a little bit of me.

{Yellow & Grey Baby Stars...}

I have so much crafty goodness sitting around waiting to be blog-shared...

and the 30-week-pregnant-me has just been a big slacker when it comes to blogging.

it's like i *think* about blogging, but then i just say "nahhhhh, that can wait".

ha.

so i'm pretty thrilled that i am actually getting *something* blogged today.

thought i'd share the baby quilt that i made for my friend Melanie's brand new (and ADORABLE!!!) baby girl...

i knew that her gender-neutral color scheme was yellow & grey - so that is where i started when choosing the fabrics for these wonky star blocks...

btw - i used this fabulous wonky star tutorial - only i made my squares slightly larger to start (i think i cut them to be 5 inches square instead of 4.5).

the background grey is an amy butler solid - perfect to coordinate with all the AB prints in the blocks.  there are also some japanese import elephants (you can find these on etsy), and some minny mu bees (my new favorite print!), along with other prints from my stash.

the binding is one of amy butlers lotus dots...

the quilting lines were done around each star, around the inside of each star's center block, and in a diagonal direction out each of the 4 "corners" of every star.  oh, and along the seams of the blocks, too.

and the backing is a solid yellow kona with some print scraps mixed in.

i loved how this quilt turned out so much that i made the baby quilt that will match *my* baby's nursery bedding, in the same wonky star pattern....

...will have that one photographed soon to blog... (i hope!)

and if you want to see more of melanie's amazing nursery - you can check it out here...

(it's super inspiring!).

:)

{joy... joy... JOYLAND!}

Studio Calico's April Kit, Joyland - is now available!

yaaaaaaaaaaaay :)

i love reveal day!

but HURRY!!!  you don't want to miss it.  i KNOW that it, and it's add-on friends will go so quickly!

:)

here are the layouts that i did with my kit.

you can see larger versions of my images HERE.

"Your first year" was so fun to do!  lots of favorite photos on just this one layout!  the photostrip frames (included in the joyland main kit) were something that i would never have chosen on my own, but absolutely LOVED including on this page... :)

"13 Months" is another super simple page for ev's every month book.  i'm totally rolling along & close to having it finished!

"A Surprise" was a fun page for me.  (i love my circls + butterfly punch!!!)  & Even though I'm definitely thinking that this baby is a boy - I'm sneaking in LOTS of pink (and girly embellies)...  hehe.  Which is fun for a change!

"Home for a bit" has a couple of random pics that i found in my loose photo pile.  I thought it would be good to do a page about that transitional time in our life (last year when we moved)...  i want to remember it (even tho i hated that house!).

This photo in "You are my Favorite" just cracks me up.  & I love, LOVE the sassafrass papers on this page!!!

"This Home" is about our MN house.  Still love that house.  Still miss that house.  Sometimes its sad for me to look at photos from our time there, but I need to get them scrapped...

and that is what i made with JOYLAND!  yay.

:)

{the motherload of sneaks!}

since i'm finally back home after our week away...

thought that it was about time to post the rest of my Studio Calico April kit sneak peeks!!!

i love love LOOOOVED this kit.

(have i mentioned that ;)

how else would i have been able to create 6 layouts with it so quickly?!

it was very "me" and perfect for what i wanted to scrap this month...

take your own peek at the kit here....

or here..... ;)

mixed a bit of twine from the SC shop in here :)

how CUTE is that house stamp?!!?!?

(i think that this page - above - may be my fave)

(or this one - above ;)

i worked with the main kit - JOYLAND - and the first add on - SKYCOASTER - and also the third add on - WHACKY SHACK.  oh, and on top of that, i ***NEEDED*** "more patterned paper" and an "addon patterned paper" - along with extra Studio Calico exclusive patterned paper - oh yeah, AND "more color cardstock".  hehe - so maybe you can now tell how much i loved april's kit!!!  :)

and remember - reveal night is saturday night at midnight (!) est.  i so know that this one (and add-ons will sell out QUICKLY....) - dont miss it!

if you want to pick up anything to go with your kit - you might try this mist >> i used it quite a bit on a few of my projects - its perfect for adding just a subtle hint of shimmer!  or maybe this punch (!) -- i treated myself to it this month and its def a new fave!

:)

{scrappy applique pillow}

Wanted to share a recent Fiskars project...

the Fiskars craft site is doing a 'project a day' for the month of March (since it's Craft Month!).

This scrappy applique pillow went up yesterday...

I created it as a pillow cover with binding for a square throw pillow (i bought the square throw pillow insert from Joanns).  The flower motif is made from altered Fiskars circle punches and circle templates - as patterns.

