Due Date

Yup, I've reached 40 weeks, and all I can say is that I'm tired. Really tired. :)

I don't feel as big as I look in that picture. I probably should though, because I had to ease myself in the booth at lunch very carefully.

There's been absolutely no nesting of any sort. See the bags of laundry behind me? Didn't get put away. I made the bed! Can I have a gold star? ;)

I measured my waist, it's 49 inches right now. Before I got pregnant, it was 41". I've also only gained 15 pounds. Sounds good to me, I'm looking forward to being able to wear a little more than the 5 bottoms and 8 maternity shirts I have.

I'm not ready to have the baby. I need another month or something. I don't have a hospital bag packed in case we end up transferring... but that's partly due to the lack of clothes. I can't find the crib mattress because it's been a catch-all for the baby stuff. At least we have the car seat in place! :D

The baby has dropped a little more, but isn't engaged yet. No other action has happened, not even Braxton-Hicks. It might be a full moon tonight, but I don't think the baby's feeling any pull to come out.

I love my midwife! Pretty much every visit we end up talking about sewing machines or quilting or related stuff. Yesterday she showed me a bunch of fabric that she wants to make a quilt with and we ended up discussing patterns that would work. Apparently not too many people get to see her sewing corner, but she saw my sewing room in less-than-pristine-condition, so it's only fair. ;)


I did get a wee bit of sewing done in the past week. I made some hotpads for Chris's birthday.

I know... it's not a very manly gift, but he definitely appreciates and uses them. I bet he'll be bugging me to make a cast iron pan holder next. And yes, he's doing the majority of the cooking (and dishes!) these days. I do stuff like turn on the crock pot. :P

I bet next week I'll be ready to start trying to get the baby out of me.

Leah

Happy Birthday!

Happy 31st birthday Chris!!

Sorry to say, but I'm really sure I won't be giving you a baby for a birthday gift. ;)

Leah

Daisy Star top done

I finished the Daisy Star top tonight! I'm definitely getting more comfortable with my new machine. The only thing I "miss" is the heel tap option on the foot pedal. I found myself jamming my heel down a couple of times trying to get the needle up or down before I remember it doesn't do that.

My tummy doesn't get in the way of cutting or ironing. I am probably taking an extra step backwards these days. And I'm pretty sure that the baby dropped! It's butt has been consistently 3" lower for the past few days. No more jabs to my ribs either. :)


The quilt ended up being bigger than I realized. Somehow I was mentally thinking "lap quilt", but "short twin" would be closer. I couldn't believe how well the borders worked out! I'm a bad girl, and I never measure my borders, or pin them. Just wing it and hope for the best. ;)

I highly doubt this one will be quilted any time soon. I just need to make sure that I cut some of the purple for the binding when I fold it away.


I'm not sure if I'll be able to handle sandwiching quilts until after the baby is born. :( My feet keep swelling all time. I just know going on my hands and knees for an hour will balloon my feet to unbelievable proportions. It gets kinda ugly as it is when I sew too long. Never had cankles before. :P

Leah

Machine humming

I've been keeping my new sewing machine humming almost every day. Just before I received the machine, I started Judy's free Daisy Star pattern.

I took the easy way out and used the same fabric colors as Judy did. There's just some days where you don't want to think about what you're doing, just mindlessly follow along. :)


I'm still not very fast at the new machine. I haven't been able to find out how many stitches per minute it can do, but it feels faster than my 150 QE. No flooring the pedal for me yet.

Still need to add the borders to the quilt - but that means I gotta cut some more fabric. I'm not in the mood to cut, I just wanna sew, sew, sew with the 230 PE. :D


The baby has been behaving when I sew. It's also a rather handy thread catcher. ;)

It saves all the painful kicks for when I'm at the computer... like right now! Some days I just want to swear my belly button is going to split in half from the pressure and kicks. Ow.


Here's my mother's day gift from my mother-in-law.

My midwife and assistant really loved the necklace! There's more versions available, like Mom-Dad-Child; Mom-2 children; goes up to 4 kids I think. The brand is "Loving Family".


And I'm still trying to nudge in the nesting feeling, but no go. At least 99% of the baby stuff is all washed now.

I rigged up a clothesline on our patio. It might just be me, but the dryer seems to take forever with all the little stuff tumbling around. Just easier to haul the baby stuff home after washing and hang dry.

I certainly was fulfilling the stereotype of "barefoot and pregnant" as I hung up the clothes. ;)

Leah

Surprise Sewing Machine!

