Scrappy Strip Quilt

If this quilt looks familiar, it's because I used only scraps from my Ring Around the Rosie quilt. I had many strips all cut into three widths from the pattern. After cleaning and sorting, I decided to put the scraps to good use and make a new quilt!

I simply stitched same-sized strips together along their shorter ends. I didn't put a whole lot of thought into the fabric placement, aside from avoiding the same fabric sewn together. I stitched all strips end-to-end, then sewed the 1 1/2" and 2 1/2" joined strips together along the length. I cut the length in half and sewed those lengths together, before sewing on the 3 1/2" width strip.  

If you are familiar with a Jelly Roll Race Quilt, I used a similar method, just with different width strips! The quilt stitches up very quickly and is the perfect quilt to sew while listening to your favorite audiobook or show because there's no thinking necessary! The results are random and scrappy, and thanks to spreading fabrics out along my original strips, I think I achieved a balanced top without stressing about color placement. 

To make the back, I took larger scraps and sewed them together to create a scrappy back that looks just as cute as the front! I tried spiral quilting for the first time, and although it's not perfect, I'm happy with the result and will try it again, probably on a smaller quilt. It will look great washed & crinkled and sitting on someone's lap. The quilt measures approximately 50"x 60"- a great throw size. I used even more scraps for the binding. 

This quilt was donated as a raffle prize at a recent Neurofibromatosis fundraiser to benefit NF Michigan. You can find out more about NF and the organization at their website. My cousin was diagnosed with NF at a very young age, and that was the first our family learned about the disorder. Thankfully, she is a healthy, smart, loving, soon-to-be 5-year-old, but many others have much more severe health and developmental problems. My cousin is blessed with top doctors and researchers right near their home in Michigan, where she can receive top-notch care.

If you would like to support NF Michigan, you can donate through their website. Contributions go toward supporting persons affected and their families, assisting in medical care, education, and research. 

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Ring Around the Rosie

For every quilt pattern that makes it into final form, I only get to actually sew about half of them into actual quilts. It's always amazing to see how the computer files I have been working with for months in digital form translate into tangible fabric and quilts. Although the fabric is new to the market, it often feels like an old friend to me. As I work on virtual quilt designs, I become familiar with little details and nuances, the way the colors play within the collection, and how the patterns all measure up against each other. I can identify them by SKU numbers and color ways. It's a rather sterile beginning for an end product meant to bring warmth and comfort. So to finally get my hands on real fabric and make a real quilt comes as somewhat of a relief.

A few months ago, I had the privilege of sewing a quilt top for one of my new patterns. My Ring Around the Rosie quilt features Verna Mosquera's Love & Friendship collection for Free Spirit Fabrics. These are some seriously cute fabrics with little flowers, love notes, hearts, and a really great twisted stripe. I made the quilt top and sent it off for quilting. Check out how cute the final quilt looks!

The quilt is made of four generously sized log cabin blocks, each employing every fabric in the collection. The final quilt is 70" x 90" aka perfect for a twin bed. How sweet would this be in a little girl's room?! Don't need a twin quilt? -- Each log cabin is 35" x 45", which is a great size for baby or wheelchair quilts.

When I was designing this quilt, I wanted to make sure the construction was as straightforward as possible. My favorite detail in the instructions is that there is no need to sew lengths of fabric together to achieve the large blocks. I might be the only person excited by that fact, but in my opinion, the fewer steps, the better.

This quilt would be easy to adapt to another line if your tastes are different. It uses 24 different fabrics and would also look great as a scrappy stash-buster. Let me know what you think of the quilt and of course I would love to see if you make your own Ring Around the Rosie quilt!

Monday Book Club

One of my goals for 2017 is to read more! In an effort to share the book love, I've included links in this post that are Amazon Affiliate links, which means I receive a small kickback if you make a purchase using the links.

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We were on a lovely family vacation to the beach last week, which meant I had a little extra time to read. Some people like to get out and do things on vacation - see new sights, visit new places. Me? Give me a chair and a book and just leave me alone. Even with extra help from family, two little kiddos make my vacation fantasy a hard sell, but I was able to finish one book and start another before heading home.

