The Nursery

We're at 33 weeks with our twin girls! The doctor says we have, at most, 5 weeks to go and then we get to meet these sweet little girls, and our life will never be the same. :)

Everything I have read regarding twin pregnancies says be prepared early. You get big and heavy fast and this can lead to you having a hard time getting things prepared, not to mention I had a big fear that I would be put on bed rest...so  far I'm doing great and still working 6 hour days! Since the advice is get things ready early that is just what we did.

Before we knew the genders of these little ones we knew we wanted something gender neutral for their nursery. If we had been having one baby we would not have found out gender, but since it is twins we wanted to know to be more prepared. (No one likes buying you gender neutral clothes.) So our gender neutral theme is: BOOKS. Since I work in early childhood education I have a TON of paperback books so I knew we would feature these.

On Pinterest I saw many images of book ledges being used in children's rooms. I decided I wanted book ledges so I could feature all my books and keep them safe until our twins grew to care for them. So my dad got to work making them using this tutorial. (I also had him make 2 for our living room to use as picture ledges.) We framed the bedroom window with 4 ledges on each side, 36" long and 15" apart. There are at least 3-4 books behind each book you see on the ledge...I have A LOT of books!

We didn't paint the room since it was already a neutral and calming color from when it was our bedroom and I wanted simple window treatments. We bought a cheap roller shade at Lowes and I added ribbon  and rick-rack trim to jazz it up a bit. For the valance I simply wrapped a few yards of sheer navy fabric around the curtain rod. Below our window is a simple toy shelf: a storage cube unit purchased at Target with Ikea legs so that it could sit above the heat/A/C vent.

I also fell in love with alphabet collage walls I had seen floating around on the internet such as this one and wanted to feature the alphabet on one of the walls. This was the first thing I did in the nursery, weeks before we knew they were girls. For the letters I wanted to stick to things that started with that letter for the ones I put together, such as tree branches for the letter 'T' and a ruler for the letter 'I' (inches) and the 'M' is covered in a map of Nebraska. I found a lot of great deals on random letters at craft stores and online, others my family helped me piece together such as a $1 'R' my Aunt found at Goodwill.

 

My Aunt also found us a $15 changing table that needed some refinishing and a little fixing up. Since our dresser is so short we wanted something a little taller for the days my mom watches the girls. She is helping us out with childcare costs by altering her nursing schedule and caring for them Tuesdays and Thursdays. Not only does the changing table save her back, it also provides more storage space for cloth diapers (I know we are crazy!). My dad fixed the shelf and drawer on this Craigslist find, then painted it white to match the rest of the furniture and updated the drawer knobs. I wish I had a before picture, it looks so much better now.

 

I made a cover out of JoAnns fabric for our changing pad and added a shelf above the table for wipes and cream, this was left over wood we used in finishing the basement. The final touch was our book mobile that I created after seeing this one on Etsy. I used mini Little Golden Books from my childhood along with a dissected and pieced together Pokey Little Puppy.

 

For our cribs we went with mini-cribs purchased from Target. These were cheaper and will convert to Twin size beds when the girls are toddlers. These are a real space saver for us, unfortunately standard crib sheets don't fit so I got to make my own. :) I used this tutorial  to make the blue chevron sheets and another set in grey with white polka dots. For the crib skirt I searched Spoonflower for book fabric and came across this which is perfect with the books and owls! I splurged on this custom fabric and bought a few yards then used a straight panel for the front of the cribs with dark grey Kona on the sides. I attached it with tape, :) and as we lower the cribs I can adjust the length of the skirts. The left over fabric is folded in my stash to use for twin size quilts when our girls move into big kid beds. :)

The shelf between the cribs was a $10 purchase that I fixed up by painting the top and sides a turquiose blue to match the owl fabric and storage baskets on the changing table. This fits board books and small stuffed toys/puppets. Just above the cribs and shelf I stenciled 'Once upon a time...' To make this I printed the letters from our computer then cut them out and traced them onto the wall with a pencil. Once I had everything up and level I filled the pencil lines in with leftover grey paint from our basement.

