My First Quilt

Good Morning!
I decided this  year's Christmas gifts would be handmade. I am making some gifts for family memebrs, and I asked for some requests. Nothing specific, but one of my family members asked for a pink & blue blanket. After some debate on how to make pink and blue work together on a blanket, I decided to try a values quilt! I have 2 quilt blocks made so far, and considering I don't have a quilter's square or any quilting "tools" (aside from a sewing machine) I think they came out pretty nice! I decided I'm going to alternate between the pink/blue blocks and I have a separate fabric that is calico (pink with blue flowers). I think it should tie it all together nicely. The hand embroidery project I'm working on will hopefully be the centerpiece in the blanket, if I can get it to work out the way I'd like.

The longest part about making the quilt so far is cutting out the squares. Once I have a bunch of little squares cut up, it seems pretty quick to sew them together to make a 2 toned square. Each block only took me about 20-30 minutes to sew together (just piecing the 2 toned squares together). I think I'm going to need about 10 of these blocks. Well, I should get back to work! If anyone has any tips on quilting without the tools or even just quilting in general, please feel free to share!

Happy Blogging and Happy December.

(By the way, today is my son's 4th birthday!! XD)

P.S.  Here are some pictures of the blocks...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello everyone!
I am currently in the process of cooking my turkey. This year's turkey feast will be miniscule compared to what I wish it would be. My Husband is just so picky, and all he wants to eat is Turkey, corn & potatoes. I'm making a pumpkin pie for myself, but didn't want to go all out on food when a lot of the leftovers would go to waste. I can't wait to move back home where we'll be able to have family over or go over family's house!

Anyway, I guess i'll talk about my latest endeavor. I'm attempting to make a quilt. I really have no idea how it will turn out. I hope it turns out well, but I really haven't even started it. I think I'm going to start today, considering I need to have it done by the middle of December. It's supposed to be a christmas gift for someone, and in the middle of December, I won't have my sewing machine since  I'm going home for the holidays. I hand embroidered her initial on a large piece of white fabric and am using it as the focal piece of the quilt. It's about 8x11". I'll post pictures at some point... anyway, have to go baste the turkey!

Hope your Thanksgiving is great!

Michelle

Here is a picture of my Thanksgiving Dinner.

Spoiled Rotten?

So, I had a conversation with my husband the other day as he returned from work about my 5 month old son. My 5 month old son was very fussy while my husband was holding him, my father in law tried to take him, and he got the same result. He didn't want to sit in his jumperoo or in his swing, my baby just kept crying. I walked over to the couch and my son stopped crying almost as soon as I put my arms around him. My husband always makes comments that he doesn't think the baby eats enough when I nurse him. (Contrary to many printed pages and book highlights from my research on the subject) I explained to my husband that I had just fed him and he proceeded to tell me my son was spoiled because he cries to be "picked up" (as in, whoever is holding him must be standing up) and sometimes he cries for specific people. So, my question for you readers is, what do you believe? Can a child really be spoiled with affection? Can you show a child too much love?
This is a very confusing subject for me. This is my second child, and I'm not sure if my feelings are different because I didn't breastfeed my first but I did my second, or because I experienced having to leave my first son at a very young age (around 7-8 months old) to go on a 6 month deployment, and then four months after getting back, a 4 month deployment. All I know is this: I can remember being able to let my first son cry and not feel anguish inside. I can remember the first night I put him in a separate room in his own crib and being able to sleep through the night, it was my decision and I did it with no hesitation. With my second son, he is still sleeping in a cradle beside my bed, and I completely dismissed a comment my husband made about my first son "already being in his own room at this age". I have absolutely no desire to put my son in a different room. He has gotten to the point that a lot of the time that he needs physical contact to fall asleep, whether it's my hand on his cheek, or his hand wrapped around my finger. And I have to admit, it's a big comfort to me, too.
I really can't explain what has changed about me between the 2 children. From my perspective now, it seems as though I was such a cold mother to my first son. Even though I can't remember him crying often at all, the times I can remember seemed to not have bothered me. If my 5 month old so much as whimpers, I find myself staring at him, heart racing, waiting for him to make another noise to show he's still breathing, or waiting for a cry for me to fix whatever's wrong. I had a nightmare of my son dying in my arms one night and I woke up in tears and reached over into the cradle and nudged him so he would stir or make a noise, and then fell asleep with my hand on his chest, feeling him breathing. Maybe I cling to him more tightly than my first because with my first at that age, I had never experienced having to leave my children for an extended period of time. Maybe I got complacent, & took his presence for granted, subconsciously.
I have heard so many opinions from "experts" and I know everyone says to just follow my motherly instinct, but I can't help but wonder. Should I listen to the experts that say "you're child needs to cry to learn to self soothe", or the experts that say "the more affection a baby is shown, the faster they become independent"? I know in most cases, people consider being spoiled to mean that you buy your kids everything they want, but, to reiterate my original pondering...
Can a child be spoiled with love?

