Friday, September 23, 2011

I heart homemade

As you must know by now, I like giving homemade gifts whenever possible, but I also love receiving homemade items. It's so wonderful to see the time, thought, and effort people put into making something specifically for you (or, in this case, Biscuit), and you're reminded of that love every time you use the item.

We're lucky to have several crafty friends, so I wanted to highlight the awesome homemade things we've received at Biscuit's baby showers this summer. Thank you, friends!

The first item was also acquired most recently, from our friend Susanne at this weekend's shower. She made an entire set of Tex-Mex (our favorite!) felt food. How amazing is this?
I cannot even imagine how much time she put into making this (and did I mention she and her husband hosted the shower, too??). The details are crazy, and every little piece is perfect. In the picture above (starting on the left), you have flan, a fajita with all the fixins (steak and chicken with grill marks!, red and green bell peppers, onions, and refried beans), churros with chocolate dipping sauce, guacamole, more fajita fixins, nachos, a taco with all the fixins (lettuce, tomatoes, steak, and cheese), a burrito, and chips and salsa.
Look at those fajita fixins! The fajita and burrito tortillas have velcro so you can roll them up and keep them closed. And, of course, they're flour tortillas, because corn tortillas are not Tex-Mex.

To top it off, she "wrapped" it in a styrofoam container. How clever is that? I can't wait until Biscuit's old enough to play with it. Until then, maybe I'll just frame it. ;)
The next gift was a super soft baby blanket from our friend Kelly.
I call this our Texas blanket because the bandanna-like fabric on the left side reminds me of Texas. Kelly (along with her husband Trent and their little ones, Rush and Tate) was one of the fabulous friends we left behind in Houston, and we miss them terribly, so it's so nice to have something to remind us of them.

The quilt's just the right size to take with us anywhere we need it, and it's very padded, so I know Biscuit will love laying all over it.
This set was made by another one of our Houston friends, the wonderful Catherine. The shirt and bib are both made from a thermal material that's going to look so cute on Biscuit. I particularly love the oh-so-clever two-sided bib. I feel quite confident our little boy's going to be a messy one, so this way we can just flip the bib around, and voila! clean bib!
Catherine's sweet mother Arlene got in on the fun, too, with this cutie of a burp cloth. I love that fabric!
Finally, my oldest friend, Rachel (who I've known since 2nd grade), gave us a couple of gifts, starting with these two burp cloths. Look at those monkeys! I love all of their different expressions.
The burp cloth on the left matches the nursing cover she also gave me. I love the colors, and it's nice that it's plenty dark to cover things up, if you know what I mean (and I think you do).
It's also got boning in the top part to keep it open so I can easily see in and keep an eye on things.
Thank you so very much, crafty friends!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

WIP Wednesday #18

Happy Wednesday, everyone! It's time for another update. (In case you've missed out, I'm following along with Freshly Pieced's W.I.P. (Work In Progress) Wednesday series as a good way for me (and you) to keep track of what's going on around here.)

Completed this week: 
I finished Biscuit's Hide and Seek Spectrum Quilt, my very first quilt! You can read all about it in this post.

Started this week:
This week, I also started and finished a set of bags for our friend Chris's cornhole set. A while back, he decided to build his own board and asked if I'd make the bags to go with it.
He bought the fabric, which is covered in the logos of his alma mater, Wisconsin. I used it for the outside of the bags, with a lining made of duck cloth, so they could withstand hours of being tossed about. I also tripled stitched all the way around.
I had a lot of fabric left over, so I made a lined drawstring bag to hold all of the bags.
The set got its first test run at our baby shower this weekend, and it worked perfectly.

In progress/On the "to do" list:
Empire Waist Cinch for me from Handmade Beginnings
Nursery bedding for the biscuit: crib dust ruffle, crib mobile, and lots of crib sheets
Other biscuit-related projects

Hope everyone has a great rest of the week. And be sure to click on the button to check out other great WIPs for more inspiration!
WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Who's ready for some tummy time?

