We've got balls!

I'm talking about these balls, of course:

My mom taught me to make them today! My ankle is still healing so I've been sitting around a lot, and that's really conducive to sewing. I also finished Suzi's quilt, so now I can mess around with other projects! Here's a list of things on my to-sew list:

ruffly skirt for Suzi
mei-tai, podegi, or wrap carrier for Suzi
doll for Suzi
edgy flame-print fleece blankie for Suzi
more balls (for Suzi)

Gee... I guess I know why I only recently took up sewing! Here are two pictures of the quilt. I fell in love with the tumbling bunnies motif, which is why I started this project.
It's a tie quilt and I did finally get the corners mitered, but you'll notice I'm not showing them off in a picture. That's because they're nothing to write home about.

I wrapped SuSu up in the quilt to feed her before she went to bed. The funny thing about this picture is, with my hair in a ponytail like that, it's reminiscent of pictures of me "mothering" dolls as a child. I guess I am living my dream!

I've been meaning to write about this too for a while. For three years Jordan and I have had some beautiful china and crystal, but until recently we had nowhere to put it. For Christmas, Jordan's parents gave us this awesome antique china cabinet! They didn't shrink from the challenge of wrapping it either, although they did leave it in a closet for us to find rather than hauling it into the living room.


And finally, a picture of a cute sleeping baby. That's a mouse puppet she's got a grip on (we call her Molly Mouse). We were playing with her in the bed and she just sort of passed out! A rare and special event for a child who normally fights sleep.

P.S. My mom finally broke down and got a blog today! Now you can read what she's been doing too. It's called Knotted Apronstrings.

Christmas sewing

Now that Christmas is over I can talk about what I made. Here they are:


I made these Christmas ornaments for Mama Susie (top left), Jordan and me (top right), and Jordan's parents (bottom). I also made one for Jordan as we decided to make each other gifts rather than blow a bunch of money, but that one is not pictured. (You should see the ornament he made me--it's adorable. He made it out of golf tees, extra strong molding putty, and red pipe cleaners. It's a snowflake with our logo on it: JWH^2. But he already packed it away in the attic and I don't have the heart to ask him to dig it out.) Anyway, my mom (Julie) taught me to make these quilted ornaments. They were easy to do, but when you're done you have a personalized gift; they are big on thought, not cost. Besides, cross-stitched ornaments in little round wooden frames are so 1970's.

These only take a few minutes to make. I printed the pictures on special fabric you can run through the printer. The best part is picking out what fabric would look nice with the photo and then you just log cabin around the picture however you'd prefer. The rest is pretty self-explanatory; just finish it as a pillow and sew the ribbon into the top. My mom once made one of these for each of her 25 or so kindergarteners. She's an ambitious little thing.

On a sadder note, my quilt for Suzi was not finished in time for Christmas. I plan to work on it soon, before I start any more projects. All I have to do is blindstitch the binding on the back and miter the corners, which is tough. I might get a chance to work on it tomorrow though since it's my day off. Suzi and I are going to a babywearing meeting with Megan and then I'm shopping for thread with my mom. I want to get this quilt finished soon!

Excellent day for sewing

Today I did a lot of sewing, mostly on little Christmas gifts. My mom taught me how and eventually I'll post pictures and tell more about them, but not now. There are people getting them for Christmas who may be reading. I also worked on Suzi's quilt. The quilt has been a long and sometimes tedious process but I've enjoyed it, except for mitering the corners on the binding. The fabric is so thick in the corners that I'm having trouble getting it folded in correctly, and I'm not even sure I'm doing that right! The book I'm using simply said "fold the fabric in to make mitered corners." (Wow, thanks a bunch!) So if anybody has tips for me, I'd love to hear them. The corner I've already attempted to finish wouldn't fold into a 90 degree angle, so it came out puckered and won't lay flat. If I do the others and they end up better, I'll probably rip that one out and do it over. I always keep a seam ripper handy because I have to use it every 15 minutes! Hopefully Suzi won't hold uneven corners against me as this is my first real quilt. I'm hoping to finish it in a couple of days and I'll post pictures then!

Here are our latest pictures of Suzi. She's sporting her adorable BabyLegs in red and white stripes, which I think are my favorites so far. She has about ten pairs but these are perfect for Christmas! She went to our local Hallmark store with her grandparents wearing these and one of the ladies told her she looked like an ornament! Ha ha! She kind of does.