I'm Better.

Well, I'm glad I got that out of my system.

There's nothing like a sunny day, a midday nap and a late-night photo-editing session to cure a case of the blahs.

Am I right?

***

Today was great.

I absolutely love this picture. L-O-V-E-love-it.

The hubby took Willow out on the town so I could take a nap.

It was glorious.

(Naps are so underrated. SO.)

Apparently, he took her to Chuck E. Cheese's

- but he said there was a kid there who smelled like poo-

so they left and went to the park.

Daddy time is Daddy time, no matter what you're doing.

And Willow came back glowing... that's what counts.

***

The weather was nice and springy- finally.

So, of course we had to go and officially celebrate.

With ICE CREAM!!

Willow kept saying,

"I want sprinkles. You know, because it's Spring now. Springkles."

Man, I love her.

***

She's just getting so big...

so fast.

***

I got some more work done on the Big Girl Room/Nursery.

I can't wait to show some pictures.

Just to give you an idea of what we started with:

Yup.

Lots of work.

I've got lots and lots of before and after shots to show.

Oh, and I'm still under budget!!

Yaaaaay me!

***

I just went through and edited a bunch of pics from April,

including Easter,

which I just realized I never even posted about.

And to be quite honest, I may never get to an Easter post.

So, how about I just share my favorite pictures?

I think we all know what happened, right?

There were some Easter egg hunts:

Willow would find and egg, inspect its contents, and move on. Not the fastest egg hunter...

Favorite cousins:

Photo ops:

I also happen to adore this picture. It's like Big Version, Little Version.

And photo ops:

Not a fan of how humongous this dress makes me look, (yeah, like it's the dress), but there are hardly any pictures of me and the hubby during this pregnancy... so there you have it.

And more photo ops:

I can't wait to frame this one. We really need to update our photo wall. It's almost like time stopped or something. Creepy...

Basically, life is good... and I'm better.

Also going up on the photo wall.

I'll have some actual sewing things to post later.

Because I do still do that.

You know... sew.

Dealing.

So....I've been dealing with a lot of this lately:

It's very tiring.

Very time consuming.

And, well, it just doesn't leave much time for anything else.

My patience is wearing thin.

And I'm starting to feel like I could quite possibly be the worst parent ever.

I'm serious.

So, I just wanted to tell someone that I am here.

And there is a lot going on over in my neck of the woods.

And I have lots that I would like to show.

There are several projects waiting in the wings...

I just need some time and a bit more of my sanity to return and then I'll be all good.

Right?

You may think I don't love this parenting thing... but you're wrong.

I do.

I really really do.

But, I'm not going to sugarcoat the crappy parts because I know there's someone out there who's having the same kind of shitty day and it feels good to know you're not the only one failing at the moment.

So there.

And yes, there are plenty of happy times and I love them and savor them.

However, today is the day where I get to lament to my computer so that I don't lose it.

I will get to the happy times later.

Promise.

Winner!

Thanks to everyone for entering!

Unfortunately, there can only be one winner.

And, thanks so random.org, that winner is #3 Jill!

Jill said,

"Love this giveaway! I've been wanting to start making quilts and this would be a perfect way to start!"

Well, there you go, Jill... congratulations!

Please contact me at

willowbeanmama@gmail.com

to give me your quilt kit color choice and your address information

so you can get to quilting!

And here's a few photos because they're fun:

Willow and I got to babysit my nephew Gabe, or Baby Gabey, as Willow calls him a couple days ago.

Isn't he just so cute?

We had tons of fun playing and taking pictures.

Willow was in heaven. Like a little momma, she was.

Telling me when he was hungry, playing blocks, making sure he had a clean diaper.

It got me really excited for her to be a big sister!

This pic is when I said, "Get close to Gabe and say 'cheese' ".

And this one is when I said, "Oops. A little too close, you squished him."

Yeah, I think she was a little sensitive, what do you think?

Happy Easter Weekend!

Quilts and Mob Connections. And a Budget.

I don't know why,

but I've decided to join twin fibers' quilt along.

Here's the flickr group if you want to join in the fun too!

I already have a lot of things on my plate, but I just can't pass up making some more quilts for my girls...

And I haven't done a quilt along in a VERY long time

-it's nice to work off of somebody else's ideas, see how they do things, learn new tricks, etc.-

I think it adds to the big ol' bundle of Quilt Knowledge somehow.

And if not, I'll get 2 really cute quilts out of it, right?

I like that Jessica put up some fabric measurements for a scrappy version.

I'm all about using up those scraps!

