Paper or Plastic??? (Project #11 & #12 of 45)

Seriously??? PLASTIC PLEASE! I know some people use fabric grocery bags ... which is awesome ... but I change LOTS of poopy diapers, and my car is always messy/needing to be cleaned up and I never have enough of those grocery store bags. And the current system is just NOT working for me ... thrown under the kitchen sink & always finding their way ALL around the house. So .... I pulled out some fabric & ribbon & elastic I already had and made this ...

I used this tutorial to make a grocery bag dispenser. :) Total cost = nothing! But, it has made me smile anytime I walk by or use it and it eliminated the constant overflowing mess of grocery bags from underneath my kitchen sink. :) I love it! :)

And then I used the left over strip to make my friend a matching one ... another project done! :)

And now if you'll excuse me ... I caught a NASTY stomach bug on Saturday (knocked me out flat) and am still pretty shaky ... so I'm going to rest more today, enjoy some tv time with the kids ... and maybe cut out a few felt flowers for the new baby. :)

Bedroom Curtains (Project #10 of 45)

So I have had this fabric since our trip to Vegas last January ... Home Fabrics is an AWESOME fabric store & I NEVER buy fabric that's more than $3 a yard there ... it's fabulous!

I really love the HUGE, chunky design on the cream/brown section, but I didn't get enough to make curtains & of course when I got back to Vegas in JULY it was ALL gone ... so I added some of the pretty blue to the bottom & voila!!! Finished curtains for my bedroom! I have a sheet I could cut up & use as a lining for the back (I'm still debating & may do it), but for now I really like that I have curtains but they let some light in. Cheyenne winters are long and very dark & dreary ... so I didn't want to make my bedroom COMPLETELY dark.

Nothing in my room goes with them ... yet. But no one EVER sees my bedroom, and I don't care how long it takes me to slowly accumulate a few things to pull the room together more, I haven't had curtains in my bedroom for almost 5 years and it feels good to spend a little bit of time to create a bedroom oasis ... or at least to start thinking about creating a bedroom oasis ... :)

ABC Felt Pillow (Project #8 & #9 of 45)

So I saw these amazing felt pillows on etsy, but the price tag nearly killed me. Seriously. And while I understand the value of homemade and the hard work she must really put into each one (it took me almost 2 hours on each pillow to stitch all around the letters, and I have no idea how long it took to trace & cut the letters ... but I'm guessing I'm in each one at least 3.5 - 4 hours), I already had the felt on hand, and some random pillow forms (it looks black because of the overcast skies on the D & O ... but they are really a dark hunter green), so I made one for the boys room (originally it was going to go on Jax's toddler bed, but Colton has confiscated it) and then I also decided to use up as much felt as possible (and another pillow form) and finish another one for a friend in Vegas ...

Colton's Christmas Quilt (#7 of 45)

I would just like to point out one thing ... everything has been pretty much free ... and completing projects is COMPLETELY addicting ... but I'm having a hard time not "adding" to the list ... that being said ... here it is in all it's awesome-ness ...

Colton had COMPLETE meltdowns any time I touched it. At all. Or looked like I might come near it. LOL. Once the quilting was done, he did NOT want to give it up. So I had to sit there for the 45 minutes it took to sew the binding on & have him crying & pulling on it the whole time. I would have waited until he went to sleep, but the kids kept picking at the excess batting & I was really worried they would pull it out of somewhere before I got a chance to finish. I am so excited to have this one done.

I used the red scroll fabric from the Star of Wonder line (I have enough to be the binding for at least one more quilt too ... yeah!) and now there's nothing left to do but stick it on his bed & let him enjoy it for a while. I know I should pack it away for next year ... but WHY??? I worked hard, long hours & really hurt myself a couple of times pinning and quilting this sucker (I'm eight months pregnant, pinning a quilt is NOT a good idea anymore) ... so until he tells me he wants to put it away (or throws up on it, so I have to wash it and think about it again ... whichever comes first), it's on his bed to stay. :)

Blogged about here, here and here.

Savannah's new skirt (#6 of 45)

Today's finished project was originally a skirt I picked up in a size 10 for less than $3 last winter. I got it intentionally to make something for Savannah. Using this tutorial I just whipped it up pretty easily and it's a nice, long length for her (she likes to kick up her legs a lot, so LONG is a necessity to hide her bum) and it was so awesome to see her enjoy it!

And while trying to photograph her in this dress, I realized I do NOT have a very willing model. She's trying to dance all around, jump up and down, swinging her hair to the music (that she was singing) ... twenty photos later, this was the only semi-decent photo ... which also shows off the mess of my front room ... sweet. LOL.

