Quilting Party

My mom is an avid quilter, so as you can imagine, Charlie has lots of fun floor quilts to play on. Grandma was visiting last week to help with Charlie while his sitter was on a much-deserved tropical cruise (thanks Grandma!), so I got to help her build a new quilt for him. We picked out the fabrics last summer (before we even knew about our little guy!) and Grandma got to work cutting and cutting and cutting! I had seen a quilt at a show with mom many years ago that had all of these little puffed-up, stuffed squares sewn together. I always had that in mind as the quilt I'd ask my mom to make when we had a baby.


Mom (btw, mom & grandma are the same person...just depends on what I'm feeling like calling her at any given moment!) brought her old sewing machine & showed me how to wind the bobbin & load up the thread & all that good stuff. I had so much fun sewing all the little squares into strips. I don't think I've used a sewing machine since 8th grade home-ec class, so it took me a while to get the hang of it. As we started to build the strips, I realized that I liked the texture of the pleated squares all by themselves with no stuffing at all. That's the great thing about making your own stuff. The creative process kicks in and things just kind of evolve into what you want it to be. I can see why my mom loves quilting so much. It's awesome to see the pieces come together to form something great. (I love this picture, because calculators come in very handy when you're designing quilts - who knew?!).

Grandma packed up the goods (minus the old sewing machine - I get to keep that. She has a much fancier, experienced-quilter-type jobbie she uses) and is working to finish things up back at her house. I can't wait to post the final result once it's done!

First project off the needles for 2009!

I finished a quick hat for a late Christmas gift last week. We spent a lovely weekend with dear friends to celebrate birthdays & the relative peace & quiet of the post-holiday season. The hat is another pattern from Zoe Mellor. Charlie served as my model, somewhat begrudgingly, but I figure it's the first of many duties he begrudgingly assists mommy with over the course of his lifetime. The actual pattern in the book is a beautiful and very colorful fair isle knit, but time (and perhaps my skill!) didn't permit me attempting such an intricate project. I opted, instead, to go with a soothing, soft cream-colored wool for a clean & simple, yet still fun, end result.

Letter Perfect

For Christmas this year we decided to make name wall hangings for all of the kids on our list. We had a ball wandering around various malls & shopping areas snapping pictures of signs to crop down into individual letters. I had intended to use pre-matted collage frames with the appropriate number of spaces, but I had a surprisingly hard time finding just the right ones. Instead for most of the gifts, I bought individual frames for each letter. This was a blessing in disguise, as shipping costs were greatly reduced by the smaller package weight & size.

For some of the names, I hot-glued a length of ribbon to the backs of the frames as a more decorative hanging option. The pictures were a hit - and so much fun for us to make & give!

I'm so excited!

We're having our first professional pictures of Charlie done today. Our friend, Neysa Ruhl, is coming today to work her magic on some pics of our family. I met her about a year ago at a photo shoot for Cincy Chic & was immediately struck by her enthusiasm for photography. Later, I had the pleasure of working with her organizing her very busy home office. I can't wait to see the results!

On another note, I laughed out loud when I looked at my calendar this morning. It says "Charlie's blanket done today." Sadly, this is not the case. Not even close. I started this "Hearts & Stars" blanket way back in the spring and worked on it here and there. It's a beautiful pattern written by Zoe Mellor. After Charlie arrived, I wanted to give it to him for his first Christmas. Always of the mindset that it's easiest to eat an elephant one bite at a time, I did a little math to see what I was up against. The blanket totals 332 rows, of which I had 78 done at the time. This left 254 rows to complete, meaning it could be knocked out in 84 more days working 3 rows per day. Ugh. Undaunted, I boldly wrote the goal end date on the calendar to keep me motivated. Well, the 84 days have come and gone and I've only managed to add another 30 rows or so to the blanket. Looks like Charlie will be getting the blanket for his first birthday instead of Christmas!