My baby and me!

Miss SassyPants and I were playing with the new Hipstamatic app on my phone yesterday.

I love the way these pictures look.  Everything these days is trying to look vintage.  You have to buy really expensive stuff to look old! Funny huh?

This is me.

This is my new orange nail polish. Like it? Can you tell we were bored?  Big sisters and big brother were gone, so it was just us. We pulled out the bubbles and had a good time.  I had forgotten how much fun blowing bubbles was.  Sometimes it's nice to pretend to be a kid again.

Baby washclothes

I made some awesome baby washclothes! These are so soft!!!

These are very easy to make.  Flannel is on one side and chenille on the back.  Just cut them in a 6 1/2 inch square and sew together with right sides together.  Leave a small opening to turn right side out.  Then I topstitched all the way around the border to close the opening and give it a nice finish.

I think I may make some of these for me!  An adult can have a nice cozy washclothes, right? Maybe I will package 5 of them together and sell for $10. Sound reasonable? These are very soft! I've said that already, haven't I. Oh well.  I do tend to repeat myself! :-)

Making more burp cloths

I have made several of these burp cloths for friends of mine, and they love them!

I think the shape is one thing they love.  I know I could not live without burp cloths when mine were little.  I made this several different ways before I found the right combination. I tried using flannel on the front and back, I also used cloth diaper material on the back.  Then I tried terry cloth on the back and flannel on the front.  We had a winner!

The flannel that is out now is so much cuter than what I had when my first one was little.  It gets cuter every year.

The template I used is http://www.newconceptions.com/.  Just go under their free patterns to find the template.  Super easy! 

Finished the Central Park baby quilt!

Woohoo! I finished the Central Park baby quilt!

It's for my neighbor's niece.  They don't know the gender of the baby, so this Kate Spain fabric is perfect!

I am very pleased with how this one turned out.  I think it is one of my favorites.  I decided to try a pieced backing this time.

Not too bad for a first time. I love the crinkly look.  It is very soft and snuggly.  This one is a little hard to pass on. I think I say that with every quilt!

The pattern I used is this one.  I just left off the circles and changed the border a bit.  There are so many great patterns on Moda Bake Shop.  I could spend hours there!  It would take years for me to make everything I want to. 

Birth photos website

Yes, as a doula I love to read birth stories and see photos of birth.  I found this website tonight, and it is wonderful!  http://www.dfwbirthphotographer.com/home/ Lynsey Stone is so talented.  She captures all the different emotions felt during a birth.  Her work is very real.  There are some pictures that leave you feeling all warm and fuzzy inside.  Then there are those that stike a very deep chord inside those who have been through a tough labor.  One thing I love is that almost every woman wears the exact same expression the first time they see their baby.  It is a look of utter disbelief and joy.  Every first time mom that is a client of mine, I tell the same thing.  Even though you know there is a baby inside you, when you first see the baby there will be a moment of shock.  They all smile sweetly at me thinking I am a lunatic.  Until they have their baby.  Then they laugh and say I was right.  Nothing can compare you for that first sight of your baby.  It is magical. So enjoy looking through Lynsey Stone's website.  I hope it will bring back some magical memories for you.

WIP for Miss SassyPants

I am working on a tunic for Miss SassyPants. The top band is knitted.

As you can tell it is not quite finished.  Only a few more inches! Yay!

Once the top of the bodice is done I am going to make the bottom out of this fabric.  Too cute huh?  It's going to have an empire waist.  I'm not sure yet how much it is going to flair.  I may gather it so it has a lot of swirl.  But then I may keep it more tapered.  What do you think?

Once I finish Miss SassyPants in the green, I am going to make one for Sweetie Pie out of the blue.  So they will be a little different, but close.  I am a sucker for sisters wearing matching clothes.  I know they will hate me for it one day.  But maybe the fact that I made it for them will make it not so bad.

And this is just for laughs.

One of my daughters got  my phone and took this nice picture for me.  Made me laugh! Thought you might could use a laugh too.

