Domesticity and a Baby Project

Today has been a productive one. 

I started by working in the garden, where I harvested a ginormous bowl of tomatoes and three large zucchini to add to my indoor collection of three even bigger zucchini.  I decided it was time to do something with these squash monsters so I figured out how to attach my shredder to my KitchenAid (thanks, Mom) and I grated up four 2-cup bags of zucchini to freeze for later use in bread.  This got rid of...one zucchini.  I even had enough left over to try a new zucchini bread recipe (I've decided I like my Blue Ribbon Zucchini Bread recipe better).  I was pretty exhausted by then (the belly is making standing for very long kind of painful on my back) and since I'd already started my homemade country white bread in the breadmaker (one of the only fails I've had with this machine, I think I shouldn't have added flaxseed.  Next time I won't mess with the recipe and see what happens.) I laid down and looked up more things to do with zucchini.  I think tomorrow I will make up a batch of Corn, Zucchini and Tomato Chowder.  I'll freeze half of it so we've got a meal for later.  I'm also going to make up a batch of my zucchini bread to take around to neighbors who've had babies recently.

If you click on this picture it should make it big enough
to see the entire recipe.  I won a blue ribbon for this recipe
at the Utah County Fair a couple of years ago.  It's really yummy and
semi-healthy.

After lunch I decided to sew things up for the baby.  I was too tired of standing to work on the curtains so I made a quick little burp cloth using white terrycloth washcloths that Jeremiah doesn't like because they're too thick and some extra fabric I had lying around.  I used this tutorial.  It turned out fine but I really like this tutorial using flannel best.  I made three of these in one hour (a few months ago) using left over flannel pieces. I pieced a rectangle the way you do a rag quilt, then cut out the burp cloth with the pattern, zigzagged the edges and clipped all the seams to make it fray. They turned out really cute and were a great way to use up bits and pieces.

I went through my Pinterest board and found this tutorial for appliqued onesies.  I had everything I needed and in literally 30 minutes I had two super cute onesies finished.  I love my sewing machine, it has an applique stitch and will even sew the buttons on for you (I made sure they were on there really tight).  One thing about this tutorial though; the patterns are adorable but pretty big.  I sized the bird down to 80% (I used 3-6 month onesies) and it's still on the large size.  I eyeball trimmed the elephant and it's still a little large.  I would probably print them at 60-70% in the future.

Nursery Project #8

This was a really easy one, once I found what I was looking for.  I decided I wanted some cute bookends to go on the bookcase.  I went to Hobby Lobby looking for ceramic birds I could paint (Krylon makes a spray paint called Watermelon that perfectly matches the darker coral/pink in the fabrics).  I found nothing!  I was quite surprised.  I did find two wicker baskets for the bottom shelf that I've filled with toys and they are perfect but still, I would have thought for sure they'd have ceramics to paint.

I went to Michael's next and found these cute little birds on clearance for .99/each.  They're actually salt and pepper shakers.  I filled the holes with spackle, painted them and then filled them with, well, salt, to give them a little extra weight.  They are a little on the light side but I really like the pop of color they add to the bookcase.

I'm still figuring out the display items and which
books I want on there so this isn't anywhere near
finished but it's coming along...

Nursery Project #7

This may not technically be a project but I had a moment of inspiration and came up with an idea that I think has the possibility of being pretty cute.

We have a lot of "stuff" in our house that just kind of sits around taking up space and I'm trying to see how many things I can either repurpose or donate.  I am also trying to find ways to add a little more texture to the nursery.  I have this white pot from Ikea that's been "decorating" the powder room (unsuccessfully).  I thought I could use it on the dresser somehow to put her little headbands in but it wouldn't be super practical.  I then had a flash of brilliance, found a foam floral ball that I was using somewhere else and these short bamboo skewers that were just laying around in a drawer.  The idea is to create a "bouquet" using her clip-on flowers for her headbands (I've just added a few random ones I made a few years ago to get an idea of what it would look like-the only one I'd use with her is the pink one).  It seems to work pretty well, I just need to make more cute flower clips.  I'm going to hang her headbands on one of the hooks on the bird hanger that hopefully will be mounted this weekend.

