ever wonder what 50 zippers look like?

well now you know.

coming up...

• These babies in the etsy shop:

Anna over at Noodlehead decided to sell the pattern for these clutches and you KNOW I snapped one of those up quicker than you can say "wee little winslow".

• I'm doing a quilt-a-long. Well, I'm already 2 weeks behind, but eh- procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday, right? It's Crazy Mom Quilt's QAL #5, which should end up looking like this:

I can't wait to get started. Yup, that's right- I STILL haven't started. It took me approximately 12 hours (and a "sleep on it") to decide on my fabric. I really liked this from Cloud 9 Fabrics- but since it's organic, it would have cost me a pretty penny to make the entire quilt. Plus I was sad that after all the chopping, that little birdy on the yellow striped background would have just gotten lost in the mix.

So I decided to go with Modern Meadow- I like how it's darker, more mature (look! no green and pink- go me!) and basically not like anything I've ever sewn with before. I think it will really pop with the white sashing, but I'm also considering a light grey maybe? Maybe I'm just talkin' crazy- we'll see when the fabric gets here!

I ordered the FQs this morning so until they get here, I'll be monogramming towels and bags for weddings, graduations and summer birthday presents. *sigh* Not nearly as fun as sewing.

at the beach, Noah...

played in inner-tubes.
had his first Chilly-Willy.

played with his Uncle Simeon.

swung with his Great-Grandmama.
sported an awesome Budweiser tat.

(thanks, Uncle Henry.)

swung some more with his daddy and Uncle Harrison.

dressed in a bathing suit every day.

ate sand.

helped build a sand castle.

WALKED around on the beach.
(holycrapI'mnotreadyforthis)

hung out with the big boys.

ate snacks in a diaper and a hat.

napped so Mommy could have a little break.

... and some boiled peanuts.

Brady's Make Life Quilt (at the beach!)

I was thinking the other day about how I really would like to name all the quilts that I make, starting with this one (the first one I just called by the pattern name, because I'm original like that). Well, this quilt was made for a baby whose parents did not want to know if it was a girl or a boy- we didn't know it's name either so I just called it the Make Life quilt.

Well, allow me to introduce you to Brady's Make Life quilt.

(Brady is, in fact a boy and was born last Friday! Congrats to Stephen and Allison!)

Brady's quilt was made with a "Make Life" by Moda charm pack and a pattern from Oh, Frannsson.

I "straight" line quilted it (it's a little wonky, but on purpose) with the lines anywhere from 1/8" and 3/4" apart- this is the first time I've done quilting other than "stitch in the ditch" and it was much more fun, but took way way longer than I thought it would.

I used the Make Life text fabric (Silly Multi) on the back of the quilt (original, no?) and bound it with the same red (Texture Apple) as in the charm pack.

I hand-stitched the binding which I will do from now on EVERY TIME (my first quilt was with a class and they had us machine-bind it- it was so uneven and I HATED the way it looked in the end). It looks so much more... classic. I love it! I didn't have any of the apple colored thread, so I did it in khaki to match the front if I poked through (which I didn't!) and seriously, if anyone's looking that close, they have bigger problems than me not using the correct thread color. :)

I also labeled this quilt using Rachel's tutorial - Sharpie and all!- and I think it turned out great! I'm not sure if I was supposed to wash this quilt before giving it as a gift, but I did because a) I think the rule is to NOT wash it, and I'm not one for following rules and b) I was just too dang curious to see what that quilting would look like all puckery!

I finished the quilt on the way to the beach, so I thought pics with the ocean in the background would be appropriate. Plus, I lived at that beach house year round instead of just one or two week out of the year, so these pics let me make believe a little.

What do you think of Brady's quilt?

One last thing.

Noah walking 1
Originally uploaded by lulamaeskiba

Ridiculous.
3 days before his 9 month "birthday", Noah decided he was OVER crawling.

Also, I will never get over how akward it is to hear your own voice on video.

I spoke too soon.

I finished up a few things this week (we're leaving tomorrow morning!) and wanted to share!

First, names on all our towels - because with 30+ people in one house, and towels hanging to dry on the porch, some people *ahem-mylittlebrotherharrison- ahem* just grab the driest one and make a run for it.

Then this quilt that I should have finished a while ago, but considering the mom of the baby it's going to is in labor as we speak, I wasn't in much of a hurry- til now! I've got everything quilted and the binding sewn on and I'll turn and stitch it in the car tomorrow- perfect!

The last thing I want to share was a super last-minute project (umm... started it at 10:30pm last night?) but a neccessity in my eyes.

I have come to the conclusion that being a new mom and carrying a purse are mutually exclusive. You either have a baby (and therefore a diaper bag with your wallet thrown in) or you have a cute purse (and either no kids or potty-trained ones).

One day of our beach week is spent just the ladies, shopping in Wilmington (note to self, look up cute fabric shops in Wilmington) and for that glorious day I WILL NOT HAVE A DIAPER BAG WITH ME so, logically, I need a purse-esque item. I had seen this Gathered Clutch tutorial by Noodlehead over on Made's Celebrating Mom and thought "that's entirely too hard for me to attempt. Holy crap- a zipper! Ahh!" and ran for the hills. Upon revisiting the tutorial, I figured I'd give it a shot and here's what I got:

(Does that fabric look familiar? Maybe you've seen it here... or here. Nothin' goes to waste around here, people. NOTHIN'.)

I added a strap, so I could carry it as a purse, but guess what- i can still throw it in the diaper bag later! You can't see (I really should have taken a better "action" shot), but there is a "divider pocket" that goes down the middle to help separate your stuff! I love that I could personalize it to exactly what I need in a clutch! Next time, I will follow directions and use medium-weight interfacing rather than light, but that's all I had, which made this project cost me $0, which I like a lot!

Ok, NOW I'll see y'all later. Off to pack and then tomorrow end up at this place:

(quit lookin' at my husband's butt! shame!)
:)

You'll have to excuse me...

for not posting for the next week or so.

If you need me, I will be here: