Works in Progress - 5.30

Another week, and no projects completed.  I'm SO close on some though.

Nothing new on my baby bear cocoon.  Maybe I'll work on it tonight...

1.  I was hoping to finish putting together my ladder book shelf today, but found I didn't quite have enough hardware.  I was able to get all but one shelf on.  SO CLOSE!!  The wood I used was trash wood (literally, my husband took it out of the trash at work) so it's not the best quality.  I think I might want to distress it, since it already has a used look to it.  What methods of distressing do you like to use?

2. I don't have pictures of my progress on the children's bench.  But I did manage to get two of the three metal pieces sand blasted.  One more to go, and then I'll need to paint/seal them.

3. And I finished one more block for my Retro Flowers Quilt.

I thought I was going to be able to move my Zig Zag Quilt over to the finished column today, BUT, when I went to sew the binding I didn't have a color of thread that I liked for it.

I did get it quilted and the binding sewed on one side.

Again, SO CLOSE!!

Happy Memorial Day!

I'd be remiss if I didn't take a moment to show gratitude to all those who have served and still serve our country.  Here in the United States it is Memorial Day.  A day first established to remember those who have served our country in the armed forces, especially those who have given the ultimate sacrifice.  We also take to the time to remember our loved ones who have passed.

I truly feel blessed to live in the country that I do.  There are many other places that I would love to visit and explore, but ultimately this will always be where I feel I belong.  We enjoy many freedoms and conveniences here that other countries can only dream about.  We are able to enjoy those freedoms because of all those who have fought to keep this country free.

I'm blessed to be surrounded by those who have served or are currently serving.  To name just a few:

My Grandpa Marrone was in the Air Corps in WWII.

He was quite the Italian Stallion.  No wonder he won my grandma's heart.

My Father-in-Law served during Vietnam.

One of my brother-in-law's just commissioned in the Air Force.

When they commission they get to choose someone to give them their first salute.  He chose my hubby.

And my husband currently serves full-time in the National Guard.

All of us on the Howitzer he is Chief over.

His Battalion recently hosted a Family Day where we got to see them shoot their Howitzers.  It was fun to actually get to see them in action and see what they do.

Today my husband and I spent a simple Memorial Day by going to a memorial honoring some of those who have served in our small community.  My husband's name, his dad's, and one of his brother's are all included on the monument.  It's only about 10 miles away from us, but I had never gone to see it.

She found a puddle near the monument and was in HEAVEN!!

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!!

{PS - If my husband knew I posted all these pictures of him I'd be in trouble.  So ssshhhh!}

Works in Progress - 5.23

Here goes again!  Many projects started, none completed. :)  I know I'm not alone in this!

I did make some progress on my bear cocoon.  I'm working on the oval that will be then belly.  Then on to the hat!!

Nothing to report on refinishing this children's bench.  I still need to take the metal pieces to my father-in-law to clean them up with the sand blaster.

I haven't done anything else with my Zig Zag Quilt Top either.  I'm debating whether to use quilting cotton or flannel for the back...

I have however, made lots of progress on my bookshelf ladder.

I cut out the shelves...

Primed everything...

And added the first coat of light blue paint to it today.  One more coat and then I can do the final assembly.  Yay!!

Painting today was somewhat frustrating though as I had 2-year-old hands helping and feet walking on my project.  It's what I get for trying to paint with my little one awake!  Lesson learned.

And that one petal of my Retro Flower quilt block from last week has now become a whole flower!  Yay!

And look!  I even got a second one done today!  More frustration though as my sewing machine and I were not getting along.  In 40 minutes I only managed to sew two 3 1/2 inch long seams successfully.  ARGH!  :)  It's okay though.  I'm in the market for a new machine.  Any suggestions?

Blue Baby Booties!

That's right!  More booties!  There's a couple in my church ward that had a sweet little boy in February.  They found out toward the end of the pregnancy that he had some heart problems and was going to need surgery shortly after being born.  This little guys a fighter though and is doing FANTASTIC!!  I wanted to do something for them so I whipped out another pair knit booties.

Lucky for me he's a tiny guy still, so even though I just gave them to him they'll fit.  I threw in the bibs I made a few months ago and had a cute little gift for them.

Blog Hop!

It's Blog Hop time!!!

Works in Progress

Here are some of my projects I am currently working on.  Maybe one day I learn to finish a few before I start 10 more...

These first two are of a children's bench my mom gave me.  I've taken it apart, and sanded and stained the wood slats.  I just need to take the medal parts over to my father-in-laws so I can sand blast them to clean them up.  Then I'll put it back together and it will no longer be a work in progress!

This will be a ladder bookshelf.  It's my own design and if all goes well I'll create a tutorial for it.  I need to make the shelves, paint and prime everything, and then I can finish putting it together.

I have had a bunch of fabric from the Dandelion Daydream line forever.  When I say the Retro Flowers Quilt pattern I finally knew what I wanted to do with the fabric!  Sadly, this is all I have done.  Only one petal.  Just 63 petals to go!  I also used Dandelion Daydream for this apron.

This is my current crochet project.  I almost always have a crochet or knitting project going.  This will be a baby bear cocoon and will have a matching hat.

