of friends, fun, and food/drink that I'm sure was not on my diet plan. Friday night, I went with Mom to JoAnn Fabric to get the finishing touches for the wedding favors. We couldn't find the ribbon I wanted at a reasonable price (we need like 40 yards). I just got home in time for my brother to come pick me and FH up to go to a friend's for a fun night :)

Saturday afternoon FH, my brother, and FH's dad went to get tuxes. I went with to make sure the colors would match what the girls are wearing and then I was off for a shopping adventure of my own. I had big plans for the afternoon but only managed to get to AC Moore before my excitement for shopping went away. It's such an overwhelming store. I bought more things for the wedding and found the ribbon I needed (YAY!). I see a trip to AC Moore in the near future to get some more fun wedding crafts. Saturday night a friend was having a luau so we went over for a bit and then on to another friend's to watch the Olympics! I couldn't miss witnessing Olympic history.

Sunday was a long, busy day too! I'm still doing the church thing (and I'm very proud). I had breakfast with my friends from high school including SJ who lives in California. SJ was home for a wedding this weekend and we were all really happy she had time to see us before flying back. After breakfast, I went to the gym for an hour and then over to JoAnn again. I couldn't help myself since patterns that are normally $10-$20 were on sale for $1. Well I bought 7 patterns, plus gorgeous (cheap) fabric for pillows for our front porch furniture. I'm feeling crafty :)

4th of July BBQ

FH and I were more or less volunteered to host a BBQ at our house for 4th of July. Most likely because my brother doesn't really have a yard for such a party. It started small but has grown to about 15 people not including FH's family if they decide to come. I really want to go see the fireworks in town or at the river but I'm not sure I'll be able to kick people out if they choose not to come. My friend Roxy is bringing her puppy and to be sure our dogs would get along they had a meet and greet yesterday. It went well so my dog will have a friend at the party too! I'll be sure to post pics from the get together. There's alot of last minute planning, shopping and cleaning happening right now. At lunch today I'll go to the store to get burgers, dogs, and buns. I'm paranoid that if I wait until tomorrow there won't be any left! FH has a softball game tonight which would be perfect since we don't have work tomorrow but now I have all of this mess to take care of. Needless to say it is going to be a long 2 days to get ready for this :)