SR/WIP-2012-W12: Oh Where Art Thou My Blogosphere?

It has been a few weeks since I last posted the wonderful news that Ziona was born!  She is my finest project for 2012 and yet there will always be more work to do to care and raise her.  I had wanted to make her baptism gown myself, but I simply ran out of time since I waited to figure out her size. It is a good thing that I did not make the gown because I had cut out a newborn size and my little girl's dress ended up being a 3-6 month sized dress (the one we bought).  [In the picture above My husband and I are in the middle, I am holding Ziona, while each set of Godparents stand to the sides.]

2012 Used by Permission
by Lisa Francis Photography 

I will not be posting a lot about my daughter on my blog because someone mentioned that Mommies end up making mommy-blogs rather than craft blogs when they focus on their children.  I do have another blog I am thinking of dusting off to allow the my friends and family to keep up with her there.  My goal in starting this blog was to work on sewing, quilting and other general crafty type things.  Since I have been away from blogging I have done exactly Zero projects!  I realized how much having the place to discuss, share and plan my projects was such a help to me in accomplishing my goals.  In a way I felt like I have accountability with my blogging friends that I cannot drum up on my own!  I also miss the inspiration I obtained from reading and/or stalking my favorite blogs.  Sometimes I was simply inspired by their color choices stirring me to try a similar combination of colors.

Cowboy Table Topper:  In pieces

Advent Calendar:  It still lingers on...

My Goals for this week:
1)  Work on Cowboy Table topper.
2)  Finish top-stitching on Christmas Advent Calendar.
3)  Finish putting together a tutorial.

Projects:

Started in the past month:           00

On WIP List this month:             06

On UFO List this Month:             09

Completed past Month:              00

Completed this year:                  40

Fabric: (Includes wonky blocks)

Busted the past month:               5.25 

Busted this year:                      17.00

Stashed the past month:             0.0

Stashed this year:                     26.0

Net Busted for 2012:                -9.0

Linking up this week to:

Finishes-2012-W8: "Chilling Like a Baby Villain..."

My husband likes to ask our one-week old daughter, "Are you Chilling like a baby villain?"  Now I have no idea what it means but its the cutest thing!  We are delighted to announce that I have completed my greatest project for 2012, the birth of my daughter, Ziona!  After about 24 hours of labor, 1 hour of pushing I still ended up with a c-section because she came out 1oz shy of 8lbs, not bad for two weeks "early" I'd say!  I took the picture to the right to represent my 39th week of pregnancy.

Needless to day with my restrictions after surgery my project count is low, although I did complete my 12 Wonky house blocks, 20 wonky green tree blocks and a million signature blocks (I will have extras for other projects for sure!) just 2 days before I went to the hospital, so I am pleased.  You can find the pictures for the rest of these blocks HERE on my flickr page!


Linking up this week to:
TGIFF hosted this week by Rhonda @Quilter In The Gap
Finish It Up Friday hosted by Amanda Jean@Crazy Mom Quilts
& This Week hosted by Sunni @Love Affair With My Brother!

SR/WIP-2012-W7: Coffee, Tea, & Me!

(I had this post ready but forgot to hit "Publish" button before we left for doctor's visit which then led to the hospital!  Read Friday February 24th's post for more news!)

I have been sitting here for weeks flooding my pinterest boards with pins, ideas, and inspirations!  I like to first check out my friends' ins, then strangers' pins, and then I spend random time scouring the internet for more ideas.  With all these pins people often say to me, "Will you ever use or make anything from those links?"  I can already say  yes to that!  I have goals of doing more of course, but I honestly haven't the ability at the moment.  With knowing that we have now scheduled to move at the end of May (Just need to find a new place!), I hesitate to start many new projects.  Plus with the unknown of Motherhood just around the corner, I am not sure how much I will actually be able to accomplish.

Wonky House Block Swap
I have been have fun with the Wonky House Block Swap-round one! I have finally completed my wonky igloos and my signature blocks.  I was super excited to hear that round Two would be Wonky trees!  I kind of got a little mixed up on my counting when I started making them though and ended up with 21 trees instead of 12.  I decided I will keep one and then mail the other 20 off for the swapping.  This round is still open for sign-up, so even if you did not get a chance to be a part of the Wonky House Block Swap, there is is time to make trees for the swap in round two!  You can see all of my finished Wonky houses and tree on my flickr page (I posted one of my tree blocks down below as well).

Tea Pot Cross-stitch
I have been working on my teapot cross-stitch as well; my husband has been a real help to me on this one.  I have goals of getting this finished by Christmas, one has to think ahead and not get to crazy on one's goals, lol.  It is supposed to be a table runner, but I am not sure if I am going to go that route yet.

