'K' is for #QUILT!

Well, now that she is almost 8 months old, Katelyn's nursery is finally complete!  I set out to make my baby girl a quilt for hanging above her crib before she was even born; one thing or another came up and I inched along at a snail's pace on that project.  But in the last week I have finally been able to set aside some time to start and finish it!  It's my first totally machine-quilted quilt and I am quite pleased with how it turned out. 

Walk Away the Pounds? Yes, I Think I Will!

I have been in need of a good 30-minute cardio routine for my new weight-loss adventure.  It's tough to find something I can do, that I enjoy, and that won't kill my bad knee.  My mom suggested Leslie Sansone's Walk Away the Pounds. 

Bandana Dress for my Baby

Derrick, Katelyn, and I are having family photos taken in like a week.  You know what that means!  The search is on for matching outfits - or at least coordinating!  Living in a small town, our options are somewhat limited - I have searched Target and Walmart.  I bought a dress for Katelyn at Target, but spent $13.00 on it and don't like it THAT much.  I mean it's cute, but she'll wear it like twice at most.

Then I remembered a tutorial a ran across online for making a really cute (and supposedly simple) dress for little girls out of bandanas that cost $1 each.

Marinated Baked Pork Chops

This recipe deserves an entire blog post dedicated to it - simple, delicious, and healthy! The perfect combination!  Take two pork chops, mix up the quick and easy marinade from things you always have on hand, pour on top, bake for 1 hour (or until done) and you have some of the tastiest (tangy) pork chops I've ever eaten!  Get the recipe here.

Portable High Chair?

I have never heard of such a thing, but i immediately thought it could be quite useful!  Derrick and I seem to always find ourselves in places that don't have high chairs during mealtimes and Katelyn just can't be trusted in a chair on her own.  So, you know what that means:  Daddy is holding baby (and getting covered in baby food) while Mommy feeds the kiddo.  Tough luck for Daddy!

I stumbled across this idea for a fabric portable "high chair" yesterday and knew instantly I wanted to try it out.  There wasn't really a pattern so I just sortof winged it, helped along by a few measurements from the original blogger.  I didn't realize until after mine was cut and the first piece sewn that she had given finished dimensions so mine is about .5" smaller in all directions than hers but my baby's younger, so hopefully it won't matter.

Something I Never Thought I'd Blog About...

I have had several conversations recently with friends who are pregnant or thinking about starting a family:  To Breastfeed or Not to Breastfeed, that is their question.  And it's a question I faced, too.  I have been on every conceivable side of that fence in the last 15+ years.  As a teenager, I thought, "NEVER!  THAT'S SO WEIRD!"  And yes, it is a little weird.  As a young adult, I thought, "I guess it's OK for some people, but I don't want to do it."  And when I saw a woman in England breastfeeding her son in church I was secretly mortified that she would do something like that in public.  (Granted, there was no cover involved... she just hung herself out there for the world to see... in church... during the sermon.  Greg Pampell, you remember that???  You were preaching!)  And as a married woman, I thought, "I guess I can see the benefits of it, but it's SO weird... I don't think I could ever do that."  Then I got pregnant.

Sucker for Organization

Found this group of CUTE and easy storage solution ideas in a weekly email I get - thought I'd share.  I'm a sucker for organization - especially when it's cute and cheap!

Mini Storage Solutions for Scrapbooking Supplies

Gather your tiny embellishments and put them in stylish, functional mini storage containers that perfectly fit the style of your scrapbooking room.

The First Game!

We finally finished the mock-up of Sand Castle Blast and played our first test game last night  (Derrick v. Ashley)!  Despite being difficult to play with only two people, it was very helpful and we realized several major things that we need to tweek for the game to really be playable, including printing our version of the "Longest Road" and "Largest Army" cards which we quickly realized we didn't have.

So...Who won?

Depends on who you ask... I thought we were NOT playing with the missing cards but Derrick thought we were.  So he says he won with the invisible cards and I won without them!

Odds & Ends (aka Homemade Guacamole and Baby Shoes)

My Baby Shoes Pattern:
I found a folder on my desktop with these pics in it, haha!  Guess I forgot to upload them!  This is the prototype for the shoe I'm making... it's currently about twice as big as it needs to be so I've got to downsize, if you will, to fit Katelyn's little foot.  But I'm hopeful it will be cute once it's finished... when I can find the time to work on it again... I've been distracted by our board game!

Sand Castle Blast - Our Game Board - Current State

We have spent the last two years (off and on) working on a "skin" for one of our favorite board games.  I wanted to start documenting the progress.  Since it's already in the works, I will start with pics of the work we've done so far.

Our Own Board Game - Upcoming Project with the Hubby

About two years ago, Derrick and I were looking for something to do together and at the time were playing alot of the game Settlers of Catan. We started talking about different "ways" of playing the game and decided it would be fun to make a Settlers-like board game of our own.  Thus the birth of Sand Castle Blast, our very own board game built on the foundation of Settlers. 

Bibs, Blocks, & Booties (Really, Shoes)

I've been busy sewing again the last couple days - finally found some new shoe patterns to try out.  And, surprise, I'm currently working on a pattern of my own since I couldn't find exactly what I wanted for free.  But on to the recent fruits of my labor!

Blocks, Blocks, Blocks!

I spent Sunday afternoon putting these fabric blocks together for Katelyn.  My one regret is that I did not have anything to jingle inside.  I bought some jingle bells and such at Hobby Lobby today to experiment with for the next ones!

Today's Results!

Well, I didn't get around to all three projects for today but I did have fun with two of them.

Kimono Shoes:
Ok, so after I had a total DUH moment on the first attempt, I got these sewn in about 15 minutes!  Super quick!  I would do it a little different if I attempt a second pair with this pattern, though:

Today's Projects, God Willing...

Kimono Baby Shoes - Pattern here.  |  Baby Shoes - Pattern here.  |  Easy Grab Baby Ball - Pattern here.

I'll post my results when/if I get them done.  :)