Arrival and Survival

You might have guessed from the silence around here, but I thought I would make an official announcement: baby is here.

Things are both easier and harder than I expected, but I am taking life as easy as possible while we all try to figure out this strange new world.

So far, Momo seems to be adjusting well. I don't see friendship between them any time soon, but at least Momo isn't hiding in his cupboard all the time like I'd feared. And, no signs of a cat allergy either. I think my two biggest worries are going to turn out to be non-issues! What a relief.

The pediatrician says the first two months are all about survival, and we should do whatever it takes to get through them, and worry about schedules, styles, and the like after that. I don't know if that is true, but I like the sentiment. So, we are in survival mode around here, and quilting will happen (or not) around everything else that has to happen.

Partial Package...

Okay, so I'm not sharing everything from this Welcome Baby package -- but here's a little bit of what's going to Florida along with the Oceans Quilt.

Although I always knew I wanted to send something to this friend when her family grew in this way, I had been procrastinating on it a little bit. When I wound up with two copies of these wonderful books, I knew I had to jump and get it moving before my maternity leave started!

The books:

"What Do You Do With An Idea?"
and
"Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel"

The Oceans Quilt:

and a John Deere / Minky blanket

There are a few other things I've collected to go with -- but not much since gender is a surprise and I couldn't get too specific with things like outfits...

I tried not to go too all out -- having been on the receiving end now, I know how overwhelming some of these outpourings can be, especially when so many come at once -- but I have been waiting and hoping for this friend to make this kind of announcement for a long time, so I had a little more stocked up for her family than I knew. I also was inspired by some of the things we received -- though I have yet to be able to test ours and see if that was a good inspiration or not! I'll know so much more in a few months, but for now, I'm happy to be celebrating for my friend and hopefully I haven't included anything too utterly annoying or useless!

Some House / Nursery Updates

I think it's been a while since I've posted anything about the changes we've been making around the house... and since I'm still not up to basting that panda quilt, I guess this is about all I've got to share for the moment!

Master Bedroom Changing Area:

Finding frames for these two pieces of art (okay, a piece of art and a puzzle) was a bigger issue than it should have been -- and we wound up going with things that don't quite fit because we didn't want to bother going custom -- but we've finally got the changing area set up finalized. I'm sure this will change somewhat as we actually use it, and at some point it'll move out of our bedroom, but for the moment, one more thing crossed off the list!

The art, Purrmaids print by ArtbyVW via etsy, is something I bought pre-pregnancy. So whether it's for me or the baby is still up for debate, but I'm still so happy to finally have it up on the walls. It reminds me of my favorite kids' book, The Color Kittens -- which I'd always hoped to use as inspiration for a nursery back when I thought I would have lots of time and space and energy to make one work! -- and the print just makes me happy every time I see it. The puzzle -- which I couldn't get a great shot of thanks to all the glare pouring in from our bedroom window -- is a Ravensburger puzzle called the College of Magical Knowledge which was a gift to my husband. We knew we wanted to assemble it and hang it in the nursery, but for the moment, it looks pretty good over the changing table.

My homemade mobile -- which has not held up to this spring and summer's massive humidity uptake -- is looking a little wilted from the side, but the important view still seems to be working:

I've read that high contrast simple shapes will be interesting for the first few months, so for starters, we're trying this. I figure the height needs adjusted, but again, that'll happen once we're actually using the space.

The two open shelves are actually vertical planters we're stacking diapers in... but I think they work -- and they aren't too heavy, good news for both our walls and any future incidents! Hidden just over Momo's head is the very first thing we intentionally bought for the baby, about the time we decided we would try going on this adventure:

A rather rustic looking winged pig lamp. It's sort of our way of acknowledging my old answer of 'when pigs fly.' It's another thing that might never make it to the actual nursery, but it makes me laugh -- and these days, laughter is pretty important.

Quilt #29 - Oceans Quilt

If I'd been thinking when I started on this one, I might have called it something a little more beautiful, like "Sea Glass" or something... but it's always been just "Oceans" in my head, so that's what I'm sticking with.

The early steps were a challenge -- piecing the top, getting my math to turn out anywhere near where I thought it should, and I thought I would never get this one basted.

Fortunately, the later steps came together fairly smoothly. Quilting it went as quickly and smoothly as any project I've worked on, and the binding (despite being non bias style) went on quickly as well.

Since I'm not too familiar with the temperatures in Florida, I went with a really light weight batting, which makes this quilt light and something I'd consider more summer weight. Hopefully that lightness means it has a greater chance of being used year round down there -- though I'm sure there are times that are actually cold too.

