For the Boys

The vintage sheet quilt tops I made a couple weeks are very feminine, and of course I need to make a baby boy quilt right now.  Once again, it is one of my husband’s requests.

I was hemming and hawing a bit about what to make and all about what fabric I wanted needed to buy for a boy’s quilt, yet my husband pointed out that I *should* have some plaids or something for a little boy quilt.  As soon as he said that, the lightbulb went on above my head!  I *do* have some plaids!  And they are flannel!  And they would be perfect!

These fabrics were bought 8 years ago when my BFF wanted to make a quilt – her first quilt ever – for her baby.  I gave her the fabric she needed and kept the rest.  I figured this ragged quilt, or a true “woogie” as they’re known in my house, would be a perfect project for her.  From what I understand, her fabric has sat on her shelves just as mine has for these 8 years.

I had enough fabric to make 2, so that’s exactly what I did.  I figured I could always find another recipient for the 2nd one, and of course my husband already has an idea to whom it will go!  (He sure is demanding of my craft!)

I still have some scraps sitting around, and think I’ll make a string quilt out of them.  I *think* I have enough for a top.  Since they are flannel scraps I won’t put them in my normal scrap bins — they really need to stay in their own project.

And my personal quilt testers once again approve of their comfort level:

The quilts measure about 36″x45″ each.

Three by Three, Round 2

I had more great mail the same week I received the vintage sheet fat quarters  – the arrival of more nine-patch blocks from my Three by Three Nine-Patch Swap!  It’s taken me a while to blog about it, so I should receive my last installment really soon – can’t wait!

I do believe I’m going to be different and arrange them, yes, you guessed it, on the diagonal!  It appears the common thought is to put them straight on with white sashing, but I love all the colors being all mashed together.  And of course I love diagonal settings.

In the meantime, I sent out my last round of nine-patches.  I think this is my favorite set of the ones I made!  Now I can’t wait to get my swaps back from this last round.

Since they’re all cut up you probably can’t tell, but those colorful blocks are turtles!

Garden of the Gods

We didn’t plan much of our vacation to Colorado Springs — we knew it would be quick and we knew we were staying with my brother and his family and they’d lead us in the right direction.  But we did know that we wanted to see Garden of the Gods.  It’s pretty, it’s right in town and it would be a nice “hike” with the girls.

And so I did the thing any insane Mom does that wants perfect pictures:  I shopped and sewed like mad the couple days before we left so that I would have the perfect outfits for the girls to be in amongst the red rocks.

I was able to luck out and find this great polka-dot dress for Julia at a resale shop:

And I found this great bubbles fabric (Salina Yoon Kids! by RJR Fabrics) at The Quilt Store, which I fashioned into this surprisingly sophisticated dress (New Look 6613 – I’ve made it before but it had a completely different feel):

As you can tell from the last dresses I made (shown here), I have gotten into the whole “big prints for little girls” fad that is out and about right now.  And I love that fad and those dresses, BUT I also recently read a blog entry written by Oliver + S with the principle that you should see the child before the outfit.  I really considered this principle when I bought this fabric, and I really like the outcome.  BUT, I can’t give up my big prints completely!  Instead, I hope to have a nice mixture of both styles.

By the way, I say I found that fabric, but Elena also saw it and proceeded to carry it all over the store!  And Julia loves the fabric just as much!  Every time she catches sight of the fabric or the subsequent dress, she keeps pointing and repeating “Bubble!  Bubble!  Bubble!”  I think she’s trying to label each and every spot!  Love it!

As for our hike around Garden of the Gods, it wasn’t quite as idyllic as we would have liked.  Elena complained about the torture of walking the whole time, and Julia insisted on being held by me and me alone.  (some serious Mommy-attachment issues).  Didn’t stop Daddy from trying to hold Julia and enjoying his baby girl and the scenery:

And it was so bright I couldn’t see my camera screen and didn’t realize that many of my pictures ended up blurry ~ ack! There goes my perfect planning of the outfits for pictures!  Getting a good picture of the girls together is near impossible already, much less adding unexpected blur! (You can click to enlarge these blurry pictures.)

   

Nonetheless, both my girls and the scenery were beautiful, and they had a bunch of fun when we let them jump and play amongst and with the rocks.

Sleepy-time Cute things

Just wanted to share a few cute things in my household:

Recently the girls added a step to our bedtime routine.  Can’t say I really want the routine longer, but this step is too cute to fight.  Julia climbs into bed with Elena, and then Elena “reads” her a book.

Awww, there’s that sisterly love I’ve talked about before.  (Um, we’ll ignore the sisterly fighting right now.)

One just about Elena:

Recently I had to go back in to her room to give her more water after she had already gone down for the night.  She proceeded to give me tons of little kisses all over my arms.  Then she turned her face to me and asked me sincerely “do you know what will keep those kisses on you, Mommy?”  I had no idea.  She responded, “When you’re sleeping, lots of teeny tiny fairies come and put little stickers all over you so all the kisses will stay!  They’re little pink fairies, because pink is your favorite color!”  I love that she wants the kisses to stay.

And one just about Julia:

Julia has a tendency to lay down on the floor wherever we are, be it playgrounds, restaurants, stores, etc.  I often think she just likes the cool ground.  Or maybe she just wants to take a break from us.  Anyway, ever since our trip to Colorado, where she slept in a Pack ‘n Play in the same room as us, she pretends SNORES when she lays down!  She totally cracks me up!  And maybe now my husband will stop denying that he snores!

And speaking of cute things, I am totally hoping to win this great Woodland Frock.  Wish me luck!