The Fate of Mercy Alban has been sitting on my bookshelf at home for a very long time and I thought it seemed like a good choice for beach reading. It's a story about a wealthy family and the ghosts (literally and figuratively) that haunt them and their historic home. It was a fun little read full of everything - murder, mystery, a haunted house, and even a romance. There were a couple decent twists and turns but I was able to "figure it out" before the big reveal. The book was fast-paced, sometimes annoyingly so, but squeezed in enough story to satisfy my vacation needs. Wendy Webb has a number of other books that seem to be similar in subject that may land on my to-be-read list.

My mom finished John Grisham's latest, The Whistler, in time to pass it on for Curt and me to read next. I haven't read a Grisham book in a couple years after Gray Mountain left a sour taste in my mouth. Mom assured me this book is back in line with what we expect and love from John Grisham. I'm only a few chapters in, but it seems to be headed in a promising direction. Curt is currently reading Grisham's Rogue Lawyer so I may be on a John Grisham kick for a few weeks to get caught back up on his catalogue.

 

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Sawtooth Quilts

I am prepping for a new Craft South class and made these Sawtooth quilt blocks last night. 

Aren't they the sweetest?! 

I grabbed some small scraps to sew, yielding these widdle sweet widdle bwocks. 

{That would be baby talk for "little sweet little blocks" if you don't speak cutesy.}

The larger blocks are 6" finished and the smaller ones are 4" finished. 

Stitched them up together for a 12" block that would look great as a pillow or sewn into a cute bag.

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Monday Book Club

One of my goals for 2017 is to read more! In an effort to share the book love, I've included links in this post that are Amazon Affiliate links, which means I receive a small kickback if you make a purchase using the links.

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Please forgive my delayed book this week! We were on a small family getaway but that meant I got in some extra reading time!

I started When in Doubt, Add Butter at the beginning of our trip and had it finished within a few days. It was light, fun, and mostly predictable with a few little twists. I've never read anything else from Beth Harbison, but I will be open to checking out more for my next trip.

Next from the vacation pile was another Carl Hiaasen novel: Bad Monkey. I'm about 100 pages in and enjoying the hint of mystery unfolding around the different characters who, at first glance, have nothing to do with each other, but will surely be fully intertwined by the end of the book.

  

Monday Book Club

One of my goals for 2017 is to read more! In an effort to share the book love, I've included links in this post that are Amazon Affiliate links, which means I receive a small kickback if you make a purchase using the links.

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I finished last week's First Comes Love just in time to hit up the library for a new book. My first choice is still on hold so I quickly perused the stacks and the bright colors of the Carl Hiaasen section jumped out at me. After virtually no consideration, I settled on Star Island.

I'm nearly halfway through this book and enjoying it so far. It's a quick read full of over-the-top characters and the fast-passed world of celebrities. I have never read any of Carl Hiaasen's other books,  but after reading reviews, it seems they are easy and fun reads. I will probably pick up another one before my next trip to the beach.

Thank the Crayola gods for an hour of painting while I could do the dishes, tidy up, vacuum, and actually sit down and read today. 

Liam's Library : They All Saw A Cat

I love reading to my boys and think that sharing a love of books and reading is one of the greatest gifts I can give them. I am always looking for new favorite books and happy to share my recommendations. In an effort to share the book love, I've included links in this post that are Amazon Affiliate links, which means I receive a small kickback if you make a purchase using the links.

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They All Saw A Cat by Brendan Wenzel 

Stop what you're doing and get this book. I casually grabbed this book off the shelf because it was about a cat and Liam loves cats. The minimalist illustration on the cover also drew me in .. yes I judged this book by its cover. Hard. I'm always drawn to books with hand drawn illustrations and this book goes far beyond my expectations. 

They All Saw A Cat is about a cat walking through the world, meeting other animals. There is plenty of repetition and a simple sentence structure. An early reader could easily work his way through this book. Even a nonreader like Liam can quickly catch on and know what words to expect. I love these types of books for working on sight words, and the varied text formatting and capitalization in this story make it so simple. 

After pointing out " A CAT" in the title to Liam, we talked about the letters and what they spelled. Then we read through the book, pointing as we read, and I allowed Liam to finish the sentences reading "A CAT." Now, I know he's merely spitting back the words I told him to say, but I hope it is creating a good foundation for when he does start reading.

