Dream To Do *DONE* ... The quilt is complete!!!

Oh, I am so proud to post this. The quilt is complete! Well, technically I haven't "quilted" it or tied it together, but I don't really feel like I need to. I probably will before it needs to be washed, but right now it is just lovely as is. And I am just sooooo glad it is done! Never again!



Pretty, huh? You see that nice pink binding around the edge? Well that was a friggin pain in my ass! When I started this project I had NO idea what I was doing. I just picked out fabric I liked, started cutting squares and then sewed those together. I added the brown border at my MIL's suggestion. After that I sewed the top, the batting, and the green minky material together. Then, I googled "how to bind a quilt" and watched a little youtube video. And I was like "oh sh$#!" What did I get myself into? The traditional way of quilt binding requires piecing together one looooonnnngggg strip of fabric, sewing it around the front edge of the quilt (paying extra special attention to the corners), and then you friggin have to HAND SEW it over and on to the back side!!! Yes, I actually sat there and hand stitched around the whole edge of this thing. I'm just happy I didn't make it any bigger. And while I hated life at the time, when I placed that last stitch I was soooooo proud of my work. It turned out beautiful!



Can you believe I hand sewed that edge? Looks pretty dang good, huh?! And, Leila Jade likes her new quilt, too!



Funny thing is that on the same day that I finished this cute, crib-sized little quilt, Leila got her BIG girl bed (there will be another post dedicated to this!). And since I'm having a boy next who probably won't appreciated the hot pink, this will definitely get put to good use on Leila's baby dolls. I don't even care. I just wanted to be able to say that I made a quilt and now I can!

Living in Tulip Central

Thanks to my professional gardener wannabe hubby, our backyard is now full of beautiful tulips. The ultimate sign of Spring to me.



With our weekend full of sunshine (with the exception of the 2nd half of today in which there was a torrential downpour), much time was spent outside enjoying the tulips and the little one running around oozing sheer joy.

Seriously, for some reason our tulips are freakishly tall. Like taller than Leila...


My favorite tiger striped tulip.


I cannot get enough of our backyard. It is my little paradise.


Besides enjoying the beauty of the great outdoors (i.e. our backyard), I had a rather excruciating weekend full of one looooonnnnngggg killer headache (verging on migraine). I have been pretty miserable. So miserable that I had to bail from the annual Bowl for Kids Sake benefiting Big Brothers Big Sisters - an event I LOVE to participate in with my co-workers every year. Sad stuff. BUT, I did do one major thing on my to-do list...I almost finished the quilt!

Sooooo close to being done!


Seriously, all I need to do to check this baby off my Dreams To Do list is add some sort of binding around the edge (I have NO clue how to do this) and then either quilt it in some way or tie it together. I'm just proud of myself for getting this far without a pattern or any idea as to what I am doing. Go me! :-)

So, other than headaches and tulips and quilting, all I have to leave you with are some spaghetti Leila pics. Good stuff!

Hmmmm, this looks ok I think I'll try it...


Not too bad. And kinda fun to slurp up.


It would probably taste better without the snot - oh well!


Here's to a fabulous week ahead - with NO headaches! {I'm putting it out there!}

Closets, Quilts, & Sunshine!

That's what our weekend consisted of. My dad came over to help Andy with his first ever building project - adding a closet to Leila's room. They spent all day Saturday framing and drywalling and now we have about 1/2 a closet done. Should be finished by next weekend - YAY!

Ok, now on to more exciting things. This weekend was soooooo fabulous that really all I wanted to do was sit outside in the glorious sun and read my newest addiction, The Hunger Games. So, that's what I did a LOT of (pretty sure I'll finish the 1st book in the trilogy tonight - in 2 days! That is crazy fast for me because I am a super slow reader.) BUT, I also worked on the quilt! I know I said I would start sewing it, which didn't really happen, but I still made some serious progress. I finished cutting and got it all laid out...



Pretty cute, huh? It'll be even better once it's sewn together. This baby is getting done soon! I'm gonna make it happen!

Other highlights of our weekend in pics...

Baby girl was distracting me while quilting.


Our flowers are a-blooming!


Leila enjoying our fab back yard, lounging in her little chair.


I wish I could take credit for this pic, but this is all my Hubby. He's becoming quite the photographer!


So, I'm sorry this post is boring and thrown together. I had planned on doing a 15 week pregnancy update complete with side-by-side belly shots of this time versus with Leila, but I was having issues with the good ole MacBook. Love this computer, but I'm still trying to figure it out. And I'm dying without Photoshop! Should be getting it soon though. Hopefully I'll get the belly post up tomorrow.

