Mail goodies..

I received my last FQ from the LFinn Fq Swap today. The swap was great, I liked being with a smaller number of participants than the Sew Mama Sew FQ swap. Or maybe I just liked that I was in the group with the hostess, which just somehow had some awesome swappers in it. Way to stack the deck in your favor, Leah. :P

I couldnt help but send everyone extras. I was hoping they would at least like one of them.. The top left was sent to Mo, Top right was sent to Annie. On the bottom, the left was sent to Katy, and the right was sent to Leah. I sent some extras to Leah for playing host, and the two extra fq's for Katy coordinate with the fabrics I sent her in a swap we did last month.

Top left: Annie, Top right: Mo ( I love this Japanese print!)

Bottom left: Katy- what a sweetheart, she sent an extra Fq of Prints charming in case I didnt like the 30's repro. I love them both! Bottom Right: Leah. I actually got hers right away and cut into one of them to line a coffee bean zippered pouch!

thanks for hosting such a fun swap Leah!

Feeling good..

I woke up this morning to such a warm beautiful day! It was in the 60's and slightly humid- perfect..

Made some bias tape before Chiquitin's morning nap.. The top one is going on an eye spy mini quilt I made up for Cristian, the bottom is on my DQS6 already. We all sat outside for around 2 hours, playing with chalk, balls and me handsewing binding on. nothing can be more relaxing.. I am waiting to post pictures of my DQS6 unti I get the label on..

Cristian and I got our haircut last week. I got 10 inches off, and Cristian had have gotten more than 2. His hair was getting ridiculously long.. I needed a change, I havent had my hair any where close to my shoulders since middle school- yikes.



I made homemade baby food for Chiquitin Sunday night. Organic carrots- came out to 7 cents an ounce, and super easy to make. Steam, puree. Just dont add the cooking water to the puree because of having nitrates.. He seemed to really like them, he gave me such a surprised expression with every bite.

*If there is anyone out there that believes in the power of prayer, please pray for all those affected by this Swine Infulenza. We spoke with my (soon to be) Mother in law yesterday, and she is very sick.I dont really know much, or the extent of it until we speak with her again tonight. *

Sunday Stash #2

Robots and Planets by David Walker for Free Spirit.

These lovelies were given to me as a birthday present from my Aunt, and I am (finally) getting around to posting about it! I love this line, so fun and cute for boys.
You can check out more Sunday Stash'ers over at quarter of an inch.

Cleaning out..

So I didnt post a WIP yesterday because I was pricing baby clothes all day for a rummage sale this weekend. I now have caluses on my other (non hand sewing) fingertips from all the pinning. Going through all the baby clothes kinda fun, it was nice to see clothes that both of my boys have worn. I thought after a while I was going to feel sad about parting with them, have some kinda yearning for another.. that kinda thing.

But nope. I am pretty sure I am done. At least for now. At least for a while. A large part of me is simply scared to have three, because I come from a family of three, and I don't want to have the same family structure as I had when growing up. I am afraid of babying the youngest, overlooking the middle, and over glorifying the oldest. I know that is not true in every family but, I guess I am just simply content with where we are with things right now.

We met with our Mentor Couple at Church Tuesday night, and it went amazingly well. The couple we will be working with seems very nice, and all of us felt very comfortable. We will be meeting with them for marriage preparations, individual and couples counseling, as well as talking about some 'very personal' matters as they said. With only 4 1/2 months until our wedding, it is great to get started on these kinda things. We will be meeting with them a minimum of 6 two hour sessions, and I think it can only benefit us, right? They are going to be celebrating their 44th anniversary next month!

I have been working on DQS6 mostly, but I made up some of these little zippered pouches last week.

These four are made out of a upcycled coffee bean bag from a local coffee roaster, Alterra Coffee.

I made this one a little bigger, and made it entirely from my scrap bin. It was awesome to dig through and pick out my favorite little bits of fabric left over from various projects in the past. I have four others that I made up too, just for fun, but I haven't taken a pic yet. One of them was already snatched up :)I am going to try to put together a tutorial this weekend. Does anybody know of any super easy pdf programs? I had a link saved, but cant find it now..

Also, does anybody have any suggestions for any natural toy companies or etsy sellers they have bought from? I didn't realize the amount of plastic toys we were given for Cristian and I would like to get some teething toys and wooden instruments in particular. Anything natural, wooden or that doesn't play the same annoying high pitched songs over and over again. :)

DQS- in progress

My machine has been humming all day! I started cutting the squares last night, and was so eager to get sewing today! This is my quilt top all finished. I was going to start quilting it tonight, but I am changing my mind again and again about the backing fabric.

