My goal was to finish the quilt no later than last night so I could get it out (via UPS) today.  I met my goal!  I finished the quilt last night and got it all packaged up to ship out today.  I folded it just right so the center (large) square is what my Grandma will see first when she opens the box.  I am shipping it to my parents who will be seeing my Grandma next Wednesday and plan to take pictures of her reaction, which I love (and hope to post her reaction here on my blog).  Stay tuned.

My next project is working on my birthday and Christmas gifts for my niece.  She’s requesting handmade items from Aunt Jan (she’s so my girl) and since the quilt I made for her is part her birthday and part Christmas, I’m going light on the gifts for her this year (which she’s great with).  I’ll soon post about that.

I’m also working on making two “girl” sets, both containing a burp cloth, a bib, a onesie, and a diaper clutch to give to a couple of friends who are having girls.  I will be working on these this coming Friday and hope to post photos of those creations soon (hoping they turn out nice).

I still have piles of things to go through to prepare for the baby as well.  All in due time.

I’m not one for themes in a room, but did end up going with a “sports” theme for the nursery.  I’m also not one for cutesy things or “baby” looking things, so I went for a more sophisticated “vintage sports” theme.  I found the photos online and printed them out on photo paper here at home, then cut and framed them.  Easy!  I purchased the frames at IKEA a few months back (again with the sophistication with the black frames with white mats all around the room).  It’s definitely not “baby”, but will be a room our little boy can grow into.

The room is cramped right now with the trundle bed still in there.  We’d move it out of the room, but have no place to store it for a couple of years.  We did move the dresser out of the room and into our loft area, which I’m surprised turned out looking nice (and not odd at all).  Once the crib moves out of the baby’s room, we’ll put the dresser back in there.  In the meantime, I’ll go down the hall to grab things if I need them and don’t have access to them from the baskets on the changing table or things hanging in the closet.

I don’t have a full room shot yet, because we have a few more things to put in the nursery before it’s complete.  This is just a quick preview of what’s in there now.

This large frame with 15 pictures is hung over the crib, displaying football, basketball, soccer, tennis, baseball, golf, a scoreboard, and trophy.

These two pictures are hanging to the left of the window, displaying basketball and soccer.

These two pictures are hanging to the right of the window, displaying baseball and football.

These three pictures are hanging over the trundle bed (much larger frames), displaying basketball, football, and soccer (Jason’s three favorite sports).

This picture and wall saying are hanging over the changing table.  The mat in the frame has verses written on it.  This was given to me at my local baby shower and people who attended wrote down a verse they chose for me.  I plan on changing the picture in it, but wanted something as a “placement picture” for now.  I thought something sports related here wouldn’t fit well.  LOL!

Here is a picture of the crib as it sits right now (thanks to Jason’s parents).  I have a bed skirt on it (thanks Sis), a breathable bumper (thanks Mary Margaret), and picked one of the three fitted sheets given to me at my local baby shower.  I’ve added some stuffed animals (already on hand) to the crib, but they will soon come out when the baby arrives.

Here’s our baby monitor camera hanging over the door (thanks Mom and Dad).  It has the perfect view of all four corners of the crib and with the stuffed animals in the crib, it gave us an idea of how things in the crib looked during the day and at night (when it’s pitch black in that room).

Here’s a picture of our glider rocker and ottoman (thanks again Mom and Dad).  It’s SO comfortable!  The crib is bigger than what they use to be, so there was no way I could put my rocker in the corner (to the left of the window) as I had planned.  For now it’s out in the middle of the room and in front of the window.  Not exactly what I had in mind, but it’s still functional and there’s still plenty of walkway to get around things.

Here is the changing table (thanks to Jason’s parents again) with awesome changing pad (thanks Sis).  I’m still figuring out what exactly to keep in the baskets, but they’re filling up with miscellaneous things for now.

Here’s the dresser in the loft area.  See…..not that out of place and awkward, right?  Lie if you have to.

That’s it for now!

Not sure what’s going on with my hair (*sigh*), but here’s a belly pic of me at 35 weeks pregnant.  Every time Jason sees me, he says, “you’re HUGE!”  This statement would normally cause hard feelings and built up anger.  He’s lucky I’m pregnant and don’t take offense.  LOL!

