Baby Quilt for a Monday

This happy fellow is my first big finish of 2013. It's sweet and pretty and I had so much fun putting it together. (I talk fabrics and pattern here)

I stitched the binding extra wide on the front so it creates a faux-border. I love how it looks. It might become a feature of every quilt from here on out.

I quilted every block through on the diagonal in either direction and then stitched on either side of the seam on each big square. My Elna isn't really made for quilting, but she soldiered through.

Did I mention the corners? This is the first time they've ever come out perfectly. I would keep this puppy just for that, but I'll have to settle for a picture.

I know pieced backs are all the rage right now, but I love how they look, and I would much rather buy less backing fabric and make up the difference with scraps from the front thereby saving myself money and ending up with a cuter finished product. Call me cheap, but it makes me happier.

I love love love the way the quilting looks on the back.

The binding is handsewn on the back. I like the finish handsewing gives the back.

So there you are. A happy quilt to warm up what is a very cold and snowy Monday here in Ohio. Now I'm off to drink more tea, snuggle with my baby, and overdose on The IT Crowd (it's my new favorite).
XOXO

A Hundred Years

It's been exactly one month since my last post. I know you all have missed me. (Sarcasm). I'm sorry I've been away so long, but I've had a really bad attitude and didn't really know write a blog post without all that nastiness leaching in. I try really hard to avoid complaining to people that are not my spouse (And I don't know why he still puts up with me, bless his heart), so it's been a lot of silence on the social media front (Except for Instagram. I can't NOT post pictures).

One month later, Tiny is still teething (And NO teeth yet! KMN), still not sleeping great at night (Or during the day), still wants to be attached to me (Or any other familiar human) as many hours out of the day as possible, and is still the stinking cutest thing that ever lived. Mothering is hard, hard, hard work, but so worth it when your kid gives you a big, toothless grin or snuggles up in your arms to take a 15 minute power nap. This little person gives me headaches, wears out my back, shoulders, boobs, and patience; she keeps me from napping, cooking, and bathing but dang it if she isn't the best thing to happen to my life since Jesus and prescription strength deodorant. She makes me a better version of myself in so many ways. Every day with her pushes me to get over myself and the things I want to do and focus on helping her grow up to be the best that she can be. It's cool and terrifying and the same time, and I feel so humbled to be her mother. (Side note: Did anyone else start praying more when they became a parent? I say a lot more "God give me patience" prayers now.)

And being able to post the above makes me feel a lot better. Like I'm maybe getting through the bad funk that has been the last month.

So that was deep and weepy. 

Now for some sewing related nonsense.

I'm currently working on a custom baby quilt. The finished size will be 60x60 so it will transition well from crib to toddler bed to regular bed. The top was pieced using Rae's Storytime Squares tutorial. I just made everything bigger, so instead of starting with 5" squares, I started with 6.5" squares and cut the sashing 4.5" wide instead of 3". There's lots of Bonnie and Camille and Les Amis in here. I love the fox print. I would like to get a couple yards of it to make a crib sheet for Tiny. 

A delicious in-progress photo. (See that mess behind? That's my stash. It all needs to be dumped, purged, and tidied up in a bad way.)

 The top came together really fast. I loved not having to match up a bunch of seams. I'm working on the quilting now. This part has to be done in chunks otherwise my neck, upper back, and shoulders seize up. My lovely Elna isn't ideal for quilting items quite this big, and I don't have the assistance of a walking foot. It's about 25% done, and I'm really counting on the finishing wash/dry to hide all the little imperfections. I Instagrammed this of it late last night:

I'm still plugging away on the blocks for my Carpenter's Star bed quilt. I finished two in the last few weeks. Here are the first six all together. They make me happy.

This is my most recent finish. It's Tula Pink Saltwater with a dark brown woodgrain I picked up at JoAnn.

As you can see, there's A LOT of Tula Pink up in the joint (every block). She is far and away my favorite fabric designer. Her stuff is just so quirky and cool. Like those Octopi. I want to make a dress out of them.

