Vacation Projects Revisited

Well, I had better show what I worked on.  I promise that I didn't sleep or play on my kindle that much while we were in the car.  :)  It was a little tricky to stitch, however, when I needed to put my feet up because they were swollen...my belly really got in the way!

1.  Baby quilt - done!  I finished the binding on Sunday, day one of the trip.  Hooray!  It got washed and dried at my parents' house, so it is ready to go for baby.

2.  Knitted baby blanket - done!  I worked on this in the evenings at my grandma's house after putting Timothy to bed.  I also worked on it a lot on day 1 of the return trip and finished it at the hotel.  I still need to tuck in a couple of knots and then wash/stretch it, but hopefully that will happen later this week.

3.  Quiet book - I got some handstitching done, but it proved to be really difficult to work on in the car.  Jared is out of town for the rest of the week for the district convention in Sioux Falls, so I am putting this on the priority list for the next couple of evenings.  I was able to sketch some things out and cut felt pieces at my parents' table, so now it just needs to be put together.

4.  Dishrags - I didn't start on any until yesterday, but I finished one and started another.  Completing the second is going to happen as soon as I finish this post and will take about 20 minutes.  Then I need to tackle the dishes before diving into the next project.  Sigh.

finishing up pages and adding too

So, I vowed to myself that I am not allowed to make any more pages for Timothy's quiet book until the bits and pieces left on old pages were done.

I did pretty good.

I have only one page left undone, the car page, and I still haven't figured out what kind of cars to make yet. The only new page I have made since my vow is the back cover. Originally I wasn't going to do a back cover, but it would be nice to have some kind of strap to hold everything together. I am not finished with it quite yet...it has a lot of hand sewing (as you will see), so I'll post pictures later. You'll have to pardon the lighting...it is after 8, so it is pitch black outside...

All of the fish are done!

The mailbox now has mail!

(not pictured...balloons are all trimmed, traffic light trimmed)

I did make a couple of pages before my vow and I haven't posted them yet, so here they are!

zipper page, a new obsession for my son.

They reveal a spaceship fabric underneath...I may make a removable ship for inside too.

texture page (much brighter in person, I promise)

Chick in an egg pocket. (saw it here first)

barn with...

finger puppets! (pattern here)

busy days

The weather was noticeably cooler this morning, sparking long-sleeves and singing "brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?" Unfortunately, it will be one the last times he gets to wear these slippers as his toes are pretty squished. We are also sticking our tongue out every time the camera comes out...not sure why, but it is sure cute! :)

I have started a new project to give our new house a more fall-ish feeling. We have a wonderful fabric store and quilt shop here in town and a very active quilting guild. This weekend is their big quilt show and I am looking forward to going and maybe end up joining the guild. This may be the year that I learn how to move beyond yarn-tying all of my pieced projects...

I added a couple more pages to Timothy's quiet book, although most of them I am still working on. I am finding out that many of my pieces need blanket stitching around the edges so they don't fray later on. If someone knows of a different edging stitch, let me know...I am starting to burn out on all of the edging...

traffic light with matching lights

The left page will have cars traveling on the shoelaces....the right has movable blobs of paint and a brush for pretend play (pattern from here).

snap balloons

I have been freezing zucchini and squash as I get them...either from our garden or from church members' gardens...

Quiet Book, first 4 pages

Construction of the quiet book is underway. I am really enjoying the process so far and I will have mad sewing machine skills by the time it is done. The buttonhole has been conquered! :) I am participating in a quiet book sew along, which is really helping motivate me to keep going. I think we are going to bust it out at church this weekend to see if he actually likes it, although most of the activities are going to be beyond him right now. But he'll grow into it.

Cover page

Back of the cover page (perfect-sized pocket for arch books), Front of page 2 (velcro frog attached with a ribbon)

Back of page 2 (more velcro fish are in production now!), Front of page 3 (whole bunch of stuff behind plastic)

Back of page 3 (mailbox that opens...letters coming, pattern here), Front of page 4 (buttons!)

Back of page 4...clock with moveable hands...more pages coming soon!

New Projects

Now that stacker toy is done, I can now move on to a new project...play food! I am really enjoying the randomness (not sure that is a real word) of this project because I can do whatever I want in whatever order. I have found a TON of free patterns on ravelry.com (If you crochet, knit, weave, or dye yarn you need to check it out) by some very creative people. They are easy, 1-2 hour projects that I can do while watching a TV show with Jared or while we are driving here and there (and seeing I do most of my grocery shopping 25 miles away, minimally, there is a lot of time in the car). So far I have a basket, apple, carrot, corn, lemon, and an ice cream cone. :) On the needle currently is a very bright purple eggplant.

I am also being inspired to copy some of my friends' works...strap covers for the carseat, courtesy of Gina (thanks for the link!)...

And a quiet book courtesy of my sister-in-law, Michelle. I would be a little farther if the above-pictured sewing machine had not died on me last night. However, that prompted me to do some research and discover that I can use my cricut to cut fabric! Ironing on Heat n' Bond, running fabric through the cricut, and ironing it on to backgrounds has been occupying me. I have four sides of pages done...we just need a sewing machine...thank goodness we have a trip coming up to Sioux Falls this week; I think I may be getting an early Christmas gift. Michelle, if you want to use the cricut to cut stuff for your book, let me know...I am thinking Timothy and I may have to road trip out there for a crafting weekend (or week days). :)

Timothy's current weight (as of Friday): 14 lbs, 11.5 oz

yes, those are thigh rolls :)