29 Weeks

Only 7-9 more weeks to go!

The past month or so, I'd really been feeling the pressure to get "everything" done, so we'll be "ready" when the babies arrive. As time - and with it, the ability to reach anything below my knees - slips by, these terms are becoming amorphous. "Ready" to bring home two infants? Probably not possible. "Everything" has transformed from a picture-perfect nursery, completely toddler-proofed home, and every personal goal for the next ten years met, into the basic baby essentials, a few handmade items, and enough furniture-rearranging to make our home functional for our new, 4-person family.

29 weeks

I'm not saying I haven't tried to fight reality by making long to-do lists, but I have started to divide them into essential and nonessential columns. Finishing all my little projects (and starting 75 others) seemed totally do-able two months ago. But fabric, I've discovered, is pretty heavy. And big. And requires a lot of crawling around on the floor.

Some things (like making quilts for each baby, walking more than a block at a time, and seeing anything below my belly button) are going to have to wait until after - much after - they are born.

And that's okay. My new mantra, like all things pregnancy, is to enjoy the (very slow) process. Little by little, I'm completing small projects, and it feels really good to fill the nursery with handmade touches to welcome our babies.

A few receiving blankets, the perfect weight with a combo of voile and flannel;

Some black and white blocks to hang by their changing table so they have something interesting to look at (and later grab for);

and a matching pair of taggies made out of my husband's old flannel shirts. They are so soft!

The nursery inherited our slightly worn cotton throw pillows, so the living room got a new set (fabric selected by Mr Awesome, no less!). I am so grateful to my mom for helping me out with these. Ironing and cutting yardage is too much for me, so she cut, ironed, and pinned, while I sat at the machine and sewed. A beautiful partnership!

Looking at this picture made me laugh a little. I guess we really like things that come in twos.

These blocks came from the Mumu scraps. When I finish that quilt's binding, it will go on our bed, where the pillows might join it. For now though, I'm enjoying all the pillow comfort I can get on the couch.

As for Mumu itself, it's currently somewhere in this pile, along with my brother's quilt, Paisley Sunrise, and a couple of minis, and God knows what else. My sister, visiting for the weekend, aptly commented, "Wow. You have a lot of quilts." I guess so. How did that happen? They are everywhere.

I've also got a little hand-piecing going - a beautiful cloth ball from I Love Patchwork. I want to put a bell into the ball so the kids will get a cool sound when they play with it, but my husband assures me everyone will think it's a cat toy (we don't even have cats). What do you think?

Check out more WIPs at Lee's:

 

Spring is in Full Bloom, and So Am I

Spring has sprung.

I love looking out at my neighbor's yard. It's an overgrown explosion of life and lush color. There is a calico cat that loves to prowl in there and chase the birds. My allergies tell me it's just a bunch of weeds, but the unplanned white and yellow floating over a tangle of green makes me excited for this new season.

As I was zooming in to capture a lily, I realized I was acting like a total creeper! Who hangs out a window to get pictures of other people's property? But surrepticious picture-taking aside, this is one of my favorite things to see in this season.

Something else is in full bloom.

Don't mind the unmade bed!

Mr Awesome and I are expecting twins (due Oct 1)!! We are so lucky to be getting TWO babies! I'm now 18 weeks (though the pic is 17 weeks), and expanding daily. Being pregnant is a strange, beautiful, amazing, confusing, rich, powerful experience. Wow.

Double the babies (and in this case, two placentas, too) means double the hormones, so I have been literally quite sick and tired for the past 3 months. More tired than sick, thankfully. It's cut down my sewing...walking...talking... sleeping...and everything else, except for EATING, which I am digging into like a professional.

Babies seem to be cropping up in the neighborhood. Our friend and neighbor is 34 weeks, and celebrated the imminent arrival of her little bundle with a shower last weekend. She is an avid reader, and requested favorite children's books to build her little one's library. Of course I couldn't resist making a book I know a tiny person would love. It was nice to get back behind the machine (especially now that the babies can hear sounds outside the womb...gotta force teach them to love the purr of the Bernina!).

I did the stitching free-hand, and it came out okay.

White for a baby? I know - but it was the only corduroy I had on hand, and I wanted something with tactile interest.

Some taggie pages to chew on.

And what children's book would be complete without an interesting picture, full of colorful, whimsical details? I can't think of a better use for Valori Well's Paisley print from Nest.

Okay I admit it - maybe I partly wanted to pattern-test this sweet item for my bambinos :o) I will definitely be making more of these little books!

Happy spring!