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.