The fabric on the far right is what I am going to be using for the binding. It is a cute polka dot, with these little lines in it, reminds me of bird feet :)

I was going to go with the left fabric originally. That is what I bought it for. Then I picked up the middle fabric, thinking it would be great because of its large scale flowers. I am hesitant to add another fabric in thw quilt, one that is not on the front...I also like the idea of the backing fabric and the border fabric being the same...

Please help me out here! Any suggestions would be great!

Growing up..

I haven't really posted anything lately about family life, or whats been going on here. I have been sewing, and have some fun pictures, but that will have to wait a day or two.This is Cristian (and little Chiquitin in the corner there) checking out his Easter Basket goodies. It was filled with some books, wooden cars and trucks, stickers, some more bathtub crayons (my nephew and him love coloring our patio doors with them, and they clean off super easy), two crayon booklets, and some Easter colored sixlets. I made a I-spy soft book and blocks a while ago that were suppose to be for Chiquitin to go in the basket, but Cristian wanted him to play with them right away, so oh well!


Chiquitin turned 6 months old last weekend. I fed him banana for his first food this week.

He has been making a lot of noise during our meal times, so I thought he might be getting curious. He has given me the strangest looks when I stick the spoon in his mouth though, as if to say 'What the heck do you think you are doing???'. I left a small amount of breastmilk for Papi today, thinking maybe he could try to give him a bit of cereal, and of course he drank the bottle. For the first time. Yeah! We will see how it goes next week!

I have been trying (or hoping for Papi's sake of sanity and patience) that he would take a pacifier. But that hasn't really gone over well. I took this picture super fast, just becasue I think it is so adorable. Cristian can get him to take it, but more for fun and play then to comfort and soothe him.

Cristian has been being so sweet with Chiquitin during and after bath time.

I went to get Cristian's toothbrush after I got them both dressed, and I walked into the room to find him reading his book to Chiquitin. He does this every night, but I sat on the bed and saw he was actually saying the words on the page, or a very close resemblance! He has been really into Dr. Seuss lately, and we have been reading Hop, Pop each night. I was very surprised by how many pages he remembered, House Mouse, Pat Cat, Father can read a little bit, Red Bed Ted Ned (he filled this one in describing that they had a blanket). It was so cute to see him 'reading' the book, and that he could say so many of the words from the book, and filled the rest in with his little mumbles like he was reading. It's moments like these make me so glad to be a mom :)

WIP Wednesday

I have added a few more things to my shop.
A few pairs of 6-12 month baby shoes.



A boys apron. I made up one of these aprons for a boy in my sons playgroup for his 2nd birthday last week. While I was cutting the fabric, I figured I would make an extra to put in my shop, and I am so glad I did! I forgot how fun it is to make little aprons, and I did it MUCH nicer than the first few aprons I made. For some reason I didn't sew the first one inside out, then topstitch... It looks so much nicer now, and much 'cleaner' with out all those little stitches everywhere..

I have just been blown away by the sheer generosity of fellow bloggers! Thank you to all those who have already responded saying they would send some selvage my way. If anybody still has some they are willing to part with, I will gladly accept it. :) I am getting a pretty bad soft spot for selvage!

Oh, yeah! One of my Etsy items was featured on a blog! Sparkle-Me featured my Crayon booklet, Game board on her blog here. Very cool!!!

Selvage?

Does anybody have any selvage bits they are willing to part with? I will send you some fabric or other sewing goodies in exchange. (or any other request you may have that I might be able to fill) I am trying to make a wee selvage bag..

WIP Wednesday

I drafted up a new pattern for size 6 month baby shoes. I had someone request some 6 month girl shoes, and Chiquitin needed new shoes, so it was about time I made a larger pattern.These are a couple I made up last night, just needing a small finishing seam.

I have just been trying to get school work done.. I still have another 5 hours I have to be 'blind' for one of my classes, and I have big present ion to finish up for next class. Registration starts next week at school and I have decided that I am not going to take summer classes... Most of them are accelerated classes, and I don't want to be stressed out that much, so I am going to just enroll for fall. Hopefully then I can enjoy the summer!

Got my Easter Swap package!

How is everybody else doing with their packages? I have received emails from most of you , please let me know when you have SENT and RECEIVED please! Also, you can upload your pictures to the Weepereas Swap flickr pool, and check out what other have sent in the swap!



I received lots of goodies from Jessica and Morgan! 2 bags of yummy chocolates (which have already been eaten!), some foam sheets and Easter cut outs, a coloring pad, handmade recycled crayons, (I need to make some!), Easter egg shaped chalk, Easter stickers, 2 hot wheels cars, some very soft washcloths, and a taggie rag blanket for Chiquitin. You can check out Jessica's etsy to get your own handmade washcloths, blankets, quilts and burpcloths.

