Almost finished!

I was able to complete the crib bumper last week, and now I am nearly finished with the baby's corner of the room! I have to make the bed skirt, and figure out some way to put her name or initials on the wall. I will still have her quilt to finish at that point, but since I made it toddler bed sized, I'm not very concerned that it be finished in the next month.

I can't get over how adorable these little Care Bears are!

My finally finished painting. I'm really, really pleased with how it came out, and imagine this hanging on her wall for years to come. Even if she doesn't end up as enamored with Care Bears as I was when I was little, it should go well with the character themed decor that my almost four year old prefers.


And in the event that you needed a refresher, or were just curious (as I was) to see how it might all look together, here the crib is with my finished quilt top. More photos of that can be found here.

A little peek

I have this list of things that I have to do before the baby comes. It's handy, but I've discovered that I haven't really put half of the things I need to do on it. For example, after three trips to my sister's place since becoming pregnant, I finally remembered to bring home my son's infant car seat (she had borrowed it for my nephew). I was so excited to cross that off of my list! I then realized that washing it was not on my list. Nor was washing the stroller. I somehow imagined that these things would be in wonderful condition after 18 months in storage.

I did get to scratch one thing off. One thing, that did not add three or four more things to the supposed-to-be-shrinking list, thank goodness!



I finished my painting! It is now hung nearly exactly centered over the completely built crib in the kids' room. I am so excited to do the big reveal with all of her Care Bears things...I just have to get them off of my list first.

A small finish and some progress

My wonderful friend Erin bought me this fabric book panel in my nursery theme. I decided to put off any further work on the quilt until the bed skirt and bumper are done, that way I know exactly how much scrap I have to piece the backing. So, until the crib got here (which I wasn't expecting to happen for awhile), I pulled out this book panel and a purse that has been a work in progress for a long time.



Of course, the crib arrived yesterday and I never made it to the purse. Oh, how hard it is going to be to finish that purse now that my major baby purchase is in the house!

Wait a minute, does this page of the book look familiar? It should!



That's really similar to my painting! It doesn't seem like there is much work left to do on it, but I feel like there is a lot. About the same way I feel about her room!

Weekend work

Sometimes, sewing is this amazing process, where everything fits together and all of the seams are perfect and I stand back with a huge grin on my face saying, "I did that!"

Of course, that usually happens when I am using a pattern that has been tested to death by dozens of sewers. Coming up with my own design is much harder, even when it should be easy. I measured my quilt rows at least four times before cutting the fabric strips to mix them up with. You would think that would mean that they matched up perfectly, but you (and I) would be wrong. I hung the quilt up on the back of my chair and promised myself I'd rip out a bunch of seams after the weekend.



I worked some more on the painting instead. I am on a deadline, after all.

Couldn't wait...

I was not going to reveal the theme for the baby's corner of my son's room until I had the whole thing finished. Thinking about it though, I ideally want the bedding, the painting (I'm seriously considering two more smaller ones with her initials after this one) and the crib all done in time for my first baby shower. I'd like to have completed photos to show all of the relatives from far away.

That shower is in less than two months! I am hoping that putting things up on the blog will keep me motivated to finish it all in time...because if I really sit down and think about how soon my little girl will be here, YIKES!

The fabric to match this unfinished canvas should be here today! I'm crazy excited!

Success and Failure

The graduation party was a huge success. No sooner did we finish setting everything up than people started walking through the door. I took a million and one photos, but nearly all of them ended up being of family instead of my crafty exploits.

I followed the party up on Sunday with a trip to the emergency room that convinced me I need my own personal Michael Moore to tag along on future trips. Ugh...

BUT...I did, finally, just in the nick of time, finish my sewing contest entry. The contest was to make a creative apron using a basic pattern provided. I think I did a decent job on the overall construction, but what I am really proud of is the pocket. I had it pictured in my head for weeks. I would applique rain boots in the same fabric as the ties and then use fabric paints to make them look more like actual boots. Having it actually turn out the way it did in my head is awesome! That rarely seems to happen.



So the party is over, I'm feeling mostly better, and I have nothing on my schedule, yet. I have a million and ten ideas for things I want to work on though, so no worries. I'll just pick something out of the pile and see where it leads.

Happy Mother's Day

Okay, so Mother's Day is still a few days off, but I will be out of town for the actual occasion taking my mother's gift to her. My mom expressed a want for a little counter top herb garden, so she got several of these cute little planters and a packet of herb seeds to go in each.



I found these adorable tiny watering cans in the dollar bins at Target (right next to the planters) and grabbed a couple up. I knew I wanted to paint something for each Mom and they were just perfect!



I am not the best painter in the world, but I try hard. Usually my creations turn out somewhere slightly elevated from cartoons, just like this, for my mother-in-law.



I got my mother-in-law a planter complete with potting soil and flower seeds for her own little indoor garden too, and had every intention of painting something on it. However, the painting always goes slower than I think it will, and I ran out of time. I made this little fabric ribbon and rose in the same colors I used for her watering can to dress it up a little. It makes me feel slightly better about shipping the planter unpainted.



Happy (early) Mother's Day to all of you moms out there!