All ready for winter now

I promised more sewing and here it is.

These quilts have been in the works for quite a while, especially the blue/green one. I believe I started it just over a year ago. Sewing the top together was the quick part and then my Mom took it to a lady who machine quilts to have it quilted for my birthday. I finally tackled the binding a few months ago thinking it would take for ever but to my surprise, it was actually very quick! I used Heather Bailey's binding tutorial to refresh my memory on how to do proper binding.

The cowgirl quilt came about when I saw a sample of it hanging in the quilt shop and I totally fell in love with it. I actually machine quilted it myself, which was a first for me. I stuck with straight lines and it wasn't that hard at all! This quilt is the perfect couch cuddling size and I can't wait until it's cold outside and I get to snuggle up in it!

The kitties approve:

Early Arrival

No, not the baby!! LOL! he's still snug as a bug in a rug. He sure is making it hard for mama to sleep though....the heartburn, the aching hips, the squished lungs...I know it will all be worth it but I think I've reached the point where I'm counting down the days til he's OUT!

Actually, I got my Custom Knits book that I had pre-ordered from Amazon a long time ago. I knew I would want this book because I am such a fan of Wendy's patterns. I thought I would share a bunch of pics: There are a lot of patterns in this book! these are my favorites but I doubt all of them will go on my knit list. Although I haven't read through the book in detail, it seems to be well written and gives lots of tips for customizing the fit to your body shape. And a really cool part is that it gives you a variation for each pattern. My main complaints about it are that for about half of the patterns there is only one picture, which is frequently at an odd angle that makes it hard to tell what the garment will really look like on a regular person (for example, the last picture of the black cabled cardigan). Also, the other thing that is more of a personal taste issue is the very odd outfits that the knits are paired with....like the green Lettuce Coat. It looks like she is wearing pants made out of goldish/pinkish tapestry....I think it is hideous! There are a lot more like that one that I didn't show. For someone like me (with little imagination) it makes it harder to see the cute potential of garment if it were dressed differently. I think they were just trying to go for an edgy, modern look but I think it came off a bit too much. Overall, I think there are a lot of great patterns and I'm glad I bought it.

Okay, now I need to ask all you smart, non-preggo-brained knitting people for HELP! I am totally stuck on the sleeve cap for Lush and Lacy. I am at the point where I am decreasing for the sleeve cap and it says to "decrease 1 stitch at each end on every alternating 3rd and 4th row 3 times". For the life of me, I can't figure out what "on every alternating 3rd and 4th row" means! Anyone?

Thanks in advance! :)

Temporarily a sewing blog

I've been sewing up a storm lately! I've had a lot of gifts to make and sewing is just quicker for that. I'm still knitting on Lush and Lacy but it's not worth showing yet.

First is another modified Charlie Bag (using the Reusable Grocery Bag tutorial from A Mingled Yarn) for my Mother-in-law's birthday. This is my second of these to make and it came out so much better than my first one.

Next, is the Square Deal Pincushion from Heather Bailey. This is for one of my friends who hosted my baby shower last weekend (which was very fun by the way!).

Another baby shower hostess gift of quilted coasters from Last-Minute Patchwork & Quilted Gifts book.

And lastly, for myself, I made some burp clothes and a bib using some cute flannel I got at JoAnn's. I love how these came out! and I actually got to test the bib on my friend's 8 month old daughter and it fit perfectly!

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Next post.....more sewing!!!

Hot

It is sweltering here! yuck! and it doesn't help that I have a little mini human heater inside me. He is all in my ribs all the time now. It's amazing how strong they are. Needless to say, not much knitting has been done lately and progress is slow on Lush and Lacy. I gotta tell you, Lush and Lacy is a bit much for my poor prego brain to handle. I want my brain back!

Anyway, since I don't really have any interesting knitting pics to show I thought I'd share some of the nursery. The wall color is not quite as dark as it appears in these pictures. We had that Ikea chair in the office originally and I'm hoping the bounciness of it will be good in place of a rocker. My first shower is this weekend and I'm so excited!!

He's really growing!