My Goals for this week:

1)  Finish/Mail Wonky & Siggy Blocks
2)  Cowboy Table Runner

3)  Mending for husband

4)  Cross Stitch

5)  Continue to grow Ziona.

Projects:

Started in the past week:            20

On WIP List this week:              15

On UFO List this week               11

Completed past week:                00

Completed this year:                  12

Fabric: (Does not include wonky blocks yet)

Busted the past  week:               0.0 

Busted this year:                      11.75

Stashed the past week:               0.0

Stashed this year:                     26.0

Net Busted for 2012:               -14.25

Linking up this week to:

SR/WIP-2012-W5: Something New to do...

 Oh My What an interesting week it has been!  I am still having contractions that are not doing anything and so I have to stay laying down or resting or they start back up.  I have had 3 Visits to the hospital and finally today an Ultrasound check-up to see how Ziona is doing!  She has healthy heart, her breathing is good, and she still looks very much like her daddy!  We have a  few more weeks I am hoping to keep her incubating!

I am hoping to do some smaller projects around our place, the first is completing my Wonky House swap Blocks and signature blocks in time to mail for the deadline!  You can see the 5 I have completed on my Flickr account.  I miss-measured cutting the outside strips for the other 8 blocks, but I am hoping to get that ripped out, measured, cut and sewn in place tonight.  I am hoping to tackle the signature blocks and my mending tomorrow (3 pairs of pants need buttons replaced and hems augmented for my husband).  When those things are done & mailed off, I will be resting, watching Netflix, and working on my Tea Pot Cross Stitch (My husband is teaching me to cross stitch; of course I had to pick a large colorful runner to start with!).

My Goals for this week:

1)  Work on Wonky House & Signature Blocks

2)  Mending for husband

3)  Cross Stitch

4)  Continue to grow Ziona.

Projects:

Started in the past week:            02

On WIP List this week:              15

On UFO List this week               11

Completed past week:                05

Completed this year:                  12

Fabric: (Numbers do not include wonky blocks)

Busted the past  week:               0.0 

Busted this year:                      11.75

Stashed the past week:               0.0

Stashed this year:                     26.0

Net Busted for 2012:               -14.25

Linking up this week to:

Colour My World Challenge: January Red

Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE color and so when M-R said she was going to do the Colour My World Challenge I had to find a way to get involved!  For the month of January the color RED was chosen and it just so happens I had just completed a duo of Red and White mug rugs when the announcement was made.  I decided that would be my entry for the month of January (I also checked in with M_R to make sure that would work, lol).  Each month I will make a pair of Mug rugs exploring the challenge color.  Not only will this allow me to get creative, but it is practical to keep my projects small at this point while waiting for a baby to arrive!

I made the fabric in the middle from my "crumbs" or little itty-bitty left-overs, and then cut the circles from that.  The circles were attached using iron-on adhesive and then sewn around the edges with a zig-zag stitch.  Then starting at one edge of the circle I swirled around and around to create a pebble in the sand sort of look.  We have these beauties out for Valentine's Day, sadly our only decorations for the holiday currently.  And now to start working on the color for February: Purple!

Finishes-2012-W4: By the Seat of My Pants...

Welcome!  It has been a couple weeks since I posted a finish, but I figure since I have been working on my baby-growing project, no one minds too much.  Here's an update of my projects...

Ziona:
I have now visited the hospital twice in the past week (we just got home a couple hours ago from trip #2);  I am now in the "early labor" stage which basically means I get the fun of contractions without the progress of getting a child at the end of the round.  They tell me that this will be on-going for perhaps a whole week or more!  Needless to say I will be taking a short break from posting for probably the next couple of weeks or so...


Christmas Advent Calendar:  The stitches have been ripped out and I have started to come up with a plan for FMQ the top.  I should have posted a picture of the back of this project, which was truly dreadful before the stitches were removed!  I had some serious tension issues so there were both tight and loosen threads on the back.

Cowboy Table Topper:  More tiny star parts have been assembled, they need to be squared up before making into tiny stars.  I am hoping this might be a nice project to work at while sitting and resting these next weeks.  This is a project a friend asked me to make so I am eager to get it completed!


Wonky House Block Swap:
My husband gave me the idea of making a wonky igloo instead of the traditional wonky house (he's so clever)!  We are from Alaska, but we did not actually live in an igloo, although you'd be surprised how many people ask us if we have or assumed that we did!  Many of my blocks look similar because each block is going to a different person so I did not get too crazy making them too different so I have only posted 5 completely done so far.  Please check out my Flickr account to see all the blocks that I finished (I will post them as I get each one finished)!

