Preggo photos

Nah, these aren't belly shots, just some random pictures I've taken recently that involve pregnancy so I thought I'd share.

First, a picture of pregnant me with Andrew at a friend's wedding in March:

Next, something I found at the thrift store. No, I didn't buy it, though I support the message!

Andrew has this obsession with finding "pregnant parking." Even when I go to Babies 'R' Us the expectant mothers spots are taken (often by non-pregnant people, I might add...yes I'm watching you!), but the time we went together we scored one of the spaces!

Though originally we decided to get the Baby Bjorn pack and play because we'd heard amazing things about it, we got a really nice dividend from REI this year and found a pretty cool option there. It's inflatable and has a zipper, tent-like opening. Some moms who reviewed it said they would lie in the opening while nursing, gently lay the baby down when done, crawl out and zip it up. No leaning over to put the baby down! I had to test it out to see if I could not only halfway fit in, but totally fit...

Sherpa has become fascinated by all the baby stuff entering our house. 

And one final picture. We used some of the decoration from my baby shower in the baby's room:

Working with minky

Awhile back I found this awesome fabric and knew I wanted it for the baby's bedding:

The tree fabric is by Joel Dewberry and is in a collection called Majestic Meadow/Modern Oak--something like that. I found it on Etsy and am having someone make a crib skirt in the green tree pattern and a crib sheet in a brown tree pattern (not pictured). I was also going to have a minky blanket made to match, but that was going to cost me $80. Originally I was nervous about working with minky (the brown fabric in the pic--it's really soft and also stretchy and slippery). I haven't sewn with that sort of fabric before and figured it'd be better to buy a blanket.

After reading a few tutorials online, I had a change of heart and decided that I could make the blanket--at least give it a shot. I bought a yard of brown minky dot for less than $10, and I also purchased the green and brown tree fabrics for this blanket and other projects. I got them all online, and the cost of my minky blanket ended up being under $15 as I have fabric left in all three patterns. That's a huge discount from the $80 I would've paid! (I did order the skirt and fitted sheet--maybe one day I'll figure those out, but not during this pregnancy!)

These are the two tutorials I read before starting, but I'll also give my own instructions:

First tutorial

Second tutorial

I decided to make a 36x36 blanket as one of the blogs did. Both said to cut the minky slightly larger, but one said she cuts a little extra of all fabrics just to be safe. I did, and that ended up being a terrible idea. I'm not perfect with my measurements, but I do use a rotary cutter and board, so I'm pretty close. I should've trusted myself and cut the tree fabric to 36 inches and the minky to 37 or so. 

After cutting the fabric, you put the pieces wrong sides together:

Then let the pinning begin! (Oh, I did iron the tree fabric, too, for better cutting and such.) I followed the second tutorial and pinned the heck out of these fabrics. Because I didn't trust myself with cutting it was more difficult to keep the tree fabric centered within a border of minky, and I ended up taking quite awhile to pin.

I took one side at a time, pinned the ends and the center, then between those points. I then went back and  put a pin in the center of each gap.

The next part that was difficult was keeping a consistent seam allowance. I'm not great at this to begin with, but the extra minky made it difficult for me to tell where the edge of the tree pattern was, which was how I was supposed to be measuring. I did the best I could, and since you turn it inside out, it's okay if it's not perfect (this is also my motto for all handmade projects...I'll change my mind if I ever make clothes!).

I also took each pin out as I went because I've broken several needles by sewing on top of pins. I've had people tell me this shouldn't happen, so maybe I'm weird. I can sew over pins when using stiffer material and a regular foot, but anytime I've had thick fabric and tried to sew over pins it ends badly.

As you sew around the four sides, be sure to leave a gap from where you start and end so you can turn the blanket inside out. You can sort of see where the brown thread is on the far right and left of this picture.

After sewing (don't forget to backstitch!) turn the blanket inside out and push out the corners. It can help to trim the corners and some of the excess minky first, just don't cut too close to your seam.

The second tutorial link shows how to turn in the fabric at your gap and iron that down.

Then you pin that part together before you add the topstitch.

Then you just sew all around the blanket one last time to finish it. I decided I wanted to do like the first tutorial and do a decorative stitch. I probably should have done otherwise, but this is for my baby who won't even know what a topstitch is, so who cares that it didn't turn out consistently. I chose a wavy stitch that ended up being closer together in some places than others. It depended on how quickly the fabric went through the needle, and since the minky is so darn slippery, the speed changed constantly. I'll say here that I did use a walking foot for this because I have one. The speed was still inconsistent for me.

Even though my topstitch isn't consistent, I think it's cute and very childlike!

You can also see where I started getting too close and had to stop and pull back to my desired seam allowance. Again, I'm blaming the slipperiness!

