made with love

Since our little man could potentially enter this world any day now, early last week I decided that it was finally time to finish up a quilt that I had started for our wee-man before we left Fresno.  Before the move, I had completely finished putting the quilt together and had gotten started quilting it (7 out of 42 squares).  The rest would wait for "down-time" once we got settled in our new place and we started playing the baby waiting game (which is certainly under way). 

I would have started working on the quilt sooner, but ever since my hands began to give me a hard time, around 33 weeks pregnant (the week that we moved), I've been putting it off.  Needless to say the carpel tunnel type stuff that I've been struggling with (numbness, tingling, tightness) hasn't really let up, so I knew I had to just dive right in and get it done.  It's not easy to quilt when you can't feel most of your fingertips.  After sitting at my coffee table for hours from Tuesday through Friday, the quilt is finally done!  My fingers have battle scars, but the quilt is finished.   My goal was to finish the quilt before "he" arrived - mission accomplished.

Last Thursday, I arrived home after my doctor appointment (and an hour of wandering joyfully through Hobby Lobby by myself) to a package waiting for me at the front door.  Little did I know that as soon as I opened the box I would instantly be put to shame.  My grandmother had sent me the most adorable quilt that she made for our little man.  (Thank you, Grandma!)  The colors are perfect for the nursery - one of the fabrics even almost completely matches our bouncer!  Of course my grandma has years of quilting experience under her belt, and I shouldn't compare my quilt to hers, but it's hard not to compare to perfection.

quilt from Grandma

so much detail

look at how closely the polka-dot fabric in the quilt matches the bouncer!

Back in July, I started my first baby quilt for our little man.  This was good practice for the quilts that I would be making in the following months.  Especially since I had never quilted by hand before.  The fabrics for this quilt I picked up at Joann's.  I don't love them, but this quilt will be nice to keep in the car as a spare.

If you remember, from a previous post, I had made a couple of baby quilts for two girls at our church back in Fresno for their baby shower.  Their baby girls should be entering this world any day now!  You can click here to be reminded of those quilts.    

And so this quilt, the one that I finished last week, is my fourth baby quilt.  It was so difficult to find fabric for a baby boy.  Finding fabric for a baby girl was so much easier.  And there were a lot more options.  I picked this fabric up off of e-bay.  It was a charm pack - pre-cut 5" squares.  All I had to do was sew them together and purchase fabric for the borders and back.  I like this quilt much more than the first one I made for our little guy. 

(Confession:  I am SO sick of referring our son as "our little guy" or "our little man" (blah, blah) in order to keep his name a secret until he officially enters this world.  He has a name, people!  I promise!  He can't come soon enough - I desperately want to refer to him BY NAME.)

it looks so cute in his crib :)

I can't wait to get started on my next baby quilt - for my niece/nephew due to arrive in March!  My sister and I plan to shop for fabric (whether it be online or at Hobby Lobby) while they are here visiting for Thanksgiving.  Hopefully by the time I start working on this next quilt, my hands will be back to "normal"...