Linking up this week to:
TGIFF hosted this week by Lynette @What a Hoot,
Finish It Up Friday hosted by Amanda Jean@Crazy Mom Quilts
& This Week hosted by Sunni @Love Affair With My Brother!
Don't forget to check out Laura's QAYGFMQQAL@Quokka Quilts!!

SR/WIP-2012-W4: My So-called Wonky Life...

My last few weeks have been interesting to say the least; I now know the difference between "practicing" contractions and "real" ones! We found out last week that Ziona lost some of her Amniotic fluids, but the doctor was surprised to note on Friday that not only had she not lost anymore, but that the level rose up to "normal!"  We've also made one more visit to the hospital on Saturday when contractions got to be 20 minutes apart (my husband could not wait for them to be closer).  They gave me something to take for the back pain which also made the contractions stop and then they sent me home.  So I have been resting a lot more than even before.

Christmas Advent Calendar:
The advent calendar was finally put together with the wonky numbered pockets, sandwiched and I started to FMQ the top in a random way.  I had a few problems I encountered however like 1) not enough of the thread I chose for the task, 2) my machine sincerely hates me sending the tension off if I do not use the needle he prefers 3) I am beginning to hate my machine, and finally 4) the stitch looked pretty bad in the end and I couldn't live with it.  I am working on getting all green thread pulled out (almost there) and then I will come up with a plan to get this done and packed away.

Making up Project packs:
I am trying very hard not to start any more projects until April, but there are so many QAL's that I really wish I could be  apart of this Spring.  Instead I am trying to make-up project packs, cutting up the needed fabric into strips, squares, and making sure there is a copy of the instructions in the bag.  I only have a couple made up right now so I will try to show you in a few weeks how far I progress with that!  It does make me feel like I am doing something while actually doing nothing crafty.

Wonky House Block Swap:

On a positive note I have loved playing with my scraps today and planning  out Wonky House Blocks!  I am not the greatest at things described by the word "wonky" but I am trying my best.  My Husband gave me a truly unique idea for our houses (he is my brain these days) that has truly challenged me in my creativeness.  I will post some of my blocks this next week and on my flickr account photostream.  What I love best about this project is that I have been able to use scraps, crumbs, and any other fabrics that catch my eye in my stash!  There is talk of added some additional wonky blocks like trees and such (oh what a cute idea) that I am also hoping to get in on the list for swapping!  You should check out the Flickr group for the swap, truly inspiring.   

My Goals for this week:

1)  Work on Wonky House Blocks

2)  Finish the Cowboy Table Topper

3)  Finish the Advent Calendar
4)  Work on project packs as time and interest allows.

5)  Continue to grow Ziona (ie. "rest" while doing 1-4).

Projects:
Started in the past 3 weeks:       02
On WIP List this week:              19
On UFO List this week               11
Completed past 3 weeks:           07
Completed this year:                  07
Fabric:
Busted the past 3 Weeks:         11.75
Busted this year:                      11.75
Stashed the past 3 weeks:        14.0
Stashed this year:                     26.0

Net Busted for 2012:               -14.25

Linking up this week to:

Finishes-2012-W2: "Stay..Just a Little Bit Longer..."

"Stay..inside a little bit longer..."  I keep saying to [my favorite WIP] my little Ziona.  She is all about kicking & moving, especially when she hears her Daddy's voice; I can tell she is eager to meet the world as well!  I was expecting to have some new pictures to show you of her, but she is turned away and right where she is supposed to be!  She is also already 6 lbs they told me, and they were worried.  I guess 6 lbs with 7 weeks to go means that she just might be a big baby; oh what a scary thought!  I had to do the sugar test, which is pretty nasty and I think Ziona didn't like it either (She was extra energetic kicking and bouncing etc for about 18 hours).  I then spent a very stress-filled Wednesday pacing instead of posting, but thankfully they called me first thing Thursday morning to tell me that everything is normal and they are just going to watch her closely (I now have 3 doctors watching her closely meaning 2 doctor visits per week, ugghh).  This will be my first delivery and the furtherest we've gotten in any of our pregnancies (3rd pregnancy, 5th child) so I am pretty eager to hold Ziona in my arms and see that she is safe and whole.


I cut out the pattern for her baptism gown last night and I am now debating over fabric choices (lacy fabric over an underskirt or a patterned white cotton with a little bit of lace..hmmm???) and wrestled over sizes too!  Which way do you think I should go?  I would post a picture so you's have a better idea of what I am talking about, but I am almost out of time before I can link up to TGIFF (15 minutes to go!).