Update:  Here's a picture with some of the flowers I've made for her.  I think it's quite cute. :)

Nursery Project #6 and a sneak peek

I'm really on a roll with this whole blogging thing. :)  I'm also getting a lot done with the nursery, which makes me happy.  I finished edging the quilt (which turned out acceptably but not perfect because my border fabric was apparently somewhat twisted but oh well) and I started the wall collage of fabric-covered embroidery hoops (that project is going to take a while to finish).  I also made a really quick, really cute pillow case for the pillow on my nursery chair by modifying a tutorial I found here.  I'm thinking about adding buttons on the pink strip, what do you think?

Nursery Project #5

I am very proud of myself for not procrastinating this project; I tend to start quilts and not finish them for (sometimes) years.  I'm not 100% done but I've gotten the majority of the work finished, I just have to spend another hour or so doing the quilting.

I agonized over the pattern for weeks, looking at patterns online and in several of the books I have.  I seesawed between a couple of different patterns and finally just began cutting out the blocks.  Saturday I decided to do the same pattern that my grandma did on my wedding quilt and I love it.  It was a lot easier than all the other patterns (which has helped with the time factor) and I really like the way the different fabrics show up throughout the quilt.

Decorative edge stitch

From the back of the quilt

Almost done!

If you're interested in how I did it, here's a brief overview:

Fabric:  1/8 yard of 8 different fabrics for top
             1/4 yard for border strips (not a fat quarter, you want it the width of the fabric)
             1 yard backing fabric
             1 yard flannel/old sheet for batting

I cut 8 different fabrics into 5" blocks--I cut 8 of each fabric but afterwards decided to only use 56 because I wanted a rectangle and because then I wouldn't have to piece the back.  It was 8 blocks long, 7 blocks wide and I used the leftover squares (plus 1 more that I cut) in the pillow from yesterday.

I laid out the first row with one block of each fabric, then started the next row with the last block used and repeated the pattern for the row.  The third row started with the last block used in the second row and so on.

I sewed each row together, then attached the rows to each other.  I'm normally not big on pinning and ironing but it really helped with lining up the blocks.  I made sure to iron the seams in opposite directions for each row.  For example, I ironed the first row to the left and the second to the right then pinned at the the intersection of the blocks.  It took more time but like I said, was really helpful.

For the border I used four strips 2" wide by the width of the fabric, which worked out perfectly.  I attached them to the long sides first, then the shorter ends.

For the batting I used an old jersey sheet cut to size and pinned it to the wrong side of the quilt top.  I didn't want a really heavy, puffy quilt because I don't feel comfortable using them with babies.  The sheet gives it just enough weight for warmth but without being overwhelming.

I cut an old jersey sheet to size for the batting and pinned it to the right side of the quilt top.  Then I sewed around the edges, leaving a hole for turning the whole thing inside out.  I hand stitched that close and now I'm in the process of quilting around the edges.

Finished size is 38.5" x 42"

Nursery Project #4

I have spent all day working on the crib quilt; it isn't quite done yet since I am still waiting for the border fabric to finish drying so I can cut and piece it.  However, while I've been waiting I decided to take some of the leftover squares and put together a pillow cover.  It was a little trickier than I expected to make an envelope cover but that's just because I'm kind of slow at figuring things out without directions.  After several false starts and about 2 hours of working on it, I finally finished and here it is!

The partially completed afghan will go over
the back of the chair to give it a little more
oomph and perfectly matches the coral color
 in the fabrics.

Nursery Project #3

I am on a roll today, three projects and four posts in one day!  I saw this on Pinterest a couple weeks ago and thought it would be cool.  It was super easy and I love the way it turned out.  Now I'm working on cutting out squares for the quilt--we'll see how long that takes me to finish. :)

Nursery Project #2

I'm not sure how much this one counts as a "project" since all I did was spray paint it white but I love it and wanted to share it anyway.  We found this adorable branch/bird hook at Hobby Lobby in Las Vegas last week.  It works perfectly in the nursery, which is inadvertently acquiring a bit of a bird theme.  Now I just need to get Jeremiah to mount it for me...

