Quilting Synopsis

A couple of years ago I decided to take up quilting. I had never really sewn before, and I don't think I even owned my sewing machine at the time? I must have borrowed some one's...I can't remember. Anyway, a seed had been planted in my mind when I was in Optometry school that I wanted to make a quilt out of all my optometry t-shirts that I had accumulated. Justin's mom had made one out of his little-kid t-shirts, and I thought it was a great way to make those old shirts functional and memorable without taking up an entire drawer in my dresser. I saved up lots of t-shirts, found some sweet eyeball fabric online, borrowed the quilt pattern from Janice, and went to work on the kitchen table in our apartment at Crescent Park. Eventually, I finished this:

On a side note, I must have borrowed my friend Katie's machine to do this project. I am remembering that fact, because I am also remembering that I burrowed her pincushion. A pincushion that at one point found its way underneath the quilt, spread out on the floor, upside down, at which point I stepped on it, shoving every single one of the 5 million pins in the pincushion into the bottom of my foot. Awesome.  

Moving on...my next quilt was a little wall hanging from a pattern that I picked up from a quilt show that I went to with Janice. I am one of the millions that do the whole chickens-in-the-kitchen thing...I now have it hanging up above the kitchen cabinets. 

I was supposed to use the machine to applique the chickens on, but I couldn't figure it out on the machine, so I just did a blanket stitch by hand.

Around this time, we moved into our house in Springfield, and I found a quilt shop about a mile away: Something To Crow About They have an entire room in the shop with displays from the various classes that they offer. At the time, they were offering a 7 week beginner class called Quick Start Quilting, which I talked Katie (owner of borrowed machine) into taking with me. So much fun! I learned so much (bought my own machine, a Brother XR7700, Costco special for about a hundred bucks), and became pretty competent for pretty much any quilting endeavor. In the class, we made a sampler quilt, which I used for the guest room bed:

Pretty, yes? Still one of my favorites

Next came a quilt for our bed, which is a California King, which means huge, which means it took me forever. For this one I used a Crazy Quilt pattern. You pick out all your fabric, stack it randomly, cut out your pieces. One of the key things when making a quilt is picking out your fabrics. It is a skill; a skill that I have not yet mastered. I was inspired by some red paisley fabric, and centered all of my fabric choices around it. That would have been fine, but I used the paisley fabric poorly. I used it within the blocks as well as for the sashing pieces. Too much red paisley. It would have been better to use it in the center of each block, and used a white fabric for the sashing. That would have made the blocks stand out rather than an overall overwhelming amount of redness. So, I'm not in love with this one and will replace it eventually.
 

Not trusting my own fabric judgment, my next two projects were Block-Of-The-Month projects through my friends at STCA. These consist of monthly blocks that you pick up from the shop with the fabrics pre-chosen for you. The upside to doing this is that a professional picks out the fabrics and then you do the cutting and sewing. The downside is that it costs a pretty penny. Much more expensive than buying the yardage on your own. But the result is quilts that look a lot more put-together. 

Don't mind the small child dripping saliva. This one involves a lot of applique, which I took a class for (at STCA of course), but soon realized that it would take me 5 years to complete. Instead, I did all of the sewing and cutting and ironing, but had one of Janice's friends do the machine applique (a blanket stitch, which she is a pro at, and finished in about 2 days...amazing). I put an extra layer of batting in this one so it is nice a plush and cozy.

This one is another sampler-style where every block is different. Only a quarter of it is shown in the picture. I should clarity that the actual quilting (the stitching over the whole quilt) is done by a company with a professional huge quilting machine. So I do the piecing and put all the layers together and send it off for the quilting. I have done that for the above quilt, as well as the purple and green class quilt. All the others are just tied, and not quilted. 

Next, I made a couple of "log cabin" pattern quilts to give to others. The blue one I gave to my mom and dad last Christmas, and the yellow and green (Go Ducks!) baby quilt I gave to Tessa at her baby shower for Ashlyn. I don't seem to have a good picture of Mom and Dad's...but this picture demonstrates Penny and Sebastian's love for my quilts :) 

Finally, my most recent quilt was for my own little bundle of joy. I chose the green fabric to match Thad's wall color, and the black and white center fabric to match the damask pattern throughout his room. I liked to polka-dots for the visiual-stimulation :) and also found a cozy flannel polka-dot fabric for the reverse side of the quilt. The simple pattern made it a really fast project, one of my favorites though. It looks quite at home in his room. 

