Sewing projects

I figured out how to sew nursing covers and I love to make them. I have done a few for some friends for their baby showers and I finally made one for me! I am really excited because Isabel would never let anything be covering her when she nursed. So hopefully with this baby, I can start out with using it and then I can nurse other places (i.e. at church in the mother's lounge, in the car) without worrying about being overexposed. Let's just hope that this baby will let me use it!
One of my good friend out here, Carissa, is an AMAZING quilter, and I have been bitten by the quilting bug. I must say that I am no where near her level, but it is still so much fun. It is so fun to pick out fabric, get it laid out and see the finished project. I wish it didn't take so long to quilt, but that makes you appreciate it more, right? I made a very beginners quilt for David last year (the bronco quilt for him to snuggle with on the couch), but it is pretty silly to see how I quilted it. Well this year for Christmas, I wanted to make Isabel a nice quilt that she could use for lots and lots of years (visions of her taking it off to college and telling her roommates how her wonderful mom made it for her long ago were floating in my head). So I got this cute fabric in Utah when I was there this summer. I figured if I started on it in July, hopefully I could be finished before Christmas.
Well I finished well before Christmas (the end of September I think) and this is what it looks like. I think it turned out great for being my first quilt with squares and borders. Isabel was around for the whole process, which I would never be able to do again because she will remember things like this if I did it next year. But she helped me cut the fabric out, sew and iron all the pieces and pin the backing, doing the actual quilting and helping me sew the binding around the edge. I guess she earned this blanket with all her hard work:)
So when I started doing the quilting, I started on one section to see how it was looking. I showed David to see what he thought (fishing for compliments, I know!) He said, Wow! You are doing it really close together. I saw what he meant. I sewed it so close and packed it in there. I thought I would be good with 2 spools of thread, but I ended up using 4 1/2 and it took me FOREVER! But I like how it looks and I know next time to space it out a little more.

Here is a shot of the back and you can see how much stitching I did, man it was exhausting!


Well after I got done with that, I thought, oh no, I want the baby to have a cute homemade quilt too. So I started on this boy one (can you guess what I think it is). I love the colors. The picture doesn't show the real colors very well, but it was bright, primary boy colors. I had lots of fun with this one. The quilting went much quicker because and I didn't sew so close together.

The red bandana fabric and green with dark green splashes are my favorite fabrics

I backed this one with a really soft, fuzzy orange fabric that I love. Isabel kept wanting to feel the back of it and wanting to snuggle in it when it was all done

So I have a blanket for Isabel and a blanket for our baby if it is a boy. Then I started thinking, well what if its a girl, she needs a blanket of her own. So I started a girl blanket! (I know, if we knew the gender I wouldn't have to put in all this work) But it is so fun and the blanket we don't use can be saved for the next baby! I am about halfway done sewing the top of the girl one, so I don't know if I will finish before i have the baby (2 1/2 weeks and counting), but it is great to wish. I'll post a pic when it gets finished. I have a habit of starting projects and then not finishing them, so I am proud of myself for finishing these so fast. Thanks Carissa for getting me hooked!

Old Whitey!

David shot his first Nebraska whitetail deer! He was so excited because he got it with his bow, and I am proud of him for "bringing home the meat!" We are excited to try it. There is a lady in our ward that he thought might enjoy some of the meat, so he gave half the deer to her (she was so appreciative of it, I know their family really needed it, David is so good to think of others!) He was really sore from dragging the deer out of the woods and it was raining pretty good that day. Luckily, one of his friends came to help him clean the deer and skin it. They made a little lean-to on our patio with a tarp and skinned it in the rain while we watched from the warmth of the home. Thanks for not making me help you out David and good job on the hunt. Isabel was so excited to see what Daddy brought home, and she was running around the house going bazerk and kept saying "dee" and pointing at our deer on the wall. She was pretty mad when I wouldn't let her go outside and help David. She is definitely turning into Daddy's little girl.

Here's the hunter-in-training peering out from the window, dying to get in on the action!

(too lazy to flip the picture)

Now the rifle hunt starts this weekend and he is even more excited for that, thinking he can find a "monster" to shoot.

Here's little dove looking cute as ever in her pigtails. We decided to get rid of the binky yesterday, and so far it has gone pretty good. She cried for about 15 minutes before naptimes, took shorter naps though! Bedtime was bad cause she cried on and off (mostly on) for almost half an hour. But no crying fits in the middle of the night, she woke a few times and fussed, but then went back to sleep. Let's hope that things just get better from here and don't go downhill!

Halloween...Finally!

I know these are long overdue, but at least I have posted them before Thanksgiving, right?

We were outside on the 30th. Those few days, the weather was perfect! 75 degrees and sunny with no wind. So this is us outside playing in the crunchy leaves. Isabel thinks its so funny to stop on leaves and get them to crunch!

The day before Halloween we had a witches brew with the other Junior RDEP wives. It was so fun. Lots of yummy food, games for the kids and great times with friends!

What a cute witch, huh?

We carved our pumpkin on Thursday night. Isabel was grossed out by the process, which was in total contrast to last year, when she was chewing on the pumpkin guts! She wouldn't touch the stuff or help dig out the insides. What a girl!

She did want to help David with the carving part, what a pro!

What a cheeseball. Notice she is holding the striker, can we say pyro?

And I sometimes wonder where Isabel gets her goofiness:) I think David did a self portrait with the pumpkin, talk about a looker;)

Isabel was looking at us cause I kept getting after David for making funny faces while trying to take this picture. So after about 5 or 6 tries, he finally looked normal, but Isabel was waiting for me to chew David out again. Me and my two kids!

Isabel was an elephant for halloween. We thought we wanted a nice warm costume since it was so cold last year, but she was sweating this year. Poor thing.

Here's a nice backside shot of David's two elephants!

Happy little family.

Isabel was tugging at her ears and trunk cause she couldn't see very well with them in her face. I don't think she thought it was as cute as we did, but she was a great sport.

David came home from school last week and told me to hurry outside for the sunset. This picture doesn't do it justice, but it was beautiful.

I got this thermos to send some hot chocolate with David when he went hunting last weekend. Isabel entertained herself while I made dinner and she was being so silly. She always finds the most random things entertaining.