Testing

Yes, I know my blog is sorely outdated. I am alive, crafting and raising two pretty great kids. We'll see if this blog can survive!!

Baby L2 is Here!

And he is a BOY!  I really was shocked- I thought he might be a girl for a long time!  His name is Maclain Chase (McLain is Grant's middle name- we are just spelling it a little differently).  He's such a sweet and good baby.  I've enjoyed being his mom for the last two weeks!

He came two weeks early (just like his sister) and was 6 pounds, 4 ounces and 19 inches long.  We had another great, natural birth at the Birth Center.  This labor and delivery was so very different from Coraline's and that will have to be another post.  Let's just say we made it to the Birth Center with about 40 min. to spare!!

Grant holding Maclain before we go home.

I made this little hat for him.  Each of my babies had a special piece of handmade clothing that they wore home.

She loves to hold him!

I love their slow motion "kung fu" movements.  So cute!

He was sunning a bit and Coraline decided that her dolls needed to sun too!

Chevron Ombre Crocheted Blanket

Here is my second attempt at a crocheted blanket.  I'll have to get pictures up of my first one. I love the process of crocheting because I can do it anytime and virtually anywhere.  So a row here and a row there eventually come together to create something.  It does take awhile, so patience is a must! 

I followed this blog's tutorial.  However, I made the following revisions: I did not work the back loop of the single crochet but instead worked both loops (a basic single crochet, I guess?)  I also did not do stripes; I chose to do an ombre blanket, so I used the whole skein (about 35 rows) and then moved onto the next color.

I used 1 skein each of Caron's Simply Soft yarn (6 oz.) in Country Blue, Soft Blue and White.  I loved how it turned out- really quite soft.

A New Quilt

I've been racing to get two quilts done before Baby L2 comes! Here is one that I finished just a few days ago.  A sweet mommy contacted me (after she saw a special order quilt that I had made for her cousin) and asked me to make one for her little girl's first birthday.  She wanted to incorporate a little piece of her going home outfit in the back of the quilt as well.  

She was able to pick the design and fabrics she wanted, so it was truly a collaboration.  I used the “Aviary 2 for Free Spirit” (Lilac Palette) fabric by Joel Dewberry.

I also appliqued the name of her little girl on the front of the quilt, but just for privacy sake don't have any pictures of the whole quilt. 

Finished quilt.  Don't you just love the purple and green.

The back- simple, simple.

The patchwork.

My favorite part- a small flower montage on the back that incorporates a little piece of her going home outfit and going home hat.  A sweet way to make this quilt extra special!

Hope she likes it!

Pregnancy Update (Finally)

Finally, a picture worth posting! 

Here I am at 32 weeks. 

This pregnancy is flying by!  This baby is so much lower than Coraline was, so it's making exercising and moving around a little more difficult this time around.  I'm thankful though, that s/he is head down and seems pretty snug there!  Still getting a little heartburn. But overall everything is going well!  Yay!  Only 8 (or 6) more weeks left (I'm thinking s/he will be a little early).

Snow Storm 2012

So, here is a picture of the big snow of 2012!  Well, at least we got something this year!

 I did not have any good clothes for Coraline to wear so I brought the snow in for her!  I call this the "lazy mom's way" of playing in the snow.  She really enjoyed it though and played for a good 30 minutes measuring and tasting.

New Hat for C

Well, as usual, I had great plans to make something for myself.  However, I am no expert in crocheting so the slouchy hat I was attempting to make was looking like anything but a hat as I was going along.  So, I undid a few rows and just made up my own pattern.  It ended up being a cute, little hat for Coraline instead!  I wish I had kept notes on what I was doing, but I did not.  It is essentially, an increase of double crochets and then about two rows of a decrease of double crochets and then three rows of single crochets.  I just fit it on her head to check to see if it fit.

The front.

 The side.

The back.  It reminds me a little of a train conductor's hat!

Chevron (Zig Zag) Quilt

I always say it but this may be my favorite quilt yet! 

As chevrons seem to be all the rage right now, I thought I'd make a chevron quilt.  I didn't follow any specific pattern, but this is a good tutorial on making a chevron quilt.  I made 5 inch squares, so the finished quilt is 43 x 43 inches.

I used the Sherbet Pips fabric collection by Aneela Hoey for Moda.  I have loved this fabric for quite awhile now (and have had this fabric in my stash for awhile), so I'm glad I waited to use it for this quilt.  

The back of the quilt.  I put two rows of charms through the back for a little visual interest.

The finished quilt.

I've put this up for sale in my Etsy shop. 

Pillow Cover

Here is a pillow cover I made for a friend just using some scraps I had on hand. 

