Abby or Lena... that is the question.

Some of you know that John and I have settled on naming the baby girl Abilene and I had just assumed we were going to call her Abby for short. Well as I was slouching on the couch the other evening John says to me "what about calling her Lena for short?" I had several thoughts run through my head within seconds. "no, were calling her Abby" " where did you get Lena from oh abiLENE" "huh, I never thought of that...what do I think of that" "well it's sooo different from Abby" "I kind of like it". All that came out of my mouth was "I don't know". Some things come with the baby and nicknames are definitely one of them. But I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. Maybe it's my tendency to plan things in advance or maybe it's just because my brain is on baby stuff. Either way I'd like to know what you think. So share your thoughts...Abby or Lena???

I did put together some things last week for said girl. I made two coordinating sheets for her crib. I use Dana"s pattern from MADE, which you can find here. I love making crib sheets and only wish i had know how simple it was sooner. Buying boring or baby looking sheets is just no fun and so for the same price (or way cheaper if you've got a coupon) you can make you own out of cotton, flannel or knit.

Both of these are cotton and I found the fabric at Joann's. They came together real simply. Just a little udder 2 yds of fabric and 80 inch of 1/4 inch elastic.

I also whipped out (..up...out..??) this gauze blanket, mentioned here. I had gotten some really cute gauze fabric from fabric.com in order to make some gauze swaddle blankets. Here is one of the fabrics I got.

I also love how easy and cost effective this was. It only takes a yard and 1/4, or a 45 inch square to be exact. So at $3.99 a yd it only cost about $5 bucks.

To finish off the edges I just did a double fold hem and straight stitched it. When I got to the corners I just folded one down onto the other so I didn't have to worry about being too fancy.

After I washed it up and was so soft and wrinkly I just love it!!! Can't wait to swaddle the little cutie in this cute blanket... 13 (to 15) weeks left and counting down.

Until next time...

Holly

Lets Hear it for the Girl!!

So last week I found out I was having a girl and I am oh so very excited!!! Besides all of the clothes I want to sew and freezer stencil for her I am also looking forward to sewing everything for her nursery/blanket needs. If you recall last October, Miranda and sold some of our handmade items at Oktoberfest. One of the things I had made on a whim one day was this precious baby "quilt". I put quotations around that because technically a quilt is fabric sandwiching padding and sewn together. Well I sewed my pieced top straight onto fleece with no padding. I wanted to give it a more comfy baby feeling. When I was done I had fallen in love with it and at the time (not pregnant) wanted to keep it for myself on the off chance I ever had another baby and it would be a girl. But that seemed silly. Well no one has purchased said quilt and now pregnant with a girl, it is all mine!!!

The lighting doesn't do the colors justice, but it is shades of green, turquoise and taupe with hints of yellow.

The design is a basic subway pattern but I added fours scattered square blocks throughout of bigger patterns to help break up the straight lines. Some of the fabric came from fat quarters from Joann's, but a few of the other scraps came from a scrap bag I purchased last summer at the Sisters out door quilt show and just to name drop the scrap bag was from Valori Wells' studio (so I was told). I also have some scraps that came from a shirt my mom made last summer and a blanket I made for a friend last year with fabric purchased from the Stitchin Post in Bend, OR. So there are many cool memories linked to this quilt and I think I was just meant to keep it.

Something else I did differently on this quilt, besides the fleece backing, was to use ribbon binding. I typically make my own binding and hand sew it on, but I wanted to try something new and knowing it was a baby blanket I have always like the texture and look of ribbon edging.

Lastly, this is a photo of some flannel from Joann's I randomly picked up several months ago. Flannel was on sale, I saw this, loved it and bought 2 yards...ha ha. Not only is it really cute and has birds... but the greens and blues and taupe match perfectly with the above blanket. I think my nursery is decorating itself. Now what to make with this.. a crib sheet? a self binding flannel blanket? Something else entirely?

What do you think??

See you next week!

Holly

Darin' to be Squarish...

Last year I picked up this great book on modern quilts called Dare to be Square by Boo Davis. It is definitely a beginner's book, which was great, and after doing a few traditional quilts I was looking to do something different. Most of her stuff is pretty hard core and innappropriate (which I didn't know until after buying the book and googling her) so if you check out her website, fair warning it's crude. Her book, however, has more of a cute, fun approach to block-by-block quilting. Here are the couple that I made:

For my first two kids I had crocheted them baby blankets. Well... ever since stepping into the world of Quilting I have had very little desire to ever crochet a blanket again. I have picked up the hook for a couple beanies but even then I was itching to get back to my machine. So, I decided baby number 3 would get a quilt. I loved the wiener dog and it was so easy! Definitely had this done in a weekend. I decided to back it with flannel to give it a little extra coziness since quilts can take several washes before they have that wonderful worn-in soft, comfy feeling.

My 5 year old (then 4) had been asking me to make her a quilt and she really liked the Robot on page . So we headed to JoAnn's and I let her help pick out the fabric. Disregarding all my best efforts to sway her color choice she picked a green robot with a pink background and purple accents. She was even particular about the exact fabric and shade of color she chose.

I was actually surprised with how it came together and it wasn't as hideous as I imagined it would be. I added the piano key borders because I did want to make it big enough to fit on a full size bed. My daughter was very happy with it and when I finished she said "wow" and promptly asked when I was going to make her another one. HA! Got to love kids!!