 

A few finishing touches in the nursery were added to go with the book theme. I put some stuffed book characters all with their books around the room. My three favorites: Where The Wild Things Are, The Lorax and the Llama, Llama series are featured. The frames on the shelves will hold photos of the girls once they're born and we will spell their name out in blocks on each shelf as well. (We do have names picked out, but we aren't sharing, both sets of grandparents aren't too happy about this!)

 

 

We didn't keep track of our budget but I know it was on the low end for decorating this nursery. I think this is a room that will grow with our girls for several years too. When we convert the cribs to beds the dresser will get housed in the closet for extra play space. Our house is on the small side, but I think it will work until they are 8 years old or so. Then who knows, we may need to move to a bigger home or follow their likes and re-decorate. I'm so anxious for their arrival. Everything is ready, just waiting for them!

Finish it up Friday

Here is a small finish I had this week. Mug Rugs for a co-workers "commitment ceremony."

She loved this small gift, stating "these are our colors!" I pulled the color pallet from a fat quarter I had of Mustard Cameras fabric from the 2wenty Thr3e line.

I embroidered 'His' and 'Hers' rather than 'Mr' and 'Mrs' because they were married in an informal commitment ceremony rather than a big extravagant wedding, and it is more their style.

Then I did two coordinating striped mug rugs for guests. 

For the back I used a grey dot fabric, scraps I had left over from sheets I made for the girls' cribs.

Our nursery is pretty custom, I hate to buy the stuff at the stores...plus in my opinion the crib sets are a waste of money. All you can use is the crib skirt and sheet, plus we ended up purchasing two mini cribs rather then full size cribs so for us those are worthless because they would be WAY too big! I plan to post a blog about the nursery soon, just waiting on my dad to finish making us some book ledges. :)

For now I am in the process of getting our queen size bed quilt quilted. My job tomorrow is to baste it, which involves a 29-week-pregnant-with-twins woman to crawl around on the kitchen floor as I pin this monster of a quilt. Let's just say I am finally starting to get uncomfortable, I feel huge (two weeks ago I was measuring the same as a 37 week pregnant woman!). I have this quilt, then our girls' quilts to work on...9 weeks to go to get it all done!! :) Thank goodness I am working 6 hour shift days rather than 8 now, I can rest enough to get this stuff finished!

A Place to Relax

Independence day in America...loud and busy. I'm not sure what most people's neighborhoods are like but in ours you can easily imagine what it's like to be in a war torn country. It makes me thankful for all the soldiers and vets that protect our country! Lee works with a guy that served 4 tours in Iraq and he has a hard time listening to the fireworks this time of year, they sure are beautiful at night though. To all those that have or are serving in military service, no matter the country, thank you for all you do!

We had a quiet holiday at our house, filled with some house work and then relaxing. We were more looking forward to our weekend camping trip with friends. It was a blast to have great company while relaxing this weekend. The weather was perfect, the company was better, and the toasted marshmallows were excellent! We joined my good friends Cristy and Drew and their wonderful kiddos.

Penny had a blast but did not enjoy her post-camping bath today.

While snapping this photo I thought I would take a few shots of our recent bathroom makeover to share with you. This was one of my many crafts I worked on during my break from blogging: a new shower curtain and decor for our bathroom.

I made this shower curtain using a flat sheet I got on sale at Target a long time ago, some rectangle cuts from my Flea Market Fancy stash, and some large eyelets. I recommend browsing clearance sections for flat sheets, they come in handy for these kind of projects! I didn't have to worry about large seams here, just one large cut of the sheet then hem the sides. I stitched the pieced stripes of focal fabric over the white sheet so that when I wash it I won't have to worry about any fraying. 