The only thing I'm not sure about is the fabric for the borders and the background.

I don't want to use white-duh.

To me, white is a no-no.

I was thinking some sort of solid or crossweave for the borders and then a smaller print for the background fabric.

Any suggestions?

I might use this vintage sheet for the backs of the quilts.

You know, the one I picked up for $2?

Willow put the 'ballerina'

(I'm preeetty sure that's a student-she's holding an apple-but whatever)

on top 'for protection'.

Are we in the mob now? Why do we need protection?

And is this ballerina-slash-kindergardener really going to put the smack down if necessary?

We'll see.

I'll let you know how it goes... that is if we make it out alive, of course.

This whole nursery room/big girl room on a budget thing is working out quite nicely.

I took this sad/grumpy little lamp and hooked it up with some spray paint and a new 'do.

It cleans up nice, right?

I used the spray paint that I bought on a whim, and the lamp and shade I already owned.

Then I just recovered the lampshade in some AMH fabric from my stash...

Voila!

Happy Lamp!

And I just bought 16 of these from Anthropologie clearance

to go on 2 cute and adorable matching antique dressers

(thanks Grandma Ruthie and Papa Frank)

that will soon be transformed into pink and wonderful goodness!

I had an anthro gift card, so I don't think that counts against my budget, does it?

I'm saying no.

So far I've dug into my $200 budget by:

spray paint: $3.44

vintage sheet: $2.11

striped twin sheet set for Big Girl Bed: $25.00

shipping for new anthro dresser knobs: $5.95

That's $36.50 spoken for.

I'm happy with that.

The biggest chunk out of the budget is going to be the paint for the walls and ceilings...

and maybe the floor if there's enough left over :)

Oh, and a crib, of course.

You have until midnight tonight to sign up for the

LAZY SUNDAY GIVEAWAY!

(It's an entire quilt kit!)

Anybody can enter to win, just leave a comment and make sure I can reach you (email).

Winner will be announced Saturday!

Good luck!!

Resting and Wandering.

Remember my Hunting Camp Quilt?

Well, you can check it out over at the Sew, Mama, Sew! Blog!

It's being featured as part of the new 'Sewing Trends-What's New?' article.

(you have to scroll down just a bit)

Cool, right?

Anyways, now that the horn-tooting is over...

After the weekend my mind and body needed to rest and wander.

I didn't even move any furniture, but it sure felt like I did.

Weird.

It was probably the painting of the dresser and making of our king size dust ruffle the night before that left me with only 4 1/2 hours of sleep that did it...

Oh well.

Thanks again to Ty and Chelsea (and the Hubby) who did all the heavy lifting for me :)

Basically, our entire upstairs got moved downstairs and into our new bedroom and we had to drive all over to pick up miscellaneous heavy items for the girls' room.

I watched.

I'm so glad all that's finally done and I can continue on with painting and whatnot.

I was stalled there for a minute.

I don't like being stalled....

When I get to feeling creative I like to go ahead and do it.

Or else I get grumpy.

I will show you pictures once I pick up my camera and it's not dead from me leaving it plugged in to the computer.

I'm pretty good at that.

That, and remembering to charge it for some special something and then forgetting to take it to the special something.

So, as excited as I am about all the

bedroom sewing

and

nursery/ big girl room sewing,

I needed a "mindless sewing" project that had nothing to do anything that I should have been doing.

You know, quick and easy with no thinking.

I'm all about no thinking...

This was the ticket:

I already had some leftover squares cut from a long-ago quilt and I just

started grabbing and sewing.

And then I added in a little extra fabric to make it a bit bigger

(and because I had a weird number of Mendocino squares)

It's very scrappy and haphazard.

But that's ok.

Sometimes you just need a quilt like that.

I added a scrappy little mermaid...

...and some random hand-quilting here and there

Oh!

And I tried out a new (sorta) binding technique.

I usually sew the raw edges of the folded binding to the front of my quilt, pin to the back, and then sew on the front.

Well, this time, I sewed the raw edges to the back, pinned to the front, and sewed on the back.

I loved my results!

I don't really know what the difference is, but the end product looks much cleaner

from both sides.

I suggest you switch your binding technique up next time to see what you're missing...

you may find a new favorite quilty tip!

The back was not as scrappy, but still scrappy.

And so is that binding.

I love a scrappy binding, don't you?

And I think I love magenta and yellow together.

