Project Baby Quilt {12} - COMPLETE!

I finished the quilt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I started the day especially determined to finish the quilt TODAY. I had to! Shutterfly gave me a free 8x8 photo book which will be finished in honor of Miss Emma, whom we lost in August 2011. However, Project Baby Quilt is a feature in the book so of course, the book couldn't be finished without a finished quilt. The free photo book expires on June 26. I'm golden!

The second reason it needed to be finished is because Shutterfly is even more awesome and is offering 50% off + free shipping on items over $30. Well, I have the 2nd photo book for 2012 completed so the deals are super worth it. When do they expire? June 25. Oh boy.

The last reason it needed to be finished TODAY is because Shutterfly is the awesomest and is offering an extra 20% off to complete my order. When does this expire? TODAY.

Clearly, I had quite the motivation to finish this quilt but most of all, I am so happy I could honor Emma in this way. I am not the best quilter in the world, but this took a lot of time, energy, determination and passion. I wanted to have something that we use everyday to remember that sweet little lady. Though we never got to meet her, we love her with all our being.

And best of all, the quilt makes me smile!

The last three steps of Project Baby Quilt included creating the binding, attaching it to the front side of the quilt and then sewing it to the back of the quilt. This may have the taken the cake of being my least favorite part of the process. I am terrrrrrible at attaching binding. My mother would be appalled! (Seriously, Mom, don't look too closely when I show it to you!) However, I am not perfect and neither was Emma so nor is her quilt. The end.

Project Baby Quilt {10 & 11}

We're making progress, folks.

These two days have been my least favorite so far. I'm not a huge fan of sitting on the floor, reaching beyond where I can actually reach, having to scoot up every two seconds, etc, etc. Add in that I had to go find new needles that would actually go through three layers to create my ties -- yeah, I was a teeny bit frustrated. Just ask Gspice.

However, I pulled through and made it happen.

June 20 - Gary had his wisdom teeth pulled this day so I came home from work early to take care of him. While he was resting/napping, I ran off to the Hotel to attach my three layers together. I blasted the tunes and finished in about an hour. It was also nice because we have yet to turn on the air in our house so I got a little A/C to go along with it!

June 23 - After a rather slow day at work, I was determined to finish the quilt. That didn't quite happen because I was hot and tired, but I did get through two hours of solid (TEDIOUS) work. I bought a few different sizes of needles at Wal-Mart, one of which actually when through AND had a hole big enough for the embroidery thread to go through as well. I then tied 32 ties in to the quilt, sewed the three layers together, trimmed the excess batting and backing and removed the safety pins that were no longer needed to hold the quilt together. I feel pretty good about that! I took a break to eat a juicy roma tomato, which may have been the best part :)

Project Baby Quilt {9}

Here we are, nearly half way through 2013, and revisiting this beloved baby quilt that was started so long ago. The quilt still has yet to be finished but I just now found the motivation to finish this blanket once and for all!

Part of the reason it may have taken so long? I wasn't 100% in love with the original backing I chose for this particular project. While the fabric is quite adorbs, the color combo was off. So, on May 16, 2013, I walked to the local quilt shop to buy new fabric.

Such a better fit, don't you agree?

Project Baby Quilt {8}

Like I said - EXCITING!

I can't wait to see this thing all put together. I'm not quite sure what to do now though....

Progress as of today :)

Project Baby Quilt {5, 6, 7}

I have been thrilled with my motivation for this project so far. Why? The main reason is that the last quilt I started is still not finished.

It's been three years.
Yeah.

I have not yet passed the point in this quilt that I was on in that last quilt so my next Project Baby Quilt update will be extra exciting. As long as I get there... :)

Here are the photos from my progress:

August 20 - I spent a few days mulling over the layout. I am a perfectionist in my mind but then I don't always follow through. I was worried that if I jump right in to sewing and then realize, "OOPS! there's five yellows in a row!" that I would be too lazy to do anything regardless of my mind going crazy about it. So I mulled. And it worked...for the most part. You'll see in later photos that the layout does in fact change.

