Thursday, July 28, 2011

Mikaela is 27 weeks old!

Mikaela turned 27 weeks old on July 27th! She's totally full of smiles, sits up on her own and is eating stage 1 baby foods. She loves prunes and pears, but also eats sweet potatoes, green beans, carrots, apples, and bananas.

Mikaela 183
She's has one little tooth on the front left and her second on her right side is coming in too.
Mikaela 195
We were outside and she just wanted to look into the air, the birds, planes, and noises around her were distracting her!
Mikaela 199
She's just about ready to crawl as she can scoot herself and get up on all 4's. She rolls over both ways now too.
Mikaela 209



Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Bag Sewing

Tonight I had a few bags I wanted to get made. I actually got to start sewing at about 5, since I was off work early and Mikaela and Paul were napping. I made this cosmetic size bag for my co-worker friend Pat. She's going through some family challenges and I thought she'd get a kick out of the fabric. She has a kitty she just loves.
Quilt 127

I also found this cute cat fabric that goes with it, so I made little wallets. They are about the size of a cash and carry, only I didn't piece them. I just used 4.5"x 6.5" pieces and did a bit of decorative stitches to hold the layers together. I made one for her.
Quilt 123
Quilt 126

I also made one for her granddaughter who is staying with her. I think she'll like having her own little wallet. She's 3.
Quilt 124
Quilt 125

I finally got around to making the diaper clutch. It turned out super cut and was actually pretty easy. I just need to get a piece of vinyl for the matching  changing pad. I have to stop at the store tomorrow so hope to get it then.
Quilt 130

Tomorrow I'm off early and going to attend the ordination of our new bishop. I've never been to one before, so I'm looking forward to going. Luckily my dad is going as well, so I won't be along. If I get any good pictures I'll share.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Splattering of projects

I'm finally getting caught up on my blog, so I'm gonna splatter it with the projects I'm working on this week and what I did last week.
This is one of my mom's UFO's. It's a BQ2 quilt made with the Jim Shore Angels fabric. Mom had it layed out and ready to sew together. I sewed it together matching everything in April...only to realize it needed to be flipped to make it work right, so I took it completely apart, took every other block apart, and fixed it into the way it's supposed to look. I'd put it away since then.
Last week I found out about a quilt project to make quilts for all the beds at Terra Sancta a retreat center for our diocese. I figured there was no better place for this quilt to go. I sewed the blocks together Thurs. night and picked up the fabric I need to make the borders. I think it will look great and be a wonderful addition to the center.
Quilt 107
It's a large lap, so I'll be making it a bit bigger with borders into a twin size.
Quilt 108
I picked up these three fat quarters at the Quilt Corral in Hill City a few weeks ago. I'm making a diaper clutch. I really need to get it finished before Mikaela is out of diapers.
Quilt 112

I'm also participating in a Hexalong this summer and trying to work on a few projects with hexi's. This is my 60* Blush quilt. It will probably be a throw size. I have a few others, so I'll post a blog post about the Hexalong later. At least I had motivation to cut all the blocks out last week during lunch. There is no pattern for this. I'm just kind of going with the flow and using the 60* ruler I love.
Quilt 116

At work a co-worker started a positive attitude award called the Atta Girl to reward people who help each other out at work. Basically it can be given to any woman within our system. I'm the second recipient and they threw a surprise party to give it to me. I'm not sure who I'll give it to next, but I can only keep it a few weeks and then I need to pass it on to another deserving employee. I received it for helping my co-worker Shannon with several processes. Yes this is taken in my office, lots of quilts hanging all over my office! There are two more on the other walls.
Quilt 119
Last week and this week I've been working on Colleen's block for the block swap. It's a simple block, but somehow I screwed it up, not 1, not 2, but 3 times! First I made all the HST's about 1/4" too small. I printed the paper wrong. So I quit that night. A few nights later I made the Flying Geese using the Lazy Girl ruler and they turned out great! I made the new HST's and went to put it together and I had reversed the blue and white on all my flying geese, so I quit that night! Tonight I re-made all the flying geese. I started to put it together and had made half my HST/solid block pieces wrong, so I did the frog stitch! Finally I got it put together tonight! I was determined!  I love how it turned out and can't believe I had so much trouble with such a simple block.
Quilt 122

