I'm Lazy

I don't know why it's been so long since I've blogged...........there are really no good excuses besides laziness. In the last 4 months since I blogged there has been a lot going on with us. Here's a list of the highlights:
-School has been going good for me. I'm having a great year NOT being the Student Council advisor. While I enjoyed doing it for 3 years, I'm loving having more time to do other things.
-Moose started a new job working for a specialized foster care company. He is working in a group home for kids who have a dual-diagnosis of mental retardation and another social or behavioral disorder. It is a very challenging job, both physically and emotionally and has definitely been a big adjustment for our family. He has to work most nights from 2-10 so we really don't see each other very much besides on Sundays :-(
-We moved WAY across town. We are loving our new place, but it has definitely added to our commute times. It has been fun for us to explore our new area, get to know new stores to shop at, and living next door to our good friends, the Pullins'.
-As most of you already know, we are expecting a baby GIRL in April. I'm about 21 weeks along and feeling great. I have had a very easy pregnancy so far (knock on wood) and my belly has really started to grow in the last couple of weeks. I know that lots of people are really into posting the belly pictures on their blogs, but that is SO not me. Sorry.
-We are going on a cruise for Christmas this year!!!! We're going to the Carribbean and are VERY excited about it. It will be a much needed break for both of us. It will be a great last hurrah vacation before the baby is born and will be fun to spend some time with Moose's family. We LOVE to cruise, but have never cruised over the holidays, so it should be fun. I will definitely post some pictures when we get back - you might even be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the belly from those.

One more thing - we're getting ready to register for our baby shower and are a little bit overwhelmed by all of the "gadgets" out there for babies today. Experienced moms and dads, please comment and tell us what your "must haves" were when you had infants. What were the basics that you just couldn't live without that we should definitely get? I don't want to waste our money on things that are just not worth it. Thanks for your help!!!

New Look

Do you like the new look of our blog? I'm assuming that your answer is yes :-) I MADE it! And not just the header - the whole background and everything. Some of you may already know how to do this, but it was a big feat for me. I have been getting into digital scrapbooking this summer and have learned A LOT about my computer, photo editing, graphic design, etc. It has been really fun.
Other than that, we haven't really been doing anything blog-worthy. Just working, teaching piano, watching TV, and relaxing. My sister Lisa came to town and I don't have one picture to show for it. She was so much fun to have here because she likes lounging around as much as we do! She also helped me clean out my kitchen, try a few new recipes, and make a few crafts.
We're going on our last vacation of the summer tomorrow and then it's back to work/school on Monday. Where did the summer go?

Christmas in July

There are a lot of things that I should be blogging about right now (like our AWESOME trip to Arizona, the latest crafts, our camping trip, etc) but it seems like too much work for right now.

What I'm really interested in is CHRISTMAS. Yes. I know that it's only July - stay with me. I read online about some women who did a Christmas craft exchange and I want to start one!

The rules are simple:
1. Post a comment, email, or call me to tell me that you want to participate ASAP!
2. Make a Christmas-y craft that you would be willing to give away between now and November 1st. Yes, you must make it. It can be any kind of craft that you want - sewing, scrapbooking, painting, graphic design, etc.. Nothing perishable, please.
3. Do not spend more than $30 on your craft (but feel free to spend less if you're a good bargain-hunter!)
4. Shortly before the November 1st deadline, I will give you the name and address of someone else in the group and you will send them your craft.
5. By the second week of November you will receive a Christmas-y craft from someone else in the group. Think of it as opening a present early!
6. WHATEVER YOU DO: DO NOT put your new craft up for display in your house until AFTER Thanksgiving - that's just wrong :-)

So, what do you say? Are you in?

Latest projects...

Here are a few of the projects that I've been working on over the last few days....

I got the pattern for this skirt for $0.99!!!! It was normally 16.95, but all McCall's patterns were on sale for 99 cents - what a steal! I already had the green fabric and just had to get the brown for the trim, so this is my $2 skirt. I'll be honest - this is probably the most detailed pattern that I've ever followed - complicated pleats, a zipper, lined waistband, pockets, etc. but it was worth it - I'm so excited to wear it......now I just need a shirt to go with it :-)

I know - it feels like you've seen this quilt before. This is the second one, and for the most part, I like it better. I think that the blocks on the quilt are a little bit more randomly spaced and I love the silky pink binding. I got much better at my machine quilting, but unfortunately I didn't check my bobbin first and the bottom looks a little bit crazy. Overall it turned out fairly well, but I think I'll give this one to Project Linus and the first one to Courtney for her baby shower.

