A new quilt

It's Thanksgiving morning at 7am, and I am enjoying a little sewing time.  My hubby and brother are out hunting, Sam is still asleep, and I am working on Sam's "big boy" quilt.  It's inspired by this one from Pottery Barn Kids:

source

I am a big fan of Bonnie Hunter and her thrifty quilting ways, so I took an idea from her and scoured the thrift stores of 100% cotton plaid shirts in reds, oranges, and browns.  My pattern isn't quite as random as the PB bedding; I just alternated 6" squares with 6x9" rectangles.  I'm making a twin size, so I have 16 rows in my quilt.  As of this morning, I am a quarter done with the top:

Those are rows, but they only fit on the design wall vertically.  I was nervous laying it out and when I began sewing, but I think it'll turn out alright.  If I had it to do over again, I think I would leave out the lighter blocks and have it just be the more saturated prints.  At this point, I'm soldiering on and trying to knock it out, because I have a baby quilt, burp cloths, cloth diapers, and all kinds of other sewing and home projects I want to get done in the next couple months. 

Nursery Fabric

I got the big box that was the remainder of my nursery fabric orders today!  It's gorgeous - I'm so excited.  Here are the goodies:

Fabric for pillows (black for piping) for the rocker

 White denim (not pictured, it's just white) to reupholster this beaut

 Buffalo check for a changing table pad cover, and a cow print and hounds tooth for crib sheets

 The fabrics for the quilt - I pulled all from my stash that I could and then got a few more to give it a little extra variety - there's everything from pirates to deer to typography, stars, trucks, and bandanas.

This is from my trip to JoAnn's last weekend (how I miss thee, Christiansburg store!).  It's a flannel to make some pj pants for Sam.

 Also from the JoAnn's trip, a gray chevron and pretty yellow and gray geometric print to make some burp cloths from.  The baby may have hand me down clothes, furniture, and toys, but he'll have a stylin' nursery and burp cloths!

Sam's New Closet

I have finished Sam's closet in his new "big boy" room.  Well, basically. 

Here's a before, the day we got the keys.

And here it is now.

A few things - seeing hangers on the rod, I need to move the hat/belt rack to the left a bit, and I didn't factor in enough space for getting the hangers on and off the rod.  So I will be using some scrap wood to add another inch or two between the rod and shelf.  Don't tell Hubby - I'm hoping he won't notice until after it's fixed. 

What I did - added shelves around the bump out for the air return.  The baskets hold most of Sam's clothes, pretty much everything except his button-down shirts and polos.  I also changed out the rods, from several short ones to one long one.  I feel like this is a much better use of the space and can grow with Sam.  And of course there is space on the top shelf for storage.  I'm trying to go through things in his current closet (in the soon-to-be nursery) and only move over those things he actually needs.  Definitely going through a purging stage as far as closets go. 

And yes, I did it all at 20+ weeks pregnant, the measuring, cutting, everything.  :-)

Now I just  need to fix those couple small things this weekend . . .

New Pillows

I think I finally like our master bedroom pillows. 

I made two new ones - they had been cut out and partially done for months, but I finally made myself finish them, and I think they will stay for a while.  The red shams came with our comforter, and the plaid pillow I made a while ago.  There were a few other pillows rotating in and out in the intervening months, but I never was quite in love. 

These are 20" square (bigger than the old "eh" ones) and are made from the curtain fabric.  The jumbo piping (PITA!) is made from a fabric that is the inverse of the main fabric.  All pillow fabrics are from JoAnn's. 

I think the new ones lighten up the bed a touch and tie the wall color and curtains into the bedding better.  The walls are Calm Air by Behr, and I love it.  It's a great golden yellow that doesn't get all glowy and funky. 

The dark matching furniture is starting to wear on me, but it's not going anywhere for a long time, and we paid good  money for it.  The artwork above the bed I like, but I feel like it needs to go on another wall and put something more substantial above the headboard - possibly a large "antiqued" canvas with our monogram?

Anywho, I'm liking these new pillows and am glad to have that project off my cutting table.

