This one is for her.

I am back! We lost our cable internet connection for a week. And boy did I go through some withdrawal symptoms! Time Warner Cable said they would send someone to check it out by the end of the week. A whole week seemed like an eternity for DH and I since we are internet junkies. The problem turned out to be a bad modem and they gave us a new one and we are back online. Woohoo!!

During my internet free week, I kept busy with some more sewing projects. This is another one of those Cuddly Quilt Kits from Jo-Ann Fabrics. This one is called Children at Play and the colors are brown and green. All the fabrics is 100% cotton and cotton flannel except for that brown plush. It was a nightmare to sew with. Let's just say that I spent more time with the seam ripper than actually sewing.
This will be my last Cuddly Quilt Kit. I am tired of struggling with sewing the fabrics that are in the kits. The brown plush was the problem and it would not stop shifting even though I pinned the hell out of it. I do love the colors of this quilt and I am glad that this one is going to my little girl. Normally, she does tummy time on my bed or on a carpet next to my bed. This is the first time doing it on a hard surface on top of a blanket.For some reason, it made her lose her balance and she fell over. I noticed her arm kept buckling when she was on the hard wood floor, but she has no problem propping herself on a softer surface.Whoops! I checked for boo boos and she was fine. I am a mean mommy, but I kinda think this picture is funny.Laying on her back was much better. She stopped crying and let me take some pictures.I love the back! It's a soft cotton flannel with a swirly print.

The Making of a Quilt

It may seem monotonous to cut 6 pieces out of 5 inch squares 36 times, but I find the process to be meditative. There is a sense of satisfaction seeing all the fabric pieces stack up as I get through the 36 squares. In the beginning I am attentive, but after a while, it becomes a repetitive motion, much like knitting. My mind starts to wander and I zone out, but my hands keep moving and cutting as if they are on autopilot.
Then the assembling begins. All lined up, pinned and ready to be sewn.
Now the fun part begins. Arranging and rearranging 36 quilt blocks to create something pleasing to the eye.

I hope that all of you mothers out there had a great Mother's Day. Or if you are not a mother yet, I hope you spent a nice day with your mom. This was my first Mother's Day as a mom and I had a lovely day. DH and Melody took me out to lunch. Her gift to me was that she did not fuss or cry once during the lunch. I was ready to swallow my food and pay immediately at the first signs of distress from her, but she was content to lay in her stroller and kick her legs. I consider that a great meal!

Baby Bunny Pink

After getting reacquainted with my Hello Kitty Janome sewing machine last week making the soft fabric book, I decided to tackle another sewing project. I know a few babies that are arriving this Summer, so I need to start making the gifts now. Jo-Ann Fabrics sells these quilt kits called Cuddly Quilt Kit. I bought 2 kits in January. This one is called Baby Bunny Pink. It comes with all the fabric for the front and back and includes easy directions. This quilt doesn't require batting. The rights sides are sewn together leaving a small opening and then you turn the quilt right side out.The directions are very clear in how to cut out all the pieces and how to assemble. My biggest and only complaint is the choice of fabrics they give you. Most of the fabric is cotton and flannel, but there is also satin and a eyelet cloth that has embroidery all over it. Those two were very hard to sew with. I ripped out the sewing many times, but decided to just go with it at the end because I was beyond frustrated. Surprisingly, the pink heart plush for the borders didn't give me any problems.It's not perfect, but it's still cute. It's a light blanket, perfect for a Summer baby girl.The back is a flannel print, called Bunny Words. The size of the blanket is 30.5" by 36".

A Good Read or Good Eats?

I think she is more interested in tasting the book than reading it.I took a break from knitting this week and dusted off my sewing machine to make Melody a soft book. I got this Winnie the Pooh Soft Book kit from Jo-Ann Fabrics while I was in Boston. It even comes with the batting for inside the book. You just need to cut out the book panels, baste the batting to the pages, sew the book pages with the right sides together, flip it inside out, whip stitch the opening closed, then sew the book pages together.It took me all day to get this done, but that was in between changing diapers, bottle feeding and play times. For those of you without a baby, it would probably take you a few hours. I want to make more of these soft books. I know that they sell just the fabric panels online somewhere (have to do a search when I get the time) and it would be cheaper than buying the kits. I have plenty of batting in my closet.The best part is that it is machine washable. She tends to drool when she does tummy time.

Beautiful Weekend

We just got back from a exhausting road trip to Boston, MA. We brought Melody back to Boston to celebrate my MIL's 70th Birthday. And for her to meet the rest of our family that haven't seen her yet. Traveling with a baby and 2 dogs is a lot of work! I still have to unpack and put things away.

While I get my house/life in order, let me distract you with photos of what we did last weekend during a beautiful NYC weekend.
DH had his hands full. The boys were super excited to go to the park.By the time we got to the park, Melody was asleep. That does not look comfortable.We stopped by Cake Man Raven's bakery for his famous Red Velvet Cake. I got Red Velvet Cupcakes instead. Wow, these are the best Red Velvet Cupcakes I have ever had. Moist and not too sweet, a perfect balance with the frosting.I caved and went back to the Brooklyn Flea to buy some Lotta Jansdotter fabric. She didn't have green fabrics on display so I asked Lotta if she had anymore colors to choose from. She pulled out a bin and let me rummage around. I found the green patterned fabric and I already know what I will make with it (a project from her book). The orange one will go into my fabric collection.
Progress on Trellis has been slow. So far, I got the right front done. I used the 3 needle bind off on the shoulder since many people have complained how hard it is to graft it. This sweater takes a lot of concentration, so I often work on easier projects when I don't have the energy/time to devote to Trellis.

The Last Thing I Knit

This is the last project that I worked on before I gave birth to that cutie pie in the picture. Seriously, on the morning that I woke up with contractions, I knit a few rows trying to distract myself while waiting for the doctor to call me back. No, I didn't take it with me to the hospital. I'm not that crazy!

A lot of you will remember that the baby was late in arriving for her big debut and I was suppose to be induced on a Tuesday night if she didn't come on her own over the weekend. To help ease my frustration, DH had taken me out on Saturday for some shopping and spicy Mexican food. I had seen this color yarn a few times when I went to Michaels, but never bought it because I didn't have a project in mind. The color is called Seafoam and I thought it would look good made into the Eyelet Baby Blanket by Blue Sky Alapacas. Somehow, I got it in my mind that I could try to start and finish a baby blanket before the baby arrived. I blame the hormones. I think that I was bored out of my mind waiting for the baby to come, so a challenge was needed.I started on Saturday night when I got home and knit like a crazed woman. By Sunday night, I had the body of the blanket done, but decided to add an extra eyelet row to lengthen the blanket. I figured that I would finish that extra section and get the ruffle border done the next day, Monday, and have it done in time for me to get induced on Tuesday night. Well, the contractions started the next morning.The blanket has been sitting around until I picked it up 2 months ago. It took me over 3 weeks to get the ruffle border done and then it sat for another 3 weeks before I got the motivation to seam the corners of the ruffle border and weave in all the ends. I felt like the border went on forever because each side is done separately. Well, and also having a baby around will slow you down.I love how the blanket turned out. The ruffle gives the otherwise plain blanket a feminine flair. It's very soft and cuddly, perfect for a baby. I think it's cute that Melody is fascinated with the eyelet holes in the blanket. She kept sticking her fingers in the holes when I was taking these pictures.
Pattern: Eyelet Baby Blanket by Leslie Scanlon (from Blue Sky Alpacas)
Needles: US 9 / 5.5 mm circs
Yarn: 3 skeins of Red Heart Soft Yarn in Seafoam
Size: 27" by 30"
Mods: I added an extra row of eyelets and picked up 89 stitches for the vertical rows of the ruffle border.

Knitting Progress

I made a lot more progress on Trellis. It's turning out quite nicely, but it is a lot of work! I don't do much cable knitting, so reading from a chart took some time to get use to. I usually like things written out, but I have managed so far. The beautiful pattern emerging is what is keeping me motivated to keep knitting. I took a break from it last night because I felt a headache coming on and this sweater needs complete eye and mind concentration. Tonight is Friday night, so that means DH will be taking over the baby's needs. Hopefully, I will get the fronts done by this weekend. And dare I hope to start on the sleeves?
The knitting for the Top Down Raglan Baby Cardigan is done. Now it just needs the ends woven in and a good soak so I can block it. I still have to find some nice buttons. Sewing the buttons on is always my least favorite part, so it may sit around for a while. Does anyone have a online source for buttons?

I have a bag of crystallized ginger (Trader Joes) leftover from the pregnancy. I had thought that it might help with my "all day-sickness", but it didn't, so it has been sitting in the kitchen cabinet. The other day, I was looking through my copy of the Barefoot Contessa at Home and I noticed a recipe for a Ultimate Ginger Cookie. I had all the ingredients on hand and I got to use up the bag of crystallized ginger. After tasting the cookie, I think that I prefer ginger snaps more. This is a soft cookie that has many spices in it, a bit much for my taste. I had DH take them to work and they got devoured, so maybe I should give it a second chance?

For those of you that don't have the book, I did a search and found the recipe online HERE. If you try it, let me know what you think of it.