40 Week Projects

Have you ever been 40 weeks pregnant and STILL waiting for baby to show up? Well, I am. It stinks.

I have been doing projects like crazy to keep my mind off of, well everything. Yes, I hurt and am very uncomfortable, but these are great distractions to keep my mind busy. 

First I made these cute Big Brother and Big Sister t-shirts.

They match baby brothers' new outfit. So cute!

The project was anything but easy, however. I decided to cut the fabric with my Silhouette and I just upgraded my software to the Designer Edition which should let me cut fabric no problem. Well, yes problem. It just wouldn't. So, I had to fudge it anyway. Grr. I ironed them on and hand stitched around them. Cute dinosaurs, check. Then, I bought some heat transfer vinyl which I heard worked great and you could still dry your clothes without it coming off. Well, It was a HUGE pain too! I only had one piece of black and I used almost the whole thing because it kept messing up. It is supposed to cut right on the plastic backing, but it wouldn't stay in place and kept wrinkling and completely missing part of the letters. Like I said, I used almost the entire piece of black just getting those words cut right. I finally ended up putting tiny pieces onto my cutting mat and cutting individual letters out to put together the words. UGH! Then, I had to iron them on. The first one did okay, only a few spots were stubborn to stick down. The second one did not work. In fact the plastic melted and put brown burn marks on the shirt! The white one too. Yea, oh my heck! Well, I tried re-ironing it over and over and it just did not want to stick down. I finally gave up and put some fabric glue under the edges that were still not stuck down. I figure I won't touch them until I get the super cute sibling picture and then they can fall apart in the wash. 

Seriously, I have 4 more sheets of that heat transfer stuff and I don't know if I want to touch it again. What a pain.

 Next up, Crazy Cars Quilt.

(actually it is emergency vehicles, but that just doesn't sound right)

 Remember this project? I thought it would be pretty easy to piece together and quilt. 

 All ready to sew together.

 And Done!

 In reality another huge pain. It sat on my project table for a week or more because I was so frustrated with the problems. I didn't realize that the back blanket was so stretchy. I made it through quilting without too much cursing. Then, I realized that it wasn't long enough to just fold over to bind it. So, I used the very ends of my fabrics to make the back a little longer, but first I cut it off. WHY?!! I don't know. I guess that just happens when you work on stuff with very little sleep. I had to finish the edges because this stuff sheds and frays like crazy. Then, I zig-zagged the cut off pieces back on. I folded over and finished the sides first and then worked on the special top and bottom. Apparently, I didn't make it long enough either. Bleh! So, the two end corners I just zig-zagged closed and called it good. It is a super soft and comfy blanket. Rome has adopted it, like I knew he would. And he doesn't care, so I won't either. Sigh...

 See, special. 

Did I mention that I didn't make any of the seams match? Well, I didn't. I just didn't want to work that hard. Bet you can't tell from far away.

Lastly, Whimzie Quilt Kit.

 Super cute colors and patterns. I bought it to use for other things and discovers that was not really an option. Lucky I know a few ladies having babies who might like a cute baby quilt.

All Done! (quick huh?)

The back.

 The quilting looks so cool on the back!

Okay, for the story. This quilt kit stunk! The first step was to cut off 7 inches from the center panel. Um...what? The finished quilt was supposed to be smaller than the printed panel they gave you. Really. DUMB. So, I had to figure it out on my own. I did make it to look like the picture they give you, but there was no extra for the name. I found that pink fabric out of my stash. I only had enough fabric to make 3 colorful strips, I cut one in half and sewed it to the top and bottom. Which worked out well, because the backing wasn't long enough. I used the ends of the fabric to add an extra 2 inches so it just barely fit. Also, since everything was pre-cut you couldn't pre-wash any of it. I am a little worried that it will shrink funny, but what could I do? I really like what I came up with to quilt it. I sewed around the name panel and the tree and then put a grid on the white background. I think it looks so adorable! I made sure not to have any quilted seams meet, that way there is less that could pucker. It worked out pretty darn good. (No thanks to their stinky directions.)

Well, don't know what I will work on next. Baby is Due today and Nothing is happening. I am scheduled to be induced in 5 days. Oh, that is a long time to be 40 weeks pregnant...