Well, there they are. Lots of projects now that I look back at everything. Fun though. I still have more projects in mind, definitely replacing the quilt on our bed. Funny though, I don't seem to have as much spare time as I used to. 

Sometimes....

Sometimes Mommy needs a break and Mommy listens to Eminem loudly in the family room with the doors closed. (During naptime, with the monitor on....I'm not that irresponsible). 

It's Time!

Prior to the incubation of young Thad, I used to go to the gym after work most days. Even with that, I still didn't feel like I was really in the shape that I wanted to be, largely due, I think, to my eating habits. I like food. It tastes good. Unfortunately, it also makes you fat.

While I was pregnant, I tried to stick with healthy eating habits and I walked every single day over my lunch hour. At first, I walked 3 miles every day. The bigger I got, the harder it got, and that distance gradually declined. But, I still did all that I could every day. A lot of days I walked in the rain with an umbrella and a rain jacket. I actually liked it, it made me feel like I was doing what I needed to do to stay healthy while pregnant. I gained about 35 pounds by the time T was born, which is within what is recommended.

After he was born, I dropped the weight pretty fast without putting out any effort, Within about 2 or 3 months I was within 5 lbs of my pre-baby weight. We are now at just over the 5 month mark. Pound-wise I am actually right at my starting weight, but the quality of the 'material' has gone downhill. I don't look the same in clothes as I used to, and I definitely don't look how I want to look.

Until this point, I really haven't done anything to improve. I think it's time. The first thing I am doing is changing my eating habits. I feel like I can easily decrease my daily calories by at least 500 cal/day simply by eating smaller portions and snacking less. I am also going to get back into a daily exercise habit. Whether it is walking with T in the stroller, or doing a workout video On-Demand, something is better than nothing. My goal is to drop 12 pounds by Christmas. If I can do that, it would get me to a weight that I have not been for YEARS, and finally fulfill the picture I have in my head of how I want to be. I feel like this is my time to make a change! Go me!

I'm Trying...

Here's the thing about having your first child. You have no clue what you are doing. Here's the thing about babies. They can't talk. Those two facts are not a good combination. It would be one thing if I had a happy, easy baby who loved so sleep. Alas, I do not. He is an emotional roller coaster, which makes me question every. single. thing. I. do.

Here's the other part of the problem. I have a couple of friends who are like superstar moms. Moms with multiple children really close together who post things on facebook like "I'm making applesauce tomorrow" and "harvesting my tomatoes". What? My tomatoes are all yellow and I can't get my kid to eat rice cereal. Not to mention the fact that they are on number 3 or 4 and probably finished with the who preggo fiasco, and I just finished baking number 1! That makes me feel good about myself.

One thing I have to say though, is God Bless my mom. She has been so helpful and such an encouragement. There is so much pressure to be a Master Breastfeeder, and I have tried really hard, but it just has NEVER been easy. We are at the point now where I think it will be better for everyone involved to start heading down the formula route, and I feel extreme guilt for that. But my mom has been so encouraging that I am doing the right thing, and that the goal is for a happy, healthy baby, and sometimes formula is the best way to achieve that. Plus, she was only able to breastfeed me for about 3 months, and look how smart I am. :)

Life As I Know It

I miss some things about my old life. I am not inherently an unselfish person. Unfortunately, having a baby requires you to throw your own desires in the toilet in order to care for the tiny helpless person you created. And I am happy to do it, I really am. But at the same time, it is a little sad to know that some things will never be the same again. 

I miss hanging out with Justin, going places just the two of us. Last year we spent a bunch of weekends working in the yard, doing projects together. I miss that. Now I am limited to doing things just during naptimes, and Justin often has to run errands by himself. 

On that note, I miss going places by myself. Going into a store with just my purse, rather than a baby, a diaper bag, a stroller, a front pack...etc. Heaven forbid I am caught somewhere without a burp cloth.  And on my way places, I miss listening to music at a higher than infant-ear-drum noise level. I'm okay with inflicting damage on my own eardrums, but I just don't feel right about doing that to my child. 

It's a different life. It's different than how I lived before, and different than I expected it to be. But in it's own way, I love it. I miss him when he is napping. He can be the sweetest thing on the planet. I can't wait for him to keep developing, and learning to do more and more. But, I will also miss the days of doing what I want, when I wanted to.