Lindy's quilt

So I never got a good picture of this quilt, which is a total shame, because it was a really cute quilt, but I made it for my friend Lindy who got married last year. It was one of the few quilts that I actually made last year! As soon as I get some photos uploaded to the computer, I'll post pics of the two baby quilts that I made this past week. I just finished the last bit of binding this morning.

I'm back!

So last year I ran a marathon. That took a bit of my time. :) As a result, I just really did not do much sewing last year. Also, do you ever find that you do things in cycles? I sew a lot, and then I get tired of it, or uninspired, and so I move onto something else for a little while, and then eventually something pushes me, and I'll get back into sewing? I think I got my push this past week. I've been sewing like a maniac for the past week, but more on that later. First, a few of the things that I have made in the past month.
I found an easy pattern for Angry Birds, so I made up a few. I have intentions to make more of them, but up until this minute couldn't remember where I put the patterns that I had already printed out. I think I'll work on the beaks a little bit, to make them wider, but other than that, it's a pretty easy pattern, especially if you are comfortable doing a little free motion sewing.

Then I did a little sewing for Olivia for Christmas. There were very few things that I made for Christmas this year. I made her this buttercup bag (free pattern found here)

And I also made her these hand puppets. These were made using the same technique as the angry birds, and were a snap to put together, once again, if you are comfortable doing the free motion sewing.

Then, a few years ago my good friend Jana gave me that cute star wall hanger, but I only had a hanging for Halloween and Thanksgiving, and Christmas, so I'm going to try to make a few more, maybe one that would be a good general one until I get one for each month. But I whipped this little guy up on New Year's eve, while the rest of my family was playing Wii (we still need a 4th controller before I can join in the fun and games...)

And then I started these the other day, and hopefully will finish quilting them in the next week. I have to remember that there are some things that are more important than sewing- like cleaning the house and taking care of the kids...

The fabric here is by Wendy Slotbloom, who is one of my favorite designers- I used her fabric for Olivia's quilts. I have more fabric in another line lying in wait for another inspired project, but it was looking at the fabric that I had of hers that made me want to start sewing again. Then I began thinking that I needed to have a friend have a baby girl so that I could use the fabric, and then I realized that I HAVE a friend having a baby girl, and how convenient that was for me! So yea for getting back into sewing. I have several other UFOs and my goal is to finish as many as possible before we move at some unknown time in the next 3-4 months.

Christmas sewing

This year was the year of the apron for me. I made about a billion. This one is a hostess apron that I made for Nate's teacher. I also made aprons like this for my friends in the presidency. This is the hostess apron that I made for Cammi. We didn't have her in the name exchange this year, but she does so much for us that it felt rude to not think of her at Christmas.

This one was for me. I made a similar one for my mom. The top bib part of it can button off and convert into a hostess apron as well.

This is the quilt that I made for my new nephew Dylan. He was born just a few days before Christmas. I also made a car seat cover for him, but I forgot to take a picture of it.

This is what I made for my mother in law. I am slowly getting around to making something handmade for each person in Jesse's family. I still have his older brother's family, and father left. But I made this cute little quilt as you go braided table runner with 8 matching place mats.

And that wraps up the Christmas things. I have a few baby quilts in mind to make in the next few months. I'm waiting to see if there is any money left over from our tax return to buy some more fabric, or if they will be stash quilts.

For Colleen and Ashley

This quilt my friend Jana and I made for our other friend Colleen. So she had her baby like 8 weeks ago, and we just gave it to her today. In our defense, she didn't find out the gender of the baby before hand. This one I made for my friend Ashley's baby boy. It was a lot of fun. I want a 60* ruler now, I borrowed Jana's.

Halloween aprons

I made these aprons for my friends Jana and Colleen. They were belated birthday presents. They were from the same set of patters as the one that I made for Heather. I'm getting pretty good at making these.

Apron for Heather

It was almost 2 years ago that we were on vacation with my husband's family and my SIL and I went into this little quilt shop that was in town, and while looking around she found a pattern for an apron, and asked me if I would help her make it. So we got home, and a while later we made it over to my local quilt shop to pick out the fabric. Then it sat. And it sat. Then last Christmas we went on vacation together again and we thought that it would be the perfect time to work on the apron. So I was in charge of bringing the supplies, and my SIL said she'd bring her sewing machine. Well, she forgot her machine. So it didn't get done. And it sat. Then a week ago or so, I was downstairs cleaning out my sewing corner, and I found this bag. As it turns out, it was just recently her birthday, so I thought that I would just go ahead and make one for her. At this point I have 3 kids, one being a newborn, and she is now pregnant with her 3rd, her next oldest being not quite 1 yet. We really are not moving in the right direction to have sewing lessons right now. It turned out super cute. She was very excited to see that I had made it for her.

A decorating idea

So I've done exactly three things to change the nursery from Graham's room to Olivia's room. I put up a pink mobile, I changed the photo on the shelf from Graham to Olivia, and I hung up these dresses. I didn't really have anything special hanging from these hooks really since I put it up in the new house. I don't even remember what I hung from them when this was in Nate's nursery. But several weeks ago I thought how cute it would be to hang some dresses up there. The thing is that I have all of these super cute dresses, and all they do is hang in a closet where no one can see them. (Well, aside from when Olivia wears them to church.) So I picked 4 of my favorites and have them hanging here. (Well, when they are ironed that is.) This is the dress that my mom made for Olivia. It's not exactly her blessing dress, because she'll wear this dress that my mom got in Belgium that 4 or so of the other girl cousins have been blessed in. But I still consider this her blessing dress. She hasn't worn it yet, it's closer to a 3-6 month size, and I'm kind of waiting until her blessing day.

Look at all of the smocking, yeah, my mom's a rock star.

These little pleats came at my special request. I was thinking in bed one night before Olivia was born, and I thought about how cute it would be to have a dress for her with little half inch pleats along the bottom. So I talked to my mom about it, and she did it. Yeah, she's a rock star.

I was walking through Kohl's the other day, and I saw this on the rack, and I didn't really even think about it, but I decided that I needed to have it. Love it!

Look at the little bow at the top!

This is the dress that I bought online specifically so that she could have an impossibly cute dress to wear to church her first Sunday back. It's huge, she'll wear it until she's 17.

I love the eyelet work all along the skirt, and the white lining sticking out of the bottom.

I bought this dress I think before Graham was born. Like, I wasn't pregnant at the time or anything. It was super cheap at the Carter's outlet, and I saw it and thought that I should probably have it on account of how cute it was. It too is still too big for her.

I love these embroidered flowers.

The problem of course is that all of these dresses need to be ironed, and I'm sometimes slow to get down to do the ironing. Two of them, the white polka dot, and the pink one, she wears to church right now, so they get taken off of the hooks. I've started to replace the empty spots with other dresses that I don't love quite as much, but are still cute. Then of course there is this other dress that my mom brought back from Belgium. It'll fit her when she's two or so. I'll have to take a picture of that as well. It's got handmade Belgian lace, and is very beautiful. So much so that I have no idea when she'll wear it, but one day she will.

So what unusual ways do you decorate your kids' rooms?