Blogger's Quilt Festival - {truly} smitten

Well hello there!  If you are visiting from the Blogger's Quilt Festival hosted by Amy, Welcome to my little space!

My entry into the spring quilt festival, is my {truly} smitten quilt.

I started this one awhile back...sometime last year.  I wanted to make a lap/toddler bed sized quilt for Emma.  The Hunky Dory line (Chez Moi for Moda) was perfect for her quilt.  The pastel pinks, blues, and greens --- so sweet!

After seeing Anna's Smitten quilt during a PMQG event, I fell in love with the pattern (by Rachel Griffith).  The quilt came together so quickly and then I got stuck.  I really wanted to try something different with this quilt --- a different style of free motion quilting.  At the PMQG retreat in November, a few guild members offered some suggestions for quilting and an idea was born.

I stippled in the white space, out-lined the prints with straight line quilting, and added a flower in each square.    I can see the progression of the free motion flowers from ehhhhh to ok, good enough.  What I was going for and what I ended up with were 2 different things but I love the result.

This is one of the "better" flowers!

I backed the quilt with a pink Kona solid and used the same for the binding.

Emma's still in a crib (YAAAY!) so for now we use this quilt to cuddle with on the couch.

Hi Paigey-dog!

Thanks for visiting!

PMQG Spring Retreat

The Philly Modern Quilt Guild is having a retreat this weekend.  This will only be the second time I've ever spent the night away from Emma.  The first time was the fall PMQG retreat!  I'm taking off Friday and spending the entire weekend sewing with friends.  It is going to be glorious!

There is so much I need to do to get ready ---- I have to pack clothes & toiletries, quilting/sewing projects, knitting(??), fabric (you know, just in case), and goodies.  To bake or to buy delicious treats?  And wine/beverages?  You better believe it!  I should go make my lists.  You know, it's the only way I get anything accomplished and not forget anything!  It should be a fun weekend and I'm sure you can join in on the fun on Instagram :)

Spring is here!

I'm not sure what it is about this beautiful weather, but I have so much energy and motivation to get things done.  As the weather gets nicer, we're spending more time outside each day --although I'm sure my allergies are going to start at any second.

Emma & her rock collection

This little girl loves to spend time outside, especially if Maggie and Paige are out there.  That's perfectly ok with us because the neglected gardens need a lot of work.   We're currently working on cleaning up the yard, taking breaks to play with bubbles, and are planning to get a few toys for the back yard once we receive our tax return.  It's fun to splurge every now and then.

When we're not outside, I'm dividing my time between the woodland sampler {April is fabulous!}, my springtime sampler frames {never-ending}, sewing my hugs and kisses blocks, and knitting.  It's craziness.  The weather is almost nice enough to do hand sewing on the porch in the evenings.  Can.not.wait.

Baby Emma

She’s here!!

Baby Emma was born on October 27th.  She was a whopping 8 lbs 6 ounces and 22 inches long.  Everything went well besides the 25 hours of labor in the hospital. 

Emma is a little over two weeks old now so I snapped a few pictures of her on the latest quilt I completed.

This is a cheater quilt that I started at a guild sewing night.  I saw the fabric print on someone’s blog (can’t remember who) and knew I needed to make this for the baby!  It’s perfect for tummy time. I quilted it using an all over stipple and backed it with a  Kona cotton solid.  I saved the binding until I was “too” pregnant to feel like doing any other sewing so I finished it just days before Emma’s late arrival.

We’re all adjusting to being sleep-deprived and I almost feel like sewing again!

Scrap Bee Complete

So my first and only bee is wrapping up.  I have to say it worked out perfectly.  We’re finishing up 2 months early as we had 2 participants drop out…who just happened to have the months of November and December.  Perfect for me since who knows how much time I’ll have to sew with a newborn…who’s arrival is late!

For August. our bee mama asked for a block to make Mona W’s European Stories Quilt.  A very easy block to make…I was really hoping to send Corley an appliqued block but nothing came out quite right so I fussy cut a MoMo print.  I dove into the scrap basket for the border and love the scrappy outcome. 

I was slightly confused about September’s block…Christine requested a Scrappy Depression Block, basically sewing a bunch of half square triangles together any way we wanted.  I might have taken it a bit too literally, because my block looks nothing like anyone else’s….

Pam requested a monochromatic, crazy, scrappy block using Aneela Hoey's tutorial.  We each picked a different color to send and although my pink scraps/stash far out weigh any other color I chose red to challenge myself.  I like how it came out but I don’t think I could make more than 2 of these blocks ever.  It’s good to try new things though.

I’m currently on maternity leave from work…baby girl is a little late arriving….5 days past so far!  Here’s my 34 week belly at my last Phil’s game of the season!

Here’s hoping she comes soon!!

Milestones…

For most of my pregnancy, I’ve been pretty quiet.  But recently, I’ve hit a milestone and I want to celebrate.

28 weeks!!!  { the point at which baby’s chance of survival outside the womb is 90%.  Now obviously I want her to stay put for another 10-12 weeks but each milestone makes me breathe a little easier.}

28 week belly….{Edited:  Currently ~31 weeks…just really behind in blogging}

At this point, I’m feeling incredibly unprepared.  Baby’s room is in shambles…electrician isn’t coming until next week…and we haven’t really bought much yet.  With the electrician coming, buying anything else has been on hold since we already have huge crib and changing table boxes taking up space; not to mention the glider and ottoman in the middle of my living room since there isn’t anywhere else to put it. 

This baby girl is active…all day long.  I love feeling her little kicks and punches, but sometimes I feel like she is going to burst out of my stomach.

Since I can’t get her room ready, I’ve been knitting and sewing.  My knitting skills are limited…but I’m pretty proud that I could make cute little baby hats.  I’ve definitely picked up the knitting bug and am trying to teach myself how to knit all sorts of crazy patterns.

This is one of the hats I made…my first project using double pointed needles.  I’m finishing up the last few row using the same hat pattern but in pink.  Not sure what my next knitting project will be…surely something baby related!