To do

With a baby I now know that you can't expect to get anything done during the day unless you are completely organized. I get 15-45 minutes at a time to do anything and I don't want to spend that time thinking about what I should be doing. (Another tip: multitasking! I'm actually typing this one-handed while feeding him.)

This list will be updated with new projects and, hopefully, completed projects will be marked off. I'm going to create a button so I can easily update it once it gets buried in posts.

Here it is in no particular order:

• make shorts for baby boy in cute, non-knit fabric. Will use kimono bottoms pattern from Amy Butler's Little Stitches book. Already tested the pattern to be sure it fits!
  

• make more Built by Wendy tops - I love these! They're a step up from a t-shirt but just as comfortable. I'd also like to try some other BBW patterns that I have.
  

• make a checkbook cover, small purse and wallet
  

• make the kimono robe from In Stitches

• finish Sean's quilt

• make a quilt design board (something I can put up and take down easily)
  

• finish pink and green nine-patch quilt (possibly adding sashing)

• finish Dear Jane quilt (decide when to stop making blocks and start piecing them together. Or do I finish the entire thing?)

• hexagon quilt
  

• make play mat/small quilt for baby boy's room...probably the zig zag Purl Bee pattern. Used this tutorial instead.
  

• remake baby shoes...make them fit this time.

• make the elephant from Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts book

Starting Something

I started making a little something for the babies room a couple of weeks ago:



I’m now almost 33 weeks pregnant and have been on bed rest for a couple of weeks now. Nothing is really wrong but I’ve been having abnormal contractions so we’re just trying to keep that baby in there for a few more weeks.

So right when I thought I’d start trying to blog more regularly, I have nothing to talk about. Actually, I can probably speak at length about how there is nothing on television during the day, how it takes about 3 days to smoosh a couch cushion into an uncomfortable patty, and lots more that is totally irrelevant to this blog and just plain boring!

Pregnancy is not what I had expected at all. I believed that once I was pregnant I would go through the next nine months in total bliss. Worries would not worry me; stress would fall by the wayside. How could I be stressed when I was going to become a mom? That I was going to have my own little baby to take care of and love? But that is not what happened at all. I have many more worries now and the stress I feel can be near paralyzing. I’m confident that I am only experiencing the normal raging pregnancy hormones and – someday -- I’ll be fine. But it has been hard getting myself in the mood for hobbies even though they would have probably been therapeutic.

For baby #2, I plan on planning a bit better. Hopefully I can work the due date to be at a less stressful time of year. No major holidays, no bad weather. I’m sure there will still be anxieties but I hope I will be better prepared next time around.

I’m not sure where this blog is going to go. Hopefully it won’t go away. Maybe after all this turmoil, the baby will be good to me and let me enjoy some making time.

And hopefully he will wait in there a little longer. At least long enough for me to finish my little project for him.

In over my head

I can't be stopped! AmandaJean of Crazy Mom Quilts is doing another quilt along...this one is all star blocks. AND I SIGNED UP FOR IT. I'm going to change my blog name to "Crazy Jen Quilts"...or "Crazy Jen Starts Quilts But Never Finishes Them."


Way back here I mentioned this quilt that I started way back when. Nine Patch blocks with lots of pink and green fabrics. Someday this will look really pretty on my bed.

Hexagons (or Why Am I Starting Yet Another Project?)

I am the proud mama of this scrap pile. It is bound for a shoe box, along with the paper hexagon cut outs, scissors, pins, and a needle and thread. This box I will carry with me from room to room (much as I have with my cross stitch alphabet project box) and it will wait for me to get off of the computer, take my eyes of the TV, or refrain from some other time-waster. It will wait patiently and, hopefully, without judgment.

Thank you to everyone who ever posted a tutorial on hexagon paper piecing or shared their work online. You all rock.


And I hope you all have a very happy Valentines Day!

WIPs, Part 1

Not all that long ago (end of summer, maybe?) I got the urge to sew stuff. I was inspired by Threads and Sew Stylish magazines but then got really turned on when I started reading all the amazing craft blogs. I am proud to say that I did act on and finish SOME projects that inspired me on these sites. Some others...um...act on, yes...completed, no. And here they are:


Used a pattern from Tiny Happy's Shoulder Bag Tutorial. I started this in September.


Poor Pointy Kitty! All sewn together but for your little back piece! From free Wee Wonderfuls pattern (among many others available through this link from the generous Hillary Lang).

And some little trees from Little Birds Handmade. I did finish three of these but wanted to make more for gifts...maybe next year.

I'm hoping that presenting these Works In Progress here will urge me to complete them. I can't have this post just linger on without a conclusion, right?