Baby Burp Rags (Project #5 of 45)

Early, early, early Sunday morning Jaxson woke up screaming. Couldn't calm him down for ANYTHING. Finally after twenty minutes of walking around, I gave him some Tylenol (he kept grabbing his head, so I figured it must be a headache or he slammed his head or something?) and we snuggled on the couch & watched Elmo until he finally calmed down & fell asleep (two hours later). At this point it was 3 am, and I was so tired the room would spin whenever I tried to lift my head up ... so I sat there & waited to fall asleep ... and at six a.m. I finally did.

My awesome, mc-awesome hubby let me sleep until 9 am (our church time is 11 this year, sweet!), and did dishes & made breakfast too. He's too good to me. :)

Anyways, while sitting there ... wondering WHY I was still up ... it occurred to me that I had some ultra soft fabric left over from the Christmas stockings I made. So, I used it all up & now have six ultra soft baby burp rags made ...

They ended up measuring 13.5" x 12" ... a little short, but they are definitely wider than the ones I picked up at the store for Jax, and did I mention how soft they are??? I used primarily some fabric that was left over from Savannah's blanket, I love how bright, happy & fun it is! Another free project, using up what I have & so glad to have it done project completed! :)

Boys Room Curtains (Project #4 of 45)

So after making the boys their fort, I had an 18" x 72" remnant of fabric left over ... so I made them some basic curtains! :)

I didn't make them the perfect length of their current window (we're just renting, and who knows what the next window length would be), and I didn't allow for anything to hang on the sides (it's a boys room ... they are rough, they wrestle & they would pull them down in a heartbeat without meaning to), but I just used a bit of stitch witchery and a cheapy $2 curtain rod from Wal-Mart and begged my husband to hang them for me ... thanks honey! :)

Sorry for the crappy lighting, their room is always a challenge & with the clouds moving in the for big 3 day snowfest we have forcasted, it was hopeless. And in more important/pressing matters ... is it possible for the baby to drop & then come back UP??? Seriously, I usually get a couple of weeks off from the rib pain, but the baby dropped LAST Saturday and by Thursday night she was kicking my ribs again!!! Oy.

More Baby Headbands (#3 of 45)

So I was looking thru etsy for some hair bow inspiration and saw that a lot of gals were using the foldable elastic for hairbands ... sweet! I had some gray, pink & black already in my stash and made another set of 6 (3 in newborn size, 3 in 6-12 month size) ... another free project/de-stashing/quick & easy/so glad to have more options & my third project done! :)

And since these projects have been so, so easy I've been able to put more time into a much more time consuming project that I hope to have done sometime today! :)

Baby Headbands (#2 of 45)

So I know this is a super simple project, and not that exciting ... but to keep track of my goal, I've gotta add it! :) I do have a LOT of these little projects laying around! And these I was able to finish up last night while dinner was cooking, perfect! :) **Which TOTALLY explains the bad lighting BTW.**
I picked up the tights for $3.50 for 3 pairs and was able to make 6 headbands (3 newborn, 3 for 6-12 months) from the box, using each leg as a headband. I've had these laying around for the last few weeks in the front room, so it's nice to have them done & up on my girl's (love the plural!!!) headband frame.
I used this tutorial by the way. :)

Spiderman Shirts (Project #1 of 45)

So this project is another one of those, "got frustrated and quit" kind of projects. Colton is in love with Spiderman and so one of the winter shirts that I got was designated to become the Spiderman shirt. So I found a design on-line, blew it up, traced it on felt (for the white circle) and red flannel for the spider (because it's all I had on-hand). And when I went to iron on the fabric adhesive, it MELTED the flannel!!! So I cut out a new one and got to stitching, and the new red thread kept breaking the needles (two to be exact) and getting bunched up, and breaking and almost 3 hours into a project I thought would take 30 minutes I put it aside to go take care of other things (you know ... the kids/house/life part of everything) ... and NEVER picked it back up.

So, I spent almost an hour stitching them on the other night(one for each of the younger boys) and Colton was so excited to see the shirt that he immediately RIPPED off his other shirt and put it on. :) Here he is modeling his super duper hero shirt (complete with attack stance)... So now the two random shirts and two random spiderman logos that have been floating around the front room/my room and downstairs guest room have a new home. :)

Uninished Projects

So I have a under 8 weeks before the baby arrives and a LOT of things I want to get finished before then. So, I'm starting a new goal, 45 projects before the baby arrives ... sounds crazy I know, but a lot of them are minutes to complete (LITERALLY) and maybe posting it on this blog will be just the motivation I need to do it! :)

I'm slowly making progress on Colton's Christmas quilt, but it's hard to take a TON of time at once to work on it, since the kids (mainly my 20 month old) like to come & pull & tug on it while I'm working on it (it fills up the whole kitchen table while I quilt). So, I keep working on as many lines as I can for the quilting each day and hopefully it'll get done this week.

Either way, if I only make it halfway I'd be thrilled, and so would my husband! :)