SRS

SRS, a photo by thethreaded~chickadee on Flickr.

A finished mini and goodies for my partner in the sewing room swap http://www.flickr.com/groups/the_sewing_room_swap/! I hope she likes them. I was a little rushed with this project as I totally scrapped my first idea because I wasn't happy with the results. I do love the looptastic pattern http://www.ohfransson.com/oh_fransson/2012/05/quilts-from-modern-patchwork-part-4.html, If I had the time to hand stich it down like I wanted to and do an overall free motion, I would have been happier. I'm still thinking about doing a whole quilt in this pattern for our bedroom for a long term project. But, I think this mini is cheerful and fun and will hopefully brighten my partner's space :)

burp rags and boppy covers, oh my :)

I'm at 38 weeks today, that is really weird to me still that I can have a baby well, at any moment! I'm not feeling so unprepared anymore. Yes the question is still, are you ready? Maybe now I'll just simply say yes instead of, is anyone ready? Lol!! He is very active these days and I'm getting more excited to meet him instead of being fearful of impending parenthood. Sometimes, I do ask myself why can't I be more calm like my husband :) But, luckily I am frequently reminded to rely on grace for the strength I need for this ambiguous and special time in my life. Ok, on to sewing stuff....

So, yes I am fully immersed in preparing for baby. I found this super easy tutorial for adding some embellishment to burp rags with cloth diapers. Here is the tut I used: http://www.thinkingcloset.com/2013/03/27/burp-cloth-tutorial-for-the-beginner-sewist/

I really didn't need a tutorial, but I did like her idea of cutting a template out of a cereal box. It really sped up the ironing process. If you don't sew, half of sewing is ironing and cutting out! They were really cheap to make as I made them out of scraps of other things I've been sewing for baby B and a cloth diaper. These will really sop up some serious baby goop.

 

Oh, and I made a Boppy cover, I'm pretty happy with the results, I just pinned one cover that I had and created another one, I may write up a quick tutorial on this and think about growing this blog than a more reflective place for me, we'll see! I taught myself how to put in a zipper as well. I love these woodland animals, kind of the theme as we live in the woods in Maine. Feeling pretty accomplished today!

 

Zipper!

 

 

Ok, had to look at the guitar print again, it's almost my last little bit of it and I know that it's out of production...I do love fabric :)

Finally, a finished baby quilt!

I finally stitched down the binding of this cute baby quilt about a week ago, I'm pretty happy with it as it was my first experience using a long arm machine in the quilt shop, so much easier than on my home machine. Although, I'm finding that I do like hand stitching and may plan a hand stitched quilt for sitting in these last few weeks of pregnancy :). I'm calling it Prince tiles, the designer named the print frog prince, and I made a simple tile design with fussy cut centers (that just means I cut out the frogs :))

Here she is for my little one!

The front

 And back with a soft flannel for snuggling little baby B!

Quilting that is hard to see but it's there!

Baby projects :)

I am now 36 weeks, and can't believe that pregnancy is almost over. I think the question that everyone asks me now is are you ready???

My question is can you ever be ready for a little one to enter your life? I don't think that I am yet, but I will be when he arrives. I was so happy to have my appointment today because I got a glimpse of my little guy on an unplanned ultrasound. My belly was measuring a little small, so my doctor had me come back in for another one. Praise God everything was just fine and they estimate him to be in the 48th percentile. I always thought I'd have a huge baby because I'm not the smallest woman I know. But, I guess he's just the right size.

Here are some baby projects I have been working on lately:

a pillow and wall hanging received from kerriofberries from the Modernista Homemade swap!

My Lotta J. Snuggler from her book, it was overall a pretty easy pattern, but I was glad that I found an online tutorial to look at in the process! I can't wait to swaddle up my little guy inside the soft flannel interior.

A quick mitered fleece blanket for baby B. I love that print :)

 

I can't help to think what he'll be like as a little person and who he will become. This pregnancy has been challenging at times with a surgery in the middle of it all, it really tested my faith and trust that my prayers were heard about the safety of this little one about to come into this world.


I love this verse:1 Samuel 1:27–28
"I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD." (NIV)

Nursery progression: Recovering a glider chair..

I recently obtained a free Dutailier glider chair for the great price of $0.  The downside it had some faded denim fabric that wasn't cute for a hip baby or mama. :) So, I thought about recovering it, but was a little  scared. I didn't want to rip up all the fabric and rework it all. I was really happy when I saw this tutorial to recover it: http://www.kenjiandjen.com/p/tutorial-recovering-glider-chair.html

Which essentially allowed me to make slip cushions, which is great because they can be taken off and popped in the wash.  My brother has three children and I watched all three when they were babies, I know there's a lot of washing going on with a little one.  It worked great as directed except for the ottoman.  I tried to follow instructions, but I think that I will just rip up the ottoman and make it fit really nicely with a zipper. It looks ok now, but you're not seeing it in person!

I had a great time with this, Brady my dog was hanging with me. There were a few times he knocked down the fan and piles of fabric, but he's generally a great helper! I felt like I was in the zone in the sewing room today or experiencing flow as a psychologist would say.  Here's the before picture:

 

The bones were great, but definitely needed some love! Here's the almost finished product, but you get the idea.  I'm still debating if I should make the ottoman yellow, thoughts?

 

The finished product cost me about $20 much cheaper than a new $500 glider! I still need to work on the ottoman, but I'm happy with the result so far!

 

A quilt top!

Finally sewing and making pretty things again I searched high and low for some of this fabric. I decided to do a fussy cut center and fabrics from Tula pinks frog prince for my little prince! More good pics to come after I quilt it next week ;)

Nursery Progression!

Nursery, a photo by thethreaded~chickadee on Flickr.