Bane of My Existence

Jumbo piping.  Not difficult, just tedious.

And no, the last side of the border is not on the Farmer's Wife quilt top yet.

Baby #2 Nursery Inspiration

I worked on a post about all I did this weekend, but I don't have pictures or too much completed work to show yet, so I thought I'd share our news about Baby #2.

It's another boy!  I had wanted a girl at first but got to the point where I didn't care as long as it was healthy, so I am happy.  I love my Sam so much, and I have always had this feeling I'm going to end up with a houseful of boys.

Here's the "mood board" I put together for the nursery:

Sources: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Either warm brown caramel or light/airy beige walls with red, black, and white/cream accents.  We have espresso furniture.  I never got a glider/rocker with Sam, so I would love one like the Restoration Hardware one pictured, but that one is not in the budget.  I love the rustic/vintage/sophisticated accents and gallery wall, and somewhere there has to be black and white gingham - will definitely be making a sheet from it.  And the quilt - I have the pattern from 2006 when it was featured in AP&Q, so I'll be making a 48"x48" version.

I've already sweet talked my 83-year old grandma into making up some hats from patterns I found on Etsy.  She is going to crochet the baby something anyways, and she'll do it better than any attempt I could make.

I'm so pumped now to work on all my projects to get the house and nursery ready for our newest member - halfway down, and methinks the second half is going to go fast!

Farmer's Wife Update

I have finished all the blocks!  All 127(?) that I needed for my queen/king size quilt.  Here is the bottom corner put together:

I have most of the top already put together, so I just need to finish the triangles on the ends of a few rows and finish joining them.  So excited to finish this top!  Hoping to get it done before bed tonight!

Ladies' Weekend 2012

This past weekend was Ladie's Weekend.  It's a gathering of females from my mom's side of the family, usually once a year, and it's just a great time.  We watch movies, have great discussions and story-telling around the meal table, and explore the surrounding area. 

Last weekend we went to Canaan Valley, WV.  It was (not in picture order) my (great) Aunt Becki, (great) Aunt Sandra, cousins Caroline, Ann, and Kelly, my Auntie Lin, Mom, and myself. 

It just so happened to be the peak weekend for fall leaves.  So we spent a morning visiting the Leaf Peepers Festival going on in several nearby areas. There were some craft fairs, music, and good food. 

I didn't get very many pictures of the foliage, but it was pretty.  I got a few of the ferns outside our house.  They were just so neat to look at.

I so enjoy these weekends, and I love being able to spend time with the ladies in my family.  We're all already looking forward to 2013!

(The back row is signing "mouse" because of a slight mouse problem - the only issue of the entire weekend.  And Mom is holding a chicken they got her at the craft fair because my golden retriever decided to bring my dad one of her chickens as a present while she was visiting their house over the weekend.  The chicken is fine, but Mom was a little upset for a while.)

My Brother's Wedding

My brother got married a month ago, and I was the florist.  My first try, but everyone seemed to like the flowers.  I don't think I'd want to do it full time, but it's nice to know I have another skill.  The wedding and reception were at our parents' farm.  I don't have many good pictures as I was running around like crazy beforehand, but at least you can see a little bit of the flowers in these.

A little bit of everything

The past week I have been working hard, this weekend harder.   I may have overdone it a bit today, but as of this evening, here is what the basement bedroom (soon-to-be guest room) looks like:

Two coats on half of the board and batten - I think it needs a third to be truly done.  The other half of the room just has one coat, but two hours is about my painting limit these days.  We also placed the order for flooring, so I'm still hopeful this room will be done for Sam's birthday party next month.

Over the past week, I've also managed to do a little bit of sewing in between painting trim, laundry, and dishes.  Here are some of the latest Farmer's Wife blocks.

 The one below is an extra block I found online from Barbara Brackman's Civil War Quilts blog.

 Last block I made from the book. #83(?)

 Another extra from the Civil War Quilts blog.

Well, back to my day job tomorrow morning and canning tomatoes in the evening.