nursery alphabet

A-Z
Originally uploaded by girlwithgreencard and fabric!

For the so far still bare nursery walls: hodgepodge alphabet.
I stole the idea from a nursery tour on apartment therapy's nursery site and then got to work.
The letters came from different craft stores (the larger the store, the better the selection of different font types, materials, and sizes). Some of them are simply painted (like the P), others are mod-podged with papers (tissue paper works best, but I also used pretty sturdy scrapbooking paper). A few are painted on little canvases, others are covered in buttons (because we all know I love buttons). I covered some with fabric, others with paper (though watch out - I glued the letter to the paper and then cut around it with the exacto; you have to choose the right letters for that - nothing with tons of tiny corners!), but my favorite is the V - it's decoupaged with little pieces of fabric.
After I had collected my letters, it took me about two days to decorate all of them. It was a great distraction from the "when will I finally go into labor" thoughts I kept having. :)

ETA: Look! The ABC is featured on Rookie moms!

finished project

I finally made a pillow case for my enormous pregnant-lady body pillow. I was pretty sloppy and fast, but it turned out great. I'll be snuggly tonight! :)

in the projects

On Monday, once I'd had confirmation that I do indeed have a job for next school year, The Husband told me we'd do whatever I wanted that evening.
So I took him to JoAnne's (duh!). I decided to use the last few weeks of freedom to make a queen-sized quilt for our bed. I'm a little afraid of working on such a large project, but I figured that it was "now or never" and decided to just jump in.
Naturally, I've been knee-deep in quilting and sewing projects ever since (I'm planning on cutting the pieces for the Big Quilt today).
The projects, they are numerous. Curtains, chair cushions, place mats, a blouse, another skirt... the list goes on.
The one thing I've actually completed (and within less than 24 hours) is a quilt for another friend in Germany who is having a baby in September. They're not finding out if it's a boy or girl (which, to the quilter in me is incredibly frustrating because of color choices, but whatever), so I decided to use the 10" squares of the Dick and Jane collection I just HAD TO HAVE a few weeks ago.
First, the quilt was going to look like this:

Then, I realized that I made the white sashes and yellow squares really small because (SMART!) I forgot to add seam allowance (should have had breakfast before starting!). With time constraints and my need for this project to be FUN (rather than the inevitable fudging of corners and ripping and re-sewing of tiny seams), I decided to go without the sashes:

I chose 15 of the large squares and cut each of them into four 5"squares. Then, I arranged them "randomly" (making sure to mix them well and not make the pattern look like the pieces are arranged "on purpose").
Once the top was completed, I ran to JoAnne's (after all, it had been two days since my last visit!) for batting, backing fabric, and yellow quilt yarn (okay, and a fat quarter, BUT HOW CAN I HELP IT? THEY ARE STILL ON SALE!). By 8:30 last night, the three layers of the quilt were safety-pinned together and I was quilting and watching Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Your mother was a hamster, and your father smells of elderberries! I fart in your general direction! I pick my nose at you!).
Two movies later (Serendipity and Calendar Girls, FYI), the quilt is done:

Now on to cutting the Big Quilt...
(PS: Pictures are larger on flickr!)