Recent Finished Project

Quite a few years ago, I learned how to cross-stitch and took to cross-stitching baby blankets as an easy hobby to help myself relieve the stress of the day.  My first blanket took me over a year and a half to complete.  Since then, I have made quite a few, including one for my own daughter. 

I've tried to make one for each of my nephews (since I don't yet have a niece) and my own daughter.  In August 2012, my sister-in-law, Melissa, told me she was expecting her first child and I immediately started thinking of what I would do for her.  At first (I believe she was really hoping for a girl), she told he she was going to do an owl theme for the nursery.  Since the blankets take so long for me to do, I went to Joann's that same week and found my next project.



I immediately fell in love with this blanket.  I bought it and took it home to start working on with the hope of having it finished before the baby shower and before the little baby was born.

I started working on it in September 2012.  I worked on it as often as time would allow (I did have a full time job and was a full time wifey and mommy duties that took precedence, ya know). I took it on a weekend trip out of town with the hubby and worked on it all day on a Saturday while he was in a meeting all day.

Stitching while the hubby is sitting in a boring meeting.

As I worked the blanket, I had a lot of idea running through my head.  I wanted my sister-in-law to be able to actually use the blanket instead of just saying "it's too pretty to use". So many ideas and no clue as to what to do.

After almost four months of working on the blanket and praying that I would get it done before the baby arrives, I finished it just after Christmas.

The finished product

After I finished the blanket, I kept looking at it and told myself that it need something else.  I wanted it to be something special that my sister-in-law and new nephew would be able to use and treasure.  By this time, the baby shower was just around a few days away and while I wanted to give it to Melissa, I knew it wasn't as finished as I wanted it to be.  So, when it came time for the shower, I wrapped it up and gave it to her.

Melissa and I at her baby shower on January 21th

I brought the blanket home with me after the shower, still trying to figure out what to.  My hubby looked at it and told me that I should have the baby's name put on it to personalize it and then add a backing to it to hide the stitching on the back.  Thinking it was a great idea, I set out to do just that.  I ended up taking it to an embroidery place here in town and had them stitch my nephews name and birth year on it.

(Embroidery done by California Embroidery)

After I had it embroidered, I took it o Joann's to find some sort of fabric to put on the back of it to make it usable but at the same time, make it look more boyish.  I ended up finding a nice fleece fabric that was blue and white checkered.  Now, the fun part was trying to figure out how I was going to get the fabric onto the back of the blanket.  I had a sewing machine, but didn't know how to use it. (I know, brilliant, right?)

Well, a few weeks ago, with the help of my mother and stepfather and a friend of my mom's, I was finally able to finish it and get it done the way I was picturing it in my mind and exactly how I wanted to get it done. 

Got the backing sewn on!

I was so excited when it was done.  And the best part.  I had done all of it myself!  My sister-in-law is so excited to use it.  Hopefully soon, I will be able to add a picture of my new nephew with his new special blanket!

I'm back!

I know. It's been awhile since I last posted on this blog, but things are back to normal now and I hope that I can get back to posting on here. Over the next couple of days, I will update everyone on what has gone on the past few months.

First Solid Food

Faith had her first real taste of solid food today when Kevin fed her Carrots. She absolutely loved them! She tried to help daddy put the spoon in her mouth.

She loved the carrots so much that she started to cry when Daddy went and put the food away! She ate half of the jar in one sitting. We are so proud of her. She is getting so fast.

Oh, and the pink 'burns' on her cheeks...well, that's rug burn as she is learning the crawl...using her face. She will put her feet on the ground and push her butt in the air and push herself all over the carpet face first. Not sure where she learned that from, but if she keeps it up, she'll be crawling before long.

Oh, and she loved to giggle, especially when Daddy bounces her on his knee, like riding a horse, and singing the Bonanza song.

Rawhide Game and Country Music

Me and new country singer, Troy Olson. He performed before the Rawhide game and threw out the first pitch.

Faith at 4 months!

It's hard to believe that Faith will be four months old on Thursday! Time has flown by so fast!

Faith on Father's Day

My two favorite people in the whole wide world!

Faith has learned to roll over, hold herself up and will be crawling anytime now! She is so advanced for her age!

Update on the new house...

We've been very busy since we moved into the house. We've painted the whole inside of the house so far and we finally moved out of the garage!

The upstairs guest bedroom.

Faith's nursery...work in progress.

The kitchen and our new appliances.

The front of the house...after Kevin pulled out all of the ugly plants.

We still have to hang all of the pictures and make a few changes to make through out the house, like remodel the downstairs bathroom, but that will all be done in time. First we need to get the office organized and usable.

It's Been Awhile...

I know, I know. I haven't updated my blog in like, FOREVER! A lot has been going on the last two months and I will update you all on the new house, Faith and my travels. I have been extremely busy, but have a lot to share!