Although I started with a plan for the quilt top -- and eventually grew that plan into the size I needed -- the back was more of a surprise to pull together. That said, I really can't decide which half of the quilt I like better! I think if absolutely forced to choose, I would probably go with the front, but I also know I'm not alone in being fond of the back; last night I showed it off to three people, one of whom thought the back was much better than the front.

I think the quilting is a lot more 'fun' when viewed on the back side of the quilt, while on the front it is more about the pattern of the blocks. Which are also lovely and a lot of fun, but the back is just a little more unexpected. I don't know. Either way, I love both sides, and hopefully the recipient will too!

I had high hopes for perfection on this one, hopes that were repeatedly dashed. But it still turned into something absolutely beautiful, something I'm still proud to offer to my friend as a gift.

Oceans Quilt - Bound

Disappointingly, I didn't quite have enough yardage left over to bind the Oceans Quilt bias style, but thanks to a few leftover cuts, I did have enough to go with a straight line binding. It's not my favorite to apply -- though so far I've seen no difference in the wear -- but I just couldn't patch in another color for a quarter of the binding!

It's a little hard to pick out amid all that long grass, but I think the final touch of grey was exactly the right choice. It feels like it brings the whole thing full circle. I love it.

And fortunately, the grey solid binding goes well with the backing too. As I'd mentioned earlier, I'm really pleased with the way the batik on the back coordinates with the grey solid, as well as playing nicely with the more colorful pieces.

Oooh, I just love the colors. I'm in very serious danger of loving the back more than the front. And that's saying a lot.

Yep, it's a beauty. It's not perfect, but assuming it comes through the wash well, I will be proud to send it off to my friend.

Oceans Quilt -- Quilting is done!

I didn't quite stick with my sketched up plan for quilting the Oceans quilt -- but I think I'm even happier with how it turned out than I would have been if I had stuck with my original plans.

Instead of going with 'wave inspired' lines through the two outside borders, I stuck with the straight (ish) line theme I'd used throughout. Mostly this choice had to do with worrying that the sudden change in quilting style would feel awkward after so many straight-ish lines in the center of the quilt, but yes, a little bit of it had to do with the time I had left to work on it.

You can see that things aren't quite perfect -- as if I could ever make a quilt that was! -- with a little bit of puckering in the center and a little bit there on the right side, but all in all, I'm incredibly pleased with how things turned out.

It's a little subtle in this picture, but I am absolutely in love with the way the quilting shows on the backing. It really dresses it up in an interesting way, especially for having nothing to do with the pattern of the backing materials.

Oh, and you're right, the backing does look a little different from the last time I showed. Backs are usually made slightly larger than quilt tops, then trimmed to size after quilting. I realized just before I started basting that if I didn't change my backing a little, that meant I would be losing out on some of my pieced section. That wasn't what I wanted, so I stitched the top and bottom sides together, chose a random spot to fold and cut and ta-da, wound up with a quilt back with the batik style fabric on both the top and bottom. I still lost a little of the pieced parts from each side, but this wasn't as hard to swallow as, say, losing the whole bright green/mustard Tokyo piece would have been.

Here's a slightly closer view of the quilting on the back side:

I just think that looks so cool. Maybe even better than it does on the front where I more or less tried to echo the pieced design.

I had to take the quilt all over the place to get some pictures of it. I just like the contrast of something that to me seems so 'ocean-y' lined up with all this grass and farm equipment and such. I'm also a big fan of green/blue/grey color combination, so to me these are very soothing pictures.

Sadly, the mountains are a little too hazy today for good pictures with them as a focal point, but for my friend the once-Colorado-gal, I thought I'd try.

I didn't get a good picture showing the way the top and back work together, but here's a small idea:

I think the batik piece that makes up the largest portion of the backing coordinates well with the grey solid, without being too much the same. I'm really thrilled with how well these came together -- and even more thrilled that it was a happy stash busting accident.

Some grey bias binding to make and apply, then a trip through the wash and this one is ready to go off to it's new home, farther from mountains but closer to the real ocean.

Quilting in Progress

I feel like I've spent the day quilting away, but at least I'm making good progress!

The lines are a little bit organic by necessity to line up with the less than perfect seams, but when I step back I'm fairly happy with the way things are turning out so far.

I did go with straight lines through the larger triangles and the pinwheel. It would have been nice to see the whole thing in a meander or something less linear, but I think it is turning out well so far.

I've only managed the interior star block, including the outline there. Two lines on the grey border and some kind of wave-like lines going through the outer two sets of blocks and I'll be done. I'd like to finish it up yet tonight -- but I've got three more miles to walk tonight and I know from experience that I won't be able to sleep (thank you restless legs) if I don't hit my goal. So, sounds like finishing up is a project for tomorrow.

The goal is to be completely done, washed, and ready for packaging up by tomorrow afternoon. As long as everything keeps going this smoothly, I think I just might make it!



