My First Quilt: CHECK!

I did it! I finished my very first quilt! I put the last stitches in the binding at about 1:30 Saturday morning and pulled it out of the dryer just in time to get it wrapped for LadyBug's birthday party Saturday afternoon!

Today I finally got a second to get some pictures of it to show you. I couldn't keep LadyBug off of it though. She insisted on dragging her toys on top of it and plopping her diapered butt right in the middle! Had I known she was going to want to be part of the photo op, I would have dressed her in something cuter :)

"Garden Blossoms"

Wild Thing pattern by ThimbleBlossoms
Sandi Henderson's Ginger Blossom fabric with snow Kona cotton
Finished February 12, 2010

It still needs a label, but I am calling it finished!

Hugs and happy stitchy wishes to you all! And thank you for all the sweet birthday wishes for myself and the LadyBug!

And Breathe.....

I know, I know, I disappeared for about 2 weeks... These past 14 days (give or take) were jam packed! Somewhere between 2 exams in Anatomy and Physiology class, nursing a migraine for 2 straight days, working on LadyBug's birthday quilt, making wedding invitations for my brother's wedding this summer, planning LadyBug's birthday party, dealing with Cuddle Bug's pink eye, and basic childcare, I managed to turn 27!

Exhale...

Oh and I managed to miss the drawing for own giveaway... Someone please pass the Hershey's Pot of Gold! Sigh

I am happy to announce that I finally did get around to drawing a name for the Abecedaire ornament chart! Karen is the lucky winner!

I woke up this morning dedicated to being stress free. Today is LadyBug's first birthday and we are celebrating! I still can't believe it's been a year already! Happy birthday to my sweet girl!! We're having her party on Saturday afternoon, so there's still work to be done (including the finishing touches on her quilt).

I do have a few pictures to share. First up is the little messenger bag I made for Cuddle Bug's friend for her birthday. I used this tutorial again, but this time I made a few changes. Most importantly, I added an extra inch to the length of the lining fabric to compensate for the trim. We put a little workbook inside for the birthday girl too.



And this is the darling little kit I won from Marjorie! This is at the top of my "to start" list :) Thank you Marjorie!



I hope you are all enjoying a care-free week! Thank you all for your sweet, sweet comments! I cherish them :)

Finishing Details

I've been busy the past week. I started my Anatomy and Physiology I class on Tuesday and I've been failing miserably at keeping the house in a respectable state. However, I did manage to get some (crafty) work done despite it all!

I finished my first quilt topper on Monday afternoon when DH was home for MLK day. He was a huge help keeping the bugs out of my way so I could get this worked on. I'm almost finished with the back and then I hope to baste and quilt it this weekend. We'll see how that goes.


Cuddle Bug went to Ironton, MO with his great aunt to spend the night at a little get-away cabin they have, so I had one less bug to manage today. That meant two naptimes all to myself as LadyBug still takes a morning and an afternoon nap (it's a sad day when they start taking only one nap a day). So i got to work finishing my pieces for Lady Scarlet's Secret Garden from Just Nan. This is a very special piece indeed! I have fantasies of LadyBug wishing to take up stitching and sewing one day and passing this sweet piece off to her :)



And for the record, those are my prized Piecemakers in the needle book. Vonna has changed the way I look at needles forever!

Wonderful Catherine (who doesn't appear to have a blog of her own but is a follower of mine) asked me about my adventures in school and how that works out with the bugs. I just started back to school in the fall of 2009 so this is only my second semester back. I'm trying to get some prerequisites completed right now to hopefully get into the nursing program at my local University to get my BSN. Last semester I took two courses online and one at night that met twice a week. This semester I'm only taking one course - Anatomy and Physiology I - that meets twice a week at night. I enjoy the chance to get out of the house and have some adult conversations for a change. And DH is a true gem! He takes fantastic care of our bugs while I'm away. He's the reason it's even possible for me to go back to school! I think he treasures his alone time with the kids as much as I enjoy getting away for a while. I do most of my school work while the bugs are napping or after they've gone to bed. So far it hasn't been as big of a juggling act as I had expected it to be. But since I just started A&P, there's no telling what this semester holds for me! This class is looking intense so far! :)

Thank you all for your sweet comments and all your support and friendship! I hope you all have a blessed and beautiful weekend! Happy stitchy wishes :)

Snow, Sewing, and a Finish

Thursday we got the first "significant' snow of the season here in St. Louis. I have to say, as a transplant from the desert, I absolutely love that we experience 4 seasons here in the midwest! But I perfer to admire the snow from inside where I can sip some (spiked) hot chocolate and wear my down booties that keep my toes so toasty.

