What have I been working on?

The month of March has flown by and while I haven't gotten a whole lot done, I have been sewing. I've been doing a lot of baby related stuff and sewn more with the serger than anything else. I made this pillowcase out of some leftover really soft material, it was between fleece and minkee feeling. I just loved it!

Mom had this komfort case kit from Quilt Corral that she had gotten on shop hop last year, so I whipped it up since I had the serger out.

I also made some more burp clothes with the serger. Here are 5, but I probably made another 10 or so the night before and they were in the wash when the picture was taken.

I made a few more receiving blankets. There are at least 2 others I didn't get a picture of because they were washing.

The big project I worked on from the end of Feb, through March is this double irish chain quilt. It's a gift for some very special friends. It holds special meaning to me because it was the quilt top my mom made in her beginning quilt class 6 1/2 years ago when she was taking radiation for her breast cancer the first time. This class was before she started working at TSC and really was where she learned a lot about quilting. She got the top done and chose to do the harder seminole borders for the challenge. It's from Eleanor Burns book. She had it all pinned, except the backing was too small, so it got put in a tote and set away. I told her at Christmas time to get it out and I'd finish it for her. So I brought it home, unpinned it, made the backing bigger, and quilted it. I have the binding on and now just need to finish the hand work on it.



The backing fabric is kind of a marroon purple and I added the flowers to the top and bottom to make it longer.



I used leftovers to make this tablerunner. It's kind of supposed to be the double irish chain pattern.

Since Regina and Jen are going to quilt retreat next weekend, I've decided to join in the fun from a far and quilt with them. I've decided I'd like to make two quilt tops that mom had started at our retreat in Sept. They basically need to be put together, so that's my goal. The first is a Jim Shore quilt made using the BQ2 pattern. All the blocks are done and layed out and just need sewn together.

The other is a breast cancer quilt. The quilt was supposed to look like this, but she read the pattern wrong and little squares blocks are one block too short. We figured out how to resurrect the quilt, so it's layed out and just needs to be sewn together.

If I have time, which probably won't happen, since I have Little Miss to take care of, I'll work on her Loralie quilt. It's made similar to mine, but she had more fabric choices and a different way of putting it together. She has the pieced backing done and the top is just rows that need the sashing between them. I'm probably over ambitious, but it's so rewarding to finish these UFO's.

Mikaela is 8 weeks old!

Mikaela turned 8 weeks old on the 16th, which was also my first day back at work. So far it is going well. We love the daycare and no crying when I leave. Mikaela is wearing her camo jumper from Uncle Ed. It is so super cute on her! She got this cute blanket from one of the girls at work.

One of the first smiles I caught on film.

I made up a few baby blankets to take to day care so she doesn't have to take her good blankets.

A few burp clothes were made for the same purpose.

For her 2 month birthday we tried to take a picture of her and her sister Missy together. This is the best we could get.

Mikaela is 2 months old!

Mikaela turned 2 months old on Saturday. We took lots of pictures, on several backgrouds. I'm really trying to learn how to take better pictures.
This one is taken on the baby quilt my mom made for Mikaela. It's from a flannel line that was out a couple years ago and my friend Nich's son Mason has the quilt in the baby boy colors. I love the fabrics in this one and actually have a ton of 1/2 square triangles I'm making from the leftovers of this quilt. I should have enough to make a small baby quilt. I'm trying to decide what to do with them, no pattern, just winging it.

This is a camo knit I hope to make a little outfit out of for Mikaela for hunting season. I have 8 months, I should be able to get it done in that amount of time!



The back of the jungle animals quilt. Look at that long torso!

A baby receiving blanket in honor of her grandma, it has breast cancer hope fabric on the other side.

My attempt at cool photography! I really want to get a better one of these, but this is the best I could do with her cooperating. I'd wanted to do it as a newborn, but we were a little busy and overwhelmed at the time, so I figured I could still do it now.

She doesn't snuggle up so well anymore, but we tried! Thank goodness mom had a huge piece of black flannel I could use for backdrop.

The last shots of the day, she was tired of mom taking pictures. This is the first baby gift she got, about a week after I knew I was pregnant, my co-worker Karen and her son Brandon got it for me. He goes to State. She had to support the Jacks, even though they lost in the first round of the playoffs.


Mikaela had her 2 month check up this week. She's now 11lbs 12oz, 23 1/4" long, and 37 head, so she's in the 75th percentile for all 3. She got her shots and even did well with those! I'm so proud of my little girl, she's growing up so fast!

Mikaela is 7 weeks old!

Mikaela turned 7 weeks old on Ash Wednesday. She's wearing one of my favorite sleepers for her. It's a giraffe one that my co-worker Kay gave her. I think it's super cute and every time she wears it, she reminds me of my friend Cindy and cousin Sue who absolutely love giraffes. The brown blanket is from her friend Olivia, the daughter of my friend Jenn. It's so soft and snuggly, I love holding her in this blanket.

She wasn't so sure about mommy taking so many pictures!

The outfit is so cute, but especially the little feet!

Quilty Day!

