Fabric birds for baby's room

Aren't they cute?!

So I must be super productive or something this evening because I just whipped out some cute fabric birds too! Easy and they turned out pretty darn cute!

I found an adorable template on Pinterest (of course!) from a cute blog called Lavender's Blue. Really easy to follow tutorial!

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Birdhouses for the baby's room

Our tiny birdhouses!

The goose and I finished our birdhouses for the baby's room this evening! The goose painted the tiny purple one all by herself and was so very proud of herself! :)  (I am pretty proud of her too! She took a lot of time and detail to make sure she got all the nooks and crannies!)

I decoupaged some paper on top of the big bird house, added some twine and hearts. But I think I love the little yellowish green one the best. I painted little flowers on the sides and I think it turned out pretty darn good! Now the hubby just needs to finish his!

I may or may not clear coat them later. It won't matter too much since they are staying indoors, but it will give them a nice gloss. :)

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Too many blogs

Some of my RSS Feeds organized by my silly categories

I am committed to too many blogs. Too many I tell you.

Recently we switched hosting for our email which inadvertently screwed up all my RSS feeds in Outlook. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise. You see, I pretty much only follow blogs based on their RSS feeds: I don't have the time to actually go look at all these sites on a regular basis to see they possibly have new posts. Pah-leeese! I have a life! (Well, kind of!) I just subscribe to them in Outlook and when a new post is written it appears like magic in my inbox as unread mail. Easy! Then I can read them all when I have time and save them if I find something interesting or inspiring or whatever. This goes without saying that any blog that has not set up RSS feeds for full text/content or has not set up RSS feeds correctly was already in my I-don't-care-enough-about-you-to-bother-reading-your-blog-anymore category. But based on this email server goof, I was forced to reset up all my existing RSS feeds (which was a pain!) which really forced me to reexamine my blog commitment. You see there are several blogs I used to love, but for some reason have begun to irk me. Some have WAY too many posts in a given time period, some seem to focus WAY too much on writing paid advertisements for products they got for free, some just post links or pictures of things they like from other websites, some focus WAY too much on selling their blogs (link parties, advertising, sponsors, etc), and some just bore me. I found myself just deleting those posts as they arrived anyway!

So I took this as my opportunity to clean up my subscription list. I feel more organized now. It is a wonderful feeling. One more thing to keep me feeling inspired and crafty, not bitter.

Dust ruffle done!

Finally finished the dust ruffle for the crib! I say finally, but I only started the thing last night and finished it tonight. But still, it feels like it took forever! :)And it even seems to fit! Imagine that!

Progress!

So much to do, so little time...

The clock keeps ticking and yet nothing seems to be getting done around here. I, of course, blame the spouse entirely (although I suppose a teeny tiny tiny amount of blame could be put on my shoulders). Since I work best with lists and uber organization, here goes my way of trying to feel control. :) Here are my near term to do lists. Hopefully at least the first list can get done soon!

Baby's Room List

1. Finish baby quilt
2. Finish matching pillow
3. Make crib dust ruffle
4. Make curtains with blackout inserts (x4!)
5. Make fabric birds
6. Paint birdhouses
7. Find some fancy sticks for curtains and birdhouses
8. Make name art for the wall (including finding a flipping name for the kid!)
9. Paint room
10. Make other art for the walls

Loft List

1. Paint stripe & add stencil overlay
2. Figure out upper shelving
3. Figure out desk for the hubby
4. Paint my desk
5. Accessorize!
6. Clean up more of the techno MESS caused entirely by the hubby ;)

Other List

1. Finish masterpiece wall

Hopefully this is enough stuff to get done over the next several weeks. I really do with there was more time in every day. Working full time with a 2 year old and being all fat and preggo makes it a tad bit hard to get ANYTHING accomplished!

Baby pillow DONE!

So I thought I broke my sewing machine shortly after starting this pillow. I cleaned it. Took it apart. Everything I could think of. But, alas. It was broken. Weeks went by (we were sick, busy with MANY other things) and then I decided I would try to clean it and take it apart again before finding a repair shop. And magically it started working again after I went through the same steps I had previously. SERIOUSLY??!

Well, since it was "working," I took full advantage of it and finished my little pillow. It matches the baby quilt I made and will probably go on the rocking chair. At least one more thing is now done off the list! So much more to do!!

Isn't it cute!? Seriously, I am turning into quite the little sewer!

Baby Quilt Finished!

I finally finished my first quilt! This is a big achievement! And it honestly wasn't hard at all - just a bit time consuming! And I think it actually turned out pretty good! I did learn as I went and would make changes/adjustments if I had to do it over again, but overall I am very happy with the results!

First I had to pick out my fabrics, which of course took longer than it should have! I was a bit disappointed with the selection at the fabric store. It just seems like there are too many trendy (aka UGLY) fabrics and very few cute fabrics: especially baby fabrics! But I finally decided and started by cutting out 5x5 inch squares (well, relative squares) out of the various fabrics. I did buy a wheeled fabric cutter which made the job pretty easy.

Fabric "squares"

Then I started sewing the squares together in a random pattern. My goal was to end up with 4x4 inch squares (which I did!) so thankfully I left a fairly big margin for seam error! I used a ruler to make sure my seams were spaced 4 inches apart rather than relying on the markings on my sewing machine. And thankfully I did! Because my "squares" were not exactly exact! I ended up making a 9 x 11 square quilt which ended up be about the right size for a crib and pretty darn close to the size I planned. Most of the seams miraculously lined up with one another. Only a few ended up being off.

Sewn together

Then I added the padding and a solid fabric backing, pinned it all together well and started the "quilting" process. I found a stitch that I liked and just went with it! I ended up quilting straight lines through the quilt diagonally and horizontally so that each quilt square was "traced" around the borders. The stitching is a bit inconsistent. Meaning: the quilt was thick and therefore didn't pull evenly through the machine so I had to hand feed it which resulted in inconsistencies. Some stitching is tighter and some is much looser. But overall I think it looks good. And homemade. :)

Some quilting done

2012 Goals

I thought I would list out my crafty/creative goals for 2012. Keep in mind that come March, we will be adding a newborn to our family, so will I be able to get ANYTHING crafty or creative done ever again???!

1. Baby #2's Room: Including sewing blanket, pillows, bed skirt, curtains, etc. Painting: something cute and creative. 
2. The goose's Room: Finish her "upgrade" to a "big girl room"
3. Craft Room (/computer/office room): Finish this upgrade too! So much progress made in the past week, but now I don't know what I want to do next!
4. Random/Smaller Projects: Masterpiece art wall, soap labels, baby books, 
5. Other potential projects: Redo kid's bathroom, bathroom cabinet painting, kitchen cabinet painting

I think this list may be too long already! Wish me luck!

Baby Quilt Sneak Peak

Work has officially started on Baby #2's room! Colors and fabric were finally picked out today!

Loving the fabrics!

Quilt squares cut!

End of Year Donations

I am usually very organized. Usually. I try to make an official donation to the Salvation Army or Goodwill at least quarterly. I even stick reminders on my calendar. But this year I have been a tad less organized. I have piles of donations collected in various areas of the house but I never made the effort to actually donate much this year. I blame the hubby, of course, since I am always waiting for him to go through his clothes. But we finally squeezed it all in before the end of the year (December 29th!). I don't think I have ever donated so much stuff at once -- a whole van full!

This is just a small sampling of the stuff!

My goal for 2012: Actually donate stuff regularly and do not let it pile up in various corners of the house! I have big "plans" to add a permanent (and beautifully decorated) section in our closet just for donations. We shall see if that happens!

Craft Room Sneak Peak

I finally decided to clean up and organize (and spend some money!) in the craft room. I should add that officially it is my craft room but it is also our office/computer room, but I like to think of it just for crafts!! :)

Here is a first glimpse. Nothing overly thrilling yet! Removed some furniture, added some new Ikea Expedit shelves and moved some other furniture around. I have many more plans, but this is pretty good so far!

A sneak peak (much left to do!)

Christmas Cards on the Cupboards

So I hung some ribbon on the cupboards this year to hang up our Christmas cards. Very festive! :)

Thanksgiving Sweets!

I am making quite a few desserts today, partially because I want to and partially because I have quite a few fruits/veggies from our co-op basket this week that need to get used.

Two pumpkin pies. YUM. ALWAYS use the Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie recipe. ALWAYS.

Photography Cheat Sheet

So I am certainly not a photography expert, but I think I am slowly getting there. But sometimes when my brain is shot, I haven't played with my camera in a while or when I am being distracted by a two year old it is helpful to have a reminder nearby. I found quite a few photography cheat sheets online, and although all of them had useful information, some were too fancy looking to be practical or easy to read for quick reference. So I took this one from Anna Hettick's website and tweaked it for my needs: added some wording that I find more useful/explanatory to me and that synchronize with my camera's specific settings (a Canon). After some tweaking, I printed it out to around a 3"x3" size and laminated it. So now I have a quick and easy reference card in my camera bag at all times. Let's hope I use it! :)

Organization Bliss!

Toy storage is a pain. Especially with a two year old. Toys are never really stored anyway. They are always in use. So my efforts may be futile, but alas, the OCD in me just can't help but try.

We bought two 2x2 of the expedit cube bookcases from Ikea, which I might add bring me much shame. I pretty much hate 97% of everything at Ikea as it is cheap, junky or too modern, but alas, these seemed like the best deal (and cheap!) for storing the kid's junk. And her existing storage boxes all fit inside.

I took pictures of all the piles of her toys and then added labels to them (in Picasa) and had them printed. I then cut them and laminated them with my beloved laminator and stuck them to the front of each fabric cube/box. I love them. I LOVE THEM.

Close up. LOVE labels. :)

Okay, now let's hope we can "train" the wee one to start putting stuff away correctly!