It started off so innocently. My mom emailed me saying that she wanted to buy a quilting machine for herself. What would I recommend? My top three choices were a Bernina for piecing, a Janome 6500 or 6600 for the throat space or the Juki T-98 if she wanted to do a lot of free-motioning.

Mom quickly narrowed it down to the Bernina brand, from years of hearing how my sister and I liked sewing on them, I'm sure. :) I went on eBay to see what machine would likely to be the best fit for Mom. I was thinking one of the older lines would be fine for her. The one that stood out the most to me was the Activa 230 PE. Since it's a part of Bernina's current selling line, I told her to go to the local quilting shop/Bernina dealer and test the machine out herself. Then I admonished her to go home and think about the machine before buying, it's a big purchase!

She didn't make it home. :D It still makes me laugh to think about it, but she really liked the machine and bought it.

Then a few days later she let me know that I had a "baby gift" being shipped, and I should be on the lookout for it. On Friday I figured there might be a notice on the door saying I missed a package. Sure enough, there was a notice. Oh wait, it was for the US Census Bureau... oops, I haven't filled out the form yet. :P But there was also this box!

It couldn't possible be a sewing machine, could it? Perhaps it was just some accessory to go with my Bernina 150. Of course I ripped it right open, no need to wait in suspense! :)


Squeeeee! I've got my own Bernina Activa 230 PE! Completely surprised me, I never saw that one coming.

I had it up and running in less than 6 hours of receiving it. First I looked at all the pretty parts, then I went over the entire manual cover to cover, lastly I actually set up the machine. It went pretty smoothly, considering it was shipped all the way from California. I did thread the top thread wrong the first time, and it snapped after taking 2 stitches. An easy fix once I actually read the threading directions. :P


It didn't take me too long to decide to put the sewing machine at the end of the left table. Since the 230 PE has 6.5" throat space and my 150 QE has 7.75", I decided to make the 230 my primary piecing machine and the 150 primarily for free-motioning.

The really nice thing about the machines is that they take the same presser feet! And I hope the same bobbins too, but I haven't checked. I've been too busy piecing. ;)


Here's the new set up. Yeah, could use some tidying, but the nesting phrase hasn't hit me yet. The "I'm gonna sew for several hours on my new machine" phrase certainly has been here!

One of the reasons why my mom bought me the same sewing machine that she has is so that when we visit each other, it'll be a breeze to whip up a quilt project or two. We'll know how the machine works, no problem settling in. It also doesn't hurt to have a back up machine, I shouldn't be in so many tears the next time I have to take my machine in for a week or two for repairs. And someday, if the baby's interested in quilting (or just sewing), I'll have a nice machine to share and the ability to cut the motor speed in half! I don't need my heart in my throat. ;)


The only thing I haven't figured out is what this piece is for.

The manual was no help, and I can't figure out what it could possible attach to. Any ideas?


This is certainly a nice way to be initiated into motherhood. :) Happy Mother's Day Mom, and thank you!!

Leah

Full Term

I've officially reached 37 weeks... the baby is safe to come any time, but I'm not ready! ;) The due date is May 27th - which is the same day as graduation at the high school Usually that means I don't see Chris at all. Plus this year his baby sister is going to be graduating. Bad day to go into labor.

Then Chris needs to go in on the 28th to turn in his keys and clear out any stuff from his classroom. So I've been ordering the baby not to appear before the 29th. ;) Thankfully it's listening so far, I haven't had a single Braxton-Hicks contraction or feel like the baby's dropped.


The baby actually has a lot of room still, only a handful of times has it actually kicked near my ribs. I have no trouble breathing still, so it's staying clear of my lungs too. Not exactly like I'm trying to run marathons either. In this picture, I'm totally sucking my tummy in. :P

It makes me look bustier! :D I managed to break 2 bras in 2 weeks. One's underwire snapped in half. The other bra's underwire popped through the fabric and tried to take my arm off. I was so annoyed about that. So I caved and bought 2 new bras and had to go up in a cup size. I still haven't bought any nursing bras either - I told you I wasn't ready for the baby to come! :P


Then I like to tell Chris my volcano story.

"See my belly button? It's the top of the volcano. And it exploded and all the red ripples are hot lava trickling down my tummy..." But I actually stopped feeling like I was splitting into two once I took up my aunt's suggestion of rubbing Vitamin E oil on my tummy.

