Sewing Storm!

The completed finished quilt! Started in November and completed in March.
The majority is hand quilted and sewn. I'm so proud of my first quilt!

Hoop circle construction.

 The last few days I've been sewing up a frenzy. I finally finished my quilt which took months. This combined with a cold and no motivation to work has left me with a list of sewing projects. I think I may be nesting a bit too since I know for sure now that we will be living in our apartment when the baby comes.

lopsided and uneven = homemade

So far besides the quilt and a sling carrier, I've made fabric pocket circles to hang on the wall (pictures of completed project to come), a nursing cover, and a couple of burp cloths. I'm not thrilled so far with how the burp cloths have turned out but the nursing cover is better than I expected (pictures to come of this too). Perhaps I need to look up some patterns instead of free-forming on the burp cloths. Unlike knitting, I think I'm still too new to sewing to make my own patterns. I still have on my list several more burp rags, a couple of hooded towels and perhaps a second nursing cover to put in the diaper bag. I still have quite a bit of fabric left too so I've been trying to think of more projects that I can make and use. I just don't want stuff that I spent hours making that I end up not using.

My dead monkey. He wouldn't have
made it anyway with no limbs.

On another note, last Sunday I went to an 8 hour cpr and first aid training class. Another time/money/travel expense required by Washougal. I figured that since I had already signed up for the class and paid for it I would go and do the infant and children training - I was originally signed up for adult training since that was who I'd be around for teaching. I'm glad I went now because I feel much better about handling an emergency with our baby should one arise. I also found out some really valuable information. For instance: did you know that emergency services can't track your location to your cell phone? They can if you have a land line, but nobody uses those anymore. So if your kid uses your cell to call for an emergency at home and doesn't know the address, the dispatcher won't know where to send the ambulance etc... What you can do to avoid this problem is to call the non-emergency line for your county police or sheriff and have them link your number(s) to your address. If I gained nothing else from this class I'm glad I know this at least.

I was reading on a babycenter forum yesterday about what people wore during their labor. I've kind of thought about this since waterbirth is a bit more unconventional and they don't do hospital gowns at the birth center. Many of the natural birthers (called nucb or natural unmedicated child birth) said that they ended up naked and many of them said they had hoped to stay at least partially clothed. I've decided I don't want video of the birth, but I do want pictures and I have a wonderful friend that I would really love to have do it. That said, since I'm having pictures taken I want to be able to show at least some of them to friends and family and I really don't want to show my naked boobs to my grandmother - or anyone for that matter.
I think the outfit that appealed to me most was a sarong and sports bra. I figure this way it would be easy to get dressed and undressed should I get in and out of the water and my boobs would stay covered. Yay for no boobs in the pictures! I started looking online to see what sarongs I could find and my favorite so far is a green one with a big orchid on it. I already have a sports bra that matches even! I think I may check a few stores to see if I can find something I don't have to pay shipping on first, but I like this one.

Well this has proven to be a ridiculously long post so I will wrap it up with my sentiments about being very excited for my first prenatal class tonight!