BUSY DAYS, AND SOME "DUH" MOMENTS....

Well this week has squeeled by and here we are to Friday again already!  It just seems crazy to me for some reason.  It has been ANOTHER busy week at the machine for me as we are getting closer and closer to that shower.  I am soo happy to say however that one thing has changed.  Melody (who is throwing the shower for her cousin/best friend) was coming out on the Friday morning before the shower with Luke, and flying home again on Sunday.  She was leaving Sam and Mike at home and just making a quick trip out of it.  Sam is FULL price now on airlines, and traveling with two active babies all by herself I do get, but still!  This mom/grandmother was doing her VERY best NOT to complain, but seriously?  Such a SHORT SHORT time, and WITHOUT Sam?  I could hardly bear it.  I had wheedled and whined asked to NO avail, and had decided to just accept a QUICK drop in from my girl and little Luke was better than NO visit at all, but my heart was sad especially realizing little Sam wouldn't be getting any kisses and squeezes from me.  WELL....they have decided to ALL come!  And stay for six days!!  My cup runneth over!!  YAY YAY YAY! They are going to drive, which seems VERY brave to me with two little ones, but they are going to leave right at the babies bed times and just drive straight through the whole night while they sleep. (thankfully they sleep and travel in the car really well!) Melody will hopefully sleep too.  Then Mike can just sleep after they get here, and Melody too if she needs to, and this grandma will work those babies!  I guess when your only 28 years old like Mike, one night of missed sleep is not the end of the world.  But for me that would be HUGE. Soo glad he is willing to do this.

OK, on to the projects of this week.  First off let me show you the blessing board.  I am VERY pleased with the way it turned out, but goodness did it ever expose me as a dork.  I have NOT done much applique in the past.  Not of letters anyway.  Not sure how much any of you do much of this. but I usually do mine with wonder under and then stitch the applique with my machine once it's in place for good measure as well.  Well, I traced all my letters and ironed the wonder under on to the "back" (key word) of my planned fabric, and then flipped them over to iron onto my board (some of you I am sure already KNOW the problem, lol) only to realize that over half of them were backwards...duh....of course they were, what was I thinking?  But here is where it really gets crazy.  For the life of me I couldn't seem to make backwards letters and get them to turn out right. Can't tell you how many I did wrong.  I even contemplated going to google and typing in HOW DO YOU IRON ON LETTERS FOR APPLIQUE SO THEY ARE NOT BACKWARDS?? lol.  Bottom line, I of course FINALLY got a method that worked well, but I am very certain there must be an easier way....sigh. I know it seems obvious to just trace the letters onto the actual fabric, iron the wonder under then to the back and then cut out the letters.  But the fabric I was using was soo dark, I just couldn't see it well enough...oh the problems of aging. I was also concerned about ironing them onto the board but that turned out to be no problem.  I could not stitch them of course considering they were on a BOARD, but it really isn't necessary anyway to get them to stick anyway.  I just like the way the stitching looks.  Soo then it was onto the giraffe, the lines made of ribbon, and the teeny tiny little clothes pins that I actually found in KELLY green.  I couldn't believe I did!  Whoever would have thought it?  I didn't even know that such clothespins existed in that size, let alone in a color that coordinates with her nursery, haha.  I will say they are kind of hard to clip with BECAUSE they are soo tiny, but they do work, and hey it is only to clip one message on anyway.  So, here is the board.....(a definite TA DA moment! lol)

HARD TO SEE HOW BIG THIS IS FROM THIS PICTURE, BUT I AM GUESS A GOOD 2' BY 3'.  NOTICE THE FABRIC WAS THE SAME THAT I USED FOR MY ONE BLANKET/QUILT?  AND EVEN AFTER ALL MY LETTER MISTAKES, I STILL HAVE LOTS LEFT, LOL  I AM ANXIOUS TO SEE ALL THE LITTLE PRAYERS, BLESSINGS, AND WISHES HANGING ON THIS FOR THIS NEW LITTLE BOY

After I finished the board this week, (finally) I moved on to the crib sheets (3 of them!) which are quick, EASY and mindless to make, lol, and the pillow (which I already showed you).  The making of the pillow was ANOTHER "duh" moment for me as I put together a couple of pillow tops BEFORE I finally settled on the one I used.  Just couldn't get it to look right.  Not sure what my problem has been this week, lol, but I have sure done some "dumb" things.  But then it was time to make the stuffed animals.  Now truthfully, while these are DARLING, I DO NOT enjoy making these things either.  They are little and fiddly and therefore not my favorite kind of thing to do. Kind of falls into the "crafting" category I think to me, which as I mentioned before, I do not do well with.  I pressed on as there is something REALLY cute about these little animals all done up to coordinate with everything.  I made them a few years ago for Sam, and this was as soon as I could bear them again.  Anyway, here they are....

ONE OF THE SHEETS.   REALLY LIKE THIS FABRIC.  NOTICE HOW WELL IT MATCHES THE QUILT!

ANOTHER SHEET.  MORE CHEVRON PRINT, LOL, BUT IT WAS NICE FABRIC!  SHOWN HERE WITH THE BED SKIRT!

AND I REALIZED I NEVER DID TAKE A PICTURE OF THE 3RD SHEET ON IT'S OWN.  IT IS THE GREY FABRIC BETWEEN THE NAVY AND THE CHEVRON STRIPE HERE.  IT IS ALSO A CHEVRON, BUT MUCH SMALLER.  MY SISTER TOOK ALL OF THESE YESTERDAY WHEN SHE LEFT SO THAT JESSIE CAN GET SEE HOW THEY ARE GOING TO FIT ETC.

LOVED THE FABRIC FOR THE ELEPHANT.  HE IS SPORTING A BRIGHT KELLY GREEN RIBBON!

AND MR. GIRAFFE IS WEARING NAVY.  I LOVE HOW THESE ANIMALS HAVE FLAT BOTTOMS AND SIT SOO NICELY!

HAD TO SHOW YOU HIS MANE, LOL.  I HAD TO TRIM THIS TO FIT SO IT IS NOT EXACTLY EVEN, LOL, AND HIS ANTLERS ARE NOT THE SAME SIZE EITHER.  BUT WORKING WITH THAT CORD WAS NOT EASY AND HE'S LUCKY THE ANTLERS ARE ON HIS HEAD!

HI WESTON!

My sister Danae came over yesterday to deliver some plain onesies to embroider, and to take me to lunch for a nice little treat.  I enjoyed a gluten free pizza and lots of good conversation and laughs, and was really glad for the break.  Today, I will hopefully get a good start on the embroidering I have to do. Two weeks till the shower and I still need to embroider several things, make 5 nighties, and finish up one blanket. And a small thing or two for the shower. Soo, think I will make it?  Ever onward is my moto over here recently.  I have 5 days of homework to fit in each week with the Daniel study I am doing, and how I am enjoying that.  Sooo good! And I need to address these grey roots (again!) and and get my nails done somewhere in there too, and maybe find a new top to wear to the shower.  So I think I'd best get off this computer and get cracking.  Hope you are all enjoy your week-end.  We are have GORGEOUS warm weather here in California which I have decided to just enjoy rather than worrying about our lack of rain for right now.

Blessings to you all!  Debbie