Hope you all had a most wonderful weekend! :-)

Spring forward with weekend perfection (well, almost)

Cheers to an extra hour of daylight! This sure has been a most relaxing, enjoyable weekend at home. The 'almost' stems from the fact that Leila randomly woke up at 10pm on Friday night and puked ALL over herself and her bed. She has NEVER thrown up before. It was rather scary for her and disgusting for us. But after a bath, a change of clothes, and a load of laundry, we all slept soundly for the rest of the night. Leila woke up Saturday morning with a big smile on her face and has been fantastic ever since. Oh the joys of parenthood!

Check out my happy little girl playing outside. Yes, it is Spring again!






Seriously, who wakes up this happy after throwing up everything they ate the day before?


My hard-working hubby cleaning up pine needles.


Proof that Spring is here! A tulip peaking out of the earth.


As you can see, we spent a lot of time outside this weekend. In a couple weeks we went from over a foot of fresh snow to none once again. And I'm not complaining! Other weekend festivities included a visit from Nana (my mommy), a St. Patrick's Day feast at Andy's bro's house, a visit and lunch with Auntie Christie & Cousin Destin, and mommy finishing cutting out the quilt! Yes, I actually did it! And I must say, I hate cutting fabric. Sorry, I don't think I'm cut out to be a quilter. Not a fan so far. BUT, I'm going to see this project through and cross it off my Dreams To Do (that is, until I start on my real family heirloom dream quilt someday).

Check out my piles-o-fabric squares. No fancy cut-outs for me. Straight up squares sewn together. No pattern required. Oh, I know I've barely just begun...


So you see, I had quite a busy and productive and relaxing weekend all at once. And I am soooo ready and happy for Spring to arrive! An extra hour of daylight baby! Now let's just see if we all wake up in time for work tomorrow morning. :-)

Here's to a FABULOUS week ahead!

A new Spring bouquet from my loving hubby.

I'm on a roll!

I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I am on fire this week! The week started off a little rocky with Leila spiking a nasty fever and us getting hardly any sleep, but things are looking up! The boss man called me into the office the other day to tell me how awesome I am and let me know that I'm gonna get a sweet little bonus on my paycheck tomorrow (can you say mac book pro?). Then Leila started feeling better. Then I started getting a burst of energy and cooked a wicked good meal tonight (chicken biscuit bake... yum yum!). And, I went to the craft store and got the rest of my supplies to start my mini-quilt!

So, when I got home from work today this is what our office looked like:

Yikes!


But, after a 10 minute power clean this is what I have now (don't ask what the inside of the drawers look like):

My new sewing area!




And supplies to make a little quilt!


As far as when I'm going to get started on said quilt, I'm not so sure. And, as far as a pattern goes, there isn't going to be one. I'm winging it baby! Stay tuned...

What a "Super" weekend...

Ok, so I totally dominated our bedroom disaster and then this happened:



That is a beautiful photo of my Leila Jade, lying on the floor in a broken frame. I spent a good chunk of time today FINALLY getting this picture matted and framed and hung on the wall. After it was hung, I literally turned around to grab the camera (so I could share my work with you here on this little ole blog) and it fell to the floor and broke. Thank goodness the glass didn't shatter! I was soooo frustrated, though! So, Andy and I went out and bought a new frame (a much sturdier one) and here's what we have now:



There is just something about that pouty face that melts my heart. Sure we have tons of smiley pics of her, but this is the classic Leila face. I could just eat her up for dinner.

Besides dealing with a ridiculous amount of laundry, wiping Leila's snotty nose (yes, she has yet ANOTHER cold), and watching the Super Bowl (Go Packers!), we also got out on a wonderful, sunny family walk to the park! Check it out:

Warning: I will never get sick of taking photos of branches against a blue sky.


A lone skater on our frozen park pond...


My beauty playing in the park...






So, even among the craziness of dirty underwear and gameday junk food, we found the time to relax as a family. And it was wonderful. I heart the weekend.

As for my promise to figure out what to tackle next on the dream list, I want you to know that I ventured out to Hobby Lobby for the first time today. And it was closed. BUT, I DID go to the fabric store and buy some cute fabrics for a little test run quilt. Probably just something for Leila to wrap her dolls in. Ultimately, I would LOVE to make a large patchwork family quilt full of bright, colorful, random patterns and bits and pieces of special clothing from each of us... something I can pass down through the generations. I'm sure this will end up being a long work-in-progress type of project, but it will get done eventually. Stay tuned...