Needles and a Pen » Knitting, Sewing, and Nursing School

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  • Welcome to my blog!

    Hi! I'm Traci. I'm a Registered Nurse who loves quilting, knitting, cross stitch, and the great outdoors. In my pre-scrubs life, I owned Real Photography, and you can still see my old wedding and portrait photography site here .

    I've created a map that shows links to our camping/hiking/general family fun review posts that you can find here. It's pretty much the coolest thing on this site. Thanks, Google!

    I great big puffy heart *love* comments, so please let me know you visited! I try to always reply!

car fabric marker roll

I love all of the crayon rolls on Etsy and thought it would be a good way to use up some of the Wheels fabric I have left over from Will’s car quilt (which is very close to being done–but both Joann’s and I ran out of our gray Gutterman).  It was very easy–I used iron-on interfacing for the turquoise fabric, sewed together the lining and outer fabrics (along with the ribbon), folded it over to create the pocket, and topstitched.  I divided it into ten sections (since Will had 10 markers) and stitched the dividing lines.

Everyone says that second kids do everything faster because they see the first one doing it.  This is not true with Ellie.  She continues to show zero interest in movement beyond rolling.  Even if you hold her up so she’s standing and holding onto your fingers, she won’t play walk.  No.  Ellie has Will.  If she wants something, he’ll get it for her.  If she wants to go somewhere, he’ll do his darndest to get her there.

Why crawl when you can have a doting big brother instead?

got the kind of haircut today that should come with a complimentary paper bag.

sewing day – a bubble skirt and a chalkboard fabric tablecloth

My friend Stephanie and I declared today Sewing Day. We met around noon at my favorite local shop Crafty Laine to pick up fabric for Stephanie’s first big sewing project–a bubble skirt. And then it was back to my place for the cutting and sewing. (and some beer drinking. cause we’re awesome like that.)

I worked a little on my first top (cut out the front and back main pieces) so there’s not much to show there (except how badly I need that haircut tomorrow–and liposuction in my face–UGH!!) but I did finish the piecing on the chalkboard fabric tablecloth that I’ve been super excited about.

What I learned–if you’ve not sewn mitered corners in a decade, doing it for the first time again with a stiff fabric is a pain in the behind. Also, a chalkboard tablecloth is a cute idea, but I don’t know how practical it is. The pens are cool because the drawing they leave behind is permanent, but they are blotchy and expensive and not really kid friendly (though Will certainly enjoyed them). And actual chalk isn’t good if you’re planning on putting anything on the table since it will get all over any clutter that happens to fall there. (Which might actually be a brilliant way to prevent clutter from collecting on a kitchen table!)

I’m also disappointed in the fabric choice–I thought having the same stripe as the chairs would be cute, but I think it’s too matchy-matchy.  Right now I’m planning on finishing this one off by using an older Target tablecloth on the back and binding it, and then I might pause on the tablecloth crusade to work on a few Halloween projects.

PS–I am going on record as saying that I whole-heartedly object to the wallpaper in the first photo and find it all kinds of offensive.  It’s amazing that I’m able to eat every night surrounded by it.  Just in case anyone looking at this blog is going “wow–she likes cute fabric, but look what she puts on her WALLS.  ”  And while I’m explaining things, Will doesn’t still drink from a sippy.  He just likes to steal Ellie’s.  So I guess he DOES still drink from sippies, they just aren’t his.

Mom - You crack me UP!

“my blankie!”

I totally forgot about this flannel quilt for a long time because it was living at preschool as Will’s nap quilt.  When it came home to be washed I forgot to send it back, and when I picked Will up she mentioned that he had been asking for “his blankie.”  And when I handed it to him the next morning to take with him, he said “My blankie!”  Apparently it’s his!

This is another quilt I made in a weekend my senior year of highschool.  I wish I hadn’t done quilt-in-the-ditch for it, though–the flannel is so fragile that it’s torn away from the quilting in some areas and needs repair.  Will keeps reminding me about it–asking to fix it with my “fixing ba-chine” (my sewing machine is always referred to as my “fixing” machine by Will).

the latest “will and ellie in Nic’s chair” shot