nanaCompany

:: just laying here eating cake

hello!  I'm still here.  C'mon in...

Source: conflictingheart.tumblr.com via Amy on Pinterest

 

I really wish I could invite you all over.  Your comments cheer me for sure.  I know if you came over I'd be amused and we'd be laughing and this last bit of bedrest would be more bearable.  But, all is well...

Source: zsazsabellagio.blogspot.com.au via Amy on Pinterest

 

I just lay around eating cake all day.  The kids don't need to be carted to and from school at different times (also gymnastics) and I don't go to the grocery store everyday (because there's always something we need that I forgot.)  I don't get ambitious at odd bored moments and the kids don't jump on the bed when I do lay down, contracting, with a fan blowing on me to keep me cool.  Uh-uh, nooo.  Sometimes I lay outside for a change of scenery and ring a bell when I want more cake...

Source: heidiclaire.blogspot.com via Amy on Pinterest

 

This little baby in my belly likes cake, I think.  And now I'll have to tell you that we really are doing well.  I shouldn't complain but bedrest is never easy is it?  I have been working slowly on a little embroidery...

Yep, it's my "Small things" pattern again.  (Download it free here.)  I just love how you can make it so entirely different by choosing another color scheme and trying new stitches.  I love the leaves like this.  They looked pretty without the black outline, too, so I'll probably be making another one.

Happy mail so far this week?

A little parcel from Korea, from the etsy shop Unique Shiny.  I think I might have to get some of this floral gauze for the baby, too.

Now, how 'bout a piece of cake?  xo amy

:: friday update

I have been having painful contractions and spotting for days and you'd think I was in labor, right?  Nope.  I just spent a sleepless night in the hospital... they monitored my contractions from 9pm-6am and they were 2-3 minutes apart the entire time, but it's not real labor.  Three doses of meds couldn't get those contractions to go away and finally they said I could go home, but I have to go back tonight.  More steroid shots, tests, monitoring... I hate the hospital.  Love my home, my bed, and the little ones that keep asking, "When are you going to pop?"

"Soon," I say.  Can't bring myself to tell them what really happens ~ I'm afraid of scarring them for life.  Yet, they seem to be okay with the idea that my belly is going to pop and a doctor will catch the baby as it flies out.  I hope I'm not a total coward for letting them believe in this "popping" business.  If you had to, how did you so delicately explain it?

Well, I'd hoped to be further along with this project, but here's a sneak peek at what I'm working on...

I fell in love with this pretty little thing a while ago, and used it as my jumping off point.  I think I even used the same crochet trim that Eileen used.  I got mine from JoAnn's.  And since a lot of you ask where I get my trim, I thought I'd show you some of the pretty ones you can find there, as well as a few of my favorites from easy to find places...

So, all the trim up there is from JoAnn's except for the two labeled with arrows.  I do have a lot of other trim, some antique, that have been given to me or bought at odd little places, but the ones above should be easy to get.  Searching for "crochet trim" on Etsy will also find you some really pretty ones.

Additions to the fabric stash this week...

and Friday faves...

1. Cherries, 2. IMG_5653-1, 3. Bambi, 4. cupcakes 2, 5. Primele, 6. Untitled, 7. Swedish "slagbaenk", 8. A passion for Ribbons ♥, 9. this sweet love., 10. IMG_9384, 11. Baby quilt with Eliza's fabrics, 12. Inside Out Quilt, 13. Untitled

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

I wish you all a great weekend... I'm off to hospital, crossing my fingers, toes, and eyes that no "popping" happens just yet!

xo amy

:: tuesday already?

Did you have a nice Mother's Day?  I was going to pop in to wish you all a lovely day, but that didn't happen... it was such a nice lazy weekend.  My Sunday started off with a handful of Ferrero Rocher hazelnut chocolates (you know, breakfast in bed.  Thanks, Mom.)  After church and a delicious brunch at the Marmalade Cafe, I... yes, fell asleep.  Later, there were presents, a video chat with my mom, ice cream sundaes, a trip to the bookstore...

