Hannah's Puff Quilt

I am so thrilled to finally show off one of my favorite baby projects, and the item that was my source of inspiration for the rest of Hannah's nursery, my sweet girl's puff quilt!!!

A few months after I discovered that I was pregnant, I started browsing for fabrics and color schemes for the nursery. I saved several photos and links, and upon going back through them I realized that there was a lot of yellow, aqua, and turquoise. The colors still seemed soft and sweet because they were often paired with white cribs and furniture, or in rooms with white trim or white walls. Since our baby furniture and wooden trim is walnut colored, and I didn't feel like painting it, I knew that I wanted white to have a real presence in each of the fabrics to bring some of that airy lightness.

I saw the stunning puff quilts that Heidi of Honey Bear Lane created for her customers, and poured over the pattern that she created, trying to decide if I could take on such an ambitious project. I emailed her and said something like, "Can a beginner sewer do this?" and she responded sweetly, "You could definitely make this quilt! I was a beginner when I made my first puff quilt, and I didn't have a pattern to follow, I was just winging it. Just don't expect complete perfection." (I'm add libbing a bit here, but it was something like that.)

With that, I decided that I would attempt to make a puff quilt for my new little one, and I dove headfirst into the world of fabric.

Almost all of my fabric was ordered online and I had an excellent experience. I found that most sellers were more than willing to indulge questions like, "Is this more of a sky blue, a turquoise blue or an aqua blue?" Several of them sent me fabric swatches to help me make up my mind, and they were all just so sweet to work with. I raced out to the mailbox every day and was delighted to find beautiful little bundles of fabric, all ready to be washed, ironed and cut. There were a few designs that weren't just right for the quilt but I didn't mind. I know that I'll put them to use in some other baby project in the future.

I had never made a quilt before and I loved mixing up the different fabrics to see which combinations complimented one another the best.

I experimented with different patterns and layouts, and took pictures of my different options so that I could choose my favorite.

Heidi's tutorial walked me through the process beautifully, and each step was broken down so that I never felt overwhelmed by the project as a whole.

I got to check off several "I have never ___ before" items after completing this project.

-I have never pieced a quilt together.

-I have never made bias tape. (Yes, she ever taught me how to make my own bias tape!)

-I have never sewn mitered corners before. (Is that the right lingo? I am still learning to speak the sewing language. :)

I made sure that the fabric used in the quilt made it's way into various projects around the nursery. Some of them I have shared already, like the fitted crib sheet and the ruffled crib skirt. But I still have a few more to share in the next few weeks.

Curious about the fabric that I used in this project?

1.) Michael Miller, Ta Dots in Ocean

2.) Yellow Ticking Stripe

3.) Cloud Nine Fabrics, Ele-Fete in Sky

4.) Riley Blake, Bloom and Grow Paisley in Blue

5.) Michael Miller, Ta Dots in Aqua

6.) Alexander Henry, Matisse in Yellow

7.) Riley Blake, Bloom and Grow Geometric in Blue

8.) Cloud Nine Fabrics, Ele-Fete in Shell

The binding is white seersucker, purchased from Hancock Fabrics. The back and bias tape are also Michael Miller Ta Dots in Ocean.

This quilt was definitely a labor of love.  It helped me to pace myself in the pregnancy, not that I had much of a choice, but the slow "one thing at a time" way of putting together a quilt reminded me of the slow but necessary way that her little body was being formed, and not to try to wish away the time.
I cannot take all of the credit for this beauty.  I had paced myself to finish 4 weeks before she was due, which was when I assumed I would be starting to get incredibly uncomfortable and too distracted to work on something like this.  However, the bed rest threw a glitch into that whole thing.  I had finished everything up until the binding, so my mom sewed the binding on it late one night when she came to visit after Hannah was born.  I showed her all of the tutorials that I had been saving, we watched a few videos on YouTube, and she pulled it off.  And it's so beautiful!!

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Outside Plus

I mentioned last week that one of the best ways that I can manage both kids once is to take them outside. Jayce can use up some of his boundless energy, Hannah falls asleep comfortably in the warmth of the sun, and I can enjoy and keep an eye on both fairly easily. But when Chris gets home, it's better.

Then I can get pictures of Jayce, not just playing, but being played with.

If Chris is holding Hannah, it frees me up to get different pictures of the action than I normally have. Of Hannah snoozing on her dad's arm,

or close ups.

(I hope our little girl gets these these long thick lashes. I have no idea where they came from, but hope the boy of the family doesn't hog them.)

Chris' presence also allows me to grab my camera in the first place.

