Progress

I do not have much progress to share. The end of the year is always a little crazy for me at work but I hope to have more to share and start posting more regularly.

The first update I have is about the dresser for the nursery. It has been wood puttied, sanded, and most of it has been primed.  A couple action shots of the sanding process for you:

I know what you're thinking. My sanding attire is very attractive. You are correct.

Like most things, I take sanding very seriously. Thank you Doug for stealing bringing me a mask from the hospital.

The only other progress we've made on the nursery is in the closet. You'll remember what it looked like before:

Most of the doors still attached, shoe rack in the floor and junk throughout. My mom and dad (Pop and Still Undecided on a Grandma Name) came down to help us rip the unnecessary parts out last weekend.

Ripping out the shoe rack.

Door and hardware removal team/supervisor.

At the end we were left with this:

We've ordered more carpet and they should be coming to install it in the next week. After that our handymen (Undecided Grandpa and Spuncle) will be in to patch, paint, and install new shelving.

Speaking of Spuncle, who hates this nickname, by the way, he is taking his big final in Quantum Physics right now, so think good thoughts for him!

I will be back tomorrow with ultrasound pictures from our 21 week appointment!

Quilt for baby?

Some of you know that my goal for 2011 was to learn how to quilt. I have always wanted to learn but I do not have anyone in my family who could teach me so I signed up for a beginners quilting class at Intown Quilters in Decatur. I highly recommend this class. It is taught by Maxine Moore who is a fabulous quilter and teacher. So far, including the quilt we made in class, I have made five quilts. Not too shabby when you realize that two of these were king size. I also made all of those by June. I started my sixth quilt, also a king size, in June. Being out of the country for most of July, returning to work in August, and having "morning sickness" for three months caused me to get a little backed up. Now I am back on track and hope to have this one finished by the first of the new year. Here is a little preview.

This is by far the most intricate quilt I have attempted. The first step was cutting lots of little strips of fabric and then sewing them into blocks. Next, I cut these blocks back into six inch squares and stacked them into stacks of hundreds to keep track of my progress.

Now, I am in the process of sewing these squares into rows and then sewing my rows together to make one very large quilt top. More pictures of the progress coming soon!

One bonus of this project is that I have a lot of extra strips of fabric left over. I am thinking of making a smaller quilt just like this for the nursery. What do you think?

Also, I hope to have an update on the dresser soon. I started sanding this week with my brand new sanders (That's right, I have two. Thanks, Dad!). And we should be getting the primer and paint today!