Now, it's Tuesday already.  How does that happen?

Time is going by so fast.  I'm counting down the weeks and I'm getting really excited to meet our new baby girl ~ and anxious, even a little nervous.  Her 2nd sleeping mat is now finished and her going-home outfits are washed.  We've got teensy eensy little diapers in the house again and sometimes my husband and I just look at each other and say, "How are we going to do this again?"

Yet we're anxious to get started.  Oh, I'm looking forward to that sweet baby smell. 

Totally off topic, for the person who asked about the "baby" ribbon ~ I got it several years ago and it's manufactured by American Crafts.  The other question I just remembered ~ the name of the blue bird fabric I used for baby's pillow is called Rural Jardin by French General.  I've got to get more myself, if I can find it.  And ooh, my order of Lecien's Old New 30's fabric just arrived from Sew Deerly Loved.  And wouldn't you know... I just spied some new fabric there (Hope Chest by Mama's Cottons) that I now have to have.  Thanks a lot, Kerri!

Swoon.  Love it.

xo amy

:: getting cozy

Making me happy right now?  A tiny new rose plant by the kitchen window...

Not that I spend much time in the kitchen these days.  Last night we ordered in ~ Chinese.  I intend to make dinner this evening, but we'll see.  As far as my energy and mood(s) go, I have completely become like Forest Gump's box of chocolates ~ ya never know what you're gonna get.  And dinner is just so late in the day, isn't it?  Recently I bought a crock pot and it's been sitting on the counter for a week because I don't know how to use it yet and apart from seeing all the fabulous looking dishes on Pinterest, I don't have any recipes.  Are any of you crock pot users?  Love it, hate it?  Dish, girls. ;)

While the kids were at school this morning, I made a pillow and pillow cover for the bassinet.  Little by little, our baby's nest is getting cozy...

I added a teensy bit of pink to the binding because my husband preferred the pink over the green and I figured this way we both win... kinda.  You see who really won. :)  Then I reached for my scrap basket and started the patchwork for baby's 2nd sleeping mat...

Happy Friday!

1. bouquet, 2. T E A C U P S, 3. #C355 - Colar "Costureira" (Peça única), 4. napperon, 5. Untitled, 6. IMG_4984, 7. Natsumi, 8. Pony Machine, 9. Front of zig zag quilt, 10. Untitled, 11. Pavement, 12. Untitled, 13. Sewing satin stitch pencil leads

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

xo amy

Do small things with great love ~ Free pattern

 

"We cannot do great things, but we can do small things with great love."

~ Mother Teresa

I love this quote.  It's what I try to do in my own way.  Apparently Mother Teresa, whose real name was Agnes, chose the name Teresa when she took her religious vows in honor of Saint Therese de Lisieux ~ "the little flower" who believed that life should be spent scattering "flowers"... that is, small acts of love.

So, when I wanted to embroider these words, it made a lot of sense to frame them with lazy daisies and little buds.  And I've turned my pencil drawing into a pdf pattern for you... it looks like this:

Download the free pattern here.

Maybe you'd like to stitch it, too?  The embroidery is really quite simple, as it consists solely of french knots, lazy daisies, and backstitch.  Here you can see I used the pattern on the center of a dresden plate, but I'm itching to try it on a piece of solid grey fabric in the same color palette.

Using Cosmo floss, these are the colors...

I used two strands of floss throughout.  And here it is all finished... just a simple mini quilt with a simple message.

I love how it turned out, I only wish I could have gotten a better pic of it.  The hand quilting around the dresden looks pretty cool and you can't even see it in these pics but I've got to move on now...  I've fallen alseep at least 20 times while writing this dang post. 

As for the tiny quilt I gave you a sneak peek of last Friday...

It's really just a small mat for baby to sleep on.  The bassinet pad is covered in plastic and I noticed that it still feels too plastic-y under the sheet cover... this quilted mat makes it perfectly cozy.