Let's talk illustrations! As the cat encounters new animals, the pictures reflect how that animal views the cat. Some of the animals see in black and white, others are blurry, and as Liam excitedly noticed, the bee views the cat as "polka dots!" With every new page, it's exciting to see who the cat will run into next and how their views of the cat vary.

In its simplest form, They All Saw A Cat is a cute story about a cat and the animals in its world. But there is so much more to this book: animal habitats, predator versus prey, or how our perceptions of the world can be so different. The illustrations are gorgeous and engaging, the story is simple, and we could easily spend a week studying the book and find something new to talk about every day. A+

What's your favorite children's book this week?

Monday Book Club

One of my goals for 2017 is to read more! In an effort to share the book love, I've included links in this post that are Amazon Affiliate links, which means I receive a small kickback if you make a purchase using the links.

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What are you reading this week? I've been reading First Comes Love by Emily Giffin. 

I've read a number of her books, beginning with Something Borrowed when it first released. It is what it is - easy-to-read chick lit. Most of her books have left me feeling 'meh' and I admit to abandoning one halfway through, but they are the equivalent of another notch on my book bedpost. 

Next on my list will most likely be finishing A Gathering of Shadows by V. E. Schwab. According to my Goodreads, I started it 9 months ago which just so happens to be right around when I gave birth, so that explains the lack of a finish! I enjoyed the first book in the series, A Darker Shade of Magic, and look forward to reading the whole three-book series.

Let me know what you're reading, what you loved, or what's next on your list!

9 Patch Class

Last weekend I taught a really fun class all about 9-patch quilt blocks. I shared some of my favorite shortcuts for quick and easy piecing and everyone in the class did such great work. Some made pillow covers while others got started working toward a larger quilt. 

Here are a few little snaps from my phone. 

 Trimming up her finished pillow - this little sweetie had a great eye for color and design! 

 The dark and light prints in these fabrics created a great contrasting block.

These fabrics were the perfect pops for spring - she definitely has a favorite color, her pants and glasses matched the bright blues in her fabric perfectly!

I wish I had a shot of this one flipped right-side-out, the colors were really fun.

Here's a glimpse at the classroom space at Craft South. Despite our recent chilly temperatures, the sun was shining and supplied us with great afternoon light!

If you love a great 9-patch, I have a Pinterest board devoted to all things patchy and square! 

If you want a 9-patch pillow of your very own, I have a couple pillow covers available in my Etsy shop right now!  

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend. I plan to spend it playing with the boys, working on a couple Quiltcon projects, and maybe *just maybe* sneaking in a bubble bath!

That thing where I recharge the blog at the beginning of a new year….

But seriously, maybe this time I can stick with it! Stay tuned, slight bloggy update coming soon. *winky face * *kissy face* xoxo

Liam's Library

Reading has always been a huge part of my life. When I was younger, I always had a book in tow and read whenever I could. I don't read nearly as much as I used to or would like to for me, but Liam and I spend lots of time reading together everyday. Reading introduces us to new worlds and characters, teaches us, makes us laugh and cry, and for me and Liam, is a great way to wind down before a nap or bedtime.

Before he was born, my family gave us a shelf-full of books at a baby shower and we have continued adding to them since. In addition to adding to our own collection, we visit the library on a regular basis to enjoy baby story time and borrow new books. 

I decided to start documenting our book reading, both our personal library and the books we check out from the public library. I hope it will be a good resource for others looking for a good book for their little ones and I would love for you to share your favorites as well! I'd also love to update posts in the future after Liam is older and has his own opinions and favorite books.

To kick things off, I thought I would start with two new books Liam received for Valentine's Day from his grandparents. 

"Toes, Ears, & Nose!" by Marion Dane Bauer, illustrated by Karen Katz. 