August 25 - I sure did mull. I was nervous to start this part because I was worried that nothing would line up. In the end not many of the corners did, but oh wells. The next quilt can only get better, right? I'm still pleased though.

August 27 - The top is now done! I still have to sew on the green border but we're almost there.

I seem to have a lot of excitement coming up so I'm not sure when Project Baby Quilt will continue. Hopefully, I'll muster up some motivation on a weeknight when Gary is gone. My weekends seem to be full already!

Project Baby Quilt {4}

I surprised myself by working on the quilt yesterday. Reason #1: I didn't feel up to it earlier in the day so I just assumed I wouldn't. Somehow, I mustered up some desire to work on it. Reason #2: Not only did I work on the quilt, I worked on it for over 2 hours! I just didn't want to stop. I feel really good about the progress I'm making. The rate I'm going, the top will be finished in no time!

ps: I realized yesterday that in all of the Project Baby Quilt photos, I am wearing very similar, if not the same clothing. Yes, I have been in the pajamas for what seems like all day every day for a couple of weeks but I am proud to say that I HAVE showered every single day. That counts for something, right? Oooooh well. I at least changed my pants for this blog's photos :)

Project Baby Quilt {3}

After some pinteresting and gilmore girling, I decided it was again time to work on project baby quilt. I am excited to say that I have completed step 3 (I skipped step 2 because it involves cutting. I'll do that next time.) I had Gary capture some photos and he did such a good job. I even look half-way decent. In other news, we got three cards for Emma today. We weren't expecting any so it was such a nice surprise. It still hurts to know why we got the cards but the thoughts behind them are greatly appreciated. One was from a friend of ours - they donated a tribute of 15 trees to the Seminole State Forest in honor of Emma. That is so sweet. Gary and I will have to go visit someday.

Here are the photos!

Project Baby Quilt {2}

Today I finally mustered up the courage to do something. By doing something, I mean something besides laying down watching Gilmore Girls or playing sudoku, both of which are quite soothing :). The past few days have been really tough but I have yet to cry or feel especially sad. It's a good day. Even better,a slight bit of motivation has returned to me so I picked up my messes in the bedroom, made a brand new to-do list and started Emma's baby quilt.

It.is.going.to.be.sooooo.cute. Emma would have loved it!

Today's tasks? Ironing, cutting and a few minutes of sewing. I have always been a little nervous to cut fabric so mom helped me do that part. Thanks mom :)

Here are a few pictures of the progress:

...until next time...

Project Baby Quilt {1}

I had a few to-do items on my list this weekend. My list is actually 2-3 pages long but that's besides the point. Despite the rocky news from the doctor's appointment just the day before, we set off to complete some of those tasks. Besides boring stuff like going toilet-tree and grocery shopping, we actually did get some major tasks completed. Exciting, right?

Major Task 1: NEW PHONES! it's a bummer that there is yet another expense, but welcome to adulthood, Vanessa. Gary and I bought t-mobile plans and got the galaxy s 4g something or other. besides my internet not working, I love it. I've been bumming Gary's because he downloaded sudoku. Yes please. Luckily, t-mobile will replace phones within 14 days no questions asked but I'm pretty sure they'd replace it anyway because it wasn't my fault. Oh well. I am excited to use it the way it's supposed to work. I had internet on my last phone but it looks like the 4g models are better equipped for internet. and the camera - 8 megapixels. woah.

Major Task 2: Project Baby Quilt commenced. Mom and I set off to some quilt shop in Minneapolis to buy some fabric and such. Someone forgot to tell us that there was some huge art festival going on near the store so we ended up having to park 3-4 blocks again. But hey, it's exercise right? I suppose that's okay. The store was also packed with customers but that didn't stop me. I found an adorable quilt pattern and set off to find the necessary fabrics for a baby-sized quilt. Below are my findings :)

Quilt pattern.

Color blocks :)

Background.

Border/binding.

and the best part?












the BACK!