And I love that it's made entirely with small pieces from my scrap basket.  I'll probably make another one, for when this one's in the laundry.  And I think a small flat pillow is in order.  More bibs will be coming.  Burp cloths.  Oh yikes, the clock is ticking...

xo amy

spiders, oh my!

Do you all do the spider thing?

If so, skip over this... but if you don't it's just a neat little trick I learned about a year or so ago and I've been meaning to share it with ya.  Spiders are little scraps of fabric that you'd normally throw away (though not me, of course) that you can use again and again for continuous sewing of patchwork without having to pull your threads over the cutter, tossing out 5 or so inches of thread each and every time.  Very wasteful.  I hate waste.  Or maybe I'm just really cheap.  But you know how it is... say... when you're making granny squares, and your trash bucket gets filled with long white threads... well, no more.  At any point when you would normally pull on the threads to cut them, sew over a spider instead.  Snip the threads connecting the spider to your sewn pieces and leave the spider in your machine until you're ready to sew some more.  Never pull long strands of wasted thread again!  (Do I sound like an annoyingly excited commercial?)

You will need to keep a small pair of scissors handy and please be careful not to cut into your sewn patchwork when snipping it free from the spider.  Also, just for reference, I've found the perfect size for a spider to be 5/8" wide. 

See that blue spider up there?  It used to be blue, it's fairly covered in white thread now because I've been using it for months.  I love it so.

Now ooh, ooh, ooh, look at what just arrived at Sew Deerly Loved, my fave fabric shop...

Finally, the new Old New 30's collection from Lecien has arrived, yay!  Remember the pocket pillow I made recently with that fabric?  I've been waiting to get my hands on more and it's here at last.

I'm still "in progress" on a lot of projects but here's a sneak peak of one that's finished...

I'll show you more soon, it's just that right now I'm falling asleeeeeeep... zzz...

Happy Friday!

1. Raspberry, yogurt and chocolate sponge layer cake, 2. Monogram detail, 3. Molly's Sketchbook: Lavender Sachets, 4. IMG_0856, 5. Quilt market sample: simpatico table runner, 6. local strawberries are in season..., 7. Untitled, 8. Stars On Pink-3, 9. cups & saucers, 10. Dream On - Inside Out, 11. natalie and eloise, 12. No Star Like Thee, 13. Crostata-crumble dolce-salata con caprino e mirtilli marinati nel balsamico e cassis

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

xo amy

in progress...

Probably 80% of the time I sew whatever comes to mind, simply enjoying the process of cutting up pretty fabric and sewing it together, and then finishing it off with a few (or more) stitches by hand.  It's the hand-stitching part I love best, so embroidery is pretty high on my list, too.  During the last several days I carefully chose a palette from my new Cosmo floss stash, and I've been embroidering with those...

Actually, I've got a bunch of embroideries in progress and I can't wait to show you.  I'm totally in love with the Cosmo colors ~ they're perfect and the floss is like butter.

The other 20% of the time I'm sewing custom orders, gifts, and... gasp... practical items.  You know ~ oh! my fave potholder is burnt to a crisp and I need a new one.  Or ~ omigosh, we're having a baby and the bassinet (that we only just bought) is empty!  So I know that probably sounds horrible, but when you're having baby #4 things are a little different.  And, of course, when you're in a high-risk pregnancy where everything could go wrong ~ it's hard letting yourself get excited.  It's definitely been an emotional rollercoaster.  During a visit to one of my doctor's yesterday, she said, "Yes.  You're finally out of the woods.  You can now tell people, 'We are having a baby!'"

So the bassinet pad needed a few covers.  Too boring to share.  But I do have a patchwork thing in progress that I'll share when it's done.  And baby x (still haven't decided on a name) got a new pile of cloths...

Look at these little birds.  I can't wait to put them in her memory quilt!!

Okay!  Gonna get back to work now.  But, check out some of the adorable things I got in the mail yesterday from my friend, Rebecca...

Those are 1/2" hexie papers ... squee!  And when I opened the package, Olivia was right beside me asking for the ribbon.  She always wants the ribbon...

Thank you, Rebecca!  xo amy