It came together in a matter of hours, then I worked on new shelves, artwork and decor for the much needed bathroom makeover. I'm working on a shaggy rag rug for next to the sink, all other decor was simple and cheap. Like the owl, yellow pitcher, and jars, all under $10! I used a mason jar to make a soap dispenser too. :)

For the artwork I framed a few scraps of Flea Market Fancy to go with photography prints I got at our local craft store: hot/cold tub handles. One of my favorite features are the photos of Lee and I as kids in the tub. A "Bath Time" theme. :)

We will be printing and framing the one I took of Penny today, then when we have a future child he/she will be added to the wall too. I really want to add bath toys to a wire basket by the tub, but we don't really have a need for them yet. I also want to get more decorative frames for the bath time photos. Oh, I almost forgot; for some light reading I placed one of my favorite picture books out, The Tub People. If you have kids, check out this cute story, it was one of my childhood favorites. Now this bathroom is a place to relax....or play. :)

Keeping Busy...

I'm still here. Quilting came to a sudden halt after I finished my Ghastlies (which is still being used even though Halloween stuff is tucked away until next October).

Much of my time from October until December was spent finishing my undergrad degree, and studying for the GRE. I applied to Grad school and was accepted into the Educational Psychology program. So, although I graduated in December, I am still in school. Along with studying, I managed to get a few crafts done though. I can thank pinterest for keeping my creative juices flowing. Here is a picture of one of my wind chimes I made (I am obsessed with wind chimes!). I have gotten a lot of small craft projects done throughout the house, just not much quilting.

Until lately...there are more babies being born, so more quilts have been getting done. The quilting bug has bitten me once again. Here is a peek at a baby quilt I did for a co-worker.

Plus... I have finally put together my quilting bee top and back! I have one quilt in line to be quilted for a baby shower this weekend, then this guy is getting basted and on the quilting table.

I am going to try to get back into blogging. For the few of you that actually care. :) The next few weeks may be busy though, I do my first 1/2 marathon on the 5th! Hopefully mother nature will get the memo that spring started before then. It has been VERY cold this month, my run last night was in the wind and 30 degree weather. Last year we were wearing shorts in March. This year I will be lucky if I am not wearing my winter running gear at the start of the marathon. I will share some of my projects with you soon! 

Up and Running Again

This weekend my husband and I participated in our first 5k. The first of many to come I am sure, I loved it! I set a goal to finish in under 30 minutes and succeeded. Lee runs faster than me, but was kind enough to stay at my pace and push me along. I never told him what my goal was, which incidentally enough was his goal as well. He encouraged me to run faster, when I really didn't want to run any longer. The thing that kept me going was running with others around me, and running for a purpose. The 5k raised money for our local Relay For Life, as well as money to help out a local teacher whose cancer has returned.
Here we are after the race, hot and sweaty. :)

My post title has to do with more than running. My cousin came by this week to have me help her make a towel wrap for her new sorority "baby" in Alpha Phi at UNL. She and I made a trip to JoAnn's for materials and put together this fun little wrap for the incoming freshman to use.

I loved picking out the colors and materials and spending time with my little cousin. This towel wrap took very little time, although it was not so kind to my machine when it came time to add the Velcro (I broke 2 needles!).
Spending time at the sewing machine has released my creative juices once again and I am working on another new project. Which means I have way to many things  started and not being finished. Isn't that a true quilter though, WIPs always outweigh finished quilts. :) So this girl is up and running once again. I'm excited to get back into quilting and to prepare for the Color Run I'm doing this July in Omaha.

*sorry for the bad photo quality, one was taken with a phone, the other at 11pm

Oh, Tannenbaum

The Christmas season has began. We finally got our tree decorated Thursday night, it only sat out without ornaments for a week until we had time to finish it. Lee and I are both at the end of fall semester and very busy finishing papers, projects and studying for finals.

Today we had our first winter snow. Penny has been enjoying it, the malamute in her really comes through when snow is on the ground!

I wanted to share with you my office/quilt room tree. We have two little table top trees that we decorate in our house, one has a popcorn string and ribbon with a few little ornaments, the other I changed up this year. I dug through my scrap bin (I save everything) and tied little pieces of fabric onto the tree. It turned out pretty cute, colorful and was very resourceful. I finished it up with a little tinsel and placed it next to my quilting table. What do you think?

