A sense of accomplishment

I finally finished my quilt! I have never attempted a quilt this large before (84″ square) and I hope I am never possessed to do so again; I was thoroughly sick of the whole project by the time I had invested too much time & money to not finish.

I will post a picture later; next month when Dad & Mom are here they are going to help me hang it on the wall (which will make it much easier to snap a good picture ). I made this quilt to hang in our entryway (split level house) with the hope that it will absorb some of the excess sound upstairs. When we bought the house we replaced the upstairs carpet with laminate flooring. I love the wood look and not having to clean carpet under the dining room table (or around the table, or along the path from kitchen to table. . .). But because the only place an area rug works is at the front door, it’s just plain noisy upstairs!

Sewing Update

I just realized I haven’t posted any news from the sewing room lately. I have been busily stitching, things for me even, but the only thing that fits right now isn’t going to be photographed.

I started with a couple of nursing camisoles. . .well. . .right now they are still regular camisoles/tank tops made from Ottobre Woman 2/2007, design #1. I used FOE and decorative elastic instead of a fabric binding though. After baby arrives I will cut a slit down the center front (finishing the edges with a narrow zigzag if I get a chance!). . .I have learned from past experience that it is better to wait until I have shifted from pregnant to nursing bosom to get the placement right. These will (obviously) be worn under other tops for the purpose of keeping my middle covered while nursing. I’ve also used this same kind of slit in knit tops I wanted to wear under jumpers or overalls; it’s less bulky than a regular nursing top.

Then, I moved on to nursing bras. . .I have made 3 so far and need to make at least a couple more. Ahhhh. . .what a difference having the right size makes!! Not to mention the fun of wearing nursing bras that aren’t boring white. (if you really want to know what colors I made. . .you’ll have to come do my laundry next month while I’m laying on the couch enjoying my babymoon with #6!) I almost always order my bra making supplies from Anne at Needle Nook; I highly recommend both her Bra Elite pattern and her customer service! She will send fitting bras before you sew so that you know you’re making the right size (I never would have guessed the right size this time) and she’s also quick to answer any questions you might have during the sewing process.

And finally, today I finished making a dress to wear for baby’s baptism. I hope~I was winging it to add nursing access to Kwik Sew 3214. It’s hard to find something nice to wear in late September/early October; summer dresses are out of season but winter dresses are too heavy. Anyhow, this dress is a basic sleeveless knit dress; my first thought was to simply scoop out the armholes but I was worried that would result in the top of the dress shifting around. So instead I added an invisible zipper to the top of each side seam (about 5-6″. . .I’m not very big). I have no idea how well this type of nursing access will work! I made the dress lower calf length; knee length would be more flattering on me but if you’re busy fiddling with the top of your dress you don’t want to also be fiddling with the hemline too. I then made the tie front jacket (3/4 length sleeves) to keep things discreet while unzipped. . .oh and to keep my arms warm too. Both pieces are made of a small floral print burgundy rayon-lycra jersey. Very soft, stretchy stuff!!

It’s a. . .

No, it’s not #6 yet. . .but after saving her money all year, today R got her long awaited package via the UPS man.

She had originally planned to get Kaya or one of the other American Girl characters, but after the latest catalog she decided on a “Just Like You” doll which she named Hannah.

I feel like I should be burning the midnight oil so I can surprise her with matching outfits tomorrow; after all what fun is a doll without a change of clothes? This is, after all, my daughter after my own heart~every new doll must be undressed and redressed before playing.  But not only am I too tired I also have no patterns for 18″ doll clothes yet! Oops. I was at JoAnn’s this evening but they didn’t have any of the Joan Hinds books in stock. . .guess I should have put one in my amazon.com cart last night, huh? In the meanwhile surely I can manage to whip up something out of the scraps from R’s new clothes.

First day of school

 C & J are in grades 5 & 3, and this is a real first as previously they have been homeschooled. This year are going to the school at the church where Larry is currently serving as vacancy pastor. There are many reasons for this, mostly centering around my lack of time & energy due to being hugely pregnant and Larry working long days at Schwans 3 days a week and serving his own tiny parish plus the vacant dual parish the other 4 days of the week.

Meanwhile I will still be teaching N & R at home; they are in pre-K and 2nd grade this year. Don’t be fooled by her studious look~2 hours later she still hasn’t finished anything but one page of math! She still has some coloring to do for history as well as make a short list of action verbs for grammar. . .

Where has my baby gone?!

It hardly seems possible that in a few short weeks, this little guy will be a big brother! He is currently 31 months and just seems so young to be walking around with his new ‘big boy’ haircut (first ’buzz’ though I used the 1″ attachment) and wearing big boy undies. I’m not sure whether it’s in spite of, or because of, the fact that he’s been the baby longer than any of our kids.

He’s a funny little man to watch. One minute he will race about at the speed of light trying to keep up with his big brothers; the next minute he will be sweetly flirting with the ladies. Last week at the library when it was time to pick up toys, he made each & every dinosaur growl as it marched up my arm. . .and then kissed me on the cheek.