Not sure why it's coming in upside down and no idea how
to turn it right side up.  Use your imagination.

Nursery Projects

I began planning the nursery on June 22, when we found out we were having a girl.  My parents came to work visit the next week and we got the room painted (Balmy Seas by Behr-I love it) and purchased and assembled the furniture (dresser and bookcase from the Hemnes line at Ikea and Sedona crib from Babies R Us).  Now I am working on all of the fabric and other projects to pull this room together.  My goal is to have it mostly done by the end of the summer, when I will be entering the third trimester, so I don't have much to worry about other than reading up on babies and taking child birth classes.

                                          The nursery so far.

Mom and I found some gorgeous fabric at the Corn Wagon Quilt Company here in Springville.  It is from the Vintage Modern line by Moda and I love it.  I have big plans and hope to document some of my projects here for anyone who is interested.

I finished Project 1 this afternoon--a diaper caddy for using on the dresser/changing station.  It didn't turn out perfectly but for a completely self-taught seamstress, I'm pretty happy with it.  I found the tutorial here.

I'm Back

I realize it has been a very long time since I updated this blog and it is highly likely that no one is reading it but a lot has happened in the last few months and I feel motivated to post a little about it.

IVF was quite an interesting process and I will just sum it up here.  There were lots of needles and appointments in Pleasant Grove at the wonderful Utah Fertility Clinic with Dr. Shawn Gurtcheff.  There was a lot of anxiety and some discomfort (80+ shots in the stomach and bum, plus drug reactions).

I reacted very well to the follicle-stimulating hormones that they give you so they can retrieve as many eggs as possible, swelling to the size of a four-month pregnant woman and being placed on serious mobility to restrictions to keep from accidentally rupturing an ovary.

Due to a medication mishap early in the process, we ended up being five days ahead of all the other couples in our group so when it came time to retrieve the eggs (which we did a day ahead of our new schedule because I had so many large ones already) there was no anesthesiologist available so I had to go through the process with just a Valium.  It was not fun but mercifully it was short; only about five minutes.

We ended up with 17 eggs but only 8 mature eggs.  This is where the anxiety started kicking in since we'd both hoped and kind of expected that we have several embryos and would be able to freeze some for later.  Statistically only about half of the mature eggs fertilize and only about a third to half of those end up being viable embryos so you can see why we were a little concerned.  It turns out all of them fertilized but some were very, very slow about it.  In the end, we ended up with two viable 5-day embryos (our other six stopped growing on day 6) and while it is the clinic's preference to only transfer one embryo at a time, our doctor agreed that given our situation it would be best to transfer both.

Flash forward ten days to the fantastic news that I was at least chemically pregnant.  We were thrilled but cautious.  We did tell our families since they'd been in on the whole process from the beginning but that was it.  There was still a possibility of miscarriage so we didn't let ourselves get too hopefully.  Week 7 and our first ultrasound showed one little bean happily floating around with its attached yolk sac and a nice heartbeat.  Two weeks later our second ultrasound showed a bit bigger bean with a great heart beat and we officially graduated from the clinic to my regular OB!  We were ecstatic, having never made it this far before.

I am now 20 weeks pregnant with a little girl.  We couldn't be happier.  We had our anatomy scan on Wednesday and it showed that everything is developing perfectly with her.  I'm feeling her more and more consistently and we both feel much more secure in the hope that on or around December 6, 2012, we will be bringing home a baby.

From our 16-week ultrasound.  She's head down with her

bum in the air, just like I used to do when I was little.

We had the tech put a card (without telling us first) with the gender 

in an envelope which I took to my friend Jocelyn, who filled a 

cupcake with pink cream that we cut open two days later on 

our 5th anniversary in front of family and friends.