Today was a rather quilty day, such a great way to start March! I took down all the Valentine tablerunners, coasters, and wall hangings. I had one above Mikaela's bed, so I replaced it with the signature quilt Jenn made for her. I love looking at all the siggy's and remember everyone who came to the shower. Thanks Jenn for the awesome quilt and scraps! I absolutely love it. Mikaela loves to look at it too!

Mikaela stayed in my studio with me while I cleaned and re-organized the closet. It's one of those things that has to be done every once in a while and today it just happened. It looks amazing and I'm so pleased with how it turned out. I bought a project book and recorded all my UFO's as I found them. I don't really want to count the number but there are a lot! Luckily I only wrote down the ones that are cut out. I did find some fabric that I had forgotten I had, so it was like going to the quilt shop all over again. After 6 hours I was done and Mikaela was asleep, so I loaded the snowflake table topper on the frame and got it quilted. I'm really pleased with how it turned out and I have enough fabric to make another one.

I tried to take a close up of the stitching.

Finally realizing I had to find the close up setting. This still isn't the closest, but it gives you a good idea. I'll just have to play with taking more pictures of my quilts. I just love how clear the pictures turned out. I was ready to cut out the binding, but Mikaela didn't think that was a good idea, so hopefully tomorrow I can get that done. I'd like to have it on so I can do the hand work at Groovy Girls this week.

Mikaela is 6 weeks old!

Miss Mikaela is 6 weeks old today and we took a few pictures to mark the occasion. She's now officially outgrown newborn clothes and diapers. She's got incredible strength in her neck and legs and she's growing like crazy.

She's found her thumb for keeping her satisfied.

She's really just our little beautiful girl and so happy and content most of the time. I'm loving being a mom and it's going to be hard going back to work in 2 weeks.

Comfort Quilt from the Very Cre8tive Jen!

When Jen found out mom had passed away, she got busy making a comfort quilt for me. I don't know how she did it so quickly (well I do since she's the queen of speed), but it turned out fabulous. I absolutely love it and the fabrics are amazing. I'd never seen them before and I simply fell in love with it the minute I opened the box. She rocked my world since it arrived on Wed. the day of the funeral. I could feel the love and support of my friends with me. She teamed up with Regina and Patti and they made quilts for my brothers and dad as well. I can't thank them enough for their care, concern, and beautiful work. I'll post pictures of the guys quilts when they arrive. You girls are the best blogging friends a girl could ever ask for. I can't wait to see you guys again.
I'm now trying to master the art of photography with my new Canon T1i digital DSLR camera. It's going to take me a long time, but I'm getting better every day. I love how clear this picture turned out in our very dark bedroom.

Flowers

Friends and family sent lots of flowers to mom's funeral and they were all beautiful. The Class of '98 sent these orange and white flowers. Our school colors were orange and black. 

They also remembered me on my birthday with a beautiful purple carnation. I was so touched by my classmates thoughtfulness.

My quilting friends Jenn, Gaila, and Shonna sent this beautiful arrangement. I'm so grateful to have such wonderful friends who are so supportive.

We had the comfort signature quilt that the Cre8tive group, Jen, Regina, and Patti made for mom last year with her flowers. It turned out so great with the signatures of so many supporters of mom. There were two benefit breakfasts and a benefit pie social where friends and family signed the quilt. I love going back and reading all the messages on it.

When I got home there were two flower shops trying to deliver plants. This bonsie plant is from Dr. Kerr and NAU. It is really cool and I look forward to having it in my office at work when I return in 2 weeks.

The Registrar's Office sent this Peace Lily which is my absolute favorite plant. This one is huge in comparison to one's I've had before. It's almost 3 feet tall. I'm so glad they were delivered to the house so I didn't have to try and get them home. We had no room when we returned, the car was packed to the hilt!

All our MN cousins were with us for the day. We always try to take a picture of all of us together when we're gathered. My family is on the top row and the cousins are on the bottom row.

February Quilting Accomplishments

This month went by way too quickly and I accomplished very little. Even my quilting hours were very low for the month. I spent several days at the hospital and the middle of the month I spent over a week at my dad's house. It was great to spend time with my family and not feel like I needed to be anywhere else. I'm so thankful for all the cards, emails, comments, and words of comfort on the passing of my mom. I was unable to respond to them all, but please know how much they mean to me. My dad was shocked at how many quilters my mom had touched. He didn't know she knew so many people.
I was able to finish the top of one of the Snowflake table toppers. I would like to get this quilted in the next month.

I made this Zippy Strippy bag for a Groovy Girls sample

I also made a couple of Sweet Treat bags.

Then a few more Sweet Treat bags, super easy!

I used up the scraps to make another Zippy Strippy!

Then I made bottle covers.



They all turned out really cute. I love the Dippy Daisy fabric.
I love the green/brown/teal combo too.


So my month wasn't very productive quilting wise, but it was great being home and spending time with Mikaela. We'll be a bit more productive in March! I've started prepping a quilt to load on the frame and hopefully get quilted this week. February only had about 30 hours of quilting time. I'm loving the new mobile feature of blogger allowing bloggers to set their setting for mobile format. I've spent a lot of time reading blogs in the middle of the night on my phone, so I love being able to read so many this way.
March goals:
Quilt Double Irish Chain
Quilt Snowflake Table topper