Quilts

I first learned to sew quilts the summer of 2001. I visited my aunt and cousin in Texas and was looking for something to do. So, they set me up with some scrap material and taught me the basics. It was an instant fit. I ended up making a small quilt during my visit and my mom bought me a sewing machine when we got home. I've made several quilts since and have branched out to try all sorts of patterns. It's a really fun hobby and something I find relaxing (most of the time).

I wanted to make something special for my first niece. So, for Christmas 2010, I found my sister's old doll bed in my parent's attic. I fixed it up and made a pillow and tiny quilt for it. I had so much fun, that I made Laura a matching quilted blanket.

 The pattern reminds me of a magic carpet. She sleeps with it every night, which is so special to me.

 When niece #2 was born in August 2011, I had to make her her very own blanket too. I went with colors from her nursery and this was created in my newly organized "middle bedroom" craft room.

 I think this pattern is called waterfall. It's super easy and fun to make.

Holding Emily the day she was born.

 When Philip and Amanda were expecting their first baby (brother and sister in law), I knew I had to make her a quilt too. This was niece #3 and Amanda even let me use some of the fabric she had picked out for the nursery.

 Here's the finished product, I think it turned out great. 

 And this one is two-sided.

 I hope to make even more quilts in my new Office/Craft Room.

Our New Office/Craft Room

Since we're converting the middle bedroom into a kid's room, I need a new home for my craft stuff. I want to have a place to sew or scrapbook. When we were in the condo, I used the Dining Room table. It worked fine, but was a huge mess whenever I was in the middle of a project. It's not so fun to have to clean up everything if you're having someone over.

 Now that we're in this huge house, I want to create a place where I can create. A place where my fabric and stickers can have a permanent home and be easy to find. A place that has a large work surface to spread out. A functional space. Looking around the house, it was easy to find the "non-functional" space. The office.

 We had a desk that I used in college (9 years old) set up with a desktop computer. We use a laptop most of the time and only used the desktop when printing. So, this desk went largely unused. It also had a built-in hutch that hogged all the work space. It was the place to stack papers and mail, hoping the filing fairy would come while we slept. The room also housed a Foosball table. This was a great freebie from my parents, but it just made the room too crowded. We have some bonus space upstairs and it would make a perfect game room/play room accessory whenever we build it out.

 Here's the desk after we first moved in.  We kept the top cleaner, but the desk looked about like that most days.

The room right before the renovation.

We sold the desk on Craigslist and did some shopping online.  I found the perfect desk from Ikea. They also had a great priced shelf with basket pull outs. We already had our college diplomas framed & hung and we received a panoramic picture of the Florida field from a friend who was redecorating. This inspired my gator theme. I didn't want it to be tacky or over the top, but more subtle. I also got some storage containers for the shelves, the short one is the new "in box", no more stacks of un-filed mail.

 There are pictures of our college friends in the frames below the stadium picture.  I've cleaned the clutter around the floor of the bookshelf, but didn't get a picture after.  I also put my yarn stash in that tin basket to place next to the chair.

My sewing machine with cover is on top of the file cabinet.

Our framed diplomas.

Adam built me another shelf in the Office closet, so we were able to keep books up on the wall and bring my craft drawer stack to the closet.  Organization makes me happy.

 So, what do you think? Did I pull out my goals? We are both very happy with the result and I can't wait to create in my new space.