I did it! The Hide and Seek Spectrum Quilt (aka Biscuit's tummy time quilt, aka my VERY FIRST quilt) is done! It was a slow process, from selecting the perfect solids and patterned fabrics to cutting and assembling every little piece, learning how to put the walking foot on my sewing machine, figuring out how to quilt (and what thread colors to use for quilting), creating my first strip of bias tape, and learning how to bind the quilt.
The binding was probably the spot where I had my biggest boo-boo. As I said, this was my first time making bias tape, and I followed the directions of all the tutorials — calculate the distance around the quilt and then add 20 or so inches to make sure you have plenty. Problem: all the tutorials use just one fabric (meaning they're only connecting six-ish strips), whereas I'd decided to use all 18 of my solids and make a rainbow binding, so I had 18 strips to piece together.

So you can guess what happened. After I'd cut and pieced them all together, I was about 30 inches short. Oops. I had to make up for it by cutting several more strips, which meant repeating the rainbow so I ended up with a side that had multiple strips in the same color. It also meant that I had one little orange strip left when I pieced the beginning and end together.
I don't think it's terribly noticeable when you're looking at the quilt as a whole, but it's definitely a lesson learned. Here's how I ended up quilting the sashing — parallel lines in each of the darker solid colors.
And then I quilted around the window on each block.
Here's a close-up of part of the binding, showing the rainbow strip.
I decided to use white thread in the bobbin for quilting, and it turned out great. You see some light squares in the middle rainbow strip, and it's hardly noticeable everywhere else.
I bound the quilt completely by machine because, as I've mentioned before, hand sewing really isn't my forte. On the front, I stitched in the ditch so you don't see the thread, and I used white thread in the bobbin, so it shows up on the rainbow binding on the back. Even though it's not hidden, I like the way it ended up looking.
Another close-up of the binding. I call this my Aggie corner.
And here's how Biscuit will see it on the floor, with the windows open.
Open the window, and what do you see? Cows, frogs, eggplants, people, and planes!
Tomatoes, bees, lemons, and pigs!
It's not perfect by a long shot, but I'm so happy with how it turned out and all the new techniques I learned along the way.
I'm not sure quilting will be my new passion, but working through the process and seeing all my hard work come to such a pleasing conclusion was wonderful, and I'm certain I'll do it again.
At the very least, I have to finish the Kitchen Window quilt I started last winter, right?
I can't wait for Biscuit to use it!

Thankful Mondays #30

Yeah, yeah, it's Tuesday, I know. Each "Monday," I'm writing about things I'm thankful for. This is week 30. Read more about it here.

436. another fabulous baby shower
437. snickerdoodles
438. thoughtful friends
439. people who host great parties
440. playing cornhole
441. Biscuit's head down!
442. a healthy ultrasound
443. getting to enjoy my sister's new Christmas CD in September
444. finishing Biscuit's quilt (pictures coming soon)
445. shrimp boils
446. our wonderful, calming OB
447. friends with a good sense of humor
448. finishing all of our baby prep classes
449. 32.5 great weeks -- it feels like it's really getting close now
450. getting back to water aerobics twice a week (see #448)

Monday, September 12, 2011

Thankful Mondays #29

Happy start of the week to you all! Each Monday, I'm writing about things I'm thankful for. This is week 29. Read more about it here. 

421. four wonderful years of being married to my best friend and the man of my dreams (Happy anniversary, love!)
422. receiving handmade gifts from friends
423. laughter
424. Sunday afternoon naps
425. finishing the quilting on Biscuit's quilt! (now, on to the binding)
426. all of the positive, unifying, uplifting things I heard on the 10th anniversary of September 11 (instead of words of hate, fear, and division)
427. a wonderful dinner at Niche, which concluded with one of the best desserts I have ever eaten (butterscotch layer cake, holy moly!)