You can see all of my directions here - CLICK!

the background fabric is just a basic linen.  and the binding is even scrappy too ;)

i used lots of flea market fancy scraps from my scrap box, and a bit of amy butler, too.

& i did a basic straight stitch on the appliqued "petals" because i kind of want the edges to look more frayed and vintage-esque over time...

and i then quilted with an echo-look around the floral motif...

 

:)

{28 weeks}

almost 29.

and according to my dr's visit last week, i was already measuring 29 then.

greeeeeeeeat.

i was so so SO lucky to have my sister kristi take my pregnancy photos while i was here.

i wanted "beach" because this little one and i will be the only 'native floridians' in our soon to be family of four + a poodle.

(eric was born in NY, evan in MN, and toby in AR ;)

these are just a few of my faves.

(will be so tough choosing a couple for the nursery...)

(and we even threw in some "field" shots too...)

:)

{winner}

evan and i have been living it up in south florida with the grandparents since wednesday.

doing fun things like getting ice cream with paige...

...please note that the only ones to partake in ice cream during our BR outting were the 2 toddlers and pregnant lady ;)

has really been super nice to just disconnect from everything for a bit.

BUTtttt....  i did want to pop in and announce a winner for Kelly's sketch class...

so many of you made me laugh and/or giggle.  i LOVED your entertaining and funny comments.

thank you all so much for participating & for making it fun for me!!!

but the comment i loved best was:

What do you get when you make a bomb out of laughing gas? ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' HA-BOOM! (I really want to win!) ;)
Commenter name: Ann Marie

(how could i not pick a "haboom" joke?!  btw ev still is very fond of his made up "haboom" word!)

so congrats Ann-Marie!  enjoy the class!!!!

:)

{a stingy sneak & a generous give-a-way!}

thanks so much for all of the sickie well-wishes everyone....

i think that they must have worked. ;)

ended up feeling SO MUCH BETTER by sunday.  yay!

got a lot accomplished this weekend.

eric painted my office (remember that was a valentines gift from him!)...

and i LOOOOVE it.  it's a gorgeous, airy & light shade of ice blue >> photos soon ;)

AND i finished 6 (yes, SIX!) layouts with the upcoming April Studio Calico kit... Joyland!

(6 'easy-scrapping' layouts = I LOVE THIS KIT SO MUCH!!!!!!!!)

i'm going to be a bit stingy and just show you one little sneak peek right now.... ;)

...(i'm still working on figuring out rounded corners in my newly acquired CS4 + Mac set up, so the blog may be stuck with non-rounded corner photos for a bit ;)

and, since I was stingy on the sneaks, i thought it would be nice of me to go ahead and give-a-way a spot in miss kelly purkey's new online class - SKETCHBOOK!!!!!!  (actually kp gave me the spot to give-a-away, so i guess she's the generous one)

Info on the sketchbook class is below.  just leave me a comment and tell me something fun(ny).  amuse me.  make me laugh.  and/or entertain me with your comment ;)  i get all the comments emailed to me and i hate reading boring comments on give a way posts.  i'll leave the comments open for a couple of days this week then pick a winner.  easy-peasy.

Here is the scoop on sketchbook - click!  What *i* think is particularly fun about it, is that kp has asked each of the Studio Calico designers to contribute an inspiration page (based off of various of the sketches included in the class) to the class materials.  You'll only be able to see these pages in the class!  You can see a peek of a few (including mine!) here....

:)

{3.12.10}

the past week+ has been a blur of sudafed, kleenex, cough drops, and the couch.

yuck.

evan has been SO incredibly good about it.

sometimes i am so very thankful for his little homebody personality (very similar to his momma's)...  as long as sesame street and dinosaur train are on replay on the dvr, all is well in the world with him.  ;)

i can't believe i'm at 27 weeks already.

i told eric last night that i just want to slow down and enjoy the next 2 months of it just being the 3 of us, while it IS just the 3 of us...

the baby's matching bedding-quilt is almost done...  somehow managed to get it backed & basted and quilted this week. 

 

have the binding sewn on and ready to hand-sew to the back while evan and i are away next week...

:)

happy weekend.

{if it's a girl...}

i want to have a very girly quilt ready for her.

and so, i decided to turn my "month" of the little quilting bee that I'm in - into just that.

i sent out fabrics from all of my FAVORITE designers & lines, in shades of green and pink...

...and sent Heather Ross "scene" center squares along with each (dream bikes, pink camper vans, and pink gnomes).

and asked for log cabin-ish blocks.  i cant wait to see what everyone makes.

this is what i made ;)

 

thinking that i'll sash them all in a pale pale pink.

and, if its not a girl, then the next person who i really REALLY like - who has a girl - is getting this!

;)