I am doing a little bit of the happy dance over here as well because I finally got the Modern Twist Quilt completed!  I forgot to buy "color-catchers" so I don't dare wash it yet.  I am hoping to get it to the winners by the end of this next week though.  I really like how it turned out, especially since it was larger than I had first anticipated.  When I started it I put together the fabric strips for the binding I was planning to use (when it was baby-quilt sized) and thankfully I must have miscounted because I literally had only 3" or 4" of binding left over when I connected the final pieces!  It finishes at 60"X 60" which is the largest quilt that I have completed so far (previously it was a 45"X 60") and it gives me hope of being able to make a quilt for our own bed some day (after I replace my machine with a bigger throat space and less quarks that is).  Okay!  I think I am going to make it to both of the parties after all with a few minutes to spare!

Linking up this week to:
TGIFF hosted this week by M-R @Quilt Matters,
Finish It Up Friday hosted by Amanda Jean@Crazy Mom Quilts
& This Week hosted by Sunni @Love Affair With My Brother!
Don't forget to check out Laura's QAYGFMQQAL@Quokka Quilts!!

Finishes-2012-W1: Ringing in the New Year...

Flickr, Picnik, & Techno-vations in blog-o-sphere
The last week of the old year I opened up a Flickr account, something I have been meaning to do for quite a while.  If you have a Flickr account look me up [Sparrow In Flight] and send me your contact information, I love looking at other people's photo-streams!  Now that I have formed an attachment to Picnik my pictures are looking so much better these days!  I am hoping to keep up with adding my project pictures while they are still in process, even if I do not end up being able to put together a post after my baby girl Ziona is born.  Have you noticed that you can now make uncluttered print-outs & PDF's using Print-Friendly from my own posts[you can add a gadget to your own blog to make each posting or tutorial "print-friendly"]?  I found out about this from Madame Samm and its another techno-vation that I am in-love with now!

Wonky House Block Swap
My First week of the new year and I am so excited about the projects that I have been working on!  As if I haven't put enough on my plate I was accepted in the Wonky House block Swap in a last minute group addition, my very first block swap!  I am super excited, especially since we will be using brights and I have so many random ones in my stash that I could use.  You should check out their Flickr group, such cute ideas!  I will be posting my house blocks there as well as here so you can see my first attempts at a "wonky" house, lol.


Finishes for this week:

Two Flannel placemats in lime green, sky blue, & dark Blue

Valentine's Day Table runner in various shades of pink, red cream, & white

2 Valentine's day Mug Rugs using "crumbs", cream background, red backing & binding.

I also finished my secret Valentine's Day project that I will show you next month (but I am taking it off my WIP list)!

Linking up this week to:
TGIFF hosted this week by Laura @Quokka Quilts,
Finish It Up Friday hosted by Amanda Jean@Crazy Mom Quilts

This Week hosted by Sunni@Love Affair With My Brother

This is the last week to check out Laura's Fabric Giveaway!!

SR/WIP-2012-W1: The Amazing Race and Fabric Glee!

Hello New Year!
Santa was very good to me this year...I received a box with 48 beautiful fat quarter cuts of basics (12 yards of fabric) from Connecting Threads for Christmas.  I wish it did not sound so dorky to say that I have spent a lot of time this week petting a box of fabric, but I have.  How will I ever be able to cut into it?!  This may take some time, just like it took me 4 months to cut into my Grand Finale Fat quarter pack, and even now I hesitate to use the fabric.  I am hoping to change that this year and do some serious cut backs on my fabric stash by making whatever I can make in around caring for Ziona.

The amazing race to finish projects is well under way!  I am expecting Ziona to come some time in the next 0-60 days and boy is there a lot to do!  Yes, I am taking breaks and being bossy from the couch on more than one occasion, but I am putting in a little time in the sewing room as well.  I do have some larger projects I would love to get finished, but my eyes are mostly on the small ones I can do and get off my list.  My last WIP list was pushed into the "WIP Pit of Despair" (also known as my UFO list) on my 2011 End Year report.  Has it stopped me form starting new projects? Of course not!

My Goals for this week:
1)  Iron & organize fabrics that have no home yet and get them folded into my Stash
2)  Finish hand-stitching the binding on the Modern Pinwheel Twist Quilt
3)  Finish hand-stitching the bindings on my Valentine's Day projects (4 total)
4)  Continue to grow Ziona (ie. "rest" while doing #1- #3, possibly #5).
5)  If I have time, I am hoping to tackle these 4 placemats...

I've decided these will be placemats; thinking about adding vinyl to the multi-colored set

Projects:
On WIP List this week:    00
On UFO List this week:   00
Started in last 2 weeks:   02
Fabric:
Busted this Week:          0.0
Busted this year:            0.0
Stashed this Week:       12.0
Stashed this year:         12.0

Net Busted for 2012:    -12.00

Linking up this week to: