Slowly Becoming Human Again

Wow, I can't believe it has almost been 2 months since I wrote on my blog. I had nothing to share sewing/quilting wise. Finally, this week, I have started to feel a little bit better each day and today I started thinking about fabric and dreaming about my baby's nursery. I thought, "That is a GOOD sign!"

I am 14 and 1/2 weeks along, and I am thankful that it appears I will be one of the "typical" pregnancies that start to feel better by about 15 weeks.

Fortunately, over the past month I have had a lot of help with my two boys. My mom drove the 10 hours from Texas and stayed with us for a week, then she took my boys home with her for 10 days. Then she and my dad drove back with the boys and stayed another week with us. While they were here with us for this last week, my dad built a bedroom in our basement for our oldest son.

Since we moved into our home we planned to eventually put a room in that part of our basement. I had always envisioned this room as my future sewing/craft room... But a surprise baby changed that plan! The room looks amazing and like it should have been there all along. The wide open space behind our "family/tv room" had been used as a play area, but by closing it off and dividing it with a wall, it defines the two spaces and is really nice.

The walls are primed and now we need to paint. My husband and a friend plan to paint today. Hopefully by the end of this weekend the painting will be finished. 

Nate (DH) and I will be out of town this next week at a youth conference with students from our youth group at church. My hope is that when we return from the conference we will be able to rearrange the bedrooms pretty quickly. That way I will have the month of August to focus on the boys rooms and getting them done before we find out the baby's gender at the end of August. Our oldest son will move to the basement, while our youngest son will be moving from his room into what was the older son's room. The nursery will be what is currently our youngest son's room. So we have three bedrooms to rearrange and get ready! Although I am not changing bedding or anything for the boys, we just have to change some of the paint colors to match the bedding. 

Also, when I come back from the conference I plan to get back to work on the Wonky Log Cabin quilt for my bed that I started over two months ago! I have 6 of the 9 26 inch wonky log cabin blocks finished. If I think about all of the WIPs and planned projects that have been neglected for over two months, I could totally get overwhelmed, but I will continue to give myself grace in this season of my life. I will think about one project at a time, and realize that it isn't the end of the world if I can't finish something right now. 

I hope all of you have been doing well and hope to be communicating with all of you more frequently now. 

- Jessica 

MIA From My Sewing Nook And Blogland...

I splurged and ordered a Fat Quarter Bundle of Happy Go Lucky from Jennifer at the Knotted Thread! Isn't it lovely??? I currently have no project in mind for this, I just bought it because I love it.


Not sure if anyone has really noticed, but I have been MIA... both from my sewing nook and my blog... I have a really good reason. I wasn't planning to share this with the general public for a bit longer, but since it has been keeping me from living life as usual, I thought I had better share.

3 weeks ago today I got some totally unexpected news... I AM EXPECTING! Yes, expecting a baby, our third baby in fact.

After I got over the initial shock, and readjusted my thought process to include another child in our family I started to get excited. Started scouring Pinterest for adorable and creative ways to announce our unexpected news to very unsuspecting friends and family. I started peaking at nursery ideas, and fabrics for bedding...  But only ideas for little boys, because I have two boys, and I just don't want to get my hopes too high that we might have a girl! But wouldn't that be fun??!!! Oh if I let myself I can get very carried away with thoughts of all of the wonderful girly projects that I would love to make!

Announcement that I plan to post on FB once we are ready to share with more people. It might be hard to read on here, but it says "We thought our family was complete, but God has blessed us with two more feet... Arriving January 2014!"

Then about a week into my excitement, I began to feel a bit nauseated, over the course of a week the nausea went from just needing a cracker or two to settle my tummy, to something I won't even try to describe. Lets just say I couldn't keep anything down for about 5 days. I finally got some prescriptions medication this past Wednesday, and while I am still nauseated all day long every day, I can now eat, which has given me energy to at least get off the couch every now and then.

Since I do have limited energy and still don't feel the greatest, I have had to put crafting, sewing, and quilting on the back burner just to manage some of the MUST DOs of every day life. Like making sure my boys don't kill each other, and that they know where the food is, they are almost 9 and 4 1/2 so between the two of them and a lower cabinet full of snacks they are managing pretty well.

Hopefully I only have 4 or so more weeks of this and I will find my energy and get back to my old self, until then I can't promise myself or anyone else that I will be accomplishing anything, but surviving.

I really have so much to get done, I want to finish up ALL of my WIPS before the end of August when we will find out whether the baby is a boy or girl. I know after that all of my sewing will focus on the baby! So much for everyone's handmade Christmas gifts! LOL!

