Feeling re-energized

Since giving birth to the newest addition to our family last month I have been feeling a bit more re-energized. Don't get me wrong, I'm still pretty exhausted from the last 9 months of a tiring pregnancy but now that my body and mind don't feel like they've been side-swiped by a MAC truck I'm getting some motivation!

In the last month I have been able to get a couple things done.
~Made a nursing cover
~Finished a baby quilt for a friend
~Made car seat strap covers
~Made 2 sets of holiday place mats
~Started another baby quilt for a friend who is due with her 2nd girl in January

Now on the list of projects to complete:
~Get serious about the cross stitch for baby #3...and stamp her feet on it before they grow too much!
~Start filling out baby #3's baby book before I forget everything!
~Make the 2-3 purses that I started a year ago...HOLY CRAP!
~Start making Advent stockings for next Christmas...hoping to find some Christmas fabric on sale.

The old jeans apron

Inspired by Betz White's old jeans apron, I decided to try it for myself. Had I set out to make this all at once it probably would've taken me an hour but my toddlers and my attention span will not allow this. Therefore, this project took me a few weeks of working on it off and on not to mention that I had to make a run to the fabric store to grab some Steam-A-Seam 2. The fabric is leftover from the purse I made myself, the appliques are just cut out of the same fabric and attached with the Steam-A-Seam fusible webbing...which is the coolest thing ever to attach appliques! And while I can't necessarily wear this little creation comfortably right now (due to the ever-expanding baby belly) I can't wait to use it!

Pinning the fabric at the top yoke to get rid of the bulk:
I accidentally cut the waistband on either side so I zig-zagged the heck out of the waistband to reattach it!
The finished product with pink ric-rac at the bottom, serged edges (courtesy of my mom's serger), appliques and added fabric ties:

A couple inspiring reads

While I haven't actually read these books I would love to buy them when the finances permit! I found them through the author's blog: http://www.soulemama.com/soulemama/

Not sure if I can legally C&P images of the book cover so here are the titles and descriptions, both books by Amanda Blake Soule:

The Creative Family
Between work and school, music lessons, and sports practice, there is less and less time to connect as a family. Those few moments together are often spent making meals, doing homework, or watching TV. In this inspiring book, Amanda Soule, a young mother of three, presents simple ways to use arts and crafts and other forms of creativity to deepen family connections.

For parents of all backgrounds, The Creative Family offers unique creative activities for the whole family. The range of projects includes: imaginative play such as dress-up, home theater, and parlor games; arts and crafts such as family drawing time and knitting with children; nature explorations such as creating garden journals and using natural toys; and family celebrations that include making music and displaying children’s art. These fun and engaging alternatives to television, video games, and the computer are meant to captivate children’s imaginations, celebrate their achievements, and express love and gratitude as a family.

Handmade Home
Handmade Home offers simple sewing and craft projects for the home that reflect the needs, activities, and personalities of today’s families. Filled with thirty-three projects made by reusing and repurposing materials—from vintage feedsacks to old sheets and towels—and including some projects that children can help with, all of the items here offer a practical use in the home. Amanda Soule does much more than simply present a collection of handmade items; she reveals crafting as a lifestyle based on the principles of consuming less and reusing more, appreciating the earth, and connecting to our families. This is a craft book that gives you the tools for creating a life—and a home—full of beauty, integrity, and joy.
Projects include:
• Papa’s Healing Cozy: This hot water bottle cover becomes a simple way to offer comfort to a sick child
• Baby Sling: A simple pattern for an object that offers so much to a small child—refuge from the world and a place to lay their head next to a parent’ heart
• Beach Blanket To-Go: Repurpose old sheets to create the perfect picnic blanket for special outdoor meals
• Cozy Wall Pockets: A creative solution for storing a child's small treasures.

Let's try this again

About 4 months ago I tried posting a quilt-in-progress only to have to delete the post. Being the totally brain-dead mama that I am I didn't even think that the woman who was to be surprised with this quilt would somehow find the post (it wouldn't have been too hard seeing as she has access to my blog)!

The very short story of this quilt...it starts with another mama acquaintance of mine whom I "met" through an online fertility board while pregnant with my first child. A group of us connected and formed our own little private board. We have gone through the births and everyday lives of our September 2006 babies, many subsequent births of siblings, miscarriages, fertility issues, health issues, you name it. This mama was anxiously expecting the birth of her 3rd child, a sweet little girl. One fateful day, however, it was learned that the baby was no longer alive. This mama gave birth to a beautiful angel in January 2009 at 17 weeks. This tiny angel has touched all of our lives and we felt that it was only appropriate to give said mama a comforting reminder of her little girl. The group of us pieced together squares of a quilt, added our own personal touches and presented the finished project to the mama (via snail mail) around Mother's Day.