Forgetting to remember

Today marks one month until my due date, but it’s also the first anniversary of my miscarriage. Although I spent a lot of time remembering my miscarriage during the first months of this pregnancy, when the morning sickness was so much milder than usual, my former due date passed in March unnoticed. And so I wasn’t sure if I would remember when today came. Nor was I sure what to expect if I did remember.

I didn’t forget this time. While I was sad to think of the baby we will never hold in our arms, I didn’t spend a lot of time moping. I suppose that’s a result of the passing of time combined with the distraction of another baby kicking me in the ribs. Or maybe it was something else. I don’t know; this was my first experience with this kind of loss.

I actually remembered the date on my way to church this morning, while driving in pouring rain that would make anyone a bit melancholy. I found myself choking slightly on the familiar words of the hymns and liturgy, but then as we chanted the introit of the day I found myself comforted by these words from Psalm 55:

Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.

and:

Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy!

While the words of men can be helpful in a time of need, it never ceases to amaze me how the true comfort is always found in the word of God. Thanks be to Him!

Moses baskets

Working my way through my sewing list. . .today I finished the moses baskets. Baskets?!My ultrasound only showed one baby, but in a burst of something resembling insanity I bought 2 plain baskets. The idea was to make one for a girl and one for a boy, and try listing the one I didn’t need on eBay. . .to see if that might be something I could continue to sew & list on eBay.

However, in the meanwhile, I decided that I simply do not have what it takes to sell to the ’boutique’ crowd on eBay. That still left me with 2 baskets, and me being me I did follow through with at least the sewing part of my original plan. I’m not sure what I’ll do with the extra basket, though! They’re rather large to have lying around waiting for a baby gift occasion.

As a girly-girl, I hate to admit it but I actually prefer the boy basket. I find the muted colors of the western themed prints (Moda’s Johnny & Buck) more relaxing than the pink & purple dancing mice (At the Ballet, from Timeless Treasures I think).

Drafting my patterns took the most time. The actual sewing was fairly straightforward, although it was awkward stitching the bumpers shut after inserting the foam (I cut down panels designed for crib bumper pads). With all the pins needed for that step, my arms look like I’ve been picking raspberries! I made the boy basket first and tried to alter my pattern for the girl basket so there would be less of a gap between bumper & basket; it looks like I made it worse. Besides the coordinating sheets shown, I also made some in solid white (partly because babies don’t keep sheets clean & partly to experiment with the elastic ratio). Finally, because I clearly don’t know when to say when, I also made flannel-backed receiving blankets. Both are bias bound with a coordinating print; his has mitered corners & hers are rounded.

Now on to the next project. . .tomorrow I will be 35 weeks pregnant and I am almost done with the priority “1″ projects on my list! I was able to cross off a bonus item today~dd needed new leotards for this fall, but I found some I’d picked up on clearance while I was looking through the bins for school clothes for the boys. That leaves me more time to work on some new nursing clothes for me as well as a few Christmas gifts.

The best kind of friends

Growing up, I always wanted a sister. . .but all I got was a little brother. I now have 2 sisters-in-law, though I don’t see them very often. I have also been blessed with a circle of sisters in Christ who may not live nearby but are always an email or phone call away. We’re always plotting excuses to visit each other, and look forward to our annual Christmas ornament exchange each year. We’ve even held our own ‘retreats’, where as many as are able to come spend a few days (and nights) chatting and giggling and eating chocolate.

We’ve also been known to convince our husbands to plan the family vacation route around visiting each other, which is why last week I was thrilled to have Carol & her family spend their last night on the road at our house.

(Note: I do like Carol, even though this profile shot was all her idea! )

It looks like our daughters are working on forming their own sisterhood too!

SWAP finale

Or nearly~I still need to get buttons to finish the jumper. I had matching plain buttons for the side plackets but want to get something cute for the bib front. Maybe hearts or ballet shoes (I used a ballet shoe print for lining any SWAP garments that needed lining).

All fabrics are from a line of coordinates I found at fabric.com awhile ago, except the solid knit which was probably either fabric.com or Denver Fabrics. Stripes are my achilles heel in sewing, so while the sideseams on the shirts match pretty well please don’t look anywhere else! I cut out the striped twill after my bedtime, so I forgot to even try to match stripes in many places.

• Striped twill jumper. Unfortunately in hindsight, while using a longer size in length than width usually works, it left me with a funny shaped bib for this jumper. The straps are also several inches too long; or perhaps my daughter is too short? Oh well! The skirt is a bit straighter than I like for a child, though it does have a pleat in the center back hem (the back also features cute heart pockets). This is another from the new Ottobre 4/2007, #17. This is the first time in awhile that I’ve gotten this busy with a new issue; usually it takes me longer to get excited about the designs.
• Cotton-lycra jersey tops. Same pattern as the mint interlock, Ottobre 1/2003.
• Striped twill pants. Same pattern as the mint wide wale corduroy, Ottobre 3/2003.

Milestones

• C is now old enough & big enough to more-or-less mow our yard by himself.
• J is zipping through the first lessons of a 4th grade book, though he’s only starting 3rd grade this fall.
• R has saved almost enough money to order her American Girl doll with just $2 left to earn!
• N has recently started drawing his own stick people; it looks like he may be our lefty.
• I was recently found standing up to use his little potty; thankfully his aim was halfway decent.