I sent her some baby shoes for her expecting baby, cute notecards and fridge magnets, a needle roll to keep all her knitting needles in, some glitter glue, some cute Easter stamps, 2 wooden buses, a Peter Rabbit book and sticker set, cute dinosaur and farm stickers, foam alphabet stickers, and a hand art book from Klutz. I took the picture of everything, then was wrapping it all up in tissue paper to make little individual 'presents' and Kiki grabbed the sixlets from the pile. I came home from the post office to find him and Papa eating them on the couch. Little stinker.

Kiki really loves the recycled crayons, when he saw them he exclaimed, "Oh, its cute!!" and Chiquitin loves to eat his little lovey blanket already.

I hope everyone had fun with this swap!

Mail goodies

Whew, lots to post about!
These fabrics were sent to me from my Sister . I love all of them so much, I think they are all so cool. Crazy how she picked out such amazing fabrics for me without asking me what I wanted! What a great birthday present. (Toes not included, thats Cristian trying to scoop up some of the FQ's, hehe)


The fabric scraps were sent to me from Arden's Space on Flickr, I am still working on sending out some thank you goodies. She sent an entire cereal box stuffed full of eye spy fabrics. I was practing my peiceing and put together a little doll quilt top. I definately need some practice on my peicing, especially before I get going on DQS6..



This is from a personal swap with Kelly. She saw some of my baby shoes on flickr, and we set up a swap for me to make her some for her soon to be born grandaughter. She sent me so many goodies, and lots of lovely fabric!




This is from the 'A Little Fabric, A little Chocolate' group on flickr. I was partnered with the lovely Katy, (imagingermonkey). I sent her a red/aqua/white themed swap. (one of her favorite color comboinations) It made it so much fun putting things together for her package. I received a lovely handmade patchwork bag, very cute fabrics, some japanese goodies, and it was all packaged up in this blue polka dot suitcase! I had so much fun with this swap! I signed up for the next round right away :)

Mmm, Pasta.

I love pasta. If we aren't eating something traditional Mexican for a meal, I am always making up some sort of pasta dish.
The first time I tried RP's pasta was post partum, a friend brought me the porcini mushroom tortellini's with alfredo sauce. It was so delicious, and not because I was just starving and sleep deprived. I have picked up a package of this pasta pretty much every week.

I got a package last week at the grocery store, and about 2 days later I noticed it went bad. So I emailed the company, and told them the expiration date said the product was still good. They were extremely friendly, and told me I should go back to the store to get a refund. I didn't have my receipt any longer, so I was told they would take care of it..

Well.. they sure took care of things. I was very surprised when the UPS man brought this huge box to my door! The pasta was in a cold container, and there was 6 packages of pasta as a 'replacement'! Wow, talk about some great business standards!

I dont think you find companies with these kind of ethics anymore. It says on their package: 'traditonal pasta made in small batches by master pasta maker Peter Robertson in Madison, WI. Fresh, authentic, never pre-cooked.' (It tastes as close as I can get to have a little Italian lady making pasta in my kitchen :)

I tried the fettuccine for the first time tonight for dinner. I lightly sauteed red bell pepper (chopped) in olive oil, added in frozen shrimp, then added chopped fresh basil and half a lemon's worth of juice right at the end. Tossed this all with the pasta, and it was delicious. (toddler ate it all up)

If anybody is local, I encourage you to try out this pasta, or check your local dairy selection for some locally made fresh pasta. (note: I am not getting endorsed or anything by the company, I just love pasta, and was blown away to receive the pasta 'replacements' in the mail today!)

*I just stumbled across Ripping out Seams' blog ,and she is having a giveaway for 4 fat quarters! no april fools joke! You can check out the post here.*

WIP Wednesday

I have been super busy. Just not crafty.. I just started another class at school, and it is an accelerated 6 week class instead of 12. I am overwhelmed and stressed out with the amount of work that I have to accomplish. It is nice to be taking an accelerated class, I definitely like the pace much better than my other class, it just makes free time to sew very few and far between.

I got a custom order request for 'gender neutral jungle theme' baby shoes Monday, and it was nice to have to take a break from all my chapter write-ups. I came up with these 4 designs for her, and she chose the top left ones. The others will be soon listed in my shop, they are amongst an over growing pile of 'only needs a tiny hand stitch and its done' that is taking over my counter.

I have some more baby gifts I made up, awesome birthday goodies to share, and a bunch of mail goodies I will try to be posting about in the next few days.

OH! Stitches and Scissors is having a very generous giveaway for some pretty FQ's! Check it out here. It is open until this Saturday!