Almost There!

Just a few more slip stitches and I'll have the bumper done! Look for photos tomorrow!

Progress Report

Ah, I love the smell of a sewing machine in the morning. Unfortunately, I can't get to mine in the morning since I prefer not to have the kids around while I'm working on projects -- all the pins and whatnot.

So progress has been a little slow going since I have to divide my attention between sewing, working out, hanging out with my little brother online, and cleaning in preparation to my grandparents coming to visit. However, I've been working on my nursery coordinates bumper at every chance I get. I've now gotten all but two of the seams machine stitched. All that's left is to machine stitch one of the ends, put in padding and slip stitch the bottoms.

So stay tuned...pictures of a finished and installed bumper should be up in a day or two (hopefully)!

Bumper to Bumper

As you know, I've been working on the nursery coordinates for the last few days. I got one of the bumper sides done, and I'm pretty dang pleased with how it turned out. The pattern I'm using calls for a scalloped top with ruffles as an accent, but the batting I ended up getting is made specifically for baby bumpers and doesn't accommodate the scalloped edge. I altered the pattern to have no scallops, but still have the fun, frilly ruffle. I'm glad I went with the green ribbon for the ties. It really brings out the green in the paisley pattern and looks absolutely adorable. I love it! And I hope you do, too. Here's a picture of the finished side. Hopefully the other pieces will be along soon, as well.

Hiatus on Hiatus

Right. So I took a timely break from my sewing endeavors to take care of a new baby that arrived on March 13. She's 6 months old now and just learned to sit up on her own. Now she's working on those crawling skills. My sewing machine is begging me to make her something adorable (or maybe that's my brain telling me I need a break from Sippy Cups and Spit Up), so I've embarked on a mission to create a matching crib set from this pattern. I chose a nice cotton pink, yellow, green, and white paisley pattern with a coordinating cotton solid. And I just picked up some coordinating green ribbon to use for the ties.

Unfortunately, this was the last the store had of the nice paisley pattern. After the bumper is made I might have just enough to make a decorative pillow or two. Fingers crossed. The last time I used the pattern, the sheet and bumper didn't quite fit the way they should have. A few alterations to the pattern should do the trick.

I already made little miss Liv a quilt -- the kind from scraps of fabric -- the way it's supposed to be made according to my hubs. I'm not super fond of it myself, but it's okay, and the yellow edging and some of the squares will match the rest of the bedding, so it's not a total loss. The quilt itself only took 3-4 hours to piece together, including cutting the squares. The time-consuming and tedious part was slip-stitching the edge onto the quilt. I hate beveled corners, and I can't lay claim that I'm any good at them either. Here's the quilt.

Right before I finished the quilt, our cats peed on our brand spankin' new carpet and we decided that they're going to be outside cats from now on. Because it's starting to get cold and my hubs is a pushover, we had to buy them a house and a heat lamp. He wanted a blanket to put in there with them so they wouldn't get too cold, but I wouldn't let him have any people blankets. So we went to the store to check out animal beds. Minimum $15 for one of those dumb things. I already had canvas for backing and batting for filling so I headed to the fabric store to grab a half yard of something toasty warm. I ended up with a sheerling type fabric. Brought it home, made some pieces, and viola!

It turned out a little wide because I had my dimensions off a few inches, but they seem to like it. It's current status is "covered in fur" in the toasty warm cat house in the garage.

Well, that does it for now. Now to get back to the bumper for the nursery coordinates!