Quilt stats:

30x32"

front: Heather Ross Mendocino prints and Anna Maria Horner scraps

back: Heather Ross Mendocino print and Art Gallery Oval Elements

binding: random yellow/pink/purple scraps

hand-quilted

machine stitched binding

warm and natural batting

And if you haven't already,

go leave a comment on this post for your chance to win a quilt kit

as part of the

LAZY SUNDAY GIVEAWAY!

I'm opening the deadline until Friday night midnight.

Anybody can enter to win!

It's a pretty nifty prize, if I do say so myself, so please enter.

Lazy Sunday Giveaway!

I'm not being very lazy today...

I'm actually working my butt off cleaning and getting everything rearranged, but who cares?

It's time for Lazy Sunday Giveaway!

This week I'm giving away a quilt kit to one lucky commenter!

The kit will include:

*enough fabric squares from my stash to make a small quilt

(think baby size)

*coordinating backing fabric

*warm and natural batting

*coordinating thread

*fabric for scrappy binding

Awesome right?

This is perfect for those of you who want to try your hand at quilting for the first time

OR

for those who want somebody else to do all the work so you can just do the fun part!

There will be a 'girly' version:

or

a 'boy' version:

I know, colors aren't gender specific, don't yell at me.

It's just the easiest way to explain...

So, there will be ONE winner and they get to choose their color combo, gotcha?

Just leave a comment to win!

Oh, and if you blog about the giveaway, tweet about it, facebook it, or something like that

(including the link)

just leave an extra comment (w/the link) for another chance to win!

Make sense?

Ok, have fun!

*Happy Sunday*

(winner will be announced Wednesday)

Non-complaints and Random Quilt Progress Pictures.

I've been feeling very complainy lately.

I don't like being complainy.

So I thought I'd share some things that aren't complaints :)

Just to make myself feel better... about myself.

(first 4 finished blocks out of 25 needed for this quilt)

Willow calls frisbees 'roast beef'.

Like, "Mom, you wanna play roast beef outside?"

I love it.

I don't ever want to forget that.

(5 completed blocks... it takes a while, so each one is a major accomplishment in my book, bear with me!)

And, if she wants two of something

(i.e. cookies or snacks- basically anything I don't want her to have more than one of)

she asks if whatever it is can have a 'best friend'.

How can you say no to that?

And she says it with the most adorable look on her face.

Like there's actually concern for the cookie without a friend. And its feelings. I love it.

Your cookie wants a best friend?

Damn good reasoning to me for two cookies.

Nobody likes a lonely cookie.

That's what BFFs are for.

(8 finished blocks! That's almost 1/3 of the way done! Oh, and that's Willow's cookie with its best friend...)

I'm making progress on lots of things around the house.

I love house progress.

It's the best kind of progress.

And tomorrow, our BFFs are coming over to help rearrange the whole place.

I'm talking beds being transferred from room to room, picking up random furniture from 86 different places, moving a whole bunch of crap that's been just waiting for some muscle...

Or more than just one muscle-y Hubby and pregnant me :)

I'm excited.

That's also what BFFs are for.

(Just a picture, because I'm loving how these blocks are turning out! Just 17 more to go.)

I will show lots of pictures when it's done, because I've been prepping for months now.

Seriously, months.

I've been collecting furniture, painting rooms and furniture, making things, brain-decorating...

Oh it's going to be fun.

Willow has never had a lovey.

You know, like a favorite blankie or stuffed animal or something like that.

I want her to have one.

So, I asked her what kind of lovey she wanted.

She told me she wanted a zebra-mermaid-monster.

Looks like I'll be making the lovey myself because I'm pretty sure nobody sells one of those.

Yeah, so I'll keep you posted on that.

Ha.

A zebra-mermaid-monster, what have I gotten myself into?

This could either be the cutest or the scariest lovey of all time...

(That fabric there on the right is a sheet from TJMaxx that will eventually be a bedskirt, or part of it, anyway.)

I've decided to give myself a nearly impossible budget for turning the entire upstairs into

Big Girl Room/Nursery.

$200 bucks.

I just decided that about .003 seconds ago.

Basically, I just want to see if I can do it.

I might be setting myself up for failure, but who knows? I may just be able to pull it off.

Maybe.

Wish me luck.

It's a pretty big room.

And it needs to be painted.

And it needs furniture.

And it needs rugs.

And it basically needs every other thing that makes up a Big Girl Room/Nursery.

I'm thrifty.

I've got ideas.

So, we'll see.

You want to be kept up to date on that, too?

Well, too bad, you don't have a choice because I'm going to update you anyway :)

So far I've spent $5.55.

