Jean Blanket

Ever since my mother made my oldest brother a jean blanket years and years ago he has been collecting for another one. He LOVEs jean blankets. So for his 30th birthday I secretly took his stash and put one together. I cut the jeans into rectangles because it seemed cooler than the standard squares and also maybe less time consuming. Most of the jeans I cut into 8 inch wide rectangles and made them however long I could. Some of the jeans were smaller and I had to cut them 6 inches instead. The back I did in corduroy I found 40% off at Joanns. The middle section is made of three of my brother's favorite old shirts he had given to me in order to make into a t-shirt blanket for myself. I also used batting in the middle and tied it all together with yarn ties throughout. I think the finished blanket turned out to be about 5ish by 5 1/2ish feet. I'm not really sure.
I loved how it turned out and actually it didn't seem like that much work all together. I think I'm going to have to make one for Hubby and me now.

for baby

I recently was able to take a trip to visit my parents in Kentucky for a week. And what a productive week it was. We spent lots of time shopping, crafting, eating good food, and visiting around the fire on the back porch.

Did I mention crafting?

First off, a baby toy I crocheted stuffed with plastic bags to give it a slight crinkling noise when squeezed. Good for church I think. In real life it is mostly purple with white. It is hard to tell in this picture.Here's a sling I talked my mother into making for me to carry the little one around in that goes around my neck and shoulder. And a nursing cover my mother also did for me made out of nice, heavy-duty fabric for privacy.And finally a little quilt perfect for snuggling. The inside fabric is this beautiful yellowish fabric that is oh so soft.It's good to go home every once-in-awhile, especially when you come back with a suitcase full of new and pretty things for your little girl.
P.S. Did you notice my new rocking chair? I bought it second-hand for very cheap.

Classifieds

I am so excited today because as luck would have it I found two great deals scouring online classified ads. Here is the fruit of my labors:
One bag of 0-6 month clothes: $5
Two bags of 6-9 month clothes: $12.50

I was going to lay them all out so you could see all the cute little girl stuff I got, but you can fit a lot of little baby clothes in three bags. So here they are ready to be thrown in the wash and stored away in the nursery (which still needs a lot of work before the big day).

Among my favorite things are a stash of cute rompers ready for the summer months.

drawing again

...well not really. I used to draw quite a bit in high school, but haven't done anything in a couple of years. Here's a picture of my brother's dog, Annie, which I did as a birthday gift recently.Maybe while I'm on "maternity leave" this semester I'll find some time to work on some more pictures.

Dress-up skirts

I made these skirts for my niece's 4th birthday. She LOVES pink and purple and she is in that stage where she goes through several outfits during the course of the day, mostly pretty dresses. I followed this tutorial for the pink one, and then modified it to fit my needs with the purple one. I learned this: tulle is NOT fun. I'm sure I will be using tulle again in the future especially with my own little girl on the way, but it can be a major headache. Maybe there are some tricks of the trade I still need to learn. We will see.

The pink one is a layer of lace, a layer of pink cotton material, and finally two layers of tulle.
The purple one is a layer of silky purple material and I don't know how many layers of purple and pink tulle to use up all of my stash.
I think total they were around $15 for the pair. I'm not completely sure. The tulle was like a dollar a yard and I used 4 yards. The other material I found in the 50% off scrap section at jo anns. The ribbon and rick rack I had laying around and then I had to buy the elastic for the waist bands.
And here's a picture just because I love my pincushion so much and it has never had a spot on my blog.

Bibs for baby E

A friend of ours recently had a baby boy. I made these bibs using this tutorial (I love the ice cream pattern she used). They were fairly quick and easy. I got the blue material on clearance at Joanns, not knowing what I'd do with it only that I loved it, and the green material was some random big sheet of material I got for 2 bucks at a second-hand store. They are reversible with snaps to hold it around baby's neck. Cute no? I love the shape and how teeny tiny they are. Are babies really so tiny?I wanted to add a little something extra to the package so I also whipped up this cute little whale to go with the bibs. I just free handed the shape I wanted, sewed it inside out leaving a little gap to turn, stuffed it with batting, and hand sewed the opening shut. I'm terrible at hiding hand-stitches so I decided to not even try. Hence the obvious blue thread detail.

A tradition

My mother used to bake fresh bread for her family of eight every single day. Completely by hand. Not even a mixer to help out. Can you imagine? I've done this once or twice before and believe me, you've got to have a lot of love and a strong back to accomplish this feat.

Needless to say, with all this whole wheat bread (which she ground the wheat herself btw) surrounding my childhood, I grew up with a real love and appreciation for real bread. Not that cheap stuff you buy at the store. And here is my attempt at carrying on that tradition:I just have to laugh at myself. Once in my marriage I have finally made my husband homemade bread and you know how I did it? I borrowed my sister's bread machine, poured all the ingredients in, and watched it knead, rise, knead, rise some more, and bake itself for 4 hours. Ta Da! Not quite the same accomplishment, but still worth the effort. I love simple homemade bread.

Here's where I found the recipe.

Strawberry Freezer Jam

Get a bunch of strawberries and cut off their tops.
Mush them up nice and good and add a little sugar and pectin.Pour it all into cute little cups and...Viola!
Strawberry freezer jam. Lasts a year in the freezer and 3 months in the fridge. Although I don't think I'm quite going to need a year to finish off my spoils.