Handmade Holidays: Project 1: Baby Quilt

My first project for Christmas ended up being a complete by chance sort of thing. I have a problem. A problem that I have heard many crafters have, and that there may be support groups for. I collect craft things, tons of craft things. Even before I was working in a craft store, I had tons of bits and bobbles. Then I worked in a fabric chain store for a year and goodness did the collection grow and spawn. It was/is a problem. Hubby gives me the "look" when he glances towards my corner/closet/room/pile of things that will become other things one day. With that look in mind, I am making in a serious focus this month to make as many presents as I can manage, thus eliminating a fair amount out of my stash and saving us money on shopping (kind of, considering I have already spent the money). 

I was in the middle of sewing super hero themed curtains for my nephew (there will be no photos because they were a ton of fabric and by the time I was done sewing, I was soooo done looking at them. Plus, they are wrapped already), and I found a pile of handkerchiefs that I had bought from evil WalMart, probably five years ago. They are the white fabric with gray owls and little stars on them. I imagine, when I bought them that I had a plan. What it was? I have no clue. But they were adorable, I have a thing for owls and considering Baby had a loosely Potter themed nursery, the print was actually kind of perfect. I had matching gray fabric left over from RenFaire costumes, yellow scraps from a box of my mother's fabric, white flannel that I had bought for burpcloths (before realizing that I never use them) and a package of crib sized batting that had been on clearance for 3.97. So I had everything except for binding. Hubby suggested an orange colour to match the little owl beaks, and I agreed.

When I made the two older children blankets last year, I just used sating ribbon folded over as binding so I figured that I would do that again for this blanket. Foolishly, I thought when I couldn't find sating ribbon, that acetate ribbon would work just as well. I was wrong. Very wrong. Don't ever do that! I washed it and it fell apart so horribly that I was very tempted to toss the entire blanket in the garbage. But I had already stitched in Steven's name and the date. So out came the seam ripper and two evenings wasted, then out to buy actual blanket binding and a night to sew that on correctly. Note to self: do it correct the first time, you cheapskate! We also went to the secondhand bookstore to pick up a copy of Harry Potter to go with the blanket for his first reading book. I can't wait to start reading my favorite series to him. I am secretly hoping that the older two kids cuddle up and listen too. So, after using four or five yards of fabric that I had laying about and a slightly stressful binding experience, Steven's first Momma-made blanket is all finished, folded and waiting to be wrapped. 

Piecing together the squares

Finished top

Hand stitched little message for Steven's first baby quilt. Hopefully, we will have many, many nights snuggled underneath, reading together

I also finished a handful of burpcloths, mostly I just use these when feeding Steven to wipe his face and hands. The fabric was a flannel flat sheet from the thrift store for $2 and it made 9 burpcloths. 

Broadening Horizons: Free Fall Classes

So I follow (also known as stalk) a blog called GeekMom. They post tons of geeky, nerdy and science related posts by numerous authors, some posts I dig, others address sections of geekdom in which I am not as familiar. But anyways, they posted two classes recently that I thought were pretty interesting.
     The first was all about The Walking Dead. If you haven't heard of the show or the comics and you are remotely into the zombie trend right now, or post-apocalyptic soap operas, then this is right down your alley. The comics are in black and white and the art isn't really my thing, I am really picky about art in comics, no matter how great the writing, but that is my own issue. The story is interesting and is way more in depth then in the television show but both are pretty interesting (and the show is on Netflix!). So anyways, GeekMom posted an article and link here about a class based on the Walking Dead television show. It is offered by University of California, is completely online, is completely free and starts on October 14th, the same day as the new season premiers. The direct link to sign up for the course is found here.
     The second class that GeekMom posted about was offered by Mango Languages here, in preparation for Talk Like A Pirate Day on September 19th (today)! It is completely free and set up just like their real language classes (according to the reviews). I am spending nap time today sitting through this class just in case someone tells me that they need a talk like a pirate partner. Mango Languages offers over 50 other language courses including Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Mandarin and Haitian Creole. They are really affordable, only $80 for the first package of most of the languages while some of them are even free if your local library has an account! They even let you try the first lesson of a language for free to make sure you like it (I tried Mandarin). Go and check it out and check out GeekMom!!! It is a brilliant blog!