Regardless of the mistakes, I'm super happy with my blanket that took me about an hour to make and around $15. I'll definitely try another one, and I'm sure I'll get better with more practice.

I also recently purchased a staple gun, so I covered a canvas with some awesome elephant fabric to hang on the wall. Two projects done, way too many left to do!

It's the baby's room...not a nursery

We do not have a nursery in our home. Not according to Andrew. We have a baby’s room. Apparently the term “nursery” upsets him. Or it at least doesn’t sit well. So I have to remember to call what used to be our guest room the baby’s room instead of referring to it as the nursery, even though he did use that word once. It was only the one time though, and I made sure to call him out on it!

People ask me all the time…well, not all the time. It’s not like being 34 weeks pregnant means everyone and their mom talks to me. I do live in the North where it can take some people two years to strike up a random passerby convo with another human—no offense to my close Northern friends, y’all are definitely exceptions! Anyway, people ask me occasionally if I’m ready for this baby to come out. And the answer is no. Nope, it can stay in there awhile! That’s because we still have a little ways to go before we have things ready for this child.

I posted earlier about my baby shower in Alabama. Because it was so far away, we set it up as a gift card shower, so I came home with lots of checks, cash and gift cards to different stores. Andrew and I have begun using our stash to slowly gather things we need for the room, but we’re waiting to do the majority of it in April after my shower in Massachusetts.

We have bought a few things, but our first day of shopping was not entirely what we expected. We found a glider and ottoman at Target, bought it and headed to Home Depot. Easy enough? Not quite, but that comes later. At Home Depot we were looking for an area rug for our living room. We wanted to put the current rug that is a 5’x7’ in the baby’s room (it doesn’t completely coordinate, eh, details), and get a new, larger rug for our living room. This way the baby has more comfortable floor space, and I just wanted a larger rug. Also—we decided we’d extend Sherpa’s boundary into the living room. We don’t want him feeling even more left out when the baby gets here, and this way there’s less hardwood floor for him to potentially scratch.

At HD we found the perfect rug—really a bound carpet scrap—that was less than $100. That’s fantastic considering most rugs in large sizes start around $400. We decided we’d come back for it on our way north. We then headed to IKEA to scope out some furniture.

Once there, we moved quickly. I’ll admit there are some great finds there, and it’s nice to study each space to dream of what could work for you; however, we’ve also had some nightmare experiences with their larger furniture (large piece + particle board = DO NOT BUY). When I go with friends we generally spend hours there, but with Andrew or alone, we're in and out as quickly as if it were Wal Mart. We hit up the dresser area to look for something that could work as a combo dresser/changing table. We found two options that unfortunately did not hold up to Andrew’s shimmy and shake test. We also found two options for storage but decided to just keep those in mind. After a quick walk through the marketplace for some glass jars, we were outta there in well under an hour! Oh, and we got cinnamon rolls. Those or ice cream are an IKEA requirement.

Here’s where the problems began:

a) I was slightly disappointed we didn’t buy the storage bookcase with baskets. It would have been great.

b) The awesome rug at HD had a grease stain. We then checked two other HDs and a Lowe’s. Nothing similar.

c) After Andrew put together the rocker (while I was napping), we realized it was the wrong one. The price should’ve been our first clue, but since we paid with gift cards we didn’t notice.

Needless to say I was definitely disappointed now and frustrated. However, we rallied and the following actions were taken to solve our problems:

a) I returned to IKEA about three weeks later and bought the bookcase and baskets. By then we determined it would fit just fine in the baby’s room and was a needed item.

b) I returned to the initial Home Depot where I rechecked the stain—it was pretty tiny—and found an associate to inquire about a discount. If this was a no go, we did have a second choice of rugs at the same store; however, he gave me 25% off! And I got the stain out, no problem.

c) I returned to Target with my disassembled rocker, returned it, purchased the correct one AND it happened to not be on sale but was marked down for some strange reason! Wahoo!

Then last week at the Trading Post (used/vintage furniture, often at great prices) I scored a dresser for only $45 that will be perfect for a changing table. I need to repaint it and do a little work on the drawers, but it's gonna be great!

Now we need a crib, some organization and motivation for me to finish the crafty touches on my ridiculously long list!

 

 Current pic: the changing area will be where the rocker is now. 

The floor is covered with gifts and borrowed items.

 The bookcase and baskets from IKEA!

The dresser/changing table. I plan to paint it a tan color.

(The items on top are living room/kitchen crafts I have going on.)

And just for fun, a picture of Andrew the night we inventoried all the cloth diaper stuff our friends the Olbrychs loaned us:

He's super excited about cloth diapering!!