 

My husband loves this time of year. For me it is the runner up to fall. But there definitely is a magically feeling in the air during a peaceful snowfall like today. Happy Holidays!

Let's Go Huskers!

I made this little Taggie blanket for one of my closest friends. We have known each other for 12 years and her little man, Patrick is four months old this month. I made them a Dr. Seuss baby quilt earlier in the year, and love seeing photos of Patrick using it on Facebook.
They moved to Colorado (Husker fans in the Rocky Mountains) so baby Patrick needs a little something to play with on Husker Game days. I hope he likes it!
I made these using the crazy nine patch tutorial here....I have eight more of these blocks now. I guess I will have to make more Taggies (too bad you can't sell taggies on etsy!) or I could make myself a Husker quilt for this fall.
And along with the Huskers...my sewing machine is having a little holiday at a local sewing machine dealer/repair shop: Husker Sew and Vac. The wonderful service people are going to clean her up and fix my tension problem for me. :)

School's out for SUMMER

My three week class is over! It was a fun class, Multicultural Education, quick and easy too. Now I have nearly 3 months to enjoy the hot, humid Nebraska summer with NO homework. I plan to quilt, read, camp, quilt, hike, read, quilt....it is going to be fabulous.
I didn't get much quilting done during my class. However I did find some time to make a little something for my baby, Penny. Her water and food dishes needed a little something to spruce them up.....so  I made her a quilted towel "mat."

I used a few of my favorite prints from Max and Whiskers by Basic Grey as well as some coordinating prints and a few with a coffee theme to match our kitchen. I used a towel for the back/batting to absorb the spilling water...Penny is not so neat.

I also had time to make a little something for my water bottle. It is getting hot, we had a very cool spring (very cool) but as usual it didn't last long. I made this koozie after making the one for my aunt's bridal shower. I used Insul-Bright on this one to help keep my water cool on the playground at work as well as my bike rides home. The Insul-Bright worked pretty well, and all my kids kept asking me "what is that?" and "did you make that?" and my favorite "did your mom help you make it?"

I love to ride my bike instead of drive during the nice months....today was 98 degrees, not too bad. :) So I added some bike fabric to the inside and half the outer side, and then I did the patch work with some scraps. It is so bright and cheery and I love how cute my water bottle is now.
Right now, literally. I am working on a small baby quilt for a co-worker's baby shower on Saturday, it is very fun. I am also working on my quilting bee block for June. So back to my quilting, before bed. Our first field trip of the summer is tomorrow....I am sure I will be tired when I get home. :)

Spring Showers

We had a few thunder showers the past few days....or maybe they were more like storms since I had one of my preschoolers tell me, "Ms. Candace my dad showed me ice that fell from the sky last night!" I love rain, it is so peaceful. I especially love the sound of rain on the roof as you sleep. :)
I also attended my aunt's bridal shower this evening as well.  I am so excited for her, she has been dating a wonderful man the past 4 1/2 years and they are finally getting married this summer, now that my cousin is graduating high school. I have had the pattern and material for this quilt:

from Rachel Griffith at p.s. i quilt for nearly a year now, and I love it, but I have so many other quilts I want to make, I feel selfish keeping it. So it is going to be a wedding gift for my aunt and new uncle. However, I have just cut into the fabric, so it won't be done for awhile. For her bridal shower I decided to make her some coordinating small gifts for two. This wine koozie and my first mug rugs:

I followed the "recipe" for the wine koozie from Moda Bake Shop.  and I threw in some hot cocoa and a bottle of my favorite wine from a local vineyard. In the card I mentioned these little gifts would be great with something to snuggle with on a chilly day or lay out for a picnic, she loved these and is excited to see the quilt.
The pattern for this quilt uses 3 1/2" squares cut from charm packs, so I have these lovely scraps:

I think they will have to be used for some sort of stacked coins quilt, that may or may not stay in my home. I just love the colors (not necessarily the prints) of the Botany line! I am very excited to work on this quilt, it will be the first time I use a half square triangle in a quilt, hopefully it goes well.