Ronan

We welcomed little Ronan Alexander Joyce into our world on July 2, 2013 at 8:42 am.  He is so very loved by us all.  He has hardly spent any time not being cuddled, loved or held by someone.  

Just a few hours after birth.  He is absolutely perfect.

Just like the two that came before him, I am completely in love with him.  I could just stare at him, hold him and love on him forever.  

Tired mama and baby.  

The four most important people in the world to me.  Trying not to be emotional, but this picture gets me crying every time.  There is so much love and happiness in this one little snapshot.

Well, we are finally home from the hospital and settling back into life.  There won't be much sewing happening around here for awhile.  Recovering from a second c-sec is a lot harder than I thought it would be.  Besides, my machine is in the shop getting fixed right now.  Figured this would be the perfect time for a tune-up since I will be otherwise occupied for a little while.

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend.  We plan on hanging around home and taking it real easy this weekend.

Shop Sale

Just a quick reminder that I am still running my sale in the shop.  Everything is now 40% off with coupon code OHBABY.  This includes handmade items as well as fabrics.  $25 minimum purchase for code to apply.

Please stop by and check out the shop.  I will be adding some new items - mostly some yardage and scrap bundles - over the next few days.  There may be a few more handmade items popping in too.  Depends on how much energy and free time I have!

Drawstring Bags

I managed to get these both finished yesterday for the boys.  I plan on putting a few goodies and gadgets in them to keep them both busy while they're visiting their new little brother in the hospital soon.  Hopefully very soon.

This one is for my youngest.  He loves blue and brighter colors so I thought this dino print with the bright green polka dot lining would be perfect.

And this one is for my oldest.  He really likes red and orange but I couldn't find a print that had red background with dinos on it anywhere in my stash so I settled for this one that had red/orange dinos on it and then found a large enough scrap for the lining in a brick red with dino fossils all over it.

Instead of making a cord or buying ribbon or drawstring, I decided to use what I had to finish these up quickly and inexpensively.  I found some twine from my Moda precuts.  I always keep these when I open a precut up and I knew one day they would come in handy.

I'm sure the boys are going to love them!  I actually had a lot of fun making them and am already itching to make some more.  I was thinking of making some for myself to hold smaller items and making a few up for birthday gift bags.  I love the idea of using a handmade, reusable bag for a gift.  It's like getting an extra gift.  No waste and a cute little bag to keep for yourself or reuse again.

A Sweater for Baby

Just a quick post this morning to show off the sweater I just finished for the new little guy.  It's a 6-12 month sweater so it should fit him well for the cold, rainy fall/winter season here.  This was the first time I've used this pattern and really enjoyed it.  I'll have to update later with the pattern info as I can't seem to find it right now, but it is available on ravelry and I believe was a free pattern.

Please forgive the poor quality of the photo.  It was a rainy and cloudy day so I couldn't get a nice outdoor picture of it today and I really wanted to show it off.

Enjoy your day!

New Curtains

Yesterday I managed to get these curtains finished and hung.  Quite a feat I think, since I'm currently at 36 weeks with this little boy and tired almost every second of the day.  The boys helped me get the clips on the rod and hang it up.  It was fun to do together and they just loved seeing the curtains once I got them clipped up.

Aren't the colors so vibrant? It makes me happy to look at them.  And this morning, when I walked out and saw the sun shining in through them, it just made me smile.  Funny what a little curtain can do to a mood. 

I just love them.  I used Anna Maria Horner voile fabrics from almost all of her collections, cut them into 6" squares and sewed them up into rows of 8 x 9 which seemed to work perfectly for my window.  There are two 8 x 9 panels here so the curtains open in the middle.  This is very important since I have a dog that will rip the curtains down if they aren't left open when we leave.  (He likes to see outside).

I chose not to line or hem these since once we get the new house built I'll have different sized windows.  This way, I can simply take these down when we move and make them into 2 little baby quilts or join them, add some more blocks and make a bed quilt for myself.  The latter option is very appealing!  And with the soft, lightweight voile fabrics and a crisp cotton backing, I think this would make a wonderful summer quilt on my bed.

Enjoy your day! I'm off to the doctors for a check-up and another ultrasound.  They want to see how big this little guy is getting.

A Five Year Old

Today, my little guy turned 5.  While I'm so excited for him it's also a little sad for me.  He's growing up so fast.  Four just doesn't seem that big, but five? Five sounds big.  Five is growing up.

I heard him get up and pad down the hallway this morning, his blankie and favorite stuffed puppy under his arms, hair all askew from sleep, a little smile on his face.  He came over for a snuggle, looked into my eyes and asked, "Am I five yet?"  I said yes and he patted my cheek, kissed me and said, "Thanks mom.  Thanks for letting me be five now."  Then his brother began singing Happy Birthday to him.  Talk about a heart-melter.

We celebrated his birthday the week before since Daddy was going to be gone this week for work so we had a quiet morning together getting ready for their date with Grampa and Baba (my husbands parents) which happens every Thursday while he's away.  It gives me a nice break to catch up on whatever - or lately, with baby making me more tired than usual, I can get a nice nap in.


I did however get to work on a few sewing projects this week.  I'll have pictures coming soon! I haven't made it to the sewing machine very much lately - it's getting hard to sit in front of it for very long! But I do have some things to finish up so I will have some show-and-tell still, at least until this little guy pops out.

And even though I apparently didn't take pictures of the birthday celebration, here's some recents of my little guy.

Realized I didn't have any birthday pictures of him, but here's a few recent ones.  Contemplating life in the toy cubbies.  I love this one! 

And this was just a few days before his birthday.  Mr. Cool on his way to Costco.  This was actually just a few short hours before he proudly did this by himself...

Cut his own hair.  As he said to me proudly, he used safety scissors so he was safe and did it over the trash can so there was no mess.  He also knew I needed to trim their hair and was trying to help out since I've been so tired lately.  Really, a sweet offer and sweet little boy.  I couldn't be upset.  And hair? It grows back.

Mug Rugs

I managed to find some time one afternoon to sit down and whip up a bunch of these mug rugs.  I had all these little 2.5" squares I had received a while back from Moda and hadn't been inspired yet to make something with them.  I was feeling quite energetic one afternoon last week and wanted to make something so I thought what would be better than some mug rugs.

This one is a Moda fabric but for the life of me I can't remember what collection it's from.  It makes me think of a log cabin and sitting out on the porch looking out over the lake.

These bright pinks and yellows are from the Verna collection.  I had some of these guys leftover from a quilt I made for a friend a few years ago.  Hmmm... maybe a birthday present for her? 

I think these last three are my favorite.  The fabric is Whimsy and I used up every last piece I had for these three guys.  The binding is from Hunky Dory.  I thought it went really well with the soft vintage-like feel of the patchwork squares.  I used a piece of cream with a small print on it that was from my larger scraps and was able to use up almost all of that fabric.

I also managed to get a couple of these done with some tiny scraps I had laying around next to the sewing machine.  I just love them!

All of these are available for purchase in the shop.