Strawberry Shortcake Quilt

It's baby overload over here!

In the midst of making everything for my little guy, I managed to find the time to make an adorable baby girl quilt for one of the Hubby's cousins.

I used a fabric bundle that I bought off Fabricworm a while ago and was super excited to find out that I was getting to make a baby girl quilt!

After seeing the quilt top put together, the Hubby said that it reminded him of Strawberry Shortcake.  I just think it looks super cute!

I really like the chevron pattern, and I am in LOVE with the colors.

This is little baby Praise enjoying her new quilt - she's pretty thrilled, I can tell.

So cute!

Can't wait to take pictures of my little guy on the quilt I made for him!

Gloria's Baby Shower!

Way back on July 10th, I threw a baby shower for my sister-in-law Katie and her first baby, Gloria.  I know - that was a long time ago.  Better late than never, right?

As soon as Katie told me she was pregnant, I began mentally planning her shower.  I was so excited to do this for her.  I had the basic framework of the shower planned but couldn't really go all out until Gloria was born and we found out that it was a girl!  

I had big plans for this shower, and most of them came to fruition, but the first trimester of my pregnancy got to me, so I didn't finish everything that I had envisioned but I still think it all turned out great.

I wanted to make/have things for the shower that Katie could take home as a reminder of the shower, and to use in Gloria's nursery.

I enlisted the help of a super talented scrapbooker that I work with, the uber-fantastic Hayley to create this:

It turned out way better than the version that I created in my mind.  It created such a wonderful centrepiece for the room.

And even better is that Katie was able to use this for Gloria's nursery.  Fantastic.

I bought the birth announcement off an Etsy shop called Tilly Claire's.  I absolutely loved it, and was excited that it was another item for Katie to take home after the shower.

Here are some more pictures:

Terrible lighting on this picture, but I wanted to show you that I made a cake! With pink icing! And put it on a table next to three different kinds of Jelly Belly's!  Yum.

And look at three quarters of the room.  I had to try to squeeze around 30 people in a room that was not big enough for 30.  We all made it work though.  Too bad I forgot to take pictures when there were people in the chairs... :( 

That 'G' in the bottom right corner? I did that.  Well, I bought a cardboard letter, and then painted it, and mod-podged fabric scraps on the top.  Another decorative touch that Katie got to take home.

The loot!

The beautiful momma lounging in the midst of all Gloria's new stuff!

And now for my favorite part - the quilt and baby photo!

Little Gloria is such a gift to our family and I was blessed to be able to throw this shower for Katie.  It was such a wonderful day that was spent with family and friends enjoying each others company and good food (a big thanks to my other sister-in-laws Linda & Nicole for helping with the food, along with my mom and mother-in-law).

I love babies.  Good thing that in 4 1/2 months I'll have my own!

I Love Fabric. Period.

I often look at fabric online.  I love looking at it, imagining what I can do with it, looking at it.  But I was nervous about buying fabric without being able to feel it.

I follow the blog Prudent Baby, and it seems like those super crafty ladies buy all of their fabric off of Fabricworm.com.  I figured, they do it, and they like the fabric once they get it, so maybe I should give it a try.

So I did.

I thought of a couple of projects that I wanted to do, and started browsing.  I find that choosing fabric for a quilt, is one of the most stressful parts of the process.  Don't ask me why, I don't know why I find it stressful, I just do.  Finding fabrics that coordinate, and that I won't hate in a week could have something to do with it.

When I started browsing I looked at fabric bundles.  This was a great way for me to not get stressed out about choosing coordinating fabrics.  All I had to do was make sure I liked the fabrics that were in the bundle.

I chose three bundles, two I had plans for, and the third, I just really liked.

Jenean Morrison, Silent Cinema ($38.00 CAD)

I am totally loving the yellow/gray color combo right now.  I really want to re-do our bedroom with yellow and gray.  Alas, this fabric is not designated for our bedroom.  It is designated for a quilt that I will be making for                              .  I can't tell!  They might be reading!  But they probably aren't, but maybe, just to be safe.

The Quilted Fish, Sugar and Spice ($31.50)

I see a couple of baby girl quilts in this fabric bundles future!

Khristian A. Howell, Theory Seaside ($36.00)

I just liked this bundle, pure and simple.  No idea what I'm going to use it for.  I'll probably just look at it for a long time.

Actually, I will probably just look at all of this fabric for a long time.

I heart fabric.  And Fabricworm. 

Go there.

Babies & Quilts: A Few of My Favorite Things

On Sunday, I went to a baby shower at The Teahouse in Stanley Park.  I think that this may have been the fanciest baby shower I've ever been too.  We had a private room looking onto the Burrard Inlet, and a menu of delicious items to choose from for breakfast.

The shower was for a friend in my Bible Study group and her new baby Hunter.

In the last year, I have been introduced to the world of Quilting and have gotten into the habit of making baby quilts for my friends.

For Hunter, I made this:

And I 'wrapped' it like this:

Where did that adorable little giraffe that conveniently coordinates with the quilt come from? 

Oh, I made it!

Still needs some perfecting, but I think it looks pretty good for my first stuffed animal!

Baby Hunter loved his quilt and stuffed animal so much, he didn't want to get up:

He was an excellent model.

I have also made these baby quilts:

Baby Judah

Baby Adaya

Now, I have to give credit where credit is due.  My good friend, Amanda, taught me everything I know about quilting.  She showed me the pattern for these quilts and has helped guide me along my way.  

I also blame her for my newfound fabric addiction and the fact that photo's like these set my heart a flutter:

Quilting, and the love of fabric, can be an expensive habit... but it's so worth it when you end up with beautiful gifts!