So speaking of the snow, I must say that DH is such an amazing husband and father. I don't talk enough about him on my blog. He's doting and patient. He deals with my mood swings and my lame attempts to pick a fight from time to time. He rubs my feet, makes my coffee exactly right, runs out to the craft store for me when I run out of the thread I need to finish a project, prays with me, tells my I'm not chubby, and sits in the corner of my LNS playing with the kids all the while telling me to take my time and get whatever I want. And that's just the husband part of him. As a father he blows me away! He's on the floor putting together Lego train tracks into crazy loopy shapes with bridges and switching tracks. He plays peek-a-boo and asks what the specials are when Cuddle Bug plays restaurant in the playroom.

So what does that have to do with snow you ask? Well Thursday, that was my husband taking a vacation day to take Cuddle Bug sledding for the very first time! Those are the moments that will add up in the lives of my children. They will look back and think "my dad could have gone to work that day, but he took a day off and took me sledding instead!" And he showed my sweet boy how to make snow angels and build a snow fort too. I love him for the husband he is to me and for the father is to our children :)


So now that I've gotten past the sappy part of the past few days, I have a few things to show off.

First up, I finished LHN's "Peace" thread pack into a pillow on Friday. I finished the stitching on this one last year and I had the finishing kit from Mary Kathryn's ONS. It just needed to be completed. So I went ahead and did that on Friday.


Additionally, I've been sewing up a storm working on my first quilt! Knock on wood, but so far so good. I got all 42 blocks finished and sewn into 7 rows of 6 blocks each. Soon enough, barring any unforeseen hiccups, the top of this one will be finished. I am loving how this is turning out and really enjoying the process! If it turns out as I hope, this will be my birthday gift to LadyBug when she turns 1 exactly one month from today!


I haven't gotten to put too many more stitches in Poinsettia House. My fingers have been too cold to hold the needle and I kept dropping it. I finally set it down. I hope to get some more stitches in it tonight after I've warmed my fingers up with a cup of coffee. I hope everyone has been having a wonderful weekend and staying warm! Happy stitchy wishes to you all!

Poinsettia House and Ginger Blossom

I'm just popping in to give a little progress update on Poinsettia House. The trim has been painted, the windows installed, and some snow fell as well. I really love this piece more with every stitch I put in it!



And look what the UPS guy brought today for my quilting adventures! Some Ginger Blossom and Kona cuts from Fabric.com. And let me just say that they were very generous with these cuts!


Happy Wednesday and happy stitching to everyone!

Chirp Chirp

It's 22 degrees F outside and I've got spring on my mind. This morning when we left the house to take Cuddle Bug to preschool it was 3 degrees! WOW! I couldn't believe it! I'm a desert dweller...this whole single digit thing is just not right! I can't even bring myself to check the temperature in Phoenix today. This is my third winter in St Louis and by far the coldest I've ever experienced! I miss you warm, sunny Arizona! I'll see you in July and you better have the Wigwam pool ready for me!

Anyway, back to spring. I'm not very good about making it a priority to finish-finish pieces I've stitched. 2010 is going to be different! I have a little drawer of projects that need "finishing" and I intend to finish each and every one by the end of the year! So here's the first:



Egg...cetera from The Cross Eyed Cricket finished as a small pillow

Tell me this doesn't make you feel a little springy too! I'm very pleased with how this turned out - especially considering that there was a bug crawling around by my feet for most of its construction - not the kind you squish of course, the kind you snuggle and love :)

I hope everyone is having a beautiful beginning of the week! Thanks for visiting and thank you for your wonderful comments and support.

I'm off to put some more stitches in Poinsettia House. I'm enjoying each stitch more than I can say! And those Piecemakers...oh my goodness I am in love with every pass through the fabric! It sounds like most of you know their magic already. Where have I been?? Vonna has opened my eyes!!!

Happy stitchy wishes to you all! And happy Tuesday!

A Little House, Space Ships, and Red Corduroy!

I am happy to report that I got some (fairly) adequate stitchy time in over the weekend! This is where LHN's Poinsettia House stands to date:


I made it out to JoAnns yesterday to pick up the 3865 DMC I had run out of. No one seemed to notice on my last post that the last row of snow on the rooftop was only half cross stitches! But I've replenished my supply so all is well.

I promised some pictures of my recent sewing adventures in my last entry. So here goes.

This is the library book bag I made for Cuddle Bug using this tutorial.


He picked the fabric out himself and I think he did well! I made the library card pocket on the front extra deep so his card would fit deeply in it and wouldn't fall out when he bends over. I call this one a success! He loves to take it to the library and fill it with new books. And Daddy got a hook to hang it in his bedroom so all his library books would be tucked away there instead of getting mingled in with his huge personal library!

Now despite the fact that I make an effort to not post pics of the bugs on my blog - because I'm a crazy neurotic mother - I can't bring myself to crop off LadyBug's face on this picture to show off the dress I made for her to wear to the family Christmas Eve gathering. So for your viewing pleasure....


It's red corduroy - soft and comfy. This was my first time sewing in a zipper and I would call it a good first go! Next time I know what I would do differently. And check out those butt ruffles! I added those myself since the pattern didn't have them. I absolutely love how this dress turned out! And I made it a little bit bigger so hopefully it will still fit for Valentine's Day :)

I hope everyone else had a great weekend! Happy stitchy wishes to you all!