Chris is going to be hauling me around tomorrow to get the last minute baby stuff we need. Like a tarp for the birthing pool, a hose to fill it up, 2 gallon ziplock baggies, and more stuff that I can't remember. My brain is a sieve these days. :)

Leah

Third Finish

Third quilt of the year finished! Admittedly, they've all been baby or lap quilts. I'm just not up to snuff to do a queen. :P

In my other post about the Crazy 9-patch, I was bemoaning that one of my fabrics weren't as orange as I hoped. Solution? Quilt it with orange thread.


I had some leftover blocks, so I made a standard 9-patch for the backing.

The rest of the backing fabric fits the quilt well, as this was a rather off the wall pattern for me.


A close up of the quilting. I was experimenting with double loops, and tossed in some stars for variety.

I didn't put pressure on myself for perfection. There's spots where thread crosses over, single loops and triple loops because I wasn't paying attention and "trapped" myself. I branched out, and I'm happy with that.


I'm starting to think this journal keeps my quilting sanity! I don't have to worry about "momnesia" eating my brain cells and leaving me with a whole bunch of pieces to a quilt that I don't even remember starting.

You can tell from the dates that I definitely quilt in spurts. I almost wonder if I'll have time to quilt more once the baby is born, because my computer is in the bedroom with the crib. I'll have to keep the screen off and either nap with the baby or blow time quilting.


In reality, I have no idea how much the baby will change things. It might think a pile of fabric is fun to nap in, it might cry "hold me! feed me!" 24/7. I'll be finding out. ;)

Leah

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

Not gestational diabetes!

The good news, I don't have gestational diabetes. I didn't think so with my blood sugar readings... but why did I get such a high number at the midwife's? Turns out that I was the first of 3 people to get unusually high readings, then she realized she needed to recalibrate her meter. I'm glad it's just a minor error, and not something actually wrong with ME. :)

But it did ramp up eating better in our household. Like pie for dinner. ;) That would be turkey pot pie, loaded with veggies.

Another night we had chicken corn chowder. Made with heavy cream, yum!

I'm not trying to do low fat at this point, I'm still one pound short of reaching my pre-pregnancy weight. I've only gained 17 of the 18 pounds I lost in the first trimester.


What to do with the leftover cream? Whip it up and add fruit, like blueberries.

It takes care of my cravings for sweets, without giving me a potential blood sugar spike from flour or sugar.


And sometimes we're just not feeling in the mood to do "real cooking" from scratch, and meals like this one get thrown together.

It's brown rice with some apple chicken sausage. Plus my water with liquid chlorophyll. I gotta take 2 tablespoons of that stuff everyday. It doesn't taste bad, but it stains my lips and teeth dark green. I love green... but not that much!

It feels good to know that I'm back on track with having a healthy pregnancy. :)

Leah

Carpenter's Wheel Finished

Just taking a moment to show you the completed Carpenter's Wheel quilt that I gave teasers on a few weeks ago.

It shrunk down from 40" square to 38" after I washed it. I firmly believe that all baby quilts should be washed before gifted, sooner or later the baby will have an accident on it with frequent use. I don't want any poor parent secretly fussing "oh no! It shrunk, I better never let Leah see the quilt again, it would be hard to explain..." Nope, quilts should be given as they're going to get used and abused. :)

Leah

Five favorites from the show

Just taking a minute to show my 5 favorite quilts from the annual quilt show. Five because that's how many pictures blogger lets me upload at once. :)

It's been a rough week, hence why I haven't blogged as much as I normally do. Last Wednesday I got a blood sugar reading of 189. The maximum number to have without raising a red flag was 140. Whoops!

So we started treating it like gestational diabetes. I bought a meter, strips and lancets. I began to test first thing in the morning and after every meal.

But no matter what I tried, or what carbs I added in, I couldn't get that high of a reading again. My numbers were very consistently normal - even after eating cherry cobbler. :P I would eat stuff that I was so sure that would give me a spike... and my blood sugar wasn't even 100.

I don't think I have gestational diabetes, but we're going to do the 3-hour glucose test to make sure. I even tried to recreate the food I had the day I received the 189, and I got a reading of 96. :) Nor do my numbers dip too low, another problem diabetics have.

It certainly ramped up my focus on good food and bumping exercise from 2-3 times a week, to physical activity every day. I haven't been feeling poorly, and the baby has been active as ever. Just a scare that caused us to get our butts into a higher gear.

Last Friday I was doing some sewing and my stomach started to hurt the more I sewed. After half an hour, I realized that I was sucking in my tummy because I was trying to get closer to the sewing machine! It's getting snug here. ;)

Leah