The Lovely Photoshop

For Christmas Jeff gave me Photoshop Elements. I haven't taken the time to figure out how to use it... until today. I will definitely be using it again. Look how much better this quilt looks than in the same photo below! It's brighter and turned the right way!

Blossoms!

Finished! I finally finished the quilt I've been making for Olivia's crib. Sorry the picture turned on it's side. I don't know how to set it the right way. Anyway, this pattern is called Blooms for Annabelle. I made it using Bubblegum Basics fabric.

The pattern calls for two charm packs, but I just cut my own since this fabric is not by Moda. I started appliqueing the first row by hand, got it done and decide machine would be just fine for the rest! I did press the seam allowance under and then do invisible thread to stitch around. The pattern also said to use bias tape for the vines but I chose to use ric rac instead. Saved time!
Here's a closeup. Sorry about the dark picture, it was raining when I took it. I do love the bright happy colors! Cute for a little girl's room.

A New Diaper Bag

I spent the weekend making this diaper bag. I've realized I'm really not much of a seamstress. Quilting is a lot different than sewing other things. The fabric is called Metro Blue Goes Green. The pattern is called The Nappy Bag by Amy Butler.

RS Quilt Class

For those of you who are doing the RS quilt class, as far as I know there was not one scheduled for this month. We are going to change the day and place and I don't know what they have planned. When I got the calendar at the beginning of the month it wasn't on it. I'll keep you posted when I know what's going on!

Handmade Baby Gifts

I've kind of been trying to keep Olivia home since she is so little. She was 5 lbs 1 ounce at birth and is still probably under 6 lbs. Our neighborhood has been so excited to meet her. Last night we went on a little walk. We kept getting stopped so people could see her. One lady came out with a gift.

She knitted these baby booties and brought the out to us. Aren't they cute! I can't wait until Olivia can wear them.

She also crocheted around this cute blanket. I LOVE the flowered fabric! And who doesn't love polka dots? The flowered fabric reminds me of my grandma's sheets. I just love it.

Aren't hand made gifts the best! They are the kind of gifts you know you will keep forever, to pass on to your children's children.

Busy, busy, busy

I've been busy this week. Not only taking care of a newborn, a toddler and a 5 year old, but making stuff for the baby. I love having a girl! One of the things I've been doing is making headbands. I need people to know she's a girl! I made the above one. It's a little big, but she'll grow!

Here are a few I worked on last night. My husband thinks the korker bows look like fireworks. The green and pink one was my first attempt. It's rather large for her tiny head. I will need to wait to attach it to a headband that will fit her head later on.

Here is one I made of tights. I bought the green bow in a package of bows that have alligator clips on the back. I put a loop of grosgrain ribbon around the tights so that I can use the same headband and just switch bows. Can you tell Caleb is a proud brother?And here is a sneak peak of the quilt I'm making for her crib out of Bubblegum Basics. Hopefully I can finish it this week.

Olivia's First Quilt

I finished my lady bug quilt! I finally had a reason to. Since I had no finished baby quilt for Olivia when I got home I needed to get cracking on this one. I had the lady bugs finished so I just had to add the outer border and then last night I quilted it last night and bound it today.

Sorry about the shadows. I took the picture outside and we have tons of trees in our yard.

I found the pattern years ago in Quick Quilts. Quilting Cottage in American Fork had a sample made and I loved it. I bought the fabric and it's been sitting around waiting for a baby girl until this summer when I pulled it out. This was about a year before Jake was born so probably a little over three years ago.

Now onto another quilt out of Bubblegum Basics.... I'm loving girl fabric.

Here's Olivia!

Current Events

I have an obsession besides fabric. Adoption. In fact, there are lots of agencies who post their available situations online each day. Every single day I check those listings multiple times a day hoping that my baby will be posted. I call about a lot of them. Lots of birth moms have seen our profile but we always know that we need the right one to find it.

Wednesday morning one of the agencies we are registered with posted a baby that I called about. I left a message for the owner of the agency to call me back about this situation. She called back about 20 minutes later to tell me the information. She also told me that the birth mom was already in labor and the baby was being born right then. We gave her the go ahead to show our profile.

At 2:22pm she called back telling us the baby had been born and that we had been chosen to be the parents! We rushed to the hospital (fortunately it's only about 45 minutes away from our house). We spent the rest of the day meeting the birth parents and got to spend a little time with the baby.

The birth parents signed relinquishment's yesterday morning so she is officially ours (well, technically she's the agencies until finalization in six months). She will probably get to come home this morning. We are so excited and feel so blessed. She's a tiny little girl, which makes me a little nervous. 5 lbs 1 ounce (she's a little over a month early).

I haven't really slept since we found out. I went to the quilt shop closest to the hospital yesterday during the nurses shift change. I was to tired to pick out fabric! Can you imagine that? I finally get a girl and I can't focus on matching fabric! I wandered around for quite awhile, but could not figure out what I wanted to do. Good thing she has grandmas! My mother-in-law made a cute fleece blanket as soon as she heard the news. I can't wait to get sewing on little GIRL things!

Right now I can't find my camera. I think it's still in the car and I'm too tired to look for it. I'll post a picture when I can. Check back soon!

Also.... sorry I can't get into more specifics with the blog being open. I hope you understand.

In other crafty news.....

A few weeks ago my friend and I decided to cover canvas. She and I both moved into a new house at about the same time near the end of the summer. I was tired of my walls looking bare.

This lemon wreath is not permanant. I had another wreath there and put it on my front door. I need to find one I like for in here. Anyway, I had seen covered canvases at Target for $50-$90. Then I saw the blank canvases on sale at Ben Franklin for 50% off. I bought the biggest one they had. It looked a lot bigger until I put it on the wall.

I stapled the fabric on with a staple gun. I folded the corners like you would a bed sheet when you are making the bed. It turned out to be a really cheap way to cover a bigger blank space. I like the way it turned out, but I'm not sure if I will keep it there. I may end up hanging it in the dining room above the plates you can see in the back there. I wanted something with more color for the family room but couldn't find something I loved that had a big print. Now... what to put above the couch in the family room?

May Day and Spring Quilts

I've not had very much time to quilt this week. We got a new furnace and new a/c and since my sewing room opens into the furnace closet thing it's I haven't been able to get in for a few days. Yes, it took a few days. They had to do some creative vent work. We also didn't have any vents in our basement at all so we were freezing down here all winter. Anyway, I started a dresden plate block.

I've used a layer cake from Sweet. I know what I'm going to use for the center, but I don't have that fabric. I did hand applique the first block and used the fabric I'll use for the center on that, but I only had one layer cake square. I'm not done, but I'll show a picture when I am.

I'm loving this line. It's so much fun and so, so springy! Just what we need at this time of year.