This book is a cute pop-up style with flaps that reveal different body parts. The text is pretty straight forward: "Inside my mittens I've got fingers. Inside my boots I've got toes." etc. There is a little bit of a rhyme throughout the book, but I think the purpose is more about identifying body parts than cutesy wordplay. The illustrations are colorful and full of cute prints and patterns. The kids are boys and girls of different races, which I appreciate.
The book itself is a nice size and weight. Although it is a board book, the pages have a little bend to them. The flaps are made of a thick paper glued on to the pages; they will definitely rip if Liam gets ahold of them, so I think this will be a "long-distance" read (aka at an arm's length and out of Liam's reach) until Liam understands what 'gentle' means.
Overall "Toes, Ears, & Nose!" is a cute book and will be even more fun once Liam starts to identify body parts.


"I Love You Because You're You" by Liza Baker, illustrated by David McPhail



This is a really cute book all about when a Mommy fox loves her son. The story goes through all different feelings and situations in a nice verse style that rhymes: "I love you when you're happy and grinning ear to ear. I love you when you're sleepy and want to snuggle near." I think it will be a nice introduction to feelings and behaviors, as well as the fact that no matter what moods Liam is in, he is always loved. The pictures are cute little vignettes that go with each emotion.
The cover of the book is a thick, squishy material that Liam would love to get his teeth on. The pages are very bendable, so this may be another one Liam will have to wait to get his hands on.
In the meantime, we will add this to our daily reading and practice showing our emotions by making silly faces as we read.

Both these books are cute and fun to read, and we will learn a lot in the process!

**This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a percentage of sales if you make a purchase using these links.**

How We Do Cloth Diapers

I have a number of family and friends who are pregnant right now, and many of them want to know about our experience cloth diapering. So I'm sure some of you out there may be interested as well, or know someone you can share this information with. We knew we wanted to use cloth diapers, and I had been researching the options even before I was pregnant, so I had an idea of what was out there, but it was so overwhelming! In the haze of pregnancy, I spent an evening on the verge of tears on the phone with my mom stressing about diapers. I confessed to her I was more concerned about how we were going to cover baby's butt than the whole process of getting him out. HA! Yes, pregnancy hormones are a real thing and they are nothing to be messed with. The fog cleared and I went with my original plan. I'll get right down to business and if you want more detail, read on.

24 Size Newborn Cloth-eez Prefolds

12 Size Small Cloth-eez Prefolds

4 Thirsties Duo Wrap Covers

3 Snappis

14 BumGenius 4.0 Snap Diapers

Cloth wipes I made with flannel

2 Planet Wise Large Wet bags & 1 smaller one for travel

~I washed the Prefolds & Covers with Purex Free & Clear. Warm pre-wash, Hot wash with detergent, extra rinse. Hung the covers and wet bags to dry, everything else in the dryer on Perm Press.

~I wash the BumGenius diapers with Nellie's All Natural Laundry Soda. Cold pre-wash, Hot wash with detergent, extra rinse. Hang the diapers to dry and wet bags to dry, everything else in the dryer on Perm Press.

~If there are a number of extra nasty diapers, I will add a little detergent to the pre-wash cycle.

~If a diaper is still poop colored after washing, an afternoon in the sun removes the stain.

~I do diaper laundry about every other day. When I get down to two clean diapers, I wash. Sometimes the timing is weird and we supplement one of the prefolds or a spare disposable.

~The Duo Wraps dry within a couple hours, quicker if they are in the sun or a breezy spot. In a pinch I've thrown them in the dryer for just a couple minutes.

~The BumGenius diapers dry in an afternoon outside or overnight inside. We have a cool drying rack my dad found that fits them all and works great.

~The wet bags take longer to dry indoors - a day or two, but they are always ready by the time we need one.

If that's all the info you wanted, carry on. If you would like to know more, here you go….

We used disposables for the first two weeks. The real concern was getting through the nasty meconium stage. If you absolutely want to use cloth from the start, I'd recommend a disposable liner so that the tar poop doesn't ruin your diapers.

**SIDE NOTE** Our midwife gave us the most spectacular advice: Rub coconut oil on baby's bum during diaper changes and the meconium will slide right off. It's true! No need to use multiple wipes to scrape that stuff off, oil up that bum and get on with your day. **

Around two weeks old we started the cloth diapers. We used Cloth-eez Prefolds from Green Mountain Diaper in the Newborn size. Liam was back up to birth weight of 7 lbs, 11 oz at that time and the newborn size fit until he was about 11 lbs + at 2 months. At that point we were also using the Small size in the mix for nights and naps when he needed more absorbency. We used Thirsties Duo Wrap covers in Size One with all the prefolds.