Pretty soon Chris and Jayce will be in school, Hannah will be hitting all sorts of milestones, and our lazy summer of doing nothing but hanging out and trying to figure out our new normal will become a faint memory. So I'm glad to be able to grab my camera and capture the memory of these warm days when we had nothing to do but hang out together.

Linking to the Weiglands, and Embrace the Camera.

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Just Like Me

Jayce is a lot like his father.

I think I have shared several examples of this on here before, the most recent and (and comical) one is his heightened frustration when seemingly easy tasks present some difficulty.  For example: Jayce is pushing his lawnmower outside.  He can't push it any further because one of the wheels get stuck in a small hole in the grass. Jayce lifts the lawnmower up over his head and throws it a few feet in front of him.  The rage is slightly disproportionate.

Chris has been known to do this as well, (not throw the lawnmower, though he has wanted to), but his more often surround things like finding studs and putting nail anchors in the wall.  There is no object throwing, but again the rage is disproportionate.  Which is why, in moments like the lawnmower throwing incident, Chris has more patience with Jayce than I, and will take him aside to talk to him about what happened and try to reason with him a bit.  They have lots of conversations like this, "I know that it's frustrating when the tower you are building falls over, but it's not okay to throw your blocks across the room."

We were sharing some of these examples with Justin and Tasha a few months ago, and then said, "There are plenty of things that he does that are just like Erin too,"  but on the spot we couldn't think of any of them.

But in the last week, I've had 3 examples pop up that I had to write down to remember.

1.) Jayce is antagonistic and ornery.  But in a fun way, not a rotten way.  Just like his mom. :)

Jayce and Chris make cookies together quite often.  We buy the break-n-bake chocolate chip cookies, and after dinner a few days a week, Chris and Jayce become the cookie chefs.

Chris cuts off a piece of dough, passes it to Jayce, who removes a chocolate chip from each one to pop in his mouth, and then places it on the baking sheet.  Chris reaches over periodically and rearranges the cookies so that they are evenly spaced and won't overlap as they cook.

But every once in a while, Jayce will wait until Chris' back is turned, grab a few of the evenly spaced cookies, smash them together and then run away.  Chris then has to separate and re-space them, and then chases Jayce down. I think it's hilarious.

2.) He seems to be a gift giver.

A few times a week, Jayce will wrap up something in a napkin, dish towel, or occasionally in his shirt, and present it to me.  He'll run over and say, "Mo-om, I have a present for you," and then watch with a huge grin, often jumping up and down as I unwrap one of his toys, or my chap stick or some other random thing that has suddenly become a treasure.  It makes me smile every time because I am a total gift giver, (5 Love Languages, anyone?), known for stashing little surprises in Chris' bags when he travels, spending entirely too much time and energy picking out the perfect presents for Christmas and birthdays, and am honestly more excited to watch people open their gifts than to open my own.  I'm thinking my boy might have acquired this from me.  (Maybe not, but I'm claiming this for now.)

3.) He's a little photographer.

This week Jayce found an old toy camera and came running into the room where Chris and I were talking.  At least, we were trying to, but Jayce kept saying, "Mom, I take your picture.  Mom, cheese!  Cheese! Cheese!" he prompted.  He then took a few steps back and started taking more pictures, which made me giggle.  Finally, he stepped back and said, "Mom, I take your picture then I give you a present."  Oops.  Chris and I had a good laugh over that one.  I would like to claim that he has never heard that from me, but it just isn't the case.

Jayce was playing with his computer the other day and was so absorbed in it that I couldn't help but get a few pictures of him.  He only let me get a few shots before he requested that I join him, and directed me to lay on my stomach, with my chin in my hands, my legs bent at the knees and kicking the bed with alternating legs as we played, so that I was just like him.  Love this boy.

 

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Both

Last week while I was changing the sheets on the bed, I decided that it was the perfect opportunity to get a few pictures of the kiddos.

They weren't very interested. At least one of them and often both of them didn't feel like cooperating.

But my perseverance paid off and there are a few pictures that I am happy with.

In between lots of blurry, bouncing around Jayce, and fussy, unhappy Hannah, there were some sweet and peaceful moments.

There were also moments of collective non-cooperation. I laughed out loud when I saw this picture, and I think I have many similar pictures in my future. Each doing their own thing, looking their own way, and neither at the camera. I can just hear myself already, "Jayce, look at Mom, no...Hannah! Look over here. Jayce!..." Oh well. It's a good thing I'm so darn laid back.

But they will cooperate for a second when I don't even realize it is happening. The rascals.

Linking to the Weiglands, Gussy, and Embrace the Camera.

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Sweet Luck

Last week, as I was changing the sheet on the bed, I glanced down at the abundance of white and decided to have an impromptu photo shoot with the kids. Hannah was fed, Jayce could easily be bribed into a few snuggles, it was perfect. I quickly set up my tripod, grabbed both kids and did my best. And failed.

