Trading Spaces Myself

Once I decided it was time to re-do my boys bedroom, changing it from the fish/underwater theme we'd had going on since their nursery, to a more little boy-ish baseball room, I've been pinning ideas like crazy onto my Boys Room Re-do Ideas board on Pinterest.

One of the things I really wanted to do was this:

http://sassyscarlett.blogspot.com/2011/01/baseball-curtain-rod.html

But #1 Superman was not excited about drilling a hole in a ball ("it will unravel...blah...blah...blah...excuse...blah...blah...blah") and #2 the longest dowel I could find at Lowe's was 48" and Thing 1 and Thing 2's windows are 45.5 (add the bracket and what you insert into the ball, and trust me it wasn't long enough.

I started looking into other curtain rods, but I wasn't impressed with the quality (read: sturdiness) or the price of the ones out there.  This one from Sears.com was 19.99 a piece plus shipping, and look how thin the actual rod is!  My boys would break it with one tug of the curtains.

Then inspiration hit.  I went on to Lowes.com and found these plain white curtain rods for $11.66 a piece.  Solid wood with 1 1/8 inch barrels.  And pick up from the store was free.  And the rods were ready for pick up 20 minutes later.

I brought them home and put them up.  They fit perfectly!

Then I pulled them back down and using a red sharpie marker, I free-handed stitching around each round finial.  

And voila!!  They look fab, if I may say so myself! :)

Next step: decide on curtains.  (These are just placeholders until I find what I really want.)

Homerun!

And the crowd goes wild!

This week, I finished Thing 2's baseball quilt to match his brother's for the impending baseball themed bedroom.

Business Cards

We've all seen the commercials for Vistaprint.com 

Right now they have a special where you can get 250 business cards for $10 (including shipping!).  So guess who has two thumbs and just ordered some business cards?  This guy!!

It was incredibly easy to do.  Especially since I already had my design all drawn up in Photoshop from creating my labels.

The only hard part was resisting buying all of the other marketing accessories...pens, visors, car magnets, etc. etc.  While it was cool to see my logo on those items in the print preview, I have to be realistic that where I am right now in the stages of my "business", the cards are really all I need right now.

7th inning stretch

I did it!!

It's been almost two months since I first pieced together Thing 1's baseball tshirt quilt, but I finally finished it.

I decided to take a summer class this year, and seeing how I haven't taken a class since my May 2005 graduation, I have felt a little overwhelmed and haven't had much free time to work on my sewing.

But this week I got ahead on my work for my class, and decided to reward myself by busting out the sewing machine.

And the result is one super-sized twin quilt (it is long enough on the sides that I won't be needing bedskirts) in a baseball theme.

I hope it's not another two months before I have the time to finish Thing 2's quilt.

Baby Quilt

If you have some spare time and a half dozen fat quarters laying around, you can make my new favorite baby quilt (Fat Quarter Baby Quilt Tutorial) like the one I made for a beautiful new little girl...

If you make one, you should add a picture of it to their Flickr group.

Also, because the baby girl was born to one of my sorority sisters, I couldn't help but take the opportunity to make this darling onesie to match her quilt.

Update: Here is a picture of baby Avery wearing her XO letters (with my two lovely sorority sisters!).

Tooth Fairy Pillow

I hadn't made a tooth fairy pillow in a while.  But last week someone ordered one off of Etsy.com.  If you don't follow my shop yet, you should! 

Front:

Back:

Virginia is for Lovers

Fifteen years ago, the day before the first day of classes Freshman year of college, I met a boy.  This little naive Indian boy, whose name I couldn't even pronounce upon reading, soon became one of my very best friends.

A few weeks ago, he became a daddy for the first time.  The first thing I did was make a little baby blanket for his new daughter.  But, I felt like something was missing.

I made this little onesie as a reminder to him that even though he literally lives half way around the world back in his home country, India, that he still has lots of friends and family in Hampton Roads that love him and desperately would love to meet his little girl.

Home is where the heart is. 

Update: Here is a picture of my friend's daughter wearing her I ♥ VB onesie.