Now we wait!

I finished up the last of my sewing for my niece. I've decided that with her arrival coming in about two weeks time, I should stop calling her Sassypants! She did earn the name however - four ultrasounds to determine that it was a girl??!! C'mon!

Along with her quilt, I also made a fitted sheet for her crib. It's the Snoopy fabric peeking out from under those adorable onesies (that I obviously bought!). My sister had a difficult time finding Snoopy accessories this time around so I bought some fabric at JoAnn's and used this tutorial. Super easy, but threading the elastic around the entire sheet took longer than all the sewing combined! Phew! Totally worth it though because I know my Snoopy-loving sis will love it. I also made some burp cloths to match the quilt. I had scraps left over from the quilt and basically just sewed a strip of the fabric down the center of the cloth diaper. As Charlie says, "Easy peasy, lemon squeezy!"

I wrapped everything up in the quilt. Once Charlie gets home from school, we'll head into Milwaukee to surprise Melissa with some good food, great company, and fabulous baby girl gifts.

Mail Time!

This week has been a good week for mail! Today the mailman delivered this lovely goodness.

I participated in the Over the Rainbow Charm swap over at sweet diesel designs. A few weeks back I sent in my yellow charms and these 112 charms made their way back to me today. Bianca ran the swap beautifully and I can't wait to do another one. I fear I have caught the swapping bug! Now I need to think of a project for these beauties. I am thinking of making our family a picnic blanket out of them. I just think it could be fun to play I Spy with all this different fabrics while enjoying a family picnic. Plus, I rarely keep a quilt I make so I thought it's about time to keep one that our family will enjoy:)

The other bit of exciting mail found its way to me through my email inbox. Beth over at Plum and June awarded me the Liebster Award! I was so flattered. The Liebster is an award presented to bloggers with less than 200 followers. It's about spreading some love to the little guys in blogland:) The rules are quite simple:

1. Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog (Thanks Beth!).
2. Link back to the blogger who presented the award to you.
3. Copy and paste the blog award on your blog.
4. Present the Liebster Blog Award to 5 blogs of 200 followers or less who you feel deserve to be noticed.
5. Let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment at their blog.


I've been finding lots of new blogs lately, thanks to linky parties and testing Holly's Colorblock Quilt. So, without further ado, here are my five choices:

Melissa at loblolly quilts

Colby at Sew. Quilt. Explore.

Erica at Happy Fabric

Brittney at Brittney Selby Quilting

Amy at Amy Made That!

Be sure to check out these talented ladies! Thanks again, Beth!

And now that the girl is actually taking a nap (cue angels singing!), I think I have time for a bit of sewing:)

Pixie's Revisited

Our dear friends Jesse and Liz are bringing their baby girl Sophie home from Washington D.C. to be baptized this weekend. I am so excited to meet their sweet little one! Back in September I made Sophie this quilt and I was so glad that their family loved it. I wanted to make something special for Sophie for her special day tomorrow so of course I dug into my scraps for more pixies! 

I ended up making a prayer pillow after reading this post. Instead of adding a prayer right onto the pillow cover, I decided to add a small pocket to the back where the family can tuck prayers inside. It was the first time I embroidered anything so I am very pleased with the outcome! I am definitely going to try my hand at it again, too. Today after school, Charlie is going to write a short "God Bless Sophie" note to tuck inside the pocket. I can't wait to give it to Sophie...along with some smooches, of course.

Linking up to crazy mom quilts!

A Quilt for Sassypants

With Melissa's baby girl coming in May, I knew a girly quilt was in my future! I had been pinning away quilts that I liked on Pinterest, but I kept coming back to this one by Holly of Bijou Lovely. I love it! The simplicity of it really shows off the fabulous fabric. As luck would have it, Holly happened to ask for pattern testers for the Colorblock quilt and I was so excited when I got to be one of the lucky testers! I got the pattern on Monday of Charlie's spring break. Tuesday was spent picking out fabric and cutting out the pieces.

 

Wednesday was dedicated to piecing the top and backing. I quilted AND binded it on Thursday. Before I went to bed that night, the quilt got washed and dried. Wowzas! I love that Benji was home for Charlie's spring break because now I have this wonderful quilt ready to go for my niece, whom is lovingly referred to as Sassypants. 

This quilt went so fast! I probably only spent a few hours a day on it. I am by no means a fast cutter/sewer/quilter! I would say that this is a great pattern for beginners. Holly made it so easy to understand and follow. She included great tips, too, to help out new sewers. But I also think that it is a great pattern for experienced quilters because it works really quickly AND it provides great big impact. 

Now I can't wait to give it to Little Miss Sassypants herself!

**Even though this was finished up last week, I didn't get a chance to blog about it until this week! Linking up with Amanda Jean over at crazy mom quilts.**

March 2012

March gave us our first real snow storm of 2012. I am not sure the kids have ever had to wait until March to build a snowman! Ben ended up taking the day off of work since most of the snow was slated to come in the afternoon. He picked up Charlie from school, which gave them the perfect opportunity to have a snowball fight. After dinner, well I was still eating, the kids headed out to play in the perfect packing snow. We played outside for an hour and a half. Bedtimes were not on our radar, not when we had to wait until March for our first big snow!

March also brought big birthday celebrations. We celebrated Auntie Jen's birthday first. We made her a quilt that we backed with one of mom's old bed sheets. The kids were proud of the fact that they helped me quilt it. Truth be told, so was I! I made her some Irish cupcake bombs for the party. It was my second "Pinned it, did it" and I will be making them again. Obviously from Abigail's cupcake face up there, I made a kid friendly version that were equally as yummy.

Ben's birthday was next. We wanted to go to a pizza place in Milton that we had never tried, as it has been named one of the best 50 pizzas in the USA. They were closed on his birthday, however, and we went to Olive Garden instead. We came home for mile high strawberry pie for dessert. The next week we planned on going to Georgio's with Mike and Rachel (who also celebrated a big birthday this month), but it turned out that only the boys got to go. Abigail and I spent that night in the doctor's office and learned that she had pneumonia. Poor girl. Cross your fingers, but it finally looks as though that awful cough has left our house! With all these birthdays this month, Abigail has been left waiting ever so patiently for her third birthday...

And if this winter hasn't been odd enough, having to wait until March for a real good snow, we hit 80 degrees last week! The kids spent a week in dresses and shorts and playing outside well after dinner. The heatwave has ended, but we still cannot complain with 50 and 60 degree days at the end of March. Charlie started his spring break in this kind of weather. Not a bad spring break in Wisconsin, since it is usually raining or snowing. Feeling quite blessed in this house, we couldn't ask for much more!