Hannah immediately started crying, Jayce was overwhelmed by the jumping opportunities on a big bed with sheets piled beside it, and I was terrified to leave her anywhere near his crazed leaps and flips. I abandoned the tripod since Jayce was so wild, snapped a few shots, and quickly ended a session that obviously was not going to work. I could just hear myself explaining to Chris at the end of the day, "Well, I know Hannah has a concussion, but right before Jayce kicked her in the head I got the cutest picture of them snuggling together..."

But when I glanced at my camera later I was delighted to see this picture. It was my test shot to check the lighting and exposure. I wasn't even looking through the viewfinder when it was taken, just at the histogram on the back.

Though the shot has some flaws, I was thrilled by the genuine little smile on Jayce's lips, the eye contact and how his blue eyes pop. Hannah is right in between sleeping and crying, if I had snapped this just a second later, she would have been wailing. I can't believe I lucked into this sweetness.

Linking to Sweet Shot Tuesday.

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Miscellaneous Monday

I've been documenting a lot of what has been going on with the kids around here lately and I will keep doing so. But as to a few of the other random things, I think they deserve a post of their own.

1.) A few weeks ago I glanced at my feed from Apartment Therapy and almost fell out of my chair when a picture of my living room was at the top of the page! They were doing an article about art and had used my DIY Wall Art as an example and the featured picture, and linked to the post on LTC here. I was so excited! I mean, Apartment Therapy! I hadn't submitted it or anything, so I was excited to see that LTC is on their radar.

When I showed Chris, he made some remark about how they were probably shocked to see that people still had box TVs like that in their living rooms. Whatever.

2.) Chris found out that his most recent book is on Baker Academic Press' promotional flyer. This flyer is included in the information that all attendees at the Society of Biblical Literature Conference receive, so this is awesome promotion! (Bottom right, Jesus Among Friends and Enemies.) This book has taken LOTS of time and energy, and I'm so happy for him that it's finished. Also...come on royalties!! :) I'm just sayin'.

3.) I know this is supposed to be a "stuff other than the kids" post, but I couldn't resist including this little tidbit. Hannah has started sleeping for long(er) stretches at night. She's 7 weeks old now, and we got 6 and 7 hours out of her last week and over the weekend. Now, this doesn't mean that we are sleeping for 6 to 7 hour stretches, because we are not smart enough to go to bed when she goes to sleep. I feed her around 8:30 pm, and then feed her when she wakes up, which is between 2:30 and 3:30 am. Yay!! It is so nice to realize that we have finally turned that corner from an unpredictable brand new baby, to relatively predictable infant, and we can breathe a small sigh of relief.

4.) Last week I made Jayce this polka dot bulletin board for his room, and put the tutorial on Lemon Tree. It was a fun and quick little project that made a big impact for his room and he loves it. I was anxious to get him a space where he could hang up not only photographs, but art and other projects that he's been working on at home or at church. He'll be headed to preschool in a few weeks as well, so I know that there will be lots more artwork on it's way.

5.) Speaking of LTC, my "maternity leave" is almost over. I had a great 2 months of guest posters and I loved all of their projects!!

When I told Chris that I had 8 weeks worth of posters and projects lined up, he immediately told me that he thought I would need longer, but I disagreed. Admittedly, for the first few weeks with Hannah I barely did anything other than tend to her and occasionally myself. Showers were rare at the beginning. (Who am I kidding, they still are! :)

However, even though Lemon Tree is technically "work" it is still an enjoyable hobby of mine. It uses a different type of energy and a different part of my brain to challenge myself to try new projects. It's refreshing to work with my hands and calm my mind from the constant buzzing of both kids schedules, and when is the next time that they need to eat/ be changed/ nap/ play. Luckily I have a half a dozen projects that I have finished or am almost finished with, so I won't be starting completely from scratch in a few weeks.

The first thing that I will be sharing when I'm back is this quilt that I have been working on for Hannah and finally finished!! It is the inspiration for her nursery and I'm excited to show it off. :)

6.) Chelsea is coming this weekend to see Hannah and stay with us for the week and I'm so excited to see her! Her and mom always help me with projects around the house and this week will be no exception, the main project being to finish decorating the nursery. I had to cut my nursery planning short when I started bed rest at 33 weeks, so I need to put on the finishing touches, and it really helps to have a second opinion. I can't wait to have her around!

7.) I FINALLY ordered Hannah's baby announcements this weekend, something that has been on my to do list since she was 2 weeks old. But any time in the first year is still on time for a baby announcement, right? That's what I'm telling myself.

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