Here are the squares that I worked on before they were pieced:

This is the applique I added to each square. The three flowers represents each of this mama's babies.

Yoo-hoo!

I'm baaaaaack! So much has been going on since my last post and the blogging and projects took a bit of a backseat. In nutshell this has been my life for the last 3 months:

-Found out we are pregnant with baby #3. All is well, I am now 24-weeks and feel like a cow.
-Husband injured his knee which put him out of work as a firefighter and in an office job with the department (thank God he still had a job!).
-In-laws stayed with us for a very long, grueling month to "help us out"....did it help? NO! Will they be staying with us for this long again? NO!
-My little boy started crawling, turned 1 and started walking. The baby-proofing starts again!
-My little girl, who is almost 3 years old, has been busy with art and dance classes. On top of this we are beginning to get a glimpse of what life will look like with a teenager...JOY!

What about my projects? I've actually gotten some things done believe it or not!
-Made a few squares for a "memorial" quilt for a friend (that will be my next post) and quilted the pieced quilt.
-Made the brown/blue/green quilt that I had posted about.
-Made a baby quilt for friend.
-Made a diaper bag for another friend.
-Sewed a dress for my daughter...my first creation made primarily without the help of my mom!
-Just started the squares for a t-shirt quilt for my husband.
-Finished stenciling a wall in my daughter's bedroom.
-Stenciled some cute jungle animals in my son's bedroom.
-Painted my craft/sewing room.
-Scrapbooked a few pages in my daughter's album and started one in my son's album.

Bad, bad blogger

It has been about 3 weeks since my last post and quite honestly I'm not exactly sure when I'll feel motivated to post much soon. The projects (& my motivation) have taken a backseat to the other things that we have been dealt in life in the since the beginning of April. I will be back but not sure how soon.

More scrapbooking pages done!

I'm a on a roll! Honestly though, I wouldn't have even gotten this far if it wasn't for the bi-monthly scrapbooking get-togethers I've been having with a few friends. I actually might get Abigail's scrapbook done and Jacob's started before the end of the year!!

Stenciling

We moved into our new house back in October and the first thing I had to do was paint my daughter's room. We did lavender on the bottom (from chair rail height down) and pink on the top. I've been scouring stores & websites for the perfect stencil and at one point I thought I was ambitious enough to make my own. After several failed attempts I decided to improvise with an already-made stencil that was similar to the prints on the fabric I used to make her quilt. Flowers & bees...around her whole room! This is going to take awhile! So far I've done about 75% of one wall...only 3 more walls to go!

The the projects keep coming!

It's been a week since I last posted and only because I have added even more projects to add to the list!! Yay!
So, I've been visualizing the way I want to paint my sewing/craft room since we moved into our house last October. It's always been a lime green color with brown flowers stenciled on in random patterns. I went to Guiry's/Benjamin Moore the other day and picked up a couple samples and tried them on a wall. I was so excited about the stencil that I loaded the paint on...it won't be anything like that when I do it for real (plus I'll be using acrylic paint not wall paint).

Then, I found some eye-catching fabric that I'm going to use to cover a desk chair that I inherited when my Grandma passed away a little over a year ago. This should give it a whole new life!

Next, I was at the local fabric store and walked past a quilt kit with some great fabrics in green, brown & blue. The light blue will be the backing and the edges of the quilt & the brown will be the binding. I had to have it! This quilt will be used in the family room that is adjoining the craft room.






This isn't an added project but one that I've been working on for a few weeks. These are the pieces of the project that I'll hopefully be sewing together this week/weekend...and it's under wraps for now. I'll post pics of it once it's finally done!


Last, I got together with my friends for another scrapbooking day. It was rather stressful with 3 little toddler girls & 2 infant boys (actually one of the boys is so relaxed you wouldn't even know he's there) and this time my awesome husband wasn't able to help watch the kids...we MISSED him! Hence, I was only able to get one page done...barely!

