Mother's Day

My sweet, sweet husband surprised me for my first Mother's Day. Since I don't actually *have* the baby yet, I didn't expect anything, but he had other ideas... :)

It is soooooooo comfy!! I am looking forward to doing some crocheting in this chair soon!

Bags, bags, bags and a new project

Well, I finally finished the late birthday present. I'll post a real pic after I get to deliver it, but here is a preview...

Hint: Its a bag. I have really been on a bag kick lately. They are so useful - who wouldn't want a bag?!!? That's my line of thinking, at least.

The other project I've had going is bags as well, only not the kind you're thinking of...

Yep - bean bags! I am working on a set of them to use in my classroom. I have the ones you see done and several more sewn and are waiting to be filled:

I am using poly-pellets instead of real beans. I'm not taking any mice chances - oh yeah, schools have mice. And - hooray for using scraps! The ones you see so far are scraps from a quilt I made about 8 years ago.

A quilt??

Yes, I made a quilt! It look me nearly 8 years to make it too! ....Okay, okay, more like 2 and half, but still. We had some sewing machine issues - like the THREE different ones we (my college roommate and I - yes, it was that long ago) tried to use all were old and died on us. We ended up piecing the last of it together by hand, and we also quilted it by hand. It is queen-sized, so that part took a while, but it was fun because we did it together on a huge hoop as we watched Friends and Frazier (I told you it was a while ago). We were both sewing novices at the time, though my roommate had done a beautiful star quilt before (totally by hand, wow!) that I helped her quilt. We had no experience with machines which, I think, was our downfall. We didn't have a pattern, we just used blocks of fabric that I liked from the remnant bins and sewed them into strips, which we then sewed together into the quilt top. We didn't measure anything, so (needless to say) the strips didn't all line up, so it came out a little wonky, but it is still probably my favorite thing I've ever made and am most proud of. I still keep it on my bed! Here it is... (sorry for the sucky picture... the bedroom was just too messy... :P)

SO - all of that is leading up to my next project - a new quilt!! I have made one other quilt since this one, a baby quilt for my niece when she was born, so... 5 years ago. I think it was from the pattern book "Irish Chain in a Day" and it was so easy! I asked my sister-in-law to send me a picture of it, so I can be sure. I remember it being so easy and it turned out so nicely, that for my next quilt (for my baby!) I will use the same pattern.
Here is the fabric I bought for my quilt.

I get nearly all of my fabulous fabric from Asheville Cotton Co. The girls there are so helpful and fun and I can't go in without finding something (usually LOTS of things) I want to buy! If you're in the area, you should definitely check it out!

Hang in there....

Hello, hello! I'm still here... working a lot, but sadly not on crafts as much as everything else. I did get a visit from my awesome sister two weeks ago and my parents last weekend. I also finished the bunnies and took a few spring time pictures of them.

I still have several projects in-progress - a present for my nieces, a birthday present for a friend (late, of course), and a b-a-b-y quilt!!

More to come....

Oh, the cuteness!!

Scarves for spring and more sewing

Well, I finished my scarf and also made one for the birthday-girl, Amber (my friend who got the secret Margaret Bag), just in time for the warmest day of the year.

Here is mine:

I'm waiting for a photo shoot for Amber's scarf, but here is the yarn I used:

Luckily, we got a little spring-time snow storm yesterday (which I took a picture of with my phone, but I guess I didn't save it - boo!), so the scarves were able to get some use!

I also got to have another sewing session with my friends to make the Lickety-Split bag. I made one of these before for my friend, Lina's, birthday. That's me (well, my arms) on the left.

I made this one for myself for spring!

Here is a sneak-peek at my next project. Hint: It involves a gorgeous felt bundle from felt-o-rama and a c-u-t-e pattern from purl bee. Welcome spring!!

Secret projects and sewing parties!

I had the most fun this week with some crafty friends! We joined forces (Form of a sewing party!) to make laptop/ipod cases. Mine is a project that was meant to be done at Christmas for my sister, which was foiled by no power due to 13 inches of snow. Finally I'm getting my late-present list checked off! I wish we had taken a picture of our sewing area - it must have looked pretty sweat-shop-y to an outsider and if anyone was listening in, I am sure they were offended more than once with the sailor language. We'll photograph (only - no audio!) next time.

For the laptop sleeves we used this free patten, which turned out great! I had planned to have all my pieces cut out before I went, but that didn't happen. Even without my cutting done, I was pleased at how quickly this project went - I started from scratch and left with a finished laptop sleeve - all in about 3 hours! I had my sister send me the measurements of her laptop, so I hope it fits well. I'll let you know when she gets it! We're still looking for ideas for our next group project - any suggestions? The bag is shown with my husband's laptop, which is a little small for it.

I also recently made a top-secret project that I wasn't able to post about (being top-secret, obviously) but now the cat's out of the bag! Well, Amber had her birthday. :)
I was in on the secret with her fiance, Jeremy, to make her one of the Margaret bags. She loved mine so much when she saw it that Jeremy stealthily went out and bought the fabric (which is hard because they share a car!!), delivered it to me and I made the bag. It was so much fun! Props to Jeremy for the sweetie pie idea! Here is Amber's birthday bag:

I also have pictures of Amy's bag from Christmas that I have been too lazy to post... Thanks for sending these, Amy!

My next project is from the book One Yard Wonders and it is a (late, of course) birthday present for my nieces. There are some cute ideas in this book, though I don't recommend the adult clothing pattens unless you like a lot of skin showing...

I also found this sweet tutorial for folding your fabric stash. I think that will be the next day-off project!

Big news, snow days, and WIPs

Hello blogging world! I have been MIA lately because my mind has been elsewhere and the place my mind has been has made me super. duper. tired. I know many of you that read my blog also live nearby and we probably see each other pretty regularly, so you already know why. For my bloggie friends out in the world: Guess what! I'm pregnant! I am planning on posting some baby crafty goodness, but these first few months I have come home completely drained, so not too much has been going on other than napping. I am due in September and I am so excited!

I have my friend Jaime to thank for kick-starting my motivation again. I went over and helped (at least I hope I was helpful!) her put zippers in the cool doggie beds she made. It made me realize how much I miss my sewing and crocheting. I have so many projects that have been in my head for the last 3 months and I've done nothing on them! This is my first pregnancy, so all my info is second-hand from friends and books but from what I understand, now that I'm almost through my first trimester, my energy levels are supposed to be back up. I've pulled out my WIPs and even some projects that are still little ideas in my noggin.

Here's the list:

I *finally* wove in the ends of this scarf I started in December and have almost finished crocheting.

The laptop sleeve that is my sister's Christmas present is going to be cut out and sewn next.

The super cute birthday presents for my nieces (on Feb. 9 & 16) also need to be done soon. (See how behind I am?!?)

Today's project is a pillowcase for the body pillow I bought this afternoon. I have been having trouble getting comfy enough to sleep at night and I was told this will help. I found the pillow on sale, but the cover for it was just as much as the pillow - yeah, right! So, I just finished sewing it from some cute fabric from my stash! I also owe some of this motivation to this winter's billionth snow storm that kept us from school (again) and probably will tomorrow too. It means we will have to attend school on Saturday (boo!!) but hooray for getting back in crafty gear!