Daily Craft - More tiny stitches

I am very impressed that, only 3 months after starting the project, I am so far along with my cross-stitch birth announcement. Cross-stitching is a labor of love, that's for sure. The advantages for this particular pattern are that there were big areas using the same thread that didn't involve switching between colors or having to repeatedly count to make sure that a single x wasn't missed. The background is complete....but now I'm working on the back-stitching.

I should note that I have a bit of a love hate relationship with back-stitching. I love how it looks, but I hate the fact that you think you're done with the piece, and then realize that you still have a ton of tiny outline stitches to do before it's finished. These stitches that seem like they'll take as long as it did to do the background.  You can see how much difference it makes in this picture though - all the definition and detail comes through.  So, I'll keep stitching on and with any luck I'll be done by the time we head to the hospital (although I swear I'm not going to feel bad if I'm not!)

Daily Travels - Preggo on Safari!

Even though I went to college in San Diego, I never took the opportunity to visit the Safari Park.  We got some tickets half price through Living Social earlier in the year and with all the first trimester nausea, then summer heat, we never quite got to using them.  This weekend, we decided to go while I'm still mobile and take our last little excursion before the arrival of the little one.  We didn't quite manage to avoid the heat as the weather still isn't playing fair in So Cal right now (although starting to cool off a little it seems).  Despite the heat, it was a really nice 24 hours away and I had a great time hiking around the park!

So cute to come across this dog and cheetah on a walk.  Apparently they're best buds.

Flamingos with their babies	Pelicans
Rhino going for a walk	This guy was crossing the street in front of the tram!

A gigantic lion paw!

Elephants getting some shade	Check out the little baby  :)
What you lookin' at?	Regal looking male

Husband befriended this larakeet...who then promptly pooped down the back of his shirt!

If you've never been, I highly recommend it! It was a lot of fun (even with all the hiking while 7.5 months pregnant.) It's not cheap, but they offer some cool packages too - like the option to zipline across the park, or the "Snore and Roar" where you get to stay overnight. Those will have to be for another visit though... :)

Daily Craft - Quite Charming

For any of you who ever go to Big Lots, you probably know that you can find some very random things.  Most recently, I found some fabric charm packs on sale for $3.  I grabbed a couple, although wishing now that I'd purchased more - as with any overstock type store, you can never guarantee that the item will be there if you return at a later date.

I decided to dive right in using a simple quilt pattern to showcase the charm pack.  It's coming together quite quickly, so I'll have more to show for it soon.  My only problem is that I enjoy making the patchwork tops, but don't love the quilting part (seeing as I already have another quilt top waiting to be quilted in the closet).

Do any of you quilters have that issue...or any suggestions on how to get over the quilting hump?

Daily Craft - Crate covers

Finally got myself organized, so here's to my other recent sewing project.  You know those stackable plastic crates that you can get at office supply stores?  They're great for storage, but not all too pretty.  I happened across this tutorial on Pinterest on how to sew covers for said crates and knew that it would be perfect to make some cute storage for the nursery.

I used crates that I bought several years ago at Target ($2.50 a piece I believe).  They'd been storing some random crap in my closet from a while back, and I cleared out the junk when we got ready for the carpeting.  [Note the pretty new carpet by the way - we're really happy with it.]

I found both the striped fabric, and the fabric used for the interior of the crate in the clearance section at Joann.  Fabric cost was under $10 and enough to make covers for 2 crates, with plenty left over.  Total cost ended up being about $15 for the pair, which I consider quite a steal for customized storage.  Plus, they only took about an hour to make.

I'm loving that I can use these for safe, low level storage of books or toys.  I also love that the covers are easily washable, which from what I hear is important when babies and toddlers are involved.  :)

Seeing as there are several more of these crates around the house that are storing various things, I kind of want to cover them all so that they can be displayed more prominently!

Daily Ramblings - 32 weeks

Stormy skies when leaving Olive Garden after dinner last night.
Love it when it's moody.  ;)

I quite enjoyed this weekend - did a bunch more sewing, massage, pedicure, enjoyed some good food with family, and scored some deals at Target.  Yes, I think I've pampered myself more, since realizing I can no longer cut my own toenails, than I ever have before.  

This morning, I had my 32 week check-up.  Everything is looking good, and it says something when you spend more time discussing cell phone ringers during your visit than you do any concerns that the doctor has (i.e. there were none).  The number of weeks I have to go is in single digits, which seems so strange.  I feel like we have a ton of stuff to do, but also feeling quite calm about it all - perhaps because I'm not entirely sure where to start!

- Our crib and dresser should be working their way to our house soon so we can get those built, then work on decorating the walls in the nursery.
- I made my tentative list of things for the hospital bag, so plan to start putting it together in the next week or two.
- We secured a daycare spot on Friday, which is a huge relief in itself as it's good to know we have somebody we like lined up to look after #weebabyjacobs (yes, my unborn has an unnecessary hashtag in all Facebook references thanks to a friend of ours...who knew it would catch on?)
- Speaking of names, baby's still nameless for now.  I believe it's driving husband's grandmother crazy that we haven't picked a name yet, and she seems more anxious about it than we are!  We've narrowed it down though, so making progress. 



In the meantime, while I actually DID remember to grab my camera this morning to take some photos of what I've been sewing, I didn't have a chance to get the pics off the camera.  I'll get organized eventually, I swear!  :)

Daily Craft - Planes, trucks and stuff

Hope you all had a lovely long weekend.  I made it a super long weekend by taking yesterday off with no intent other than to get some sewing done.  I'm still debating the best way (or if it's even possible) to share my sewing space with baby, as the nursery has been my craft space up until now, and I've been happily utilizing the dual closets for supply storage.  However, husband has graciously offered to let me move my craft space into his "man cave" once we've cleared some room.  In the meantime, I figured I'd take advantage of not having the baby furniture yet, and spread out my fabric!

I started off with sewing this panel that I bought on sale at Joann's.  I'd never really looked at the panels before, but this has changed my mind.  It was $6 and I loved the patchwork & applique....it makes it look like I did something much fancier than I did!  It's also got a nice variety of textures between the flannel, minky and felt on the front.  In the end, I just sewed some snuggly minky fabric (which I'd also purchased on sale and was already in my stash) on the back and called it a day.  Total cost?  Approx $10.  Super cute and cost effective?  I consider that a win! 


[Sorry these aren't the best pictures, but my preggo self didn't feel like walking down and then back up 2 flights of stairs to get my other camera.]


Next post...some crate covers thanks to a tutorial found on Pinterest!