Well the only way this nursery has progressed is via my mother in law's talented work. She has painted this beautiful mural in my son's nursery. The birds are Maine's state bird the chickadee, thus the title of my blog :) I'm so excited to add more to the nursery, I'm recovering a wonderful glider that just needs an update, can you believe those chairs are over $1000 new. I also got some great organic fabric from Joann's for a sheet they run $50+ full price. I just can't do that when I can make things. I'm so excited and am definitely in nesting mode! I'll post my quilt top soon, I'm quilting it at my local quilt shop on a long arm machine, so I don't have to fight with my machine at home! I'd love to know your thoughts on my mother-in-law's work, isn't it beautiful!!!

And close up:

My nursery mosiac

My nursery mosiac, a photo by thethreaded~chickadee on Flickr.

so, I can't believe that this is my first blog post of 2013! Here we are in June, well I haven't really sewn since that time anyways due to a renovation, surgery, and ummmm...a baby in my belly! I'm in full swing now and plan to be making some fun things for baby and other's I did get Sarah's table toppers done, just a couple of table clothes for her wedding and I'm more freed up. I plan to post baby blanche's baby quilt top this weekend :) Here's my mosaic for a new swap of Modernista Homemade!

Our Christmas tree farm adventure!

My kitchen :)

My kitchen :), a photo by thethreaded~chickadee on Flickr.

I had to take a picture of my kitchen for Modernista Homemade, and I'm just feeling good about a clean kitchen and many blessings in my life today. Thank you Lord for our wonderful home!

Sewing To Do list!

So, I never really understood how people could have multiple projects going at once, I do now!! I have so many projects floating in my head....so I need a list and an estimated time that I'll complete them. I need to have a home project list too :)


A quilt for our bed!!-I really want this one
Christmas Quilt for mom-the goal is this Christmas!--start in September
napkins for Mom, probably mother's day
table toppers for Ethan and Sarah's wedding
potholders for friends weddings (one in october)
dining room curtains
Cover Dining room chairs
Curtains living room-I'm thinking a yellow and white chevron
lap quilt for living room-I have blocks
Christmas Stockings-started!
Advent Calandar

Home painting

Finish mud room-Trim
paint walls mud room
finish our bedroom
prime first bedroom

Any strategies for getting this done??

Modernista Received :)

Modernista Received :), a photo by thethreaded~chickadee on Flickr.

I love my new machine cover from a crafty fox, it was late, but hey we're all late sometimes. And the focus of my blog is on self-care and not stressing about perfection. This swap that I created this summer has been stressful at times and I've wondered, why did I do this again. But, then I saw all of the beautiful creations that were made that really reminded me of my growing passion for sewing. I think that Modernista will continue for a while at any rate!

in the window...

in the window..., a photo by thethreaded~chickadee on Flickr.

A finish for my the Modernista Homemade swap. I loved the idea of this mini quilt but my execution could be a little improved, I haven't really made a wall hanging, and then noticed after my binding was down that it was uneven. But, this is a wonky type project, I guess I still want everything to be perfection! I do love my quilting, I free motioned this one, used the walking foot on my last box in box quilting. I do think it looks modern and I think the colors will work for her I hope, otherwise, I may be making something else! I'll find it a good home if not :)

PTS received

PTS received, a photo by thethreaded~chickadee on Flickr.

I love my pillow that I received from my PTS partner. I think this room is really coming together! I think a wall hanging with similar colors and maybe a valence for the windows??

PTS front

PTS front, a photo by thethreaded~chickadee on Flickr.

Finished PTS pillow!! I really worked hard on this and while it isn't perfect, I did a lot of things right and now know that I should approach circles and applique a wee bit differently. I hooked my partner up with some great fabrics which were hard for me to let go of!! But, I really hope she likes it because she is an awesome swapper. Oh, I also learned some lessons in time management.

So all the stuff I preach to my clients about time management, I need to listen up, AGAIN. With the house, sewing projects, two jobs, and family obligations I need to take it down a notch for sure, theres doing alot and there's doing way too much!!

coexisting :)

coexisting :), a photo by thethreaded~chickadee on Flickr.

Finally a nice sunny day, going on a hike later. I'd never thought this would every happen!

circles already made for yoyos

circles already made for yoyos, a photo by thethreaded~chickadee on Flickr.

Does anyone want to swap? more pictures in my photostream. I got these vintage yo-yos and fabric scraps last year at a yard sale with the best of intentions, but they are clogging up space :( I'd love to swap with someone, but I'll be willing to give it way to free up some space, if I have alot of people, I'll draw names :) let me know, j

haul from Mardens today! $23=5 yards, love that!!!

haul from Mardens today! $23=5 yards, love that!!!, a photo by thethreaded~chickadee on Flickr.

Woot, just sayin!! Hate to brag :)

new curtains and a working hubbers :)

new curtains and a working hubbers :), a photo by thethreaded~chickadee on Flickr.

I wanted to take a picture of my curtains and it was dark, but...then I miss an everyday moment of work and a half gallon of edy's! I was a little lazy and made a curtain envelope, I made nice mitered curtains upstairs, I'll take a pic of them some time in the sunlight :)

Why don't we take more everyday pics anyways??

all this for $33=7 yards designer fabrics!!

all this for $33=7 yards designer fabrics!! , a photo by thethreaded~chickadee on Flickr.

OMG, I could not contain the fabric high I was on at Marden's in Maine. I almost want to whisper because the fabrics were so great and nothing more than 4.99 a yard! I went to another location last year and it was cheap but not modern or fun.

This time, oh baby I went a little wild buying 7 yards of fabric, but the damage wasn't too bad as you can see. If any bloggers come up to Maine, I'll show you my secret spot!