That includes a can of pink spray paint I bought on a whim for some idea I had in my head and a vintage sheet I plan on using for the back of a quilt I haven't made yet.

Yeah, this is going to be interesting...

Newest Completion...

I love this latest nursery set.

Love. Love. Love.

It kind of makes we want a little boy.

Kinda.

Let's see.

There's mostly Anna Maria Horner Garden Party and Good Folks, some Joel Dewberry Modern Meadow...

... and a little bit of Amy Butler and Laura Gunn in the quilt.

Just a simple patchwork design with a larger outside border.

And then a bright orange binding (JD Nap sack in sunset) to accent everything.

The back of the quilt is also one of my favorites:

I just love those trees.

This back just makes me want to make a quilt front like this!

And here's the hand-stitched label:

Isn't that a cute quote?

The momma picked that one out.

I had a little bit of fun with the colors...

And a quilt roll for good measure!

Quilt stats:

40x50"

machine quilted 1/4" from either side of seams

I used a grey Gutermann thread for the quilting

machine stitched binding

pieced back

So, there you go!

Alli, I hope you love it.

(And if you want to send me a pic with your little man all wrapped up in it when he finally gets here, that would be fantastic.)

If anyone is interested in their own WillowBean Creations Custom Nursery Set

(for boys or girls or surprises)

please check out the nursery set listings in my Etsy Store!

Or email me directly at willowbeanmama@gmail.com.

Happy Friday!

Patterns from Books, Starbucks, and Unstoppable Children.

I usually don't sew from patterns all that often,

but it seems like lately I've been doing a lot of that.

And I kind of like it.

I feel like a learn a whole lot when I use a pattern.

Well, maybe not patterns so much as books.

I've been making things from patterns out of books.

Make sense?

Like these Quick Change Trousers for Baby Cash from AMH's book, Handmade Beginnings.

And this:

It's the Clutch Handbag with Fabric Flower from Amy Butler's In Stitches.

I am a fan.

I've had her book for over 2 years and it's the first thing I've made.

It was fun.

And it was a birthday gift for my friend Chelsea.

There was a surprise birthday party.

I wasn't even the one who planned it and I was stressed out all week.

I had to avoid her for fear of blowing it.

But, she was completely surprised and had no idea, which was awesome.

It's got a nifty little divider and everything:

...and I added some hand-stitching around the edges.

You know, because I'm addicted to hand-stitching lately.

Sorry about no Lazy Sunday Giveaway this week.

My bad.

BUT- there will be one next week.

Promise.

I was not a fan of last week.

It was one of those that wasn't good, but I honestly couldn't tell you what went bad.

Nothing went my way.

Just blah.

I'm SO glad it's over.

That's a lie.

Here's at least one thing that went wrong:

I treated myself to a box of TAZO chai tea when grocery shopping so I could make fantastic Starbucks-esque frappuccinos whenever I wanted.

And then Willow dumped it all down the sink the next day.

So that sucked.

*I don't like ordering my fave drink from Starbucks because it goes a little something like this, "Could I please have a venti chai creme frappuccino with extra chai, add coffee, no whip cream and no cinnamon?"<----------BARF. Could I be any more needy and annoying?

Hence the box so I can make them at home.

Well, could have made them at home if Willow hadn't dumped out the box.

I'm sure many of you people are thinking

"Why doesn't she just put a child lock on the fridge? She sure could avoid a lot of mishaps."

Yeah, well, we have.

And Willow has broken all 4 of them.

FOUR.

We've tried to keep her out of the kitchen completely with baby gates.

She climbed over the gate in .0000082 seconds.

So then we stacked one gate on top of the other so she couldn't climb over and get in.

That kind of sucked because nobody could get in the kitchen, really, without undoing the gate extravaganza.

Until, that is, Willow slammed the top gate over and over until it popped out of the doorway, thus giving her clearance to climb the bottom gate, enter the kitchen, and raid the refrigerator.

There's no stopping her.

She's a monster.

So, for all you curious minds out there, there you go.

We try.

Oh, do we try...

Got Any Baby Pics?

Remember this nursery set?

Well, I just got a picture from the new momma who ordered it.

And it just happens to be of her new little girl.

Her new adorable little girl, Ryann, sleeping on her pretty quilt.

So I thought I'd just share this with everybody...

Cute, right?

I mean, who doesn't like pictures of babies?

I, for one, love 'em!

So, if any of you sweet peeps out there have any pics of your lovies snuggled up in a

WillowBean Creation,

I would love to have some pictures!

Please?

