Lots of Knitting For Baby

I've been knitting for baby since I found out I was pregnant. I've posted most of what I've done already. Here are some that I don't think I've posted about yet. My pics are quit horrid. I really should get out my light box. Washington weather and photos don't go well together.
From top to bottom, left to right (links to my Ralvery pages for more info): Leftover baby socks,

Seamless Baby Kimono, Newborn Baby Legwarmers, Umbilical Hat, Sock Monkey Longies, Baby Roots Cardigan Set, and Spare Rib Longies.

A Quilt For Cael Part 5 - Finished!

I finished Cael's quilt a few days ago. For the binding, I kinda cheated. I bought some double fold bias tape and just sewed it down. The corners aren't perfect, but I'm really happy with it anyways. I washed it up and it has that lovely puckering fluffyness that I love so much about handmade quilts. It looks great in his room and I'm sure it'll keep him toasty warm this winter.

Happy 10th Birthday Alaina!!

I missed posting on her actually birthday which was on the 13th. But, I still want to say

HAPPY 10th BIRTHDAY ALAINA!!!!

To my sweet girl,

Your growing so fast. Quickly becoming a young women. Your loving, funny, compassionate, smart, creative, and sensative... and many other things too. Every day you surprise me. And, every time I look at you my heart fills with love and happiness. 10th birthday... I can't believe your 10.

I love you,
Mommy

A Nursery For Cael

We finally finished the nursery today. I would like to say that it's been a long time in the making, but that wouldn't be entirely true. To be completely honest, I didn't know what I wanted to do in this room until this last Tuesday. This room has been a play room / guest room the past few years. It's yellow with green molding around the top. I knew I wasn't going to change the color and that I needed to keep the spare bed in there, but other than that, I had no idea what to do with the furniture or the décor. I've been completely uninspired.
A month or so ago when my mom was up she and told me that it was driving her nuts that the room had nothing baby in it yet. So, we set up the crib, brought up the rocking chair, and moved around the furniture. All the baby furniture is on the far side of the room and the queen bed was pushed against the wall by the door. It's tight, but it all fits. She also put up a few baby toys that I had. But, the crib was filled with baby stuff and we didn't have anything else ready yet. So, the room stayed that way until she came up for my baby shower this last weekend.
With my mom coming up for the baby shower this last weekend, I knew we would be working on the nursery. But, I was still uninspired and uncertain. On Monday, with the shower over, she told me “Tomorrow we are working in the nursery.” So, feeling a little trapped against a wall, I hopped on the internet and found a picture of a nursery that had a simple graphic tree and bird painted on the wall. I loved, loved, loved it! With that as inspiration I started thinking about the rest of the room. Then I found this website with an adorable bird mobile. My mom loved both the tree and the bird mobile and that night we drew the tree and bird on the wall.

Tuesday morning we started painting the tree with Alaina to help. It was the fastest mural we have ever done. Total it took about 5 hours. (that's including the 1.5 hrs. that it took us to draw it on the wall first) We then emptied everything out of the crib and actually put everything in it's place! It's simple, clean, and very baby boy. I can't wait to bring Cael home to it.
The bird mobile: So cute! I had all the birds sewn up yesterday. Today I went out and cut some branches from our contorted filbert, cleaned them, and then attached the birds. Then my hubby helped me string the whole thing together and hang it. He loves it, the kids love it, and I love it. It's a great final piece in the nursery.
As a side note I just want to say that this room may never have gotten done to completion without my mom. With the girls I knew exactly what I wanted in their rooms and I had them ready months before they came. For some reason with this little man, I just didn't know what to do. Having her push me to do something with the room was very needed. I miss her living so close. She really inspires me when I need it.

32 Weeks!

32 weeks along today. Only 8 more to go if he waits until my due date to come. I saw my midwife on Tuesday and she thought he may be a bit big. She was right. The ultrasound I had today confirmed that he is big. He's in the 80th percentile and weighing in a 4.75 lbs. The info I found said the average at 32 weeks is 3.72 lbs. He's goona be a big boy!

A Quilt For Cael - Part 4

Yesterday I did a ton of work on Cael's quilt. I sandwiched all the layers and finished quilting it! I knew that I wanted to do free motion stippling, but I was nervous to do it. My machine is a bit.... temper mental and I wasn't sure it would do it for me. The last time I tried stippling it turned out a complete mess and I had to revert to standard straight line quilting. Anyways.... I played with the tension, stitch length settings, etc. and I finally got my sample piece to look somewhat decent.
The quilting took me about 3.5 hours for this quilt. Trying to get the big quilt to move around was a pain and my wrists were killing me when I finally finished. But, all in all I'm really happy with the results. I just that "puckery" look that a stippled quilt has. I'm anxious to get my binding tomorrow and finish up the quilt so I can throw it in the wash and put it in babies room.
*On a cute side note: When my hubby saw the quilt as I was quilting he looked at me and smiled and he said "I remember those fabrics." I love that our son will be wrapped in his dad's old work shirts.... I think I've said that before.

A Quilt For Cael - Part 3

I sewed up the quilt top late in to the evening on the 23rd. Even though I thought my rows were looking a bit long for a baby crib quilt, I kept on stitching. When I finished I finally noticed that it was to long. Way to long and not wide enough. I went back to my drawing and realized that instead of 11 rows of 8 I had drawn 8 rows of 11. Yeah... this is why I shouldn't do a complex math quilting project while pregnant!! Instead of undoing everything, I just cut off the bottom that I didn't need and added 3 more rows. It ended up working great and my final quilt top measures 39" x 58". A bit larger than a standard crib quilt, but not by much.

I love the colors and the pattern that I chose. The photo doesn't show the whole top as I had a hard time getting a good photo of it at 11:00 at night.