walking foot

For those of you who quilt this will make total sense.  For those of you who don't, I'll explain what a walking foot is in a bit.

So I'm ambitious.  If you know me well this isn't news to you.  So when we moved Greta into her toddler bed and talked about the day that we'd have both girls in bunk beds I said to my loving husband that I'd love to make their quilts for their Big Girl Beds!  Little did I know the work it would take to accomplish such a feat.  Also- the tools.  Also- the money.

But I trudged on.  It all started with a trip to Joann with my dear Shelby for fabric.  I quickly found 5 or so that I fell in love with and knew I wanted to do for Greta's.  They are feminine but also not super girly.  I bought what I could afford and we had a day of cutting- deciding to do a quilt of squares and rectangles that will make rows that would make a complete, twin size quilt.  The squares that we had cut would piece together to make about a third of the entire top.  Not enough.

So I saved.  And bought more.  And pieced them together.  And realized that they were still not enough.

So I saved again.  And cut coupons.  And went back a third time for the rest of the materials I would need.  Mind you- this was just for the top.  I hadn't even dreamt of the back yet or the batting for the inside.

Then the sewing started.  My lovely mother-in-law loves to sew and is quite good at it so she was forced volunteered to help!  We made all the rows in one weekend and I quickly fell in love with the quilt.

Liz- my lovely mother-in-law taking a moment to sip some iced coffee!

And so I did what anyone would do.  I took about 6 months off from it :)

The whole quilt top!

And then Christmas came.  And with it came the sales.  And so I bought the batting one day on a solo trip to Joanns.  And then that sat there.

I made a mini quilt for Audrey's baby elephant so I could practice all my new skills before I tried it on a larger scale.

And then that same mother-in-law made plans to come visit in February.  So I got my act together and had everything ready to go for when she came that visit.

The backing all taped down .

Top on and pinned!

And because the quilt was so large and I didn't have a piece for the back large enough I had to make one.  Took a little math but we got it figured out.  Once the back was ironed we taped it, face down to my living room floor- the only room with enough floor space to work.  Then the batting gets smoothed down on top of that.  Then the quilt top gets placed face up on top of it all.  And then you start pinning. They make these great safety pins that are curved and perfect for this step so I invested in some of those and it made the whole thing go much smoother.  And once it was pinned I immediately wanted to start sewing. I got a row in and realized I didn't have enough thread.  My man and I took a late night trip to Walmart (because Liz was still with us we could leave right when we wanted to.  So fun!) and bought 4 spools of grey.  And headed home.

To which I proceeded to sew four rows (the long way) only to realize that I hadn't dropped my feed dogs and the bottom of the quilt was sewn faster than the batting and the top.  We had to rip them all out.  And I was sad.

And so I didn't touch the quilt for a couple more weeks.  Seemed logical.  Breathe.  Look at it.  Feel sad again.  Then, get your act together and get it done!

Liz purchased a Walking foot for me (well two actually since we didn't know what would work) and I got to try it out on a different machine.  My oh my- this made all the difference.  A walking foot has feet under the presser foot that pulls the top fabric at the same rate as the bottom fabric.  It's incredibly smooth. Of course I had to re-lay out my entire quilt and re-pin it because of the mistakes we had already made but that wasn't as hard I thought it would be.  Once pinned and ready to go I set to sewing it. For the second time.  And with the help of Shelby again I was able to get quite a bit done that first night.  With motivation running high I finished "quilting" the giant thing.

Then came time for the trimming. Which made me more nervous than I care to admit.  But from what I can tell it looks pretty square.  The next step was to sew our bias tape right onto the edges.  Success.

Checking with other bloggers who quilt made all the difference!

Then I needed to bring the bias tape around and do the hand sewing.  Which I was totally not interested in before but once I had spent so much time and money on this puppy I really wanted to finish well.  The last step is washing and drying.

Here's a terrible photo of the finished quilt.  Dan is holding it with his arms stretched up all the way just to show how huge it is! 

It's done.  And we love it!  Greta can't wait to get a bed big enough to use it with and I can't wait to start on Audrey's.  Good thing I already started buying her fabric!!

family

I think just about every stage of Greta and Audrey's development has been "my favorite".

But I have to say, the delightful stage we're in right now, is absolutely wonderful!

The girls are now playing with each other more than ever.



 Their imaginations are exploding.

They have the most precious conversations with each other late into the night in their shared bedroom.

And the way they protect each other when their playing with other kids, it's touching. 





This Holiday Season I am overwhelmed with thoughts of what Mary must have felt watching her son grow up.

She knew that He was the Messiah and yet He was still her precious baby.

 I am truly cherishing these days with my ladies.

Merry Christmas friends and family,
The Hansen Crew

*All photos courtesy of the very talented Mr. Dan Bennett. 

girls' room!

We finally hung up the photos of the girls.  I've had these sets of pictures printed for quite some time and so I finally got around to framing them and tonight, when my man got home from work, it was go time!  Photo credits go to Trisha McKeever, Serena Peterson, Dan Bennet, and Leah Fontaine. We are very fortunate to so many friends who are photographers.  We chose to have the same photographers capture each session with the girls so Trisha did the newborn shots, Serena did the 3 month shots, we captured 6 months with the girls, Dan took Greta's 9 month shots, and Leah did both girls 1 year shots as well as family photos for us at that landmark.  Such sweet memories.

A before shot.  The blank canvases, if you will.

So pensive. 

I've read of ideas on taping a straight line so that all your photos stay under it.  We kind of followed it.

Greta's Wall with the fabulous artwork done by my sister in law!

Audrey's Wall featuring the info by my sister in law again as well as a quilted piece by our friend Marcia.

Photo bombed by G.  The crib back in the center.

The walls aren't done yet but at least something is up there.  I have a large zebra print that I need to paint (hoping to find some great, inspiring scripture) and also some embroidering to do for both gals.  Hope you like it!

front door

Well, technically this isn't my front door but it's the door you enter to get into my house.

Having a porch is one of my favorite features in this house.  It's where I do my quiet time in the morning when it's nice out.  It's where the girls and I play in the afternoon when we need fresh air but can't go out.  It's where my mail gets delivered which always makes me happy.  (Not the bills though).

In an effort to be more creative lately I tried a new Fall wreath.  I was recently explaining this to a friend and I can't get it to come out quiet right but I'll give it a go anyway.  I really want to be creative in the sense that I start with nothing but some craft supplies, and walk away with something else.  So this wreath, although I've seen tutorials on how to do some of the flowers, is my first go.  I just sat down with my felt and fabric, started cutting, glueing, and pinning, and finished with this.  A little sign that says, "hello, welcome to my house, please come in and stay awhile".  At least, that's what I hope it says.

I'm in the middle of a Bible Study on Genesis and I'm sure this has greatly influenced the creative juices.  We serve the Creator of the entire Universe.  That blows my mind.

Update:
I'm attempting my first link up.  Not even sure if I fully get what this is but I love this blog, Homemade Ginger, and want to be cool like her.  Think this will help? Check out her blog and others that have linked up too.  Kind of a fun way to keep up with other crafters!

and the winner is...

Sheree and Greta! Since I only had two gals enter the giveaway I'm awarding them both.  So, ladies, what would you like? A pie? The cowl?  Headbands for your little gals.  If you follow me on Instagram you'll see that I love making these felt headbands for little girls.

My niece Isabelle modeling one of the latest clips.

I'll email you privately to get your preferance!
I can't wait to get you your goodies and thanks for commenting!

Emily

knitting needles

I own this fantastic pair of knitting needles that I absolutely adore.  They are my go-to needles for any project that don't require a specific size.  "What projects don't require a specific size needle" you ask? Why, the ones I make up of course! And the reason I don't know their size is because I'm lazy and the needles are from Japan.

Last night I got the itch to knit again. 
It's chilly out. 
My man was gone.
The girls were in bed.
And I had a cowl in mind. 

If you're the lucky winner of my giveaway and this is what you so choose- here is a sneak peak of the scarf you'll receive!

Just a simple cowl that slides over your head.  Very easy to wear and quite warm.  Also, if you so choose, I'll add some brown buttons for detailing.  Just let me know!

Oh, and the pattern for those of you that knit:

CO 79 stitches.
For the seed stitch you simply knit 1 purl 1* repeat until you reach the end of the row. On the next row you do the opposite by knitting the purls and purling the knits.  For the green rows I either stopped knitting with the oatmeal and added the green in or I knit holding the two strands together.
Knit as many rows as you'd like for height- I probably did 30 or so?
Then BO in seed stitch.

blog! 500 views and a giveaway!

This blog really started as a way to catalog all the things that I make for my babes.  And, in an effort to be really creative lately, I haven't posted anything in a while.  Hoping to get a new fall wreath posted and Greta's birthday dress but until then I'll just remember that I have this space to write in.

So, I'm curious. Who reads this blog? I have yet to have a comment since I started this new one and yet, I'm up to 500 page views (which kind of makes me want to remove the page-view counter that I see right when I log onto blogger because really, what does it matter?)

So anyway- I had an idea.  Comment on this blog- I'll leave it open until midnight on Friday the 19th, and then I'll select one random winner.  You'll have the choice between a pie (apple or pumpkin and only if you live close and I can deliver, a new cowl I'm working on in an oatmeal brown with light green accents, or one of my favorite books The Catcher in the Rye)

I'd love if you let me know how you found Not Without My or me :)

Thanks and Happy Wednesday!

Audrey Lou on our recent apple orchard visit

The birthday girl. Getting way too big if you ask me