The fabric is from the Wonderland (or Alice in Wonderland) line from MoMo by Moda.  I doubt you can find it anymore because I've had this lying around FOREVER.  I love it though because it's so whimsical. 

 It's an envelope style pillow with button closures.  I love this easy-to-follow tutorial for the cover.

 Just another up close of the fabric.

I'm getting my crafting back on folks!  Hold on!

Another Quilt

Here is a special order quilt I made for a friend.  I LOVE the fabric choice- pinks, reds, blacks and grays.  It is the "Lost and Found" line by Riley Blake Designs.  I used an entire layer cake for this quilt.  It's a generous size- 47 x 48.  Perfect for a growing baby.

 (such a sophisticated line)

 (classic stacked coin quilt)

(red binding to tie it all together)

I love how it turned out- simple, elegant, clean.

One of my many ongoing crafts

I've loved cross stitching since I was about 12 years old.  I know, it's such a fuddy-duddy thing to do (no offense to anyone, I'm one of you), but there is something relaxing to making tiny, little x's all over the place (exes, xs?)  I can't even display my cross stitching creations because they just don't go with the decor of my house (way to countrified for my taste)!  But, I thought, a photo that is cross stitched may have some place on my hallway, so I went in search of a program that turned pictures into a cross stitch pattern. 

I found one for free on the web (but I'm not going to link to it yet because I thought the shading came out a little wrong).  I found it at the same time that I was doing a secret sister exchange, so I thought I would try this out by doing a cross stitch of my secret sister's kids. I thought, overall, that it turned out great.  But, the shading the program picked out was not like the picture at all (my one complaint). 

I'm now doing one of Coraline and it is still in the process of being completed.  I used a different program and paid $7 for this one, so I want to see if the shading comes out better.  So far, she's looking a little orange.  I'll make sure to show you the before picture and the completed cross stitch so you can compare yourself.  Did I mention cross stitching takes forever!!  It may be awhile before that post comes out!

Santa Claus

It went about how I thought it would go--

She refused to sit or stand near him, but she didn't cry.  She just had a death grip on me.  Same picture different setting with the Santa Claus at the mall.

However, she would stand by the tree if I gave her a cookie.  She just refused to look at the camera.

We'll try again next year!

Hats

 I just think it's funny that she loves hats- but only for about 10 minutes!

Stroller Ice Skating

Coraline and I went stroller ice skating a few weeks ago with some friends from our mom's group.  I think this is such a fun, novel idea.  The rink opens for an hour on a certain day and allows moms with strollers on the ice.  It was a funny day weather-wise-- I think it was around 70 degrees.  So, I'm ice skating outside in December in 70 degree weather.  I actually broke a sweat!  Only in North Carolina, I tell ya.

Coraline did great and had fun, I guess.  She was more interested in eating, but that is nothing new!

Pregnancy Update

My last entry on pregnancy was when I shared that we were pregnant and now, 6 months later, I'm giving you an update (I'm such a slacker)!

This pregnancy is going very well.  It has been different from the last in that I actually did experience morning sickness.  I never got sick but felt nauseous a lot of the time.  I also have been experiencing heartburn almost constantly and since the beginning of the pregnancy.  This baby better have a head full of hair!  But other than those mild complaints, everything has been great.  I felt the baby move at 16 weeks so that has been very reassuring.  Baby L2 likes to be active at night which concerns me because apparently their pattern in the womb is their pattern when they are born.  Hmm.  We'll have to talk about that one Baby L2. 

I've really started showing recently, so I'll have to get a few pictures up.  It took a while for people to realize I was pregnant which really is a good thing when you think about it!  I'm just glad to be past the "chubby" stage! 

I'm still dancing and am on the treadmill quite a bit during the week.  I want to be in the best shape possible to have this baby and have the energy needed for two when s/he is born.  We are planning on having a natural birth again at the Birthing Center.  So far, everything looks good.  I pray the baby likes that plan too!

I'm trying to prepare Coraline for the baby as much as a 19 month old can comprehend.  I really think she has no idea what's going on but we read books, play with her baby and talk about the baby in "mommy's tummy."  She's such a sweet girl and loves babies and toddlers that I really think she'll be fine.  I can see her getting mad when she wants me to read to her and I'm nursing or something like that but I'm sure every child goes through a jealousy stage.  We are also going to move her to a big girl bed soon so we can have the crib for the baby.  I was so nervous about this but just today she started trying to climb out of the crib which is a great indicator that they are ready to move out of it.  Hopefully, that move will go smoothly! 

Here is a shot of me at 14 weeks.  I have more recent shots (24 weeks) I just have to download them from my camera (talk about lazy)!