Moment of full honesty here: I'm actually posting more than a week behind real time. Which is good, because in reality I did something awful to my back on Thursday and have been utterly helpless most of the long holiday weekend. Sunday was the first time I could get onto or off of the sofa without help, and today is the first day I can breathe fully without excruciating pain. Today I might be able to work the sewing machine on a small or light project, but wresting with even a baby size quilt is beyond my capabilities. As is lifting a full 24 oz water bottle. Good times. Here's hoping for a very quick recovery, and that I can find some cleaning / nesting projects to keep me sane while allowing myself to keep resting and recovering as much as possible. 

Thinking about Quilting

I did a quick sketch of the quilting I think I want to do on the Oceans Quilt -- a very quick and ugly little sketch, but it gives you an idea where I think I'm headed.

My thought is to more of less 'outline' the pieces of the central star, a line on both insides of the grey border, and a set of wave-like free-motion-ish (because of course, my feed dogs still don't drop properly) lines through the outer borders. This leaves the little border of half-square-triangles without any quilting. The batting suggests this is an acceptable amount to leave without quilting, but I wonder if the HSTs will be stronger and safer if there's a little more quilting over the top of them.

My major issue is still the large grey fields in the center, both around the outside and the pinwheel. I need to put something inside them, but what will work? I sketch tested a few different options, mostly various straight lines building off the patterns already existing -- copying off the lines near by or in-lining the pinwheel triangle. Nothing felt right.

I've debated trying to freehand some stars in the four outside open spaces, similar to what I did on the Christmas Quilt -- but prettier, I hope! That said... I'm not confident in my ability to make those turn out as 'perfect' as I'd like. I run into the same problem with adding other shapes to these open spaces... Hmm...

Searching the internet for ideas is a lot of fun --

Something like this incredible quilting (found through Pinterest, but link goes to the post at QuiltingBoard.com, a site I've never seen before but will be checking out in detail tonight when I give up on this project for a few hours) would be ideal -- but well beyond my limited abilities, and my limited time schedule.

-- but not much help.

All the 'fillers' I can find require real free motion abilities. And while I do dream of having that ability, I haven't got the time or money to invest in a new machine, and so far no one has been able to fix mine to make it work as it should. So, back to the sketching board I guess... I'd like to start on this asap, so hopefully inspiration will strike soon!

July Goal

July Goal

Survive.

I think that's enough to aim for right now...

Oh, and if I'm feeling really ambitious: sleep.

I'd still like to keep up my steps and reading as much as I can, but that's all going to be the icing on the cake. Making it through all the things coming my way this month, that's really the only goal.

June Wrap Up

June Goals

Read 5+ Books

• "Mandy" Julie Andrews Edwards
• "From A High Tower" Mercedes Lackey
• "The Diamond Thief" Sharon Gosling
• "The Sin Eater's Daughter"
• -- Ugh, I swear I finished one other, but I didn't get it written down and I can't think of what it was! 

Average 13000+ steps per day -- Hahaha, I do like being ambitious. No. Barely made 10,000 some days. A few days over that, but really, I usually hit my 10 and collapsed. 
Be as ready as possible for baby (yikes!)

New Projects / Pinterest Challenge: 

No plans for June or July. I'll be lucky if I'm with it enough to start something new and fun in August. Boring, but I am trying to be a little realistic here.
-- Nothing new, but I actually did manage to cook another meal. That might be the third thing I've made in the kitchen since October? I can't put into words how lucky I am that my husband likes to cook! 

My Projects:

Welcome Baby Projects (for mine and others):

• Complete bibs -- figure out what is wrong with snap installer  -- or just install them the old fashioned way with a hammer and some scrap boards. Whatever. 
• Finish up the 'sewing for baby' list

Grown Up Junk:

Schedule next cat/vet appointment
Double check both hospital bags
Pediatrician meeting/s
Hospital tour?
Finish online birthing class

House Stuff: 

Continue sweeping every other day, cleaning bathrooms once a week
House prep for baby:

• move household chemicals into one cabinet -- put a lock/latch on it
• Rearrange baby room / get toddler mattress

Yeah, I've basically given up on the idea of the house or nursery being totally ready. I have been sick, like sleeping sitting up for over a week sick, like on drugs even though I don't really want to be sick, and just getting through the things I consider 'have to' projects (like work, and finishing up a package for a friend) have been taking everything I've got. Sleep? I'm down to 2-4 hours out of 8-10 hours worth of trying, which I blame as much on the respiratory infection as the dancing baby who seems determined to bust out through my belly button. I've probably had worse months, but let's just say that anything that happened is good, and anything that didn't... that's good too. I'm still moving around and I'm still breathing -- most of the time -- and that's about all I've got the energy for. Anything accomplished beyond those two goals is great, but completely unexpected.