Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Tracking snow into the house is so much more fun when my boots make cool snowflake shapes!

We definitely had a white Christmas this year, thanks to a blizzard and over 13 inches of new snow. Because of the wind, the snow drifted in huge piles. When those piles are in the road, it makes for some crazy driving.

Thankfully, we were able to safely make it to see all our family.

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Now that Christmas is over I'm in full baby nesting mode – I can't believe I'm just a few days away from starting the third trimester! Yikes!

Stay tuned for projects and photos.

Plaid things to keep your neck warm

Today I made three scarves loosely based on this tutorial from Cluck Cluck Sew (yet another one of my favorite bloggers).

A few differences:

- I bought plaid suiting fabric (clearance at Joann's) rather than homespun fabric. Suiting is much thicker and softer.

- I doubled up the scarf fabric to both hide the lengthening seam and double the warmth since it's already very cold here in North Dakota (lows dipping down to zero!)

- I only had frayed all lengths of the scarf on one of the three scarves, the other two just have frayed ends. I found that although fraying give it a super cool look, it also makes quite a mess.

- My scarves are slightly shorted, measuring about 70 inches long (still plenty long enough to double up and wrap around my neck)

I bought two yards of suiting fabric and was able to make three scarves, thanks to it being wider than traditional quilt (or in this case, homespun) fabric. Awesome.

I machine washed and dried all three - they survived, frayed a bit, and softened up very nicely.

21 days. Are you ready?

Only 21 days remain until Christmas. Well actually 20 for us since we start celebrating on Christmas Eve.

Yikes. As you can clearly see, our gift gathering is seriously lacking. I have lots of shopping to do. But on the positive side, the Christmas tree is decorated and we have a new Christmas quilt to enjoy.

Are you ready?

A Christmas Quilt

It started in April as a one-a-day nine-patch quilt-along project. I chose to do all red and green - a Christmas quilt!

It was finished and washed over Thanksgiving weekend. I'm very happy to report that my slacker method of not pre-washing was again a no-bleed success (even with all those saturated reds!), thanks to Shout Color Catchers.

I paid to have the quilt professionally long-arm quilted.

It's plenty big enough for a twin-size bed. I think I might have to make another one of these some day soon - a quilt with this style but different colors would sure look cute on the twin bed in the baby's room.

Check out the quilt-along gallery on Flickr.

Recent reading: pregnancy book review

This is my pregnancy book library. I think I got lucky in that I very much enjoy all my books - some more than others but I'm glad I have each one for specific reasons.

I'll start from the right.

Birth Day by Mark Sloan, M.D.

I could write a whole blog about this single book. It is definitely my favorite pregnancy book. It's not one for specific "how big is baby this week" or "this month's symptoms" ... rather it's about the history and culture of child birth. One of my favorite historical tales is the one about why it's the norm for a woman to labor on her back. If you have any interest in child birth, this is a must read. As an added bonus, the author was my childhood pediatrician.

Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy by Vivki Iovine

Of all the books, this one I could probably have done without. I have definitely enjoyed reading it but it didn't add a whole lot, other than enjoyment. It's a humorous "I've so been there" look at pregnancy and the many symptoms involved. A fun read, but not super informative.

Your Pregnancy Week by Week by Curtis and Schuler

and

Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy by Mayo Clinic

These two books are quite similar so I decided to lump them together. If you had to buy only one, I'd go with the Mayo Clinic Guide. But having said that, I'm very glad I have both. Both of the books have the nitty gritty pregnancy and baby details, what to watch for red flags, and dos and don'ts. The Mayo Guide has a very helpful chart for each month that details symptoms, when to contact a doctor, and when not to worry about it. I love these charts - so far they've been very helpful with putting my concerns to rest (especially in the first few months or when I'm ill). The Your Pregnancy book has become my weekly go-to when I want to read about pregnancy but am all caught up with my other books. Since there are a few pages dedicated to each week, I always have something new to read (very helpful and reassuring the first few months). It also has very detailed photos of the baby each week - priceless!

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happy reading :)