'Fess Up Fridays - Beat The Babies (Wk 8)

alternate title: Feeling-a-Failure Fridays

alternate alternate title: 'Fess Up Fridays - This Baby's Beating Me

I did get a receiving blanket and two burp cloths made for my friend, Kelly, who still hasn't had her baby (Yay!)  I went a little crazy and fringed the edges on the burp cloths. I think it's cute, and might try it again.

But that's all the sewing I got done this week. And that little tiny bit of sewing took me 3 days. (sigh).

Thankfully (for me, at least), Angela, the recipient of THE QUILT, still hasn't had her baby, so I've still got a little time to get it made.

I WANT to be sewing the quilt blocks for it. I WANT to be adding the sashing. I WANT to be figuring out what the backing should be like.  But I'm not.

Instead, I seem to be spending all my good quilting time in bed. This fibroid is just kicking my tail! And, so, my tailbones have been HURTHURTHURTing this past week. And, ohsomuchfun, it's often that my front and my back are hurting at the same time.  yippee.  Unfortunately, sitting or laying down doesn't FIX it. The front and back still hurt, but not as much, which is nice...but I still wake up and hurt all over again.

And, I could go on whining. But this is supposed to be about what I've made this week, not what a wimp I am, and how I'm failing at meeting my goal, and how I feel like a big goober for even starting this 'fess-up-Fridays thing in the first place because now people know that I feel like I'm never going to finish that dang quilt!

I have decided (Mostly. I think. If I don't faint when I hear the price...) that I'm going to send the quilt off to be quilted once I finish. I've never done that before, and have NO clue what it's going to cost, but maybe the fact that it'll be DONE will outweigh the cost. (I hope!)  I mean, I WANT to quilt it, but I just don't think that's realistic for me right now. And I know from experience that this fibroid is only going to get nastier over the next 3 months.

And even though this is supposed to be about the fabric, I've got to include a picture or two of the "fabric of my life" (not cotton, thank you)...

Giggling at Papa...

Those cheeks and neck are just num-num-nummy...

Feeding her baby-doll lunch...

Such a loving Dolly Mama. :o)

I hope you have a great weekend, and a very productive and crafty week ahead! 

'Fess Up Fridays - Beat The Babies (Wk 7)

I have nothing to show for my week except shame.

And good pictures of stuff I've done other than sew. (Like spend some sunshiney time outside with my girlie.)

And a good family trip under my maternity belt. :o)  (We went to San Diego this weekend, but I haven't even downloaded the pictures, yet.)

I've got another baby to beat, though...it's no longer just Angela's baby I'm trying to beat. My neighbor almost gave birth to her 35 week old baby-on-board last week, so now she's on bedrest, and I've got to get her sewn gifts D.U.N. DONE!!!

Kelly's baby shower was today, and, I didn't count, but I'm pretty sure she was gifted with over 1000 diapers, but I saw nary a blanket to wrap that sweet little baby boy in! I keep telling her to keep her legs crossed and cook him a little longer. :o)  I found some fun alien flannel for the receiving blanket and burp cloths, so I just need to belly up to the sewing machine and get 'em done!

Angela will be 38 weeks along on Monday, and she's READY!! :o)  When she saw her doctor last week, she was already dilated 1 cm. I laughed and said "I was that far along about 30 minutes before Mookie was born!"  (I went from 0 to crowning in less than an hour...thank God for the epidural, or I'd probably still be in pain!)  I told her I was trying to finish the quilt, and was hoping that she was one of those who gave birth 2 weeks late, and she immediately said "NO!!! I've got blankets! My baby doesn't need your quilt that badly!" :o)  Hee hee, gotta love that mommy-humor!

Hopefully I'll have a better report next Friday. Dave goes back to work on Monday, so maybe I'll have some more time to do things like sew. :o)

Have a great, and crafty week!

'Fess Up Fridays - Beat The Babies (Wk 6)

Saturday Edition

Frankly, there's not much product, and lots of 'fessing up this week. 

I'm trying, I really am. I know how important it is to finish the quilt top in a reasonable amount of time because it's going to take me FORstinkinEVER to actually quilt the thing. And Ang hits 37 weeks along this week...I don't have much more time!

But LIFE, ya know? It gets in the way sometimes. :o) 

Like, for instance (excuse #1)...we celebrated our Christmas last Saturday because Dave was finally home (yay!), and it was GOOD. I had a fun time coming up with and planning and scheming his gifts, and he went OVER. BOARD. Above and beyond the call of "overboard."  For his gifts, I gave him "kitchen passes" to go do specific things with different guy friends he has. Such as a ski day next week. (58" of fresh powder, anyone?) And a day to go golfing with Grant. And tickets to an Atlanta Braves game with his dad this summer. Fun stuff! :o)

He? Gave me? A fancy pants new digital SLR camera. And by fancy pants, I'm not talking Bedazzled fancy pants. I'm talking emblazoned-with-real-diamonds-and-sewn-with-gold-thread fancy pants. The kind that starts with a Nikon and ends with a 5000...and, gosh, it feels like he probably spent that much in dollars, too! Sheesh, this thing is powerful!  And the learning curve? Hello, Pikes Peak!  Good golly. I could (and probably should) spend 24 hours a day just learning about this thing, instead of doing it the severe injustice of just pointing and clicking like I'm used to! But even then, I'm getting good shots. (Note: I'm getting some cruddy shots, too, because I don't know anything, but the good ones are GOOOOOOD!)  This isn't a terribly GOOD one, but I think it's cute. She's all about the "mooches" lately, and is now making her puzzle pieces "mooch."  Usually it's the Mommy Cow and the Papa Horse, but here the cow is smooching the sheep. :o) She's such a love.