A New Year, a Fresh Start

Welcome 2010! 2009 went by way too fast. It was a big year for us in many ways: LadyBug joined us, Cuddle Bug went off to school for the first time, I went back to school, we lost our beloved grandfather, my sister got her master's degree, and my brother got married. What a year it was. I can only hope 2010 will be filled with as many blessings and a little less heartache :)

I got started on LHN's Poinsettia House yesterday (thanks to dear Vonna who gifted this to me in our Christmas exchange). WOW I am absolutely LOVING this! Everything about it makes me happy: the fabric, the colors, the design, and oh my goodness those needles! Please indulge me for a second while I go on about the needle I am stitching this with...



Vonna included a package of Piecemaker needles with this chart (along with the fabric and the Crescent Colours...spoiled me!) and she told me that they are her very favorite needle to stitch with. In fact, I can quote her as saying "Piecemakers slip through like a hot knife in butter." Well that got me excited! I already knew I would love them. I mean I consider Vonna to be a foremost expert on all things cross stitch so if she says they're good I believe her! But I couldn't have imagined I would love them as much as I do! You know when you're expecting your first baby...humor me here... You know you are going to love that child in a way you've never loved another human being before, but you don't really understand the depth of that love until they place that baby in your arms and you hold him/her for the first time! That's how I feel about these needles! Okay, that might be a bit of a stretch, but I only mean to say that I knew I would love them, I just didn't realize just how much I would LOVE them until I crossed my first stitch with them! My poor husband had to listen to me go on and on all night about how much I was loving this project and how the needle is just perfection. I feel like I can stitch a little faster with them even (I'm a very slow stitcher). By the end of the night, DH said "aren't you finished with that yet? I mean geez the needle is so good I thought you would have finished that whole chart by now!" He thinks he's cute...

Last night I also managed to get squares cut to start work on my first quilt! I took a beginning quilting class in October and now I've gotten the big idea that I should start my first quilt. I made a table topper in the class. I guess I'm feeling adventurous... Wish me luck!


I still need to show off the dress I made LadyBug for Christmas and the library book tote I made Cuddle Bug the other day while he was napping. But those will have to wait for another day. Something to look forward to right?

I hope everyone's 2010 has started off right! Happy stitching!

Sewing, Finishing, Living

A few years ago (when we were still living in Tucson, AZ) my mom awarded me ownership of a little piece of equipment I will always associate fondly with sweet mom-made summer dresses - her old Kenmore sewing machine. All these years it's been untouched (short of the 8 moves we made in less than 2 years, that is). I hadn't a clue how to use it.

Well since my mom was in town for my sister's graduation - Congrats Steph! - I made it a point to get out the sewing machine for a little how-to! And this is the fruit of that lesson:


A little dress for my Lady Bug! It is terribly flawed, and please let's not even bring up the little diaper cover that was supposed to go with it! But I'm actually very proud of it! So I pat myself on the back! This is only the beginning of my sewing adventures!!! I am hooked!

Speaking of Lady Bug...guess who is now rolling from her back to her belly! They grow up way too fast!

On the stitching front, last week I made time to finish my "Paper Whites" by LHN into a little pinkeep. This is even complete with a hem-stitched pocket on the back! And I did a bow using Vonna's method. I'm more than pleased with the way it turned out! It's easily my best finish to date :)

Paper Whites by Littlehouse Needleworks

Stitched 1 over 1
Thread: Recommended DMC
Fabric: 28 Count natural linen
Stitched: 5/1/09 - 5/8/09
Finished as pinkeep: 5/21/09

Other than that, things are going well around here. I started thinking seriously in the past week or so about going back to school. I went to the University of Arizona straight out of high school, and after about 4 years there, I was miserable and still had no direction and no degree to show for myself. I just couldn't find anything that felt right. So after a lot of contemplation, I left school to start a family. We've been very blessed that DH can support us and I can stay at home with the bugs. But I still want to have my degree. Now at 26, I know what I want to study and what I want to do outside of being a mom and wife. I want to be a nurse. And that brings us around to today.

My sister's passion - besides boy bands of the 1990s - is student affairs in a university setting. She just graduated with a masters degree in College Student Personnel. So my talking about going back to school gets her blood flowing! Today she went with me to the University of Missouri - St Louis to poke around campus. I just wanted to see the university and planned to make some calls next week to speak with an adviser there. But, leave it to my sister to have me seated in an adviser's office in the College of Nursing before I even knew what had happened! I left there with a lot of answered questions and a plan. That leaves me both excited and terrified! But nothing happens if we don't just commit, grin and bear it for a while, and follow through. So, that's that...I'm going back to school! And, with 2 small children and commitments to my family and husband, I give myself 3 years. I expect to have my BSN in 3 years. You heard it here first :)