**SIDE NOTE** If you go the disposable path, do yourself a favor and get a couple of the Duo Wraps. It's like a rite of passage in parenthood to clean up a blow-out but it's not necessary! We don't have problems with the cloth diapers but I don't trust the disposables we use while traveling. So we put a Duo Wrap over the disposable and voila! - no blow-outs. And trust me, there have been a bunch of diapers that would have completely ruined Liam's outfit and spoiled the day of whoever was holding him at the time. Totally worth the $12 investment to grab a couple of them, plus they look cute. **

When Liam hit 2 months old and was over 11 lbs, we switched him to BumGenius 4.0 snap diapers. He probably could have started those sooner, but the prefolds were still doing their job and I needed to buy different detergent for the BumGeniuses so I was waiting. We love these diapers! I would happily do prefolds for the rest of his diapering life, but the biggest improvement with the BumGenius is the moisture wicking liner fabric - the inserts can be soaked through but Liam's buns stay nice and dry. The snap adjustments make it easy to get a good fit and they are as easy to change as disposables. The adjustments also mean Liam can wear these diapers until he is ready for the big boy potty. Awesome!

We use the normal insert during the day and add the additional newborn insert for bedtime sleeping. I haven't had issues with absorbency, but the beauty of our diaper system is that if Liam ever needs something extra inside the diaper, his old prefolds work just like another insert.

Today I decided to adjust the rise on the height of the diapers. Liam is 4 months old and over 15 lbs with chubby thighs. BumGenius recommends changing to the middle rise around 16 lbs but it can vary depending on the size and shape of every baby, so Liam seems to be falling right in line with that. You can see in that picture above how it is pulling a little in the middle - time to extend!

Before he was born, I put my serger to good use and made 50 cloth wipes from leftover flannel. I just cut squares about 8X8 and serged the edges. I made some double sided, but the single ply has worked just fine. If you are cloth diapering, it only makes sense to use cloth wipes - you just throw them right in with the rest of the laundry and never run out. You can purchase cloth wipes or use wash cloths, but making them was really simple and free for me.

We keep a squirt bottle with water next to his change pad to wet the wipes. When he was younger we would spray right on the wipe, but now Liam gets a kick out of spraying his bum. I tried an aloe, tea tree, soap mixture, but something in that seemed to irritate his bottom so we have just been using water. Most experts recommend water for the first few months anyway to keep the sensitive skin happy.

We use two wet bags in rotation .. one gets washed with the diapers and hung to dry while the other one starts the cycle of filling up with diapers over again. They contain the stink and keep things dry. We had intentions of hanging them up but couldn't find a good spot or system, so they just sit between the dresser and trashcan on the ground and that has worked well for four months so I assume we'll just keep it that way.

Did I miss anything? Do you have any questions? Do you now know more about cloth diapers than you ever wanted to? Great! Not a super interesting post, but hopefully helpful!

A New Season

My poor, abandoned blog.. last updated in the beginning of spring, over five months ago, and now here we are approaching fall. It's not only a new season on the calendar, but a new season in our life as well.

Our little Liam was born on May 8, 2014. He started as the sweetest, cutest, most perfect newborn you've ever seen (oh, perhaps I am a little biased) and now he is a sweet, spunky, perfect almost-four-month-old. I can't believe how the time flies!

   

The first few months were filled with lots of family, traveling adventures, and a bit of slowing down to get to know our new little man. In his short life, Liam has already traveled to four states and through even more.

    

He's been on eight airplanes, one on which the captain invited him to sit in the cockpit. He went to sleep away camp, attended a wedding, and even spent a week camping and lounging on the beach.

    

Things have calmed down since then and we are all getting back into the groove of life at home before our next adventure. I'm trying to get back into old habits like sewing and quilting and, as evidenced here, blogging.

    

In what felt like overnight, Liam turned into a napping champion (jinxing myself here, I realize) and I suddenly have a chunk of hours in a day to get things done. So let's see what happens, I'm not promising anything, but I hope to keep up best I can.