I even figured out how to miter the corners pretty well!


Here's what the quilting looks like on the front:

And here's what it looks like on an acceptable piece of the back:

So I've seen these cute baby wipes cases all over the internet and have been dying to make one. Alas, I have no use for a baby wipes case, but I made one that matches the quilt for Courtney and another one just for fun. I'm sure I'll find someone to give it to soon being that I have TONS of friends who are pregnant right now.

Next on the crafting agenda: Covers for our dutch ovens, basket liners for some decorative baskets in our laundry room, that cute apron from the last post, the list goes on and on!

Happy crafting!!!

I REALLY WANT TO MAKE THIS!!!!

It is the CUTEST reversable apron that there ever was! If you want to buy the pattern for me, you can get it here. I have to go to a conference all next week, so you have plenty of time to order it and have it shipped to me in time for me to start on it next weekend :-). If you are feeling really generous, you could also buy me some cute fabric for it here. Thanks in advance - you're the best!

If you're also of the crafty inclination - check out the whole new section of links that I added on the right-hand side of the blog titled "Fun Blogs". There are TONS of crafty and fun blogs that have totally consumed my weekend and given me SO many ideas to fill my summer with. Enjoy!

Another post.....so soon???

I think the best motivation for me to post is when I have something to post!!!! Now that I'm off of school I've been feeling very crafty (as you could probably tell from the last post).

I have a good friend who is having a baby soon and I wanted to make her a baby quilt. I went to the store and picked out the fabric (actually Moose picked out the fabric - strangely enough he has a great eye for fabric) and when I got home and pieced it together, I realized that I had enough to make 2 crib-sized quilts. I was really excited about this because my stake is doing "Project Linus". They have challenged every woman and young woman in the stake to make a blanket (any kind of blanket) to donate to a foundation that gives the blankets to really sick kids. The extra blanket that I'm making will not only go to Project Linus, but it will serve as my practice for the one I'm making for my friend. YEAH!!
Although I have done lots of sewing in my day, there were a few things that I did on this blanket that I've never done before, so I was a little bit nervous. The first was the binding. I've made a few other blankets, but my super-crafty mom has always done the binding for me because I was so intimidated by it. Sadly, I live way to far from my mom to get her to do the binding for me, so I was on my own. While the corners aren't perfect, I think they turned out pretty good.
The next thing was actually quilting it. I have always wanted to machine quilt instead of just tying the quilt. My new sewing machine has a free-motion quilting function that I tried out. It was really fun, but I learned a few lessons. The first is that it takes a lot of patience. The second is that I need to draw the pattern before I start. Randomly creating a pattern was fun, but doesn't look quite as professional as it could. Here's the finished product for Project Linus. I'll let you know how the quilt for Courtney looks when I finish it.

This is the back

This is the front.

I know that you can't really see the machine quilting, but that's probably better since it's not perfect. When I do Courtney's I'll take a close-up of the quilting.

What we've been up to....

It's been a long time since I posted! I'm out of school now, so I've had much more time to lounge around and scheme up projects for myself. Moose has started a new job, but the training aspect of it hasn't been full time so we've enjoyed spending a lot of time together this week. We're on a mission to go through all of our stuff and de-junk our house. How did 2 people wind up with so much stuff? Anyway, we've already taken one trip to DI and plan to take a few more. We spent a leisurely morning at the pool on Friday and both wound up with sunburns - looks like we're not made for sunbathing. We've also been trying our hand at some new things around the house. Here are a few pictures:
Homemade bagels. They're not the prettiest bagels I've even seen, but they were fun to make and even more fun to eat!

I made some new pillows for our living room couches. We love curling up on the couch and watching our favorite shows, so our pillows get quite a workout. These are cute, eh?

I used some of the old scrapbooking paper that I had on hand to cover this old box to help organize some of my craft supplies. I'm so excited to have time to be crafty this summer! I already have about 10 projects on my list. I'll post them as they are finished.
This wasn't a very exciting post, but at least it was a post. I'll try to be better now that I'm not so busy with school.