I love being an auntie

My first nephew (on my side of the family) will be born in just a few short weeks, I say few short weeks because I am not the mom and I know how few and short (ha ha) those last weeks can be :P I have a little care package ready to go in the mail later this week....below are a few of the goodies that I have found for the little guy.


This is the back of the quilt I have mentioned before, I think it is my favorite part of the quilt! I took the label then used it to make a rocket ship to go with the theme of the front of the quilt, rocket ships and robots, I think it turned out cute! My nephew's name will be Garrett Stauthie...Stauthie is a family name it was my dear, sweet Grandpa's first name (which at 18 he switched to his middle name but that is a different story). My Grandpa and Grandma lived 4 blocks from our house, they were the only Grandparents that we had in the area....my other set of Grandparents live in Florida and I have only met them a handful of times. My Grandma passed away in 1998 and my Grandpa passed away 8 years ago last week, in 2002. My brother is using My Grandpa's middle name in honor of my Grandpa whom we all loved and miss very, very much....I just love that this baby is going to have my Grandpa's name, it makes me choke up and I have a feeling this little guy is going to be a favorite of mine, my Grandpa was a favorite of mine too. :)

Here is the front of the quilt, I "stitched in the ditch". I know, not very creative but I am not a good "quilter". I can piece as well as the rest of them but "quilting" something STRESSES me out! This is also why I send all of my larger quilts off to the quilter, I can't do it, I have tried, even took a long arm class, the one and only thing I ever quilted on the long arm after that class I cried while quilting it, silly huh? Not worth it to me, I would much rather send it off, spend the money and be happy with the end vs. hating it!

So off to Portland, Oregon this box will go and so will the kids and I on spring break the end of March so I can moosh and goosh with Garrett and my niece Gracie and I can shop at Ikea, whoop whoop!!

family

My sweet Emily, ready for bed My sweet hubs with our sweet boy asleep on him

I have been feeling a bit sentimental these past few weeks....realizing how fast time is flying by....on Christmas Eve I got out the video camera to get it all ready for Christmas morning....I found the tape of when Jack was born...open all the flood gates....I was bawling like a baby, I can't believe he will be 4 in just 2 short months...4? how did that happen? How is it that Emily is 6!?!? I found myself gasping at how tiny Emily's voice was back then and how LOUD it can be now! :) And seeing my boy so little, all wrapped up in a blanket in the hospital now can hold his own with bowling on the wii!! I love my little family. :)

what would you do?

I finally cut into ALL of my Flea Market Fancy stash and I must say it feels good....I have been collecting this collection for over a year now and last month I realized that I just needed to DO SOMETHING with it....just sitting in a drawer for me to open every once in a while is silly, so cutting I did!! This is where I need a little help...I am 99% sure of which design I am going to use but wanted a few opinions....I have 42 blocks, they measure 11" x 11". I have a queen sized bed...with this option I had 7 blocks left over that I would use on the back with the fabric at the end of this post (that I got a KILLER deal on!) and a solid color, same as the blue/aqua in this line of the blue seeds/aqua bouquet. (those of you that know about this line know what color I am talking about, if you don't know about this line...read on!)
So here is the first option, white sashing around each block.
Here is an idea of the 2nd option, group them all together then have a large white border/sashing around all of the blocks (I would use all 42 blocks on this top, none on the back)
Here is the fabric I got a killer deal on, I just love it, click on it to see up close. :)

Like I mentioned above I am 99% sure of which choice I will go with but just wanted to find out any more opinions, likes, dislikes, ideas. Whatever I decide I will be working on this quilt this weekend and get it off to my quilter in the next week or so, I want this baby on my bed by early spring!!!

a few of my favorite things

I have not done a "favorite things" post in awhile.  This is a picture of TWO of my favorite people, Emily and Jack...I had them hold up the quilt top that I made for my nephew who will be making his debut next month, February 26th to be exact.  I used a few Amy Butler dot fabrics and a few of the Robots line from David  Walker, I just love how it turned out so far, so bright and cheery....

The kids are bright and cheery too!

 

throw pillow

I made this pillow for my girlfriend Nissa for part of her Christmas present.  For her birthday I had made her this.  I had asked her to pick out some of her favorite prints from the quilt then made her this pillow cover to go with it, I must say I love the way it turned out especially the buttons!!  I got the tutorial from here.  LOVE her fabrics.  We got a new computer over the holidays, I am a dork and can't figure out how to download pictures from our camera with this new computer, I know that sounds so stupid....I have quite a few things I have been working on and want to post some pics....I will tell this...one is a baby quilt, one is a quilt for our bed of ALL Flea Market Fancy fabrics, one project is making all 12 blocks from 2008 when I had joined a block of the month, about time to get cracking on that!  I look forward to finishing a lot more crafty projects this year, I would like to be all caught up and have NO WIPS, can you imagine?  

DQS8!

just a little sampling of some of my fav's from my flickr account...so fun to look through so many great projects...when in the swap we are asked to make a mosiac for our partner to get ideas of what we like...here are just a few of my favorites :)  I am really digging white with color right now, can you tell?   

My creation
Originally uploaded by kristinemhanson

DQS8

I got signed up for the doll quilt swap, yahoo!! Head over here to get in...they are limiting it to 160 this time, good luck!