a quilt for Baby Mac

My friend Keri and her husband Josh welcomed their little girl, Amelia Jane, into the world in September.  Since I love quilting I told Keri that I wanted to make a quilt for their baby and Keri accepted.  She has great taste in fabric and I couldn't wait to work with all of Denyse Schmidt's Hope Valley fabrics in the New Day colorway that Keri chose - wall flower, diamond dandy, canyon stripe, four square, and prairie rose.

I used a cube divider in my father-in-law's store as a design board and it worked quite well!

 The pattern I used is Elizabeth Hartman's simple charm squares baby quilt pattern and I think it turned out quite well.  My sister-in-law chose the same pattern when I offered to make my little nephew Jacob (born 23 days after Ezra!) a quilt. 

 

I love the vintage feel of the quilt and think it coordinates well with the decor of Josh and Keri's house.  I hope Amelia enjoys many hours of tummy time on it!  Also, check out Amelia's room here.  You can see that Keri has a great eye for design! 

P.S. Read Keri's post about the quilt right here.  Also, Keri just told me that Amelia rolled over for the first time on it!

One Month!

So these one month photos of Ezra are a little late.  He's closer to two months old than he is to one month old but I've just recently got back to blogging so you'll have to forgive me.  I'm a little disappointed with the results because I attempted to use Matt's fancy camera and failed miserably.  Ezra smiled so much but every shot was blurry so we did a second shoot with my little point-and-shoot and once again he cooperated beautifully... but only about 50% of the time.  

Ezra with his friends, Big Toe, Aardvark, and Gorilla.  They're a very diverse group.

Ezra relaxing in his crib.  OK, so he's not very relaxed at all.  It's more like he's doing his impression of Lance Armstrong as he nears the finish line of the Tour de France.

And now for the outtakes...

Crying, 

crying, 

and more crying.

I promise he didn't cry the entire time.  Let's hope he's more cooperative on Saturday when we attempt his two month old photo shoot with my brand new camera (thanks, Mom and Dad!)... or maybe Matt will help me out this time.

P.S. The sticker on his onesie was designed by my friend Keri of Quaint and Quirky.  Look for her other 11 designs in the coming months!

Ezra says...

Merry Christmas!

And here are a few more photos for good measure...

While Ezra is adorable, I want to take care to remember the reason we celebrate Christmas - 

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.  This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria.  And all went to be registered, each to his own town.  And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth.  And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.  And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear.  And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger."  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!"

Luke 2:1-14


{Ezra's elf hat is from etsy seller Knit 1 Paint Too}

a quilt for Jaclyn

A while ago my friend Jaclyn, a fellow sewer but not a fellow quilter, bought some fabric at Blaine's.  It's mostly mostly City Girl by Kitty Yoshida - chrysanthemum, large vine, peacock, squared bolts, and one mystery fabric.  Jaclyn intended to make a quilt but didn't get around to it so I offered to take the fabric off her hands like any good friend would.  No, I wasn't just trying to steal the fabric; I planned on making a quilt for her since she didn't do it herself.    

I added Kona bone for the sashing and grass green for the backing.  

The pattern I used can be found here. 

I finished it off with a little label that my mom picked up at Quilter's Stash.  It was a fun and easy quilt to make, although the strips seemed endless when I was running them through my machine.  Hopefully I did the fabric justice... I like to think so.    

rewind: seven months

Now that Ezra is here I guess the belly photos aren't all that exciting but I want to show them off anyway.  I made Matt take pictures of me every month during my pregnancy beginning in month five (see five and six here)... these are from month seven.  

We went to Jaswell's Farm in my hometown of Smithfield and took advantage of the gorgeous weather.  In addition to taking seven month photos, we picked apples, ate freshly baked raspberry and apple turnovers, and bought honey sticks to help keep up my energy in labor (more about that experience in a later post).  Overall, a very enjoyable and productive visit to the farm!

We continued our adventure at Crescent Park in East Providence, my most favorite place for a springtime afternoon date in Rhode Island - an old-fashioned carousel overlooking a beautiful park that is perfectly picnic-worthy.  Pack a basket full of your favorite lunch foods and spend the afternoon riding the flying horses.  

I love looking at these photos of Ezra in my tummy and I can't believe that period of my life is gone forever!  I'll never be pregnant with Ezra again and he's only going to get bigger.  How quickly the time passed... now he's sleeping on my tummy as I type.  So sweet.  

raf is here. ok, so he's been here for almost 7 weeks now.

Matt and I welcomed Ezra Raphael Celeste into our lives on November 1, 2010 at 10:11 pm.  He's turned our world upside down and although we're certainly not getting as much sleep as we used to we love our new little family and the way Ezra has changed our lives.  I promise to be back more often now that we've settled in a little bit.  Before Ezra's arrival I had been working on lots of projects that I want to share, and of course we have tons of photos of the little guy.  Stay tuned!

what you've all been waiting for

OK, so maybe you haven't all been waiting for this, but a lot of people ask Matt why he doesn't take pictures of me.  The answer is that I am an unwilling subject and usually argue with him throughout, telling him he's making me do a ridiculous pose or that I can't possibly hold still any longer.  I decided to suck it up while I'm pregnant so we can document the growth of my tummy which is rapidly expanding!  We did two shoots a while back, one for five months and one for six months, and this weekend we're planning a seven month shoot.  

The five month shoot took place on Main Street in Woonsocket.  I know, kind of a strange location but I thought there would be some interesting backgrounds and I think I was right.  Last month we went to Newport for the night and took advantage of the sunset and readily available chowder at The Black Pearl.

This weekend we plan on going apple picking at Jaswell's Farm in Smithfield to capture the seven month bump.  I don't know if I'm more excited about the shoot or picking apples because after we pick apples we get to make apple pie... yum!

snug as a bug

Let me begin by saying that this snuggie wrap blanket (not to be confused with a snuggie) is my favorite baby project to date.  It was inexpensive, not too time consuming, and only a little frustrating, which is more than I can say for the everything bag.  Another one of Amy Butler's designs from her book Little Stitches for Little Ones, it was much easier than the bag and I wouldn't hesitate to make another.  

I lured Matt down Route 2 by telling him we could go to Harbor Freight Tools if he would join me at Joann's.  When we arrived I convinced him to pick out the fabric... I figure he should have some say in this child's accessories since I've basically been choosing everything.  I think the dinosaurs are pretty cute considering the usual selection available.

The blanket features a tie that slides through two button holes at the back for securing the baby once he or she is wrapped up inside.

It's lined in fleece for extra warmth and cuddliness...

and the hood is just plain adorable, or at least it will be once there's a baby's head inside of it.  I made the 0-3 month size and I'm planning on making one in the 3-6 month size for later use, but next time I'll pick out the fabric... maybe some of Alexander Henry's spotted owls!  We'll see what the next couple of months allow for.