And if you give me your consent I can post your cuties up here on the old bloggy blog, too.

Because I love pictures of babies :)

Happy Birthday to my mother-in-law, Karen!

Isn't she a pretty lady?

Have a great Saturday!!

Giveaway Winner :)

And the winner is.... #9: Jen!

Congratulations!

Jen, please email me your size and color combo choices and I'll get to work making you your very own WillowBean Creations Petal Knot Dress!

Sorry so short... but I've still got a little sicko.

Happy Wednesday!

Sickos.

Willow and I are sick.

It's crappy.

All she wants to do is eat popsicles.

We don't have any popsicles.

I happen to look like death, so I doubt we'll be venturing out for popsicles any time soon.

We just have some pretty bad cough/cold situations.

Thank goodness we don't have the flu.

That would be way crappier.

Oh, and I sound like a 80-year-old woman who's been smoking since her teens.

Not pretty.

And, Willow keeps tricking me.

I think she's coming in for a hug, some nice momma-lovin' with her said little sickie-face...

and then she just uses me as a snot rag.

Not nice.

I've gone through several shirts today.

Despite the sickies, I've got some fun things to share.

These cute little pants for my soon-to-be nephew, Cash:

Aren't they so much fun?

And each pair is reversible... so it's like she got 8 pairs of pants instead of 4!

I can't wait to make them in little girly colors for my lovie...

I used the Quick Change Trousers pattern from AMH's Handmade Beginnings book.

Let me tell you... SO EASY!

SO!

I didn't plan on making so many pairs, but I did.

That's how easy/quick/fun they are to make.

And then I made little onesies to match all of them:

I don't have the best pictures, I know.

I was in a crazy hurry to send these to Texas in time for my sister's shower.

I had to harass her for a week for an address...

and then when I finally got it from her, she gave me the wrong zip so the box didn't even get there in time :(

I was bummed.

I'm missing my sister... ever have those days?

Especially right now, because we're both preggers... due less than 4 weeks apart.

Which would be totally fun IF one of us didn't live in Texas and the other in Michigan.

And, since our due dates are so close, I can't be there for Baby Cash's delivery, she can't be here for mine.

Double bummer.

I'm totally jealous of my mom.

She's going to Texas for 2 weeks.

She gets to be there.

Not fair.

Yup, I'm gonna whine about because I want to and I'm sick so I can.

Ok, on with it.

I've also got this little pillow cover to share:

It's actually on its way to Rachel of p.s. i quilt as we speak...

She needed one.

It's similar to the Happy Pillow I made earlier this year.

Rachel's on the left, Happy Pillow on the right

And, I added some hand-stitching like I did on the Happy Pillow as well.

I'm slightly addicted to hand-quilting these days.

And I must say, practice does make perfect.

Not that my stitches are perfect... just saying I definitely see a difference from my first projects.

If anyone is looking into trying out hand-quilting, I suggest checking this out.

It's oh-so-helpful and Anna Maria Horner is the bomb, obviously.

However,

I seem to be finding other things to hand-quilt instead of my big huge projects that I should be working on... namely the girls' quilts.

I need to get on those.

Time is running out.

Oh, other fun news!

My Hunting Camp Quilt was featured over at Modern Day Quilts!

Go check out all the other super-cool quilts, there's LOTS!

And if you haven't entered already, go enter yourself in the

LAZY SUNDAY GIVEAWAY!

I think that's about all for today...

Lazy Sunday Giveaway!

Ok, it's a little late in the day...

but there's a little girl who needed her Momma to make her sickies go away.

But I'm here now and it's about that time for the

Lazy Sunday Giveaway!

This week I'm giving away a

WillowBean Creations Custom Petal Knot Dress!

(and the crowd goes wild....)

It's such a cute dress- perfect for Easter, Springtime, family photos.

Anything, really.

So, the winner gets to choose the size (6m-6T) and the color combo/fabric choices they prefer.

Pretty sweet, right?

Ok, here are the rules:

You have to be a follower to win.

(I know, I know... but it's a really cool prize)

If you're already a follower, leave a comment to enter.

If you're not a follower, go over to that little 'follow' button on the right-hand sidebar and get with the program.

Then, leave a comment to enter.

-BUT WAIT-

There are more chances to win!

*Mention the giveaway on your blog and post a link- that's 2 extra entries

*Like 'WillowBean Creations' on facebook- that's 1 extra entry

Just come back and leave a comment for each little extra you do!

You have until midnight Tuesday (April 5th) to enter.

Winner will be announced on Wednesday!

Good luck!