Quilting repairs

I think this is a first for me, but I needed to make a repair on my husband's winter quilt. The thread holding the binding busted a while ago (oh, like a couple years ago) but only now did I actually take 5 whole minutes to restitch the binding down. It's amazing how with procrastination, we can make a project much bigger than it actually is! :P

The most frustrating thing? The binding is fabric I bought from a quilt shop, and the thread was Aurifil, which can sell for $10 a spool. I wonder why buying "the best" didn't work out in my favor.

Hopefully the rest of the binding will stay in place! :)

Leah

35 Weeks

Today I'm 35 weeks and I figured I was a bit overdue for a baby update. I don't know why I'm so bad about tummy shots, I don't feel awkward taking them. I didn't even have to look up the camera's manual to figure out the timer this time. :)

And ohh yeah, I can see some swelling in my face! I don't see it so much in the mirror. It's mostly my feet that swell and bug me, but it's not random swelling, it comes from certain stuff. Getting on the floor to pin a quilt? Major swelling. :P


Since I was on the patio, I figured I'd grab some shots of my EarthBoxes.

I took the easy way out this year and bought flowers from Lowes. $4 for a dozen and in my third trimester? Totally worth it. Hopefully the purple ones will revive soon.


My herb box is doing well. I didn't expect the parsley and chives to pop up this year, since they struggled to thrive last year. If you can call 3 blades of chives "popping up". :P

We mostly use the rosemary in our cooking, but I think I'm gonna have to nudge Chris to come up with a meal that uses oregano, it's certainly sprouting well right now. The lemon thyme is a new addition and half of it died off... I hope the roots are establishing themselves now.


Can somebody nudge me? Nothing is getting done around here without nudges. This post is a result of my mom "nudging" me by mentioning how much she liked seeing my tummy in my last post. :)

Leah

"It's interesting"

Earlier this week I stumbled upon Oh Fransson's Crazy 9-patch Lattice quilt. For whatever reason, I felt an urge to make it. I decided to use not-so-well-loved pieces of hand dyed fabrics. If you put enough uglies together, it'll become beautiful, right? :D

There's a tip about pressing the seams open - do it!! At least for the first two seams, or else you'll find yourself trying to cut through 27 layers of fabric at once.


Right after I finished piecing the top together, I had this much thread left on my spool. Cutting it close! (And yes, that's my tummy getting in the way. It's also a handy thread-catcher.)

I thought that was my last Silver spool - that's how I know when I "need" to make an order to Connecting Threads, when I'm out of Silver thread, as I use that for all my piecing. Well, I found another half-used spool, so I'm good for a while. Good thing too, because we've got too many expenses going on right now. Can you tell that I just sent a big ol' check to the Arizona Department of Revenue? I could have bought 150 Essential Thread spools! :P


Here's the top itself. Yup, "it's interesting," just like Chris said. It's certainly not the normal quilt pattern I put forth from my sewing machine.

I kinda wish I had selected an more orange fabric, but I don't have too many of those dyed. And the oranges I do have weren't "ugly" enough for what I had in mind.


And what do you know, it's possible to pin a quilt at 34 weeks pregnant! :) I did have to get a little creative by straddling a pillow to give myself an extra boost. I could only do one row of blocks at a time, can't lean more forward. It took about 30 minutes of actual pinning time for this quilt.

Currently the baby is head's down, in a posterior position. I really want the baby in the anterior position so I can avoid back labor! I recently read that some ladies have good luck getting the baby to spin by spending time on their hands and knees every day. Guess I better pin a quilt every day.

Chris's comment on the backing of the quilt, "it's different." But you'll have to wait until I quilt it to see. :)

Leah

A little bit of nesting?

Seems like I did a bit of unexpected "nesting" this past week. I'll admit to being extra slow, due to a cold! Yuck. Hard to think about where you want things when you're busy blowing your brains out. ;)


It all started with the crib my mother-in-law graciously bought for us. I was going to put it against the brick wall, between the bed and bookshelves... but I could just see the baby grabbing my hair or pulling down books in the middle of the night.

The bookcases have to go... and the only place is my sewing room.


But before I could rehome the books, I needed to clear out the pile of batting and fabric.

It totally exploded in the living room! Admittedly, the couch makes my fabric pile twice as big as it really is. :)


Once that pile was out of the bedroom, I put the three bookcases in and reshelved the books.

I did take care to put the more read and favored books on the upper shelves, since I knew the fabric would be blocking the lower shelves. Can't deny my husband access to his Dune books. ;)


Then last night Chris "bribed" me to get the fabric and batting back into my sewing room so we could cuddle on the couch and watch the latest James Bond movie.

A little snug, but it's the best I can do. Not to mention I'd rather have the baby pull down a stack of fabric than a stack of books.

Little ones sure make you rethink all your furniture arrangements! :)

Leah

Stretched

Now that I'm 7 months pregnant, I'm getting stretched in new ways! My poor belly button looks like a frown (but it's not an outie). Now I'm developing an assortment of red claw marks on my lower tummy. Thankfully when the first one popped up, Chris just kissed it and told me he likes me anyhow. Since then, I just remind myself that guys like what's above and below the belly more! :D

Just about every day you'll hear me saying "oof!" because I forgot to make mental allowances for the growing belly. :P

Oof - I shut the fridge door on my belly again.

Oof - I was bending or squatting to reach something and hit my own personal roadblock. I've made Chris get stuff in the back bottom shelf or at the bottom of the chest freezer.

Oof - I couldn't get the regular restroom door to close easily at the gym. I just use the handicap stall now.

Oof - Chris was demonstrating something with his hands and whacked my tummy. This had us laughing pretty hard. :)

Oof - I was trying to get a little closer to the ironing board tonight and all I did was rock it. Good thing I was holding the iron, I'm not in the mood to deal with replacing it. :P

Hopefully I'll lose the stretch marks after the baby is born. I got some on my lower tummy when I was 20 pounds heavier, but once I lost the weight, they disappeared. Not that it matters, I'm not a bikini gal. ;)

Leah