But I don't feel like I can spend the time learning about the new camera with my sewing machine sitting, lonely, collecting dust in the corner like it is.

And then (excuse #2) I've got some cards to make for a card swap I do each month. I just need to sit and do them, but I can't easily do them while Mookie is awake because she is SO helpful. Cute as a button with her "mooches" and all, but sometimes Mommy doesn't need her help. :o)  So, those need to get done. And I can't put them off much longer. Here, I'll show you:

I only need to make 12 more... :o)

And, well, (excuse #3), frankly, I have an alien attached to the outside of my uterus, right under my belly button, and it's been giving me a bit of grief of late. I've had them before, and had one in the same location when I was pregnant with Mookie, and it grieved me a bit then, but this time it just seems worse. I go for my next ultrasound on the 1st of March, and I'm not concerned in the least about it, it's just a nuisance. I go to a perinatologist for my ultrasounds, and he ROCKS, and Dave and I both trust him, and like him, and respect him, and think he ROCKS! :o)  He's totally on top of things, and if there is anything to be concerned about, he'll let us know. But there's not. It's just a nuisance. Lack of sleep, abdominal discomfort and pain, blah blah blah. My OB also ROCKS, and she thinks the annoyance-factor (and pain) will abate within a week or so, she said it's really common, and I'm not worried. Just annoyed that it's sidelining me like it is. :o(

But there is a sewing machine collecting dust in the corner, and I'm sitting on a pile of guilt!  I did get SOME sewing done this week...just not as much as I'd hoped. :-(  I got the black border around the 5 blocks I had completed, and I am SO dang glad I did that!! It was good for me to see halfway along what errors I was making, rather than making them with all the blocks and having to un-sew more than I already have! :o)  So, I've got 7 (at least) more blocks to create, and then I've got to sash. SASH!!  I'm still stumped.  I've eliminated the black, just because it's for a baby, and seems too Halloweenish.  I think I'll have to really wait till all the blocks are done, and then decide between natural and tan.  Here's a picture, though, of the blocks just laid on top of the tan (on the left) and the natural (on the right). It's difficult to tell the difference in the picture, but I think the tan looks just a hint better in person.  We'll see, I guess. I need to get the blocks done before I go moving on to the sashing!

And then I get to fret over the backing. Whee!

But for now, this is where we are. 5 blocks complete, the sashing almost chosen, lots of intentions, and not enough follow-through. 

There's always next week. 

'Fess Up Fridays - Beat The Babies (Wk 5)

I don't think I can post any pictures this week. I'm blogging upstairs having been (lovingly) relegated to the bedroom while Dave is wrapping my Christmas presents.

As an aside, we're celebrating tomorrow since he was gone for Christmas. Yay! I am very excited for him to get his gifts. It was kinda awesome for me to have an extra month to get his presents together! I didn't feel the pressure and stress I normally do when I end up giving him stuff I'm not really that excited about. But this year? Yay! I'm excited! I got to be a lot more creative, and I think he's going to be pleased. He never asks for anything, so it's always tough. Plus, his birthday is one week before Christmas, so it's a double-whammy, ya know?  I guess since I'm 'fessing up, I'll say that I did spend some baby-beating time this week doing some of the last touches to his gifts instead of sewing.

So, anyways, back to beating the babies. I've now completed 5 quilt blocks, and I'm liking this more and more as I go. There are parts of the process of doing an improvisational quilt that I don't like, but they are minor compared to the whole thing. For instance, I don't like that I have to cut the strips for each new block. I am able to cut some ahead of time, but I only want to cut as much as I need, and since I don't know how much I'll need, I can't pre-cut that much!  Right now, probably since I start sewing so late at night, it takes me about an hour to complete each block. That's WAY WAY WAY too much time, but I'm a slow sewist. Even when I'm not gestating. And even when I don't start after bedtime. But my sweet little Mookie doesn't like me to sew while she's up and playing, and since the idea of her sitting on my lap "helping" is a bit off-putting, I just don't do it. I wait, and do it after the house is tidy and quiet.

I'm snagged right now on the sashing, though. I know, obviously, that I need to complete all my blocks before I move on to what goes between the blocks (duh!), but I'm thinking ahead, you know? I hope to complete my blocks this weekend soon, and just don't know what the in-betweens should be. My choices right now are black, natural, and a kind of tan that matches the tan dot in the Katie Jump Rope large dot fabric. I think I'm going to just have to wait till I get the blocks done done and then lay them out on big pieces of each type of muslin and see which looks best. Maybe I'll save that for next week's 'fessing up.

And in other 'fess up news, I bought some more flannel to make some more receiving blankets for a couple of the other babies getting born around me. I'm obviously planning on finishing the quilt for Angela first, but if I have to, I can always stop the quilting and make a receiving blanket and burp cloths. It's important for me to at least have the fabric.

OH, and I was incredibly shocked to find the Alexander Henry Diamond Eye fabric at Jo-Ann's! Shocked, I tell ya! I didn't know they carried fancy designers (other than, like Debbie Mumm and Heidi Grace). I need to do a better job of keeping my eye out for the good stuff! :o)

I did hear that people at Angela's shower were quite impressed with all the handmade gifts I sent, and that lots of people liked the red/black/white blanket I was so worried about. I don't know, yet, how Angela liked it, but I did tell her that if she wants me to redo the backing, I will. :o)  What are friends for, right?

She's at 35 weeks now, and MAN am I hoping that baby doesn't come early!! :o)  Cook a little longer, Baby B...cook a little longer for Aunt Melissa.

I hope you all have a great, and productive weekend!