And finally, my zig zag quilt top.  This is going to be a gift for some friends who are not finding out the gender of their baby.  Love this design as it works for a boy or girl!  I may have to make me one...

Striped Newborn Stocking Cap

 Sue over at Crochet Addict just hit 7000 members in her flikr group.  So in celebration she is having a lot of giveaways!  I created this newborn stocking cap for one of her giveaways, so hop on over, check 'em out and sign up to win some prizes!  My little hat pales in comparison to the other prizes.

I used a pattern from Snappy Tots {the same one I used for this hat} and went to town with some yarn I already had in my stash.  I hope the lucky winner enjoys their prize!

Baby's Room Redo

 We live in a large house for three people.  Six bedrooms, three baths.  We got a great deal on the house and wanted to buy some place that we could grow into, rather than have to move again in a few years as our family grows.  It's been great!  My hubby has his man cave, I have my sewing room, we have a toy room/guest room, and another guest room.  We're often known as Hotel Fifield because of the steady flow of family and friends staying with us for a night or two.

In the three years that we have lived here I have only painted one of the rooms.  The baby's room.  It was the first thing I did after I stopped working full-time when I was pregnant.  The room was cute before, it just wasn't...us.  Does that make sense?  It had wide yellow and white stripes painted on the walls, with a border of bears.  Cute, but not us.

Good view of the stripes

Close up of the bears.  They were stickers that we had to peel off and
remove some glue residue.

So my five month pregnant self and my mom attacked the room with Behr's Paint and Primer.  I knew I was having a little girl, but I wanted something that could work for a boy or a girl.  This room will always be "the baby's room" because of it's proximity to our room.  So if baby #2 or #3 ends up being a boy, I didn't want to have to repaint it because it was overly feminine.  So I went with a baby blue and brown color scheme and "girled" it up by adding flowers and other feminine things.

The flower hanging rack on the door came from Real Deals.  It was red, so a little brown spray paint helped it fit into the decor.  The lamp came from a dollar store, and I already owned the picture of Christ holding the little child.  The dresser was one my mom had used for us as kids and was storing.  I gave it a fresh coat of paint and new hardware, and voila!  I had a new dresser.  Ya gotta love furniture made out of real wood.  It lasts FOREVER and your do so much with it!

I already had the teddy bear and lights.  I had bought the lights years ago for the first house I owned in 2005.  I planned on making one of the rooms in the house a library and wanted the cute lights in that room.  They never got hung up in that house, but I love them for the window decoration in the baby's room!

This photo was taken before I had the decorations up on the wall.

I bought the crib and bedding at Target.  I was so excited when I found bedding in the colors I wanted that wasn't meant exclusively for boys.  Yay for polka dots!  The blue baskets under the window came from Shopko, and the cubbies from Target.  As the room slowly came together I was more excited all the time.  Both for the room AND for the baby that was on the way.

I came up with this wall art using cheap wood products from Joanns and Michaels.  The flowers had stems on them that I cut off with a little saw, then I glued them to a thin piece of wood that I attached to the back of the frames.  I painted everything before I put it together using the sample paint I had bought for the room.  I think I figured that all four pieces cost a whole whopping $12!!  I felt really good about this creation and the little bit of money I put into them 

My hubby got me lamp complete with a dimmer switch for Mother's Day just before our little one made her grand debut.  The chair was another Shopko buy, and I love it!  It was the perfect cozy set-up for those LONG nursing sessions.

And finally here's her crib and decorated wall!  The flowers came from Ikea, and are actually lights that you can plug in.  I've kept the cords up in the flowers so far so I didn't have to worry about her getting tangled up in them.  Sometimes I have to remind myself that safety is more important than appearance!

I ordered the letters for her name from an online site than spray painted them brown.  It was so long ago I have no idea what site I got them from, but I love 'em!

There you have it.  My little girl's room redone so it now fits "us" a little bit better.  She's now almost two years old, and I still love her room.  To me that's a good sign when a room's decor can withstand the test of time!

Kitty Headband and Gloves

On my post for the Striped Fingerless Gloves I mentioned I was starting some more for another niece.  The red and black ones were for her sister, so I didn't want to leave her out.  I began searching for a different pattern to try and I came across these on Ravelry {Love that site!}.

This little niece LOVES animals, especially cats and dogs.  However, I was worried she was maybe getting a little too old for something like this.  I emailed the link to her mom to run it by her and she agreed that they were perfect for her.

Looking at the photos, I wish I would have put the ears
closer together.  Oh well!

These went considerably quicker since I wasn't switching colors so often and doing the fair isle pattern.  After checking my gauge I decided to use a little larger needle than the pattern called for.  I think I ended up using a size 9 instead of 7.  But when it came to making the pads for the hands they were WAY too big so I dropped down to a smaller size again.

I debated on making the headband, but decided, what the heck!  Even if she didn't wear it it would be a good learning experience for me. Luckily she likes it and says she will wear it sometimes.  Her older sister even said she would wear it too.   Cute girls!

She is VERY shy so getting her to take pictures was not easy.  I tried to get her to hiss and growl and do some claw hands for me, but she just giggled.  I did finally get her to somewhat attempt the claw hands.

As I was editing the photo I realized she was even wearing a kitty
shirt that day!  How appropriate!

I'm pretty sure she like them as she kept the gloves on for most of the family party that day!