The most beautiful nursery ever!

This summer, I was out of state for work. When I left, I knew that by the time I got home, I would be extremely pregnant and probably not able to get around very well (and that was completely true). I was a little bit nervous about getting the nursery set up for the girls, since the room was full of my craft stuff that would all need to be moved...and I didn't really have any idea where to get started. As I posted here, the room was kind of a mess...

So, I am pretty much the luckiest person ever to have two fabulous sisters-in-law and a wonderful mother-in-law who volunteered, completely on their own, to tackle this daunting project for me while I was away. They not only created a fabulous nursery, but moved and reorganized my whole craft space! The project was meant to be a secret, so even though I wasn't at home, the process took place behind closed doors...

I basically told Kim and Michelle that I didn't want anything too girly - not all pink - but other than that, they could do whatever they wanted. Thanks to their incredible creativity, this is what they came up with.

 My grandmother made the curtains.

The dresser came from my parents' house - they bought it 25 or so years ago to serve as a changing table when my younger brother was born :)

They also stocked us up with the essentials - blankets, washcloths, soap and wipes and lots of tiny, adorable clothes.

Michelle painted these adorable little animals on the wall. Can you believe how talented she is?

And Kim, the most organized person I have ever known, set up a fool-proof closet system to organize all the tiny clothes, hats, and socks that babies need.

My mother-in-law gave us these beautiful new cribs.

I consider myself incredibly lucky to have such a wonderful family - and my girls are so blessed to have such devoted aunties and grandma!

My evolving craft space

Awhile back, I posted about our new house and my craft room. This is the first time I've really had a dedicated space of my own for all my crafty stuff...but once we learned we are having twins, my space had to be relocated to make room for a nursery.

I figured once the babies come I won't have much time anyway...but my wonderful sister-in-law Kim decided to save my craft space by relocating it, and simultaneously making it WAY MORE ORGANIZED than I could ever have done on my own.

My sewing machine...

Out basement...

Color coordinated and everything!

And all labeled!

Kim is an absolute organizational master. This was her "housewarming" gift to us - it probably took her a whole week to get it done! She's pretty much the coolest ever :)

Welcome back, me!

Wow, it has been a long time since I last posted! Sometimes, you know, life gets in the way...and for the past few months I have been working on a big big big project that I will share here soon. It has kept me from working on much else, but today I would like to share one of my favorite things about our new house: my craft room!

Here's our lovely house:

And here's what the room looked like before:

Until we discovered that the carpet was hiding hardwood floors! So now, it looks like this:

And, it has a closet! Someday, it will have a door on it. Maybe.

It is soooooooooooo nice to have a little space to work in...and when I leave a project half-finished, I can just close the door! I haven't been working on much, but I have been playing around with some chevrons, inspired by these ones:

Source: hyacinthquiltdesigns.blogspot.com via Erica on Pinterest

and this

Source: beesquarefabrics.blogspot.com via Erica on Pinterest

but I didn't really think the whole project through before starting. So, I made something like this:

 but it only makes a smallish rectangle. So, I figured I could make two from the jelly roll I had, and then went out and bought another one...so I will have two rectangles that I am currently thinking I will piece together into a quilt top. To be continued.

Back from neverneverland...

Dearly devoted blog readers (few though you may be...)...sorry for my recent absence :)

However, I have a good reason.

We bought a house!

This has been a long time in the making. I don't want to go into all the details...but to give the short version of the story, we put our first offer in last may and close on December 30th.

So, we have been busy painting and plastering and having the floors refinished. Be prepared for before and after pics!

I want to show you all some of the things I was working on for Christmas and couldn't post before the holidays for fear that the recipients would see their gifts. So, although the posts may be a little sparser in the weeks to come - stay tuned!