YEE-HAW! It's a Tutorial

Since finding out that I'm having twin boys, I have decided to decorate the nursery with a cowboy/western theme. I had many plans of making all their bedding + more, but now that I'm on bed rest, I'm not really supposed to be spending hours bent over my sewing machine creating cute little baby things. Fortunately, before being put on bed rest I was able to crank out these little quilts.

I cheated a little bit by buying the hankerchief patchwork fabric. It looks like I spent lots of time cutting out those little squares and piecing them all together, but alas I found a way to skip all that work. :)

What You'll Need:

-1 yd. of fabric for the front of the quilt

-1 yd. of fabric for the back of the quilt 

-1 yd of quilt batting

-Thread

 

Suggestion: I would wash the fabric you purchase before starting this project so that if you need to wash it later on down the road you don't have to worry about it shrinking!

 

Step 1: 

Lay the 1 yd of fabric that you intend to use for the front of your quilt on top of your quilt batting and cut the batting the match the piece of fabric. 

Step 2: 

Make sure the fabric and batting is smoothed completely flat. Pin the fabric to the batting. Make sure to pin all over to keep the fabric and batting from getting puckers later on. 

Step 3:

Lay the fabric for the back on top of the front and quilt batting pieces. The front and back pieces should be right sides together, then pin along the edges. 

Step 4: 

Sew at 5/8" all along the quilt edge through all thicknesses. On one side leave an opening of about 12" so that you can turn the quilt right side out. 

(Please excuse the terrible lighting in these pics)

Step 5:

Turn quilt right side out. Be very careful not to poke yourself with the pins that are holding the front and batting pieces together. It's a little tricky.

Step 6:

Poke out the corners of the quilt making sure you get a nice point. I used a pencil to do this. Press the edges of the quilt making sure they are very flat. At the opening on the side fold the excess fabric in and press. 

Step 7: 

Sew right along the edge of the opening making sure you catch both sides of the quilt to close the opening completely. I recommend using a lot of pins to pin the opening shut and to make sure both the front and back of the quilt line up properly. 

Step 8: 

Start at one corner of the quilt and topstitch  5/8" all around the quilt making one big rectangle. This is another one of my quilt cheating ways to keep from having to use binding. 

Step 9: 

This step might look different for you depending on the fabric you are using. Here is what I did- in order to attach all three pieces (the front, the batting, the back) and keep the quilt fabric flat, I sewed along the lines of my squares all the way across my quilt. I sewed at every 2 rows of squares. I'm sure there are many different ways you could choose to do this, but this method worked well for me. The only challenging part was making sure the quilt didn't get bunched up at the end.

 

Step 10: Take out all the pins and you should have a nice new baby quilt.

 

So there you have it. These quilts were actually a lot of fun to make and didn't take very long. Once I finished one, it was pretty easy to whip out a second one. I can't wait to finish the whole nursery so I can show it off. It's gonna be pretty darn cute. 

Blind Eyes

    Since I've been on bed rest I have had a lot of time to read and ponder on the words of Jesus. I've been learning a lot about being still and listening to what He is saying. I thought I would go ahead and share what He has been speaking to my heart.
    I was reading the story in John where Jesus heals a man who was born blind. The Pharisees are questioning this man about Jesus. I was taken by his profound response.
    "The man answered and said to them, 'Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes. We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him. Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.' They answered him, 'You were born entirely in sins, and you are teaching us?' So they put him out"
(John 9:30-34)
     It is clear the ears of the Pharisees are ears that do not want to listen, unteachable, deaf ears. The blind man's logic makes so much sense, yet they are so blind in their own ways they do not see and miss out on experiencing the beauty of the Lord. They feel threatened and are too proud to have their ways changed, causing them to push away the most Glorious One. They are robbing themselves of all that God wants for them because they refuse to listen.
    These are the questions that I contemplate as I refeclt on this story:

    How many times are we like the Pharisees, refusing to listen to the sweet voice of Jesus, denying ourselves of all He has for us?
    Are we willing to lay down our prideful hearts and truly listen to Him so we can fully experience His beauty?

Whirlwind

That's the word I'm choosing to describe the past couple weeks of my life. A whirlwind of emotions and thoughts. On January 17th  I was sitting in the doctors office excitedly picking out boy names for my identical twin boys, never once thinking something could be wrong, not wondering why we were waiting so long, not worried, but completely happy and carefree. The doctor opened the door, came in, sat in a chair next to us, placed her hand on my knee, and started talking. I started hearing all these words that I'd never heard before.
"Your twins have twin-twin transfusion syndrome" 
"They need to have surgery or there is no chance of survival"
"How soon can you have surgery?"
"There are 5 locations in the U.S. that you can choose from"
"Tomorrow? Does tomorrow work for you?"

As soon as I heard the words that everything might not be okay, that there are complications and my darling little boys might not survive, my mind started racing. In just 30 mins. I learned all about some syndrome that my babies had and already had appointments for testing and surgery in Denver. There was no time to think, no time to stop, no time to process. My husband and I left the doctor's office that day, both of us calling a million people, hurrying home. I threw together a suitcase not sure how long I'd be gone or what I'd really need. We packed up the car and drove off towards the Colorado mountains.

Whirlwind.

I tossed and turned all night in the hotel bed. I woke up early the next morning, tears in my eyes, scared for what the day might hold. We drove across the street to the Children's Hospital of Denver.
Brian held my hand, hugged me, and told me everything would be alright.

Tests, tests, tests.
Whirlwind.

My parents met us at the hospital during the day and in the afternoon we all shuffled into a conference room full of doctors. They reviewed all the tests with us, gave us options, answered questions.

Whirlwind.

We decided to go ahead with laser surgery the next morning. We would know 12-24 hours after the surgery if it had been successful. I spent the night in the hospital. The next morning a doctor came in to do an ultrasound to see if both of my baby boys had survived. I stared at the screen, praying silently.

"There are two heartbeats."
"They both look really good"

This was music to my ears. My babies were going to make it. It was just the beginning of miracles to come. Thankfulness, gratitude, humility, and peace rushed through my heart. Oh, God you heard our cry. You heard our prayer.

Whirlwind.

I am overwhelmed by the grace of God. I am overwhelmed by His love, by His presence, by His faithfulness.

"I am with you always" 

How beautiful are the promises of the Lord. He is with us always.

Whirlwind.

My little boys are growing. They are alive and well. They are having daily boxing matches inside my belly. I'm on bed rest now for the rest of the pregnancy. I never imagined how tiring laying around all day can be. I'm grateful for this time though. So far it's been a wonderful time to spend time with Jesus. I read the Bible to babies and we pray everyday. God speaks and I do my best to listen.

I'm 23 weeks. The doctor's are hoping I will make it to 32 weeks. I'm believing God for even more than that. 

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for me and my family. I am so humbled by the incredible response we received as we asked to be lifted up. I don't think I have ever felt more encouraged than I have through this whole past few weeks. I am also so grateful for all the wonderful care we received at the hospital in Denver from all the nurses and doctors. I left feeling like family.