I have three new projects finished, though. I'm having so much fun getting ready for this baby; I hope I'm able to do half as much for the next one so s/he doesn't feel short changed.
The first project I finished is a sleep sack. I bought a minky one from Bebe Bella on an awesome sale but realized I could probably make my own for even cheaper than that using fleece and a nifty online tutorial. This one, to be exact.
Fleece is harder to sew than I thought; I got a piece of material stuck in my machine that almost had me in tears but thankfully Jeremiah came to my rescue. I was a scaredy cat and didn't want to try the bias tape around the arms and neck so I thought I'd just use the overcast stitch to kind of "finish" it; next time I'll attempt the bias tape. Also, I didn't do the zipper quite right; I used a 1/4" seam allowance instead of 1/2" so there wasn't enough material to keep the flap nicely sewn down. I decided to just cut the flap off and it doesn't look great. Functional, but not great. Since it wasn't shaping up so nicely, I decided to do a cute little owl applique. I created the outline from a piece of scrapbooking clipart I have without realizing how hard it would be to go around all the little edges but it turned out ok. All in all, I would try this project again but be a little more exact and maybe use a cute printed fleece instead of the plain. It's quite boring. At least she has something to help keep her warm and that was the goal.
The second project was one I started a couple of weeks ago and got finished up yesterday. Before I made the final selection on the nursery fabric, I thought I wanted to go with this line from Moda, called A Walk in the Woods. It was no longer in stock at the Corn Wagon Quilt Company (a fantastic quilting store here in town) so I took a gamble and ordered two charm packs online. It wasn't exactly how I remembered it and ultimately I went with other fabric for the nursery. I decided to use the charm packs to make an easy play mat/changing mat to keep downstairs or in the car. I put the squares together in a pretty random fashion, six rows of six for both the front and the back. I have some fusible batting that I cut to size, pinned the three layers together (fabric right sides together, batting on the wrong side of one piece) and sewed around them, leaving enough space to turn the whole thing inside out. I ironed the whole thing, fusing the batting to both fabric layers so I wouldn't have to do extensive tying or quilting later, sewed up the hole for turning and zigzagged around the whole thing. I used a satin stitch to tack down the center and four inside corners and I was done. I probably could have done the whole thing in about 3 hours. I'm pretty happy with it.
The last project is a "pillowcase" dress I started last night and finished in stages today in between hair and massage appointments. Altogether it probably took 75 minutes and I'm thrilled with it! It's my first dress and I think it's adorable. I got the tutorial from this website. I made a 0-3 month template using a piece of poster board and her instructions. For materials, I used two fat quarters I've had lying around for a couple of years and about 18" of ribbon I bought a couple months ago that was a serendipitous match. After the sleep sack debacle I decided to try the bias tape in the arm holes as suggested but I didn't have any single fold at home and didn't want to run to the store just for that (since I knew I'd leave with way more than just that). I decided to make my own using some of the left over fat quarters. It was actually really easy; I made the bias tape and finished both arm holes in 20 minutes. I just love it and can't wait to go find a couple of blue, brown or cream long sleeve onesies for her to wear with it (since it will be winter).
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