While we wait....

We'll Make Jelly!

And PLENTY of it!

Upon arrival to our home in Denver, my mom spotted our Concord grape vines in full bloom and ready to be harvested. I have to admit, you really couldn't escape it's fragrance as you milled around the house! We started our operation small. A meagerly batch of jelly. Pick-Clean-Boil-Juice/Cheesecloth/Reduce and Thicken/Can

We canned 12 cans our first batch.

Tried the jelly.

and fell in LOVE!

In the following days we made 64 Jars of Jelly!

I'll never forget such a sweet memory made with my mom as we waited for baby to arrive. It was fun talking about what we would do if my water broke and we were in mid-process with the jelly. It was fun seeing my mom so excited about teaching my the art of canning.

It was beautiful using a blooming creation to make something new, and tasty!

Can't wait to do it again next year!

Thanks for all the fun, mom!

Happy Birthday Banner!

I made little baby dileonardi a happy birthday banner to take to the hospital. The idea is to have it hanging on baby's birthday, take a picture, and we will use it as decor for all of baby's upcoming birthdays! That's our first attempt at starting a tradition :)

Here's a quick photo:

Baby Quilt. Mission Completed.

Finally finished my first baby quilt! After a few hours of hand stitching the binding today, the quilt is complete! I'm not sure if I'm keeping it or giving it away as a gift. So fun to complete a project!

Name Applique!

Well, I had this idea that I just couldn't shake. I wanted to applique our last name onto a onsie, so I started hard at work trying to complete my idea! Whew! Each letter took forever.

Of course I loved my hard work when I was done.

Of course I made one for my sister's baby due in April.

Of course I made one for my friend Joe's baby due in November.

Of course it took forever.

But I'm happy with the result :)

Thrifty Cake Plate Project

Classic Glass Plate = 4.99 at 50% off = $2.50

Glass Candle Holder = $2.99

Super Glue for Glass = $3.99

Total = $9.48

So Easy, So Fun!

Just had to clean the plate and candler holder ahead of time. Apply nail polish remover where I was going to bond the two pieces together. Bond, let set, bake a cake :)

Applique a Gift, eh?

One of my childhood friends, Theresa, called us over the weekend to tell us she's pregnant! Completely elated with the news, I tried to think of a quick gift I could put together and mail to her to help celebrate in the excitement of the little one on the way! Her due date is far off but I hope this onsie will help continue the momentum of great joy they will be experiencing in the months to follow!

Again, I used a button-hole stitch. The bird was the simpilest of simple appliques, the bird is actually a print on the fabric! I didn't need to trace or freehand a single thing! The onsie was a $0.50 purchase at a garage sale. It had a minor stain on the c

hest that my little applique covered up quite nicely.

With that being said, I think it's fair to say that the shipping of this gift back to Chicago will cost more than the actual gift itself!

Here's to babies and the fun of applique!

Quilt Class: Charm Pack 1

Ah, Fancy Tiger does it again. If you're unfamiliar with Fancy Tiger, they are a super hip fabric/yarn/crafter's dream type of store here in Denver. (http://www.fancytiger.com/) They offer a bunch of classes seasonally and I had the opportunity to attend a patch work quilt class tonight. Here's the description of the class:

"This fun table-top or lap quilt uses the awesome and incredible charm packs!

Charm packs are coordinating bundles of

fabric pre-cut into 5" squares.

You will piece your top using the squares,

quilt your quilt and bind it! Easy-peasy."

http://www.fancytiger.com/charmquilt.html

The class is a 2 part class, class I tonight, class II next Wednesday. Tonight we learned just how to seam and sew all of our charms. There is a bit of a science to it and I learned the proper way of sewing these charms together. I used to just sew squares together and not really pay attention to the direction of the seams and which way I should iron them to lay flat, but now after tonight's class I'm confident that I'll end up with a polished finished product!

Most of you may have already guessed this, but yes, I'm making the quit for lil Baby DiLeo. Sean pointed something out to me the other day, he said, why do you keep sewing and knitting and making things for everyone else's babies but ours? When are you going to start making our little one things?

Fair enough.

So thanks mom ($50 Fancy Tiger Gift Card at Christmas) and Amanda ($20 Fancy Tiger Gift Card at my birthday) for helping supply baby with an actual quilt.

Applique Fun

After refining my technique of Applique (thanks Fancy Tiger) and learning more tricks of this old fashioned trade, I decided to applique a little bird onto a onsie with some scrap fabric. I used the button-hole stitch to embellish this sweet posing bird.

Sleep Sack

For my 25th birthday, my good friend, Stephanie, got me this amazing book by Anna Marie Horner entitled "Handmade Beninnings". It's contents include sweet, nostalgic patterns for mom, baby, family, and baby decor.

I just finished my first big project out of this book, a sleep sack. for those of you who don't know what a sleep sack is, a sleep sack is a wearable blanket designed to reduce the risk of SIDS and keep the baby safe while he or she sleeps. Since SIDS unfortunately runs in my family, I thought this pattern was a practical project to work on, not to mention how cute it turned out! I already have fabric ideas picked out for future sleep sacks as gifts for friends and family.