I’m adding some nursery wall hanging photos soon and hope to finish the quilt for my Grandma tonight and get pictures of that posted in the next day or two.  Stay tuned.

Yesterday, I had plans with my friend Susan (who taught me how to quilt) to work on our quilts (we’re both making one).  I had hoped to get 1/4 of the way through free-motion quilting this quilt, but surprisingly got completely done.  I have no clue how because it took me four days to free-motion quilt my baby quilt.  I am very pleased with how it turned out.  I was even able to sew the binding strips together and get them ironed and ready to go.  All that’s left are the finishing touches (binding it all, which will take a few days and rest in between, then washing it).  I can’t wait!  Stay tuned for the final pics.

My goal was to finish the back of the quilt before Friday (yesterday) so I could start “sandwiching” it together.  I met that goal.  WooHoo!  Just wanted to post a picture of the back of the quilt (since I did the front of the quilt).

I used a brown patterned fabric that blended with the two shades of brown on the front and then did a strip of ties so that it tied in with the front of the quilt as well (and getting more use out of the ties).  I think it turned out quite nice (if I do say so myself).

I just finished the front of the quilt.  I was too lazy to get on the floor and straighten it out, so sorry it’s not laid out nicely, but you get the idea.  I plan on working on the back of the quilt tomorrow and then getting them ready to “sandwich” together (with the three layers) for Friday.  It’ll take a few days to get that part done and then a few days to do the binding and I’ll be done.  My goal is to finish by the end of next week and get it shipped out to my Grandma.  She’s so excited, which is great motivation for me to continue on.  I’ll keep you posted on the progress.

I had some issues with the various fabrics that the ties came in.  When I sewed them together, some “shrank” or “stretched” and they didn’t line up just right.  I had to cut them down from 7.5 inches to 6.25 inches (big difference).  This meant most everything else needed to be cut down too (adding more work, but it went a lot faster than I thought).

I went ahead and laid everything out on the hall floor and will start sewing soon.  Some pieces still need to be cut (too long), but I’ll get to them when I reach that point.  So….this is my pattern.  The middle blue stripe is a tie that reads, “Ralph Junior Leffler is a swell fellow”.  It’s my Grandpa’s name and my Grandma wanted this to be displayed in the middle (and I totally agree).  That’s basically what made the deciding factor of the layout of this quilt.  I can’t wait to see it all come together and hope it turns out as nice as I’m hoping.

I chose neutral colors for the other fabrics (tans and browns).  The back fabric is a medium brown with a pattern on it.  I’ll have the light tan (almost white) strips flanking a row of sewn together ties (not sure if that makes any sense, but I’ll post pictures when I get to that point).  Keep checking back for updates.

I have one last quilt on my list that I want to have done before the baby arrives.  This quilt is for my Grandma.  It will be made using my Grandpa’s neckties.  I was given 37 of them and planning on using at least one or more strips of them all (whatever I can fit in).  I’ve made up my own pattern and my fingers are crossed that it turns out looking all right.  Here are a few photos of the ties (ironed, cut, and then showing me holding up some of them sewn together).  I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

Here I am again.  I think I look about the same, but black is slimming. LOL!  I’m 34 weeks (well, 34 weeks tomorrow, but close enough).  All seems to be going well.

We have our 2nd child birthing class tonight.  We’ll take a tour of the hospital, which we’re both interested in (see if we learn anything we didn’t already know).  We do like our instructor and thought last weeks class was very informative, so we’re curious to see what we learn tonight (which reminds me that I need to find my workbook….almost forgot).

I have a lot to fill you in on, but it will have to wait.  Stay tuned.

Last night we had our first Child Birthing Class (1st of 5).  It went well.  There are suppose to be 12 couples in this class, but only 8 showed up.  We’re all due in November with one being due in December.  Everyone looked to be about the same size (I’m not the largest, that’s for sure).

We really like the Instructor.  She’s very good…informative, fun, and truly seems to care.  You can tell she loves what she does.

Jason and I had fun discussing everything on the way home.  We have nicknames for some people and funny stories already made (where the whole class laughed).  It seems to be a pretty good group of people.

Next week we’ll take a tour of the birthing center, which I’m looking forward to.  I’ve visited friends there who have had a baby, but it’ll be nice to hear the “behind-the-scenes” information.