Other than that, it's been lots of tea, soup, and Netflix while we wait out winter. We recently discovered Oddities on Netflix, and I LOVE it. The people that pop into Obscura are so different. I would never want to purchase a two-headed calf taxidermy or antique blood-letting kit, but there is something comforting about knowing that world holds people of such diverse interests and tastes, however strange I may find them.

And that's all. I'll be back soon. I've been working on a couple of homemade beauty products that I would like to share with you all.

XOXO
Ana

I'll Sleep when I'm Dead.

You guys. This has been the longest week ever. We've finally decided to try and get Tiny on a schedule. Internet friends, don't wait until your child is six months old to get them on a consistent sleep/awake schedule. Just don't do it. At least not if your kid is as stubborn as mine.

 We've spent the better part of this week trying to get her away from the habit of going to sleep at night, waking up three hours later, and spending the rest of the night in our bed, nursing every 45 minutes. I won't lie to you, people of the internet, it's been rough. In the past (long, long ago, last week), I would get up when she cried, make sure her diaper wasn't wet, and bundle her off to our bed where we would cozy up together under the fluffy down comforter and drift back to sleep.

Now, I hear her cry. I lay there for a few minutes trying to psyche myself up enough to drag out of  my soft, warm bed to swathe myself in a sweatshirt, get her out of the crib, change her diaper (which probably isn't wet anyway, but I'm going to change it just because it could be a little bit damp, making her cold and waking her up), and settle into the uncomfortable rocking chair to nurse and fight soothe her back to sleep. What used to be a five, maybe ten minute disturbance is now at least an hour long ordeal.

It's the worst. (I'll save the nap time drama for another post.)

I have to give credit to Bob, though. He'll come join me after she's done nursing and is attempting to gum my fun bags to death while I try to get her take the pacifier, and we both cry (she screams more than I do). He is super helpful, but I'm usually so zombified that I just growl at him. But it has gotten a little better every night. Sunday night, we were up twice, for an hour each time. Same deal Monday night. Last night she slept three hours, woke up for an hour, slept for six hours, woke up for an hour, slept for another two and half.

It was super.

The last two and half were spent in our bed, but I didn't care because I got to snap this picture of her and Bob sleeping. She's definitely his kid. (See that burp rag? She'll occasionally spit up in her sleep. Another reason to get her out of our bed and into her own.)

That was a long post with a lot of "woe-is-me" nonsense. This is real life.

It's not been all crying and sleeplessness, though. I've also spent this week preparing for my strip-piecing class. It's going to be a lot of fun. These are my samples. They're going to be turned into a big, quilty pillow that's going to live at someone's house when all is said and done.

Assembled bundles. They're so happy. I dipped into some of my Tula Pink and Heather Ross horde for them, lucky people.

And I finally finished January!! It felt like it took me forever, but I'm so happy with it. I did all of my snowflakes with sparkle floss instead of white and added extra because I could.Those little deer and such little dears. (HA!)

The Girl Scouts delivered cookies this week. Is it just me, or is Girl Scout cookie time the only thing that makes the end of winter bearable? We get to enjoy Christmas and New Year's then suffer through January, and it's frigid nastiness. The big furry rodent comes out of his hole, bearing the bad news that there are six freaking weeks of winter left, little monster. We'll just skip over Valentine's Day. Maybe I'll tell you how I feel about Valentine's Day next year, but for now, let's just say I don't like it.

Then, out of the gloom rise the girls in green uniforms bearing little boxes of heaven. I don't know what it is about cuddling up on the couch with a big mug of tea and a small hill of Samoas that makes the dreary countdown to March a little less hateful, but it just does.

It would appear, however that there are fewer Thin Mints in a sleeve than years past. Are the Girl Scouts being trained in how to run a small business or how to be tiny scam artists? Only time will tell. There are 16 cookies in a full sleeve this year. You better believe I'm going to count again next year.

The final big accomplishment for this week was getting a high chair. Tiny Girl has been trying to escape from her Bumbo and bouncy seats for weeks now. It was time to upgrade her to something with a harness and sides that are too high for her to worm her way out of. She likes it. It allows her to be up on the same level as the big people and still be contained. Win-win.

Well, that is all I have for you today. Thank you for putting up with my long absence. I wish I could send you all boxes of Tagalongs as a treat for being nice.

XOXO
Ana