The past few weeks have changed my life. Even now I'm sitting here typing with one hand, the other arm holding Liam. Motherhood is everything and nothing like I imagined! It's an amazing rollar coaster for sure.

In the past few weeks since Liam was born we've gotten cards and flowers and gifts galore! They are all so thoughtful and so appreciated. In the next few posts I thought I would share some of the handmade ones with all of you. So here is the first!

This is the beautiful quilt my Nana made for Liam. So beautiful and simple at the same time. She tucked little accents of teal flat piping between the main pieced section and the border and then between the border and the binding.

Each little block has not only beautiful quilting but these adorable little owls embroidered in the center of the squares! I love it and it will be a treasure for