A very slow moving project

Most you moms can probably relate...you have a project started that you'd really like to work on all day (or at least a good chunk of the day), one that has you excited instead of one that you are dreading (like cleaning the kitchen...for most of us). Well, I have one of those projects and I've honestly gotten about an hour to work on it in the last couple of weeks. My husband even made a comment that it must been have a long time since I've worked on it because a cute little spider is now living above it on the ceiling! It's a sewing project and it's for my mom and at this rate it'll have to be a Mother's Day present (but she knows she's getting it). So, to my kids if you're reading this---please take a couple 4-hour naps (each) for the next 5 days and play nicely with each other the rest of the time you're awake without any complaints! Thanks!

Since I can't post a picture of my project right now--it's under wraps--I included a swatch of a pretty spring-type fabric that I love! It's called Songbird Pink and I found it at Warm Biscuit Bedding Company. So pretty!

A Day of Scrapbooking

with friends (while my amazing husband watched our 3 little girls--all 2-year olds--and my 9-month old). I can't even tell you how long it's been since I've been able to sit down and put even one page together in one of my ongoing scrapbooks!! I have yet to finish my daughter's scrapbook...actually I haven't even documented her birth yet. Today I was able to get 3 pages done and lots of ideas from some good friends. I was so excited to keep it going that I pulled my stuff out after the kids were in bed and worked on my pages.

(Oh, and I still have to post a pic of the pajama pants I made in my sewing class last Saturday! They are super comfy!)

Project of the Day: cross stitch

Here's what I'm working on today. This is funny to me because really I've been "working" on it since before my son was born last May! I was super motivated when I was about 8 months pregnant and tried to work on it during Abigail's nap time every day but once our little guy was born I just lost the drive to do much on a regular basis. Now that Jacob is only 3 months away from his first birthday and he's been in his own room for about 4 months I figure it's about time I get it done! I did the same pattern for Abigail when she was born--but I had it done before she arrived--and we framed it and hung it on her wall...I'll do the same with Jacob's.

You'll notice that Jacob's left footprint is very distorted, he was about 3 months old when we did them and he was super wiggly, so I did another one at the same time. I'm planning on trimming the good one and cross stitching it over the distorted one with translucent thread (which is a total PITA to work with).

I'm done!

After the super strange day I've had today (started with finding a missing child on a super busy downtown street and ended with yet another car accident...the 2nd one in a month) I'm not super motivated to do much project-wise. I did, however, manage to get the diaper bags (yes, there are multiple) and the activity box for the car pack.

Diaper bag checklist:

• change of clothes for both kids (including socks)
  
• plenty of size 4 diapers (yes, my 2-year old and my 9-month old are in the same size diapers!!)
• refill the wipes case

Car activity box checklist:

• couple extra diapers
• disposable placemats
• coloring book & crayons for the toddler
• travel-size Magna Doodle---this is crucial for the toddler to enjoy the car ride
  
• large, soft toys for the baby
• one jar of baby food and a couple plastic baby spoons
• 2 sun hats
• sidewalk chalk--for a just-in-case-we're-at-a-park-and-don't-want-to-play-at-the-playground activity
  
• non-perishable snacks (Goldfish & gummy fruit snacks for the toddler and Gerber Puffs & Cheerios for the baby)

Tomorrow should be more productive...I'm taking a sewing class and learning how to make some pajama pants!

And now, I'm kicking my feet up and waiting for the super-awesome husband to return home with a caramel frappucino! YUM!

What's on my reading list right now

While this isn't necessarily a craft project these are my latest life projects.
As of late I'm obsessed with getting rid of our clutter, making my own "green" cleaning products (which I have yet to do), solving the sleep problems our toddler is having, and getting out of debt.

If anyone has any tips on any of these areas please fill me in!

1, 2, 3....The Challenge Begins!

Too many projects left undone to count!
Ever since becoming a mom almost 2.5 years ago I have taken on way more than I can chew! I've renewed my interest in crafts--cross stitch, scrapbooking, knitting--and began sewing.

I was doing so well for awhile. With the help of my mom I was able to make the crib skirt, window valance, bumper pads, and memory board for my daughter's nursery. I did a cute little cross stitch that we stamped her baby footprints onto and framed. I painted the wooden letters that spell her name and hung them on the wall with pretty pink satin ribbon. I started her scrapbook...and that's where things started to pile up!

Now, its almost 3 years and two children later (my little girl is 2.5 years old and my little boy is almost 9 months old). I still only have a few pages of my daughter's scrapbook completed and now with another child here I need to get going on another one! There are too many projects to list here so I'm going to try to work on one each day and post my progress!