For a change of pace I wanted to share something that I’m working on for me. Its a nice mindless project and I’d set it aside for a few months to go bonkers on things that were for sale at the website. Last night I found myself very cold due to a mistake I had made in my blanket on our bed. Every night I remember my mistake. lol. I had wanted a blanket that was short on the sides because my husband and I get hot and cold and hot and cold, so we like to easily kick our legs out the side of the blanket to cool off without throwing the blanket off. (might be too personal, but there’s a reason I tell you this I swear!) With that in mind I made the applique quilt a bit short on the sides. I learned quite a bit from making that quilt. First off..PRE WASH EVERYTHING. I should have learned this far before this point but I was holding very stubbornly to how easy it is to cut fabric that is crisp from the store. I will sacrifice that convince and prewash.

So anyway, last night I was cold and thought about how I wished I had more room. You see because I didn’t prewash the blanket and I made it to JUST the size I wanted it to be at it shrunk. Not only did it shrink but I hadn’t taken into account people in the bed! As I was laying there a bit cold I knew I was going to need another blanket to layer for winter. That would mean I’d have to get back to work on my quilt that I started in January.

In December of 2005 I got my sewing machine as a Christmas present. I hadn’t sewn since I was living with my mom (I’m 25 now…so not TOO long, but long enough) I tore in with a ferver and caught “the sewing bug” I wanted to be good, heck I wanted to be amazing RIGHT THEN. So I bought plenty of fabrics and by March was making Snugglebug baby carriers and four different applique skirts at snugglebugbabycarriers.com We sold basically nothing for most of the year.

I slowly started to see my left over materials stack up, pile up, get hidden away in any drawer I could find…it was getting very very messy. By January 1st of 2007 I was trying to think of a good resolution. It was staring me right in the face, literally! I needed to clean and oragnize my cloth stash. I have never been the sort to throw away much of anything, but I didn’t know what to do with ALL these scraps. I decided to tackle a king size quilt for our bed. I actually had MORE than enough scraps to make this quilt but it was so much fun to sit and cut. I saw the fabrics from the very first skirt I ever made. I saw the fabrics from that custom bag I made. The fabrics from the “lovie” quilts I made my godsons. Its so great to see all these “firsts” right in front of me. So it became my 2006 “ugly” quilt. I call it ugly because I thought it would be with so many colors and no rhyme or reason. It actually isn’t all that bad and I can’t wait for it to get done.

I started on it in the winter, and then got rather bored with it rather quickly. It got set aside for a few months and I picked it up again today. It was so wonderful to look through all the fabrics from my first year of sewing again. I can’t wait until its done.

This is completed in width, now I just have to finish out the length. I’m happy with how its turning out! Can’t wait to snuggle with it.

Technorati Tags: quilt, scrap quilt, make it from scratch

Hello all I hope this evening (or…whatever time it is that your reading this!) is finding you well.  

I am most pleased with myself, yes most pleased indeed. A labor of love has come to fruition, but lets back up a bit shall we? The beginning is an awesome place to start.  

February of last year I found out that my best friend was pregnant. This was the first time in my life anyone close to me had gotten pregnant so I was extremely excited to be as hands on as possible. She said that she wanted me there at the birth and that she would love for me to be a doula of sorts (we say “of sorts” because I am yet to be certified, though I am working on it. A doula is a birth assistant in short..) time went by and we spent most days together. Baby started to kick, started to recognize my voice and move to the music. It was a wonderful time. I enjoyed her pregnancy thoroughly and when the time came for him to arrive into the world I was in love with him the moment I caught him. Yes that’s right I was given the honor to catch him, to be the first to lay hands on this new life. It was mind blowing and life changing. Kaleb was born. He happened to be born very red headed (as both mom and dad are red heads we aren’t surprised by this) and on Halloween! So the entire time we were in the hospital he was “pumpkin” for whatever reason it didn’t stick…but even still, pumpkin. Life moved on ever quickly as it tends to do and now we’re facing his first birthday!  

Over the summer I decided I wanted to tackle my bed. Its a King sized bed so this was going to be quite the project. Of course I had to do it in my style, so I created as I went and came up with the appliqué quilt:  

It was a huge labor of love and honestly I felt rather silly making something that suited a child so well for myself…but then again, that’s me! As soon as I was done I instantly set to making one for Kaleb. I had just the design and I knew it would come out amazing…I just knew it. I set into it feverishly and those around me encouraged me and made many suggestions that I offer it on the website once done. Every time I would sit down to work on his quilt I would turn on the CD we had on while she was birthing him. It was a subconscious decision, but a good one at that. Put on repeat…good thing they were good songs! And so now that I’m done…I present to you…Kaleb’s quilt:    

Pumpkin!! hehe I had originally wanted to find a cute little cartoon style boy who’s hair I could do in red…but oddly enough that was a very hard request I guess so I was very glad when I found the pumpkin. I think its better than the boy would have looked.

This special blanket can be customized for your little one (or its also the perfect size lap blanket, so if your a child in adult shoes like me we can put your favorite animals on there and leave out the name and birthday..hehe) I just got it up on the website. I couldn’t be more proud.

Technorati Tags: quilting, crafting, sewing, doula, baby, new item, customized quilt

First off thanks so much to Stephanie for creating such a cool weekly thing for us and thanks also to our hostess this week, Heather of “Its all for the best” The carnival can be found here. I did join in this week with my post “New skirts” Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: make it from scratch, carnival, skirts, blogging