Blanket Bliss!

Had a great time sewing baby blankets with Christy tonight! They turned out cute! Who would have thought that learning to make a little baby blanket would make you so excited? But it did! I almost wrapped up Coco in it, but Troy would have gotten on to me. Can't wait to wrap our baby girlie in it! Made by mommie with love..awww wee...

Few things I figured out that I guess you would only learn from experience:

• Minky Dot is not the easiest thing to sew (the green was harder). It stretches and crinkles up a bit, so...
  Finally figured out to put that side down on the sewing maching with the cotton side facing upward. From there learned,
• When pinning your material, lay the fabric out the SAME way you will run it through the machine (I pinned with minky on top, but ran it through machine with cotton side on top--makes pulling out the pins not as easy).
• Also, put the pins in with the head of the pin facing you (point away) so you can easily slide it out while sewing!

Just a few things that most of you probably already know, but it takes trial and error to figure these things out I guess if you don't have a seamstress on hand for tips!

I tried a practice blanket on Monday with some sage green/cream toile and like a dummy, bought lime green minky, hoping that it would "blend." It did not. So it's ugly. But it was a practice blanket and I learned a lot from it. My new one looks so sweet! I used some of my new fabric, Love Birds, with pink Minky Dot. Maybe if I get very advanced, I can add a sweet satin border or something to it, but not yet!

Found this awesome tutorial online that was SO easy, even I could follow it:

Chenille-Backed Blanket Tutorial

Please share any others that you know of that makes it easy for novices like moi!

I'll take pics of nursery once it's finished! Still have to make curtains, comforter, and get a mattress! And a rug, chandelier (if Troy will let me), art on the wall, .....so many things!

Sweet husband helping me in my classroom! I just couldn't move the desks and hang stuff this year! He spent 3 1/2 hours up there with me!
Shera~P

Learning to sew! Started off easy with burp cloths...only the green toile one doesn't really match...but I had a ton of that fabric so...
Shera~P

Nursery!

Looks cuter with the pool-blue walls

Just ordered bedding and fabric for our nursery! I couldn't wait to decorate for a baby girl. I love pink, but didn't want it to look like Pepto Bismol. And I still want it to look babyish. After looking online at a million bedding sets and fabrics, I found one with the sweet colors I want!

I ordered the bumper and crib skirt, but I am going to make the rest. I ordered the Love Birds fabric, Love Birds Damask, Pink Circles and will buy some Minky dot in pink later. Carousel Designs is the maker of the bedding and it is so precious! Guess I need to learn how to sew. I also found some pink, blue, and green seersucker fabric downtown that I'll use. I almost went with the Sophie collection from Pottery Barn Kids, but changed my mind because I couldn't order the fabric to go with it and I wanted to make the drapes, chair covers, other stuff.

The website won't let me save big pictures of it (weird, only saves a snippet of picture), but here are the small ones!

I ordered the bumper and crib skirt:
I will attempt to make the blanket, comforter, and drapes! Maybe with my leftover fabric I'll cover a lamp shade. Troy's mom will help me sew these! I know how to make a ruffle and the rest seems pretty easy. ;)

Comforter:

Blanket:

Drapes:

What do you think? Now I need a crib...

beautiful day at the beach! No oil in PCB!
Shera~P

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Little Priss Pot on the way!

IT'S A GIRL! IT'S A GIRL!! Can you tell I'm excited? I was secretly hoping for a little girl but had several "boy" dreams. And Chinese calendar, YOU WERE WRONG!



More importantly, we got a great report. Today was my halfway checkup! Halfway, that's unreal to me! The placenta is in the right spot, plenty of amniotic fluid, all limbs were there and we saw the four chambers of the heart. To say it was amazing is very understated. I gained three pounds (that's all so far). Mom met us there, too. We got a DVD of the ultrasound and watched it again tonight. The sweetest part was when she was sucking her thumb and was playing with the umbellical cord! She moved around a lot and finally showed us her goods. The ultrasound tech just said it looked like an 'equals' sign = . She also put her little feet (mama called them BIG feet) up and pressed them against my belly for a nice picture! Once she did a big kick and I felt it. I've been feeling her a lot lately. Little bubble feelings and baby thumpings.

I just love being pregnant! Haven't had the first problems! I'll miss her being in my belly, but am anxious to welcome her to our family. Troy is already an amazing father, but I can't wait to see how he'll handle a little girl! She'll have him wrapped around her little finger!

When we got to the car, Mama pulls out a big pink ribbon, a flower arrangement inside pink booties, and "It's a Girl" candy! She hadn't prepared anything for a boy. Everyone is so excited about it being a girl, although we would have loved it even if it was a little man.

Names? Parker E______ Stinson or E______ Parker Stinson. I've always wanted to name a little girl Parker, so we'll see. The "E" is still undecided, but I just like that vowel. Also like Audrey. Guess I like all vowel names. Except "I". If "I" was her middle name, her initials would be PIS and we can't be having that. ;)

• Everleigh, Everly (probably our fav) Everly Parker or Parker Everly??
• Ella Parker (but becoming too common--but I LOVE it as a double name)
• Ellie Parker
• Parker Ellis (love this E name too)
• Audrey Parker (thanks Putting on the Ritz, Audrey Hepburn, for reminding me how cute Audrey is)
• Alejandro (just kidding...stupid song has been stuck in my head all day)

Now the fun part begins! We'll order some furniture and find some fabric and sew her up a cute lil' nursery! Need to pull out the sewing maching after the Fourth. Troy's mom can smock, so I'm hoping she'll make me a ton of precious outfits!

I'll add a few more pics tomorrow, but they're on T's phone. He's conked out after taking some meds. He also had to go to the doctor today for his back--he did something to it and could barely get around Saturday and Sunday. Hope his xrays turn out okay next week.

This is one of my favorite pictures (of her little feet).

Okay, my stomach does look huge here, but when I'm standing, it's just poking a little!

Bathtime for Doggies

I just figured out (or re-figured out) how to blog from my celly. Then I can come in easily and edit. Trying to keep blog updated more!

Buck did not want a bath. He tried to get away, wouldn't stand up, and looked pitiful the whole time.

Ann actually liked it. She came when we called her, and sort of smiled while we were bathing! (She is Bucker's mom).

Coco Chanel thought she was bad because I didn't bathe her this time (got her Friday night). She kept running by us real fast to rub it in. So I soaked her...:) But uploaded another picture because I thought it was cute with her legs hanging down like a real child. Don't know what she'll do when little bit gets here!

Shera~P