Baby Stuff

The past few months around here have been all about baby!

Meet Baby Noah.  He arrived on April 28th and he's the sweetest baby. 

And in case anyone was wondering, having one baby at a time is WAY easier than having two. ;)  Of course, I love my twins and I wouldn't trade them for anything (well, most of the time - wink, wink).

Before Noah arrived, there were a few other baby things happening around here.
First of all, the sweet ladies in my Do.Good Stitches Charity Bee all got together and made me this super awesome plus quilt!  I had NO IDEA they were doing it and I am so touched!  And the quilting on this one is so cool.

And THEN a bunch of local guild friends got together and made me this log cabin quilt!   Once again, I was totally surprised and floored by the awesome gift.  Aren't quilty friends the best?  Noah is definitely spoiled.  :)

But before even any of that, I had a burst of creative baby-stuff-making (for some women, "nesting" means "clean all the things."  For me, it's "sew all the things").  I cleared out my shop quite a bit so that I could take a few months off Etsy orders to focus on baby and it has left me with some glorious free sewing time.  It's been so nice making whatever I want to make lately, without having to finish priority projects first.

So I made Noah a few new bibs/burp cloths, and a onesie.

And then I couldn't stop myself and I made a whole slew more to add to my shop.  :)  Bibs are so fun and easy to make.  I love adding little bits of quilting to mine for added character. 

Up until a few weeks before Noah was born, I was watching my friend's little girl twice a week.  We really loved having Adele with us and miss her so much already.  She turned one right around the time we stopped taking care of her, so I made her this fun quiet book.  I've been wanting to try a book that is more appropriate for really little kids - everything is fully attached so that there are no choking hazards for little ones.  There are also lots of different textures and things for little fingers to play with.  And since I can't seem to make anything without following some sort of theme, I went with colors again (and shapes, actually.  I just realized you can't see it in any of these pictures, but every page has a different shape hiding behind the felt square flaps).  I was so excited to give this to sweet little Adele!

Noah is already a month old and I can hardly believe it!  I'm already back in the swing of sewing as much as I can - hopefully I'll have some awesome quilty things to show you soon!  Thanks for visiting!

P.S. The bibs and quiet book just happened to be part of my Finish Along Goals (#2 and #12 - original list HERE).  Wahoo!

Linking up:

'Tis the Season!

I'm getting so excited for Christmas!  The hubby and I are taking a much needed mini vacation next week.  He has a training to attend for his job (in Las Vegas) and his boss has booked a super nice condo for us to stay in for 2 1/2 days.  We're going to drop the kids off at Grandmas and I'm going to pack my sewing machine!  While the hubby is at his training, I get to spend two ENTIRE days sewing without interruptions!  YAYAYAY!  And then we will get to hang out together at night - sans kids.  I've gotta say, I REALLY love my kids, but I think after this little break from them, I am going to love them so much more.  :)  Wanna see what I'm bringing to work on?  Well, okay.

Left to right:  Ho Ho Ho by Nancy Halverson (green and yellow) - picked up at my LQS; Hip Holiday by Josephine Kimberling (ornaments and trees); In From the Cold by Kate Spain (mittens, gingerbread men, and mugs)

 I used my gift certificate to the Intrepid Thread (the one I won from my One Block Wonder quilt top) to pick up some Christmas fabric!

I've been collecting the tutorials for Fat Quarter Shop's "Deckade The Halls" quilt all year and I've finally decided to jump in and do it!  This quilt is going to be for ME!  Everybody needs a fun quilt to pull out at Christmas time, right?  I really love these prints.  They may not necessarily go together, but I will find a way.  :)

This tan/cream flower print has been in my stash forever - I picked it up at a yard sale for SUPER cheap.  I have just enough to cover all the sashing and background in the quilt, so I've decided to make it work rather than buy 3 more yards of fabric...

I can't wait!

p.s.  I have updated my Etsy Shop to include a few fun Christmas items.  Check them out!

INTRODUCING: Always Sewin Somethin - The Etsy Shop!

Well, I did it!  I opened an Etsy shop.  I've been working hard to stock it over the past few weeks and I finally feel like I have enough items listed to share my good news with the world!  (Now that it's fairly stocked, I think it's time to make a quilt...)

I debated about my shop name for days and days, then finally decided to keep things simple and give it the same name as my blog.  For now.  I still kind of like Baby Stitched (thanks to everyone who voted on a name!), and a few others, but I'm waiting to see if something better comes along.  So for now, it's Always Sewin Somethin.

I've been making bibs, burp cloths, diaper pouches, even a few onesies and a car seat canopy.  I plan to make one or two new items a week, depending on what sells.

Check out my shop HERE:

Here is a sneak peak of some of the items listed:

What do you think?  I'm hoping that this Etsy shop will be a good way for me to fund my habit, while at the same time keep me busy making functional things with an end goal in mind.

Want to help me celebrate my grand opening?  Find something you like (or tell your friends) and use this code to get 10% off your first purchase:  TAKE10OFF
This coupon is good until Sunday, October 6th.

Thanks for supporting me!!!

Soccer Ball

My babies' babysitter is about to have a baby boy of her own.  (Say that 5 times fast...).  Some friends put together a little shower for her and I wanted to make her something amazing because she is amazing.  I didn't have enough time for a quilt, so I decided on a couple burp cloths.  I wanted to make her something boyish, but not cutesy.  Her husband is Mexican and is a HUGE soccer (futsal) fan.  I searched and searched the web for ideas and finally found THIS paper piecing pattern.  It's quite a bit different than your average burp cloth design, and it turned out about twice as big as I imagined it would, but I'm pretty sure the recipient LOVED it (she says maybe her husband will actually WANT to burp the baby now).  Whew.  Here it is:

Since one burp cloth is never enough, I threw in another one with these cute little trucks.

Burp Cloths

I have been plunking away slowly on my Fandango quilt, but in the meantime I have been making burp cloths for several friends who have been having babies.
My inspiration came mostly from a pair of burp cloths that were given to me by a neighbor, although I did model Olivia's burp cloth after the ones in Natalia's Tutorial (except that I just did a straight stitch 1/4 away from the edges so that they will fray a little).

Here they are!