Berry and Peach Picking

My other half had Wed off work, so we decided to take the kids to The Fruit and Berry Patch in Halls for a little fun. The girls were so excited! That is one of their favorite places to go.

Miss SassyPants was so excited at picking blackberries.  We picked more than Daddy did, so that was awesome for her! We won't tell her that he let us win.

Next we went to the peach trees.  They were beautiful!

Sweetie Pie was pretty good at finding pretty peaches. Say that 3 times fast!!!  Too bad she gets her height from me, so she was limited.

Daddy's little helper. Ain't she cute?!?

This is my favortie picture.  I have this app on my phone that lets you take pictures that look like they were taken on an old camera.  Reminds me of the pictures of my sister and I when we were little. 

Caught snacking in the field!

Yep, her too. Caught!

And last we visited the goats.  They were quite happy to see us.  Talking up a storm!

This one just had to come and say "Byyyeeeee". Yeah I know. That was a little corny. But it was funny!

Great thrift store find

Yes, I admit it.  I am one of those people that love going to thrift stores.  There is something about going through all that stuff and finding a treasure.  You can find some really neat stuff if you look. Can you tell I am a child of the 80's? "Neat", now that is an old word!

Isn't it beautiful! I have never been drawn to the blue and white china, but I think I am now. It's hard to see the picture on the cup, but it's of a man and woman in a carriage with the words "Tally Ho" written on the side.  My daughter just loves that it says Made in England on the bottom.  She is easy fascinated, like me. Poor child!

Current work in progress

I started working on a quilt for my neighbor a couple of days ago.  A very simple layout, but the fabric is so pretty!

I still have to add one more white border around the edges and then I can make my quilt sandwich. The tutorial I used is from http://www.modabakeshop.com/2011/04/hoopla-pops-quilt.html#more.  Moda Bake Shop is a favorite site of mine. I did change a few things from the tutorial.  I don't think I have every made something without changing it a bit! Just got to put my own spin on things!

The quilt is for my neighbor's neice.  She doesn't know the gender of the baby, so I thought this was a good neutral fabric.  I used Central Park by Kate Spain.  Any fabric by Kate Spain is amazing! The colors and designs are fabulous!!!

So now the question is what color backing do I use? I am thinking maybe something with yellow, orange or green.  I also need to decide if I want to do a solid backing or do I want to try a pieced backing.  I have a few pieces left from the charm pack I used, so I am leaning toward a pieced backing.  Any suggestions?  I would love to hear some opinions.  I will post more pictures as I get further into the quilt.

A great UPS day!

Look what the man in brown brought me today! AccuQuilt Go Baby!

At first I was worried that I may have wasted my money.  But after trying it, I am hooked! I can hear my rotary cutter crying from loneliness. It is so simple and is so much better than my cutting! Now I have to buy a bunch more dies! Can you hear my bank account screaming?!?

A baby quilt for Kayln

I finished this quilt for a dear friend of mine a couple of months ago.  Almost forgot to post pictures of it! I think I am the most pleased with this quilt.

The centers of the blocks are minky.  I love that stuff! Kinda a pain to work with when it's little squares, but soooo worth it.

My friend couldn't decide if she wanted to use her first daughter's nursery stuff, which is pink and brown, or if she wanted a new set she liked that was pink and green.  So I just used all the colors! Ha!

I just did simple outline quilting for this one.  One day I will try something a bit more complicated.  For the squares I used this tutorial, http://www.cluckclucksew.com/2010/07/stack-n-whack.html.  Very easy to follow.  I love this blog! You should check it out sometime.  Allison is very talented. 

Bibs with attitude!

Made a few more of those awesome bibs! Can't get enough of them!

Barbara's bag

My sweet friend Barb asked me to make a bag for her to use for school.  She is going to school to be a nurse. Hopefully a labor and delivery nurse.  Maybe we will get to work together in the future!

I made it nice and roomy for lots of school books.  It is really bright and cheerful!

I added a pocket on the inside for a cell phone and some pens.  I like the way it all came together.