Hand Embroidery

So, I'm really into making stuff. I like scrapbooking, sewing, and general crafts. Today, I'll be talking about sewing. I had a sewing machine of my own (Singer's Pixie Plus... don't ever get it!), but that plan didn't work as well as I thought it would. My parents graciously lent me theirs until I can get up enough money to afford one of my own. (I'm considering the Brother SE-400... any opinions on that machine?) I was kind of nervous about using their machine, since it was a wedding gift (almost 30 years ago), and I'm a pretty big klutz. Anyway, I used it, and now I think I may be addicted to sewing! Not just on a machine either, I also like hand sewing (I made a hand-sewn quiet book for my 3 year old son, and a hand stitched stuffed animal for a friend's newborn daughter).
So, I recently came to the notion that I'd like to try my hand at hand embroidery! I found this super awesome site that has tons of "how-to" videos and tips and advice for people who want to hand embroider! The site is http://www.needlenthread.com/ , check it out if you're interested in that sort of thing! I'm kind of nervous about the whole thing. I'm the type of person who always has tons of ideas and good intentions and then I end up with about a million unfinished projects! I think I've been keeping myself in check as far as finishing (or starting) projects. I have a few unfinished projects right now, including a stuffed animal (a squirrel that needs a tail, ears, & facial features) and a wooden box (that I glued eggshells to and started to paint).
I don't know how well it's going to work out, but I've opened up one of those online shops, kind of like Etsy. I joined a site called Artfire. I haven't sold anything yet, but I'm remaining hopeful!
There I go, going off on a tangent (as usual!). I'll put myself back on track to the main point of what I've been rambling about. :0) 
I went out yesterday and bought a bunch of stuff to start this hand embroidery endeavor of mine, I tried not to buy anything too expensive (just in case it's not as exciting as I'm picturing it to be). And if I really get into it, I'll slowly start upgrading my stuff. It was actually a treat to be able to go out and splurge for once. Our checks are usually pretty tight, and while we aren't exactly living "check to check" we're definitely walking the border.
On a side note, I gave my 5 month old son his first taste of jarred baby food last night! He had already eaten some cereal that day, but I was so excited to let him try a new food that I let him have "dessert" (before dinner). He absolutely loved it! I let him taste the sweet potatoes by beech nut. I'm actually more of a Gerber type of girl, but I really wanted the glass jars and gerber didn't have glass jars for stage 1's, I hope that doesn't seem like too much of a selfish/shallow reason to choose baby food! I was hesitant to let him try baby food, I tried to mash some carrots up the other day, but I don't think I mashed them up thin enough, because he seemed like he kind of liked it, but he was making faces like the consistency was bothering him. Anyway, I should get back to work now, I'm sure the updates are piling up in my email for me to add to this excel spreadsheet! Have a good day everyone.

Happy blogging!

Here are some sample pictures of what I'm working on. The pictures are bad lighting, and I need to make some fixes to the stitching...but let me know what you think!

Comparison Blogs

So, I'll start off by saying that I have already started a blog at Blog.com. It seems to me that that site is mostly "sales" blogs. I could be wrong, but blogger.com seemed more "conversation friendly". We'll see how it goes!

Now, I'll introduce myself. My name is Michelle. I'm 23 and have been married for about 4 and a half years. I have a 3 year old son and a 4 month old son. I've have spent the last 5 years of my life in the U.S. Navy and will spend atleast one more year with them. I'm living in Virginia but originally from Massachusetts. Things that interest me are: baking, cooking, sewing, scrapbooking, writing, reading, and lots of other stuff.

On to my personality. I'm somewhat into astrology. I'm an Aquarius and based on the "personality traits" I've read, it suits me to a tee. I'm definitely a pushover, but I'm working on that. I am shy until I get to know somebody and then I can be really goofy most of the time. I consider myself to be a really good listener, who sometimes has good advice, but not very often. I find myself addicted to sad things, such as stories, news articles, movies, songs, etc. I like things that really make me ..."feel". I get attached to things, people, very easily. I have very little self control, another thing I'm working on.  I focus on my negatives a lot, which I try really hard not to do. A few more of my addictions are: facebook, my sidekick (cell phone), and talking to my best friend (who is more along the lines of my sister). I breastfeed my 5 month old son, with very minimal support from my husband and family members. Luckily, I have made a bunch of friends recently, who (coincidentally) are also breastfeeding, so I get most of my support from them. I'm aware that I'm only slightly overweight, but it makes me super self-conscious. I just recently started going to the gym to work on that issue though. I absolutely adore tinkerbell and Belle from Beauty and the Beast. I have a "thing" for the fantasy world.
Well, I guess that's all I can think of for now. If anyone actually reads this... feel free to comment with questions and introduce yourself to me! Happy Blogging.