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Sewing away

I have been sewing away, just not taking the time to post pictures! I get done so late with my sewing that I typically just upload pictures and go to bed. I never get around to getting the blog post done. On the weekend of the 17th I got quite a bit of sewing done. I quilted and made this book cover for my MIL to use at work. It has all Maxine fabrics and I think she really likes it. She just kind of goes with that personality.
Quilt 073
I tried to do a few bits of accent.
Quilt 078
I also finished up the sewing on the shop sample. It's called Beach Ball's by Lazy Girl Designs. It uses the lazy angle and though it wasn't hard at all, I just wasn't motivated to piece it after the first 5 blocks were done. Once I got to working on it, it went together very quickly. I actually love how it turned out.
Quilt 080
I took it to the store and got backing and quilted it up the next night. I love how it turned out. I used an orange variegated thread on it.
Quilt 102
I just love the King Tut thread on it. It will be bound when the fabric comes in to the store. It's Super by Gudrun Erla Designs.
Quilt 104
Tuesday night I made this table runner for my friend Shannon at work. She had given me a bunch of stuff for Mikaela, so I thought I could give her a little something. I used up the last of my Bistro fabric. I love how the blocks turned out so wonky. The scraps are now all gone for this quilt.
Quilt 093
She just loved it since she loves coffee and her kitchen is done in this theme.
Quilt 094

So I have gotten quite a bit of sewing done. I'm working on some hand binding right now and I should be done with it later this week. I hope to get a bit of sewing done tonight, but I'm working late every night this week, so we'll see how tired I am.
Those of you who guessed on my ruler post guessed under 40. When I did this post back in April 2009 I had 32 rulers and I've added substantially to it since then. When I counted them last week I had 75, so Jen was the closest with her guess of 72. I added 5 more this weekend to bring my total to 80. Most of them are unique and very different, though I have a few 6x12 and 6x24. There are another 17 at my dad's house that I use for embroidery work. Thanks to everyone for guessing. I love hearing from my readers. When I reach 100 followers I'll have another giveaway.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Mikaela is 26 weeks old!

Mikaela turned 26 weeks old on the 20th. She's so full of life and really watches everything now. We have to really watch that she doesn't fall off of things or roll over where she's not supposed to be.
Mikaela 169
She loves to have everything in her mouth. We've given her lots of teething chews, toys, and rattles.
Mikaela 172
And at the end of the pictures sessions she pouts her lips and says I've had enough!
Mikaela 180

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Mikaela is 6 Months Old!

Mikaela turned 6 months old on July 19th. She's setting up on her own and developing quite the personality. Sat. night in the extreme heat we went to the H2O water show at Canyon Lake Park. It was really good and Mikaela loved seeing all the people. It actually felt cooler than the temperature read.

H2O Show 006
She was watching everything!
H2O Show 009
She even rolled up in her quilt and played with the grass.
H2O Show 016
Friday night we went to the races. She slept through most of the first heats, then wasn't so sure about the noise. Then during the mains she started to enjoy herself, as long as she had mommy's pop bottle.
Races 012
She enjoyed the pool again. This time she was able to sit up on her own.
Mikaela 149
Daddy set the bigger pool up and she helped fill it. Daddy was tickling her.
Mikaela 154
She's forming lots of expressions now. This one reminds me so much of my mom. She would purse her lips in a smile.
Mikaela 158
Apparently she was done for with the camera.
Mikaela 166
She's really into chewing now. She got her first tooth on the 18th and the 2nd one will soon follow.
Mikaela 169
She's getting tired and ready for bed. Mommy just loves this giraffe outfit from my mom's cousin Mary.
Mikaela 180

Monday, July 18, 2011

Lariann and Larissa's Baby Quilt

On Tuesday the 12th of July I found out about a baby shower for one of my friends from grade school on Sat. the 16th. Her and her two sisters and I were friends. Her and one of the sisters had come to my shower and I had gone to the others baby shower last year, so I knew I wanted to go. I figured I could quickly whip up a baby quilt. I had 2 Dilly Dally charm packs and enough fabric to make 2 little girl quilts. I found out she was having a girl and set to work. I made the top on Tues/Wed. nights. I had it done in just a few hours, but Mikaela helped so it took a bit longer.
Quilt 064
I quilted it on Wed. night and worked on the binding at work on Thurs. and Fri.
Quilt 069
I just loved the daisies I quilted into it.
Quilt 070
But, I knew her sister had had a little girl on July 5th and just couldn't go without making a quilt for her sister's little girl as well. I took the other Dilly Dally charm pack and made this quilt top on Thurs. night. We went to the races on Fri. night, so I got up early Sat. morning and quilted and bound it before the shower.

Quilt 056
It turns out the hand work takes longer than making the top! I quilted daisies into this one as well.
Quilt 059
I just love how the quilting turned out.
Quilt 060
Here's Lariann with the new baby quilt.
Lariann Baby Shower 001
She seemed to really like it.
Lariann Baby Shower 003
Her sister wasn't there, but will get the quilt soon. I really enjoy making baby quilts, knowing that the recipient will love it. I have enough from fat quarters and scraps to make 2 more quilts just like these. I even worked out a deal to make one for a co-worker and she'll make me scrap book pages in exchange! I just love that kind of deal, since I suck at making anything scrap book related.