I also made the bunnies from the end of the book, two of which coordinate with the blankets.

The greatest thing I learned from making these quilts was how easy it was to take a concept and make it into a design. It gave me some confidence in my ability to come up with something on my own. Since then I have made several quilts that I just sort of drew out what I wanted it to look like and took and block-by-block approach to piecing them. It's always fun to see how they turn out. I will still follow patterns when I see one I like but I definitely have gained some freedom from my desire to always follow a pattern.

Until next week....

Holly

Sneak Peek

So Monday was a holiday and I was given a few child free hours by my awesome husband to sew with no interruptions. I was getting tired of sewing the tumblers together for my scrap quilt so I pulled out my cut pieces for my king size bed quilt. I put on pandora to a little 90's/early 2000's mix and got to sewing. Also because is was a Monday sewing night I got a few more hours in the evening and to my delight I was able to finish my quilt top...in one day!

Here is a sneak peek, I don't want to show the finished product until I quilt it.

I was super happy with how the colors turned out together. I really love the center blue which is actually the main color of the quilt which you will see later on.

Besides that we have been enjoying the wonderful 80 degree San Diego weather this week and yesterday we decided it was a perfect day to dig in the dirt.

See you next week!!

Holly

Reminiscing About Oktoberfest

I confess that I have have not sewn a thing this week. Between being pregnant, having a slight cold and just the busyness of life, the week quickly passed by.

My computer is my TV, or my TV is my computer, whichever way you look at it when my screen saver goes on it scrolls through all of the pics on my iphoto. I was watching it the other day and a few photos from this past October's Oktoberfest came up and I was able to reminisce about my experience. I decided to go ahead and share some of that with you.

Here is an inside view of out both:

Here is an outside view of our both:

Sorry the pictures aren't that great, but it's what I had. Miranda and I decided, after some encouragement from our spouses and some friends, to try and sell some of our hand made goods at our local La Mesa Oktoberfest. So doing little to no research we sent in our money and committed to a spot for 3 days. The months leading up to it were an emotional roller coaster with thoughts of "what if we sell out on the first day?" to "what if we don't sell anything?" and every thought in between. I don't think either of us has ever sewn, or thought we would ever sew, so much on our lifetime. And for the first time in my short sewing career I started to not enjoy myself very much. Well the weekend came, we worked our little booties off, we learned more about each other than most ever get the opportunity to, and we broke even. Which let's face it, is all you can really ever ask for. I think after we were done we decided that if we were to ever do it again we would do our research and sign up for something that costs us way less and is way less of a time commitment. But in the end it was a huge learning opportunity.

Well, come back next Thursday... I promise to have some sewing to show you and possibly even a completed project.

Holly

Grandma

I had a special birthday treat on Sunday afternoon.  It's not my birthday yet, but I've started celebrating the entire week leading up to my birthday....you know...just to get enough celebration out of my lovely husband, and enough dinners out to feel like I've had a cooking vacation!

So, on Sunday, my little family spent the afternoon at my mom's house, and my Grandma is visiting for the month, "drying out her bones", as she says.  (She lives in Seattle.)  I was working on a quilt for a friend, and I brought it to show my Grandma, so I could get a little pat on the back from an amazing lady who has passed on her blanket-making-passion to me.  Well, we got all motivated, and I started putting all my individual blocks together, arranging them, and she started picking them up and pinning them, getting them ready to go through the machine!

With my kids playing in the other room with family members, I was given the gift of sewing for an afternoon with my Grandma!  And the ironic thing is, she was my assistant.  Instead of the days of yore, where I would be picking out the next square to go in the quilt, she was dutifully picking up the next block in the pattern, and pinning it, right sides together, and making sure the block was facing the right way.

Sometimes we talked.  Sometimes we didn't.  Sometimes we commented on the chaos happening in the other room.  I got the top almost finished, with her help.  And it was a really big treat to sew with my Grandma who I don't get to see often enough.

Grandma with my little Marshall on her 90th birthday!

Let's Get it Started!!

Let's start a blog, Take 2!  With a little more organization and group-thought, we're on our way to next totally fab, funny (hopefully), and silly sewing blog in the big world of sewing/craft blogs. 

Anyhoo, I'm 'sew' excited for this blog and the awesome gals who are also part of our Sewing Under the Influence posse! I'll try not to use the obvious play on words ('sew') too much, but no promises... I need to work on getting the creative juices flowing a little better.

Speaking of creativity-enhances-juices, I am going to share one of my favorites.  It's Red Velvet from Cupcake Wineries.  Insert speed talkin' commercial guy voice: Cupcake Wineries did not endorse nor sponsor this plug for their truly tasty vino.  I figured it's only fitting to be enjoying my fave vino of late as I'm creating a cupcake-themed baby blanket for my girlfriend whose about to have a baby girl.  She'll be sweet and little like a cupcake, plus that's her nursery theme.  I can't wait for the big day.  I'm secretly hoping she's early and can share my birthday with me this weekend... But, alas, I'm not in control of such timings of life.

Here's the finished blankie... it's so soft!



Pink Cupcake Baby Blanket


Cheers,
Nina