428. big glasses of water
429. a successful delivery for another pregnant friend (Congrats, Zac and Christine!)
430. the start of football season (even if the Cowboys totally blew it yesterday)
431. virgin mojitos
432. finding some cute new maternity tops for fall
433. being almost done with our baby classes (They've been fun, but I'm ready to have my life back.)
434. my sister's idea to video chat from the hospital with family that can't be there for Biscuit's birth
435. getting a "promotion" and raise from one of my freelance clients

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

WIP Wednesday #17

Happy Wednesday, everyone! It's time for another update. (In case you've missed out, I'm following along with Freshly Pieced's W.I.P. (Work In Progress) Wednesday series as a good way for me (and you) to keep track of what's going on around here.)

Completed this week:
I made up for a lack of sewing time this weekend by taking advantage of Labor Day. First, I managed to finish the linen sashing on the front of Biscuit's Hide and Seek Spectrum Quilt!
Then, last night, I completed the entire backing, too.
I'm in love with the way it's turning out, and it feels like I'm getting so close to finishing my first quilt. Now, I just need to cut the batting and put it all together, but I want some advice on the quilting. In the original pattern, AMH handstitches a row of each of the dark colors through the linen sashing and around each of the "windows." I've already thrown out the idea of handstitching (because I'm terrible at it and know it will look horrible), but I'm planning to do it with my machine.
The issue is that AMH backs her quilt with the same white muslin she uses on the front sashing. I obviously chose to go a different route, and now I'm afraid that lines of rainbow thread are going to look funny on the back of the quilt. Instead, I'm considering using white or brown thread in the bobbin, so you get colored lines on the front and white or brown lines on the back. What do you think?? 

Started this week: 
I also managed to start a pair of shortalls for Biscuit. I based the pattern on some shortalls I'd already bought for Biscuit, and I used Couturier Mommy's jonjon tutorial to assemble them. These were originally destined for a friend's baby shower, but I wasn't totally thrilled with how they turned out, so they're staying close to home. I'm sure Biscuit won't notice the flaws because his momma made them. :)
I just need to sew on the buttons for the top, and it'll be all done. I'm also considering adding some sort of applique to jazz up the front.
I used snap tape for the first time on the crotch enclosure, and that stuff is great (a bit pricey — thank goodness for coupons — but great)!

In progress/On the "to do" list:
Empire Waist Cinch for me from Handmade Beginnings
Nursery bedding for the biscuit: crib dust ruffle, crib mobile, and lots of crib sheets
Other biscuit-related projects

Hope everyone has a great rest of the week. And be sure to click on the button to check out other great WIPs for more inspiration!
WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Thankful Mondays #28

Oops, it's Tuesday. Hmmm, Labor Day threw me off. Anyway, each Monday, I'm writing about things I'm thankful for. This is week 28. Read more about it here. 

406. Labor Day
407. cool weather!!! (70s during the day, 50s at night ... yes, please!)
Photo courtesy of the Aggie Athletics website
408. the Aggies' first win
409. our wonderful obstetrician
410. getting to share in friends' baby showers
411. our couch
412. that we get to see Biscuit again in a week and a half (he's grown a lot since the last time)
413. a good documentary
414. that our current insurance plan option was extended through next summer (that means no changing insurance plans right before the baby's born!)
415. setting up an appointment with our pediatrician
416. finding the right khaki linen for the sashing on Biscuit's quilt ... it's really coming along!
417. a promotion
418. the start of football
419. a really good meal
420. sleeping under the covers

Friday, September 2, 2011

Building the rainbow

A few people have asked about the colors I used for the solids in Biscuit's Hide and Seek Spectrum Quilt, so I thought a quick post might be in order for anyone looking to replicate it. All of the solids are Kona cottons, purchased from Sew Fresh Fabrics. The ladies there were super helpful in suggesting the perfect bundle.

So, here's what I used (the darker color is listed first for each):
Red: Wine, Cardinal
Orange: Tangerine, School Bus
Yellow: Ochre, Banana
Green: Basil, Grass
Teal: Cyan, Robin Egg
Blue: Marine, Blue Jay
Purple: Mulberry, Lupine
Pink: Bright Pink, Peony
Black: Black, Ash