So basically, I am not sure what the next few weeks will hold, if I will be sewing/quilting and blogging, or just surviving... I am just taking it one day at time.

Talk with you soon... hopefully :)

Jessica

Wonky Log Cabin Grunge Quilt - Committed

Last Monday I wrote about my issues with committing to fabric for my Master Bedroom Quilt... Well I committed and there is no turning back!

After hours of looking at fabric and designs, I am going in a direction that is completely out of my norm... I have never made a quilt with only solids, but I think it will be lovely when its finished.

Fabric - Seven different colors of Grunge by Basic Grey.

PB&J Fluffer Nutter
PB&J Jelly
PB&J Basket
PB&J Creamy
Pear
Kissing Booth Dark Chocolate
Charmed

Design - Well I said I wasn't going to do this... but I am. I searched for a pattern, and although I found some images of quilts I liked, I couldn't find patterns for them... So I drew my own. I will make 9 wonky log cabin blocks, with 4 different fabrics in each, measuring 26 inches square upon completion. Then I will use Fluffer Nutter to create a 10 inch border between each block on all sides.

I ordered about 1/2 the fabric, since it is going to take about 20 yards of fabric just to make the top!

I was able to make quick work of the first 3 Wonky Log Cabin squares on Saturday, these goes quickly, but haven't had time to get into my sewing nook this week. If I had a good solid day to sew, I think I could do the whole top, but of course I only have half the fabric so I will need to order more before I can finish it anyway.

I am starting with an approximately 8 inch wonky square in the center, and then I use 3 1/2 inch strips to go around the square. The wonky affect that I am using isn't huge, but I am not creating perfect squares.

I really hope to make some progress on it later in the week and this weekend... We shall see.

What are you working on this week?

Philippians 4:8 Wall Hanging - Finished!!!

"...Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of Praise." Philippians 4:8

I am so excited to finally write this post. I ordered fabric for this project back in March, and even did some cutting in March, you can read about the start here... But a few other projects cut in line and it took longer than I anticipated.

Also, once I really got started on it, I added in some Kona Canary Yellow and I really wasn't sure about it. My husband and some of you readers really liked it (you can read about that here)... so I went with it, hoping that I would eventually fall in love.

Last week I didn't sew/quilt quite as much as I hoped, but when I did I really got to work and made some progress.

I finished the quilt top on Thursday... Sorry about the pic, the wind was blowing and I couldn't get the top to stay flat!

I used wide strips (13 inches) of Kona Gray and Kona Pond to back the quilt. Since it is a wall hanging I figured the back won't be seen so it didn't matter too much. I was able to do a little quilting on Thursday night, but didn't get too far. 

Friday I finished it up!

I don't know what the quilting design is called, I just saw a quilt online from Oh Fransson where she did something similar, so I tried to replicate it. I didn't do the greatest at it, but it works. I used Kona Canary to bind it, to finish out the framing. I wanted the wall hanging finished because I have had a blank wall in my living room for too long, so I machine bound it. This is the first time I have done that with a quilt, it worked, but I do prefer hand binding. 

Close up of the quilting on the back. 

So now it is hanging on the blank wall in my living room. I am still not as in love as I had hoped. I think the colors are a bit out of my "norm" but I am sure it will grow on me... And it is much better than plain burlap plaques on the wall. 

I may not be so sure about the color combination, but I love the words, and I do love that they are hanging in our living room where our family will see them every day. I hope that we do not grow complacent to their meaning and that we daily remember to - Fix our thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. And to Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise."  Philippians 4:8.

I have already moved on to my next project, and will post about it later this week!

Linking up with Plum and June's Let's Get Acquainted, hosted by The Sewing Chick.

Fabric Choices... Commitment isn't easy!

Palette I created using www.fotor.com (fabrics from Hawthornethreads.com)

I hope all of you had a wonderful Mother's Day. I know I did! Lots of family time, enjoying beautiful weather. 

I won one of the giveaways during the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!!! I am so excited. I won a beautiful fat quarter bundle of Robert Kaufman Quilter's Linen from Kim @ Windsor and Main. She has a terrific blog, check it out! 

Of course I will be mailing out the goodies from my giveaway to Sandra @ Sandra's Craft Corner today! The SMSGD was amazing. I still can't believe all of the comments, sorry I didn't respond to each  one individually, there were so many!

I actually worked on my Philippians 4:8 Wall Hanging on Sunday afternoon, which is coming along nicely, but I don't want to post about that because that's all I have posted about for a while. Hopefully I will finish it up this week and then I will give a final post about it. 

Above I mentioned that Friday we did a little shopping... And I bought the painting below for our bedroom. 

This painting is going to be my inspiration for colors for our quilt, I would like to focus on the aqua and the rusty orange, although I love the mustard and green in there as well. I will also be looking for a pattern that compliments this painting, I am not going to design something myself, I just don't have it in me right now. I have procrastinated in decorating our bedroom since we moved into our home over two years ago. I am finally going to start making decisions, it is time. 

This week I want to begin ordering fat quarters as samples of possible fabrics to use in the quilt. Below are a couple of palettes I created using www.fotor.com with fabrics from Hawthornethreads.com. I have already spent many hours trying to decide on fabrics... I am not usually this indecisive, but I feel like undertaking a King Sized Quilt for our bed is a really big project and I am having a hard time committing. 

If anyone has any ideas for fabrics/patterns please let me know. I am very open to suggestions. I have been playing around with collage makers to try and see different fabrics together, it has been fun. 

I am linking up with Plum and June's Let's Get Acquainted that is hosted today by Alyce @ Blossom Heart Quilts. 

WIP Wednesday

Good Morning!

First off I must say I cannot believe the number of comments/entries I have received from participating in the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day! Wow! All of the comments have been so sweet and I have enjoyed hearing what people are planning to do this Summer, whether they are sewing plans or just general plans for the Summer.
The giveaway is open until 5pm Friday and there are SO many giveaways. Check out my giveaway here and visit Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day to view the 100s of others.

We are enjoying some warmer weather and sunshine here in Missouri! Both Mikko (my 3rd grader) and I are excited that we kept very focused all school year and this Friday will be his last day of school! It was tempting to take snow days with the our public school friends, but we didn't, and now we are reaping the rewards of working hard over the winter, and we will be able to start our Summer break early.

So on to my WIPs for the week... Honestly, I really must finish these because I am tired of posting about them, and I am sure you are tired of reading about them!

I started working on the Philippians 4:8 Wall Hanging again yesterday. I am currently working on one block, and have one more after that, before I can sash and piece them together.

I am almost finished with my Hand-Pieced Hexagon Chevron from the SkillBuilders BOM, I have three more hexies to hand piece on... Then on to block # 8! Whew! 

And here is a quick look at the 5 Farmer's Wife Blocks that I have finished... I haven't gotten very far since I mentioned it last week. 

That is what I am working on this week. I am trying to focus on the Philippians 4:8 Wall Hanging, as I really need to finish it up. There has been a large blank wall in my living room for several weeks now, and I would like to fill that space again very soon. 

I hope all of you are enjoying sunshine today! What are you working on this week?

Like I try to do every Wednesday, I am linking up with Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday. 

Giveaway Day with Sew Mama Sew

For those of you who haven't seen my blog previously, my name is Jessica and I enjoy all sorts of crafting... But mostly I quilt. Although, my last two posts were about my latest project an Apron. I started blogging my project so that I could share them with friends and family that wanted to see pictures of what I was making... But now I have made friends all of over the virtual quilting world!

I am a wife and mom. My husband is a youth minister and I work from home as an accountant/bookkeeper. I home school my 3rd grade son and attempt to get my 4 year old son to do a little "preschool" but he is more of the "un-schooled" learning style.

I sew/quilt/craft when I should be cooking and doing household chores, as well as entertaining my boys... sometimes juggling all of the "Must do's" with the "Want to's" is crazy, but I manage and my home is generally clean, the laundry eventually gets done, the boys don't seem to suffer from neglect, and we mostly eat home cooked meals.

I hadn't planned to participate in Giveaway Day with Sew Mama Sew, but after I saw the number of blogs in the giveaway, and started entering the giveaways, I thought, why not? So I am going to do my first giveaway on A Bushel and A Peck!

I have won a 2 fabric giveaways in the past couple of months and it was so exciting, I wanted to share that excitement with someone else...

I will be giving away 2 Charm Packs of Grace by 3Sisters for Moda as well as a coordinating fat quarter (not sure who the designer is).

How do you enter the giveaway?

1. Leave a comment on this blog post - If you aren't sure what to say tell me what your Spring/Summer sewing or vacation plans/hopes are. 

2. Followers - old and new get a second entry - just leave a comment letting me know how you follow me. 

3. If you are a no-reply commenter please leave me your email address so I can get in touch with you if you win. If I do not get a response from the winner within 3 days I will choose another winner. 

4. International Entries are welcome.

5. The giveaway ends at 5pm CST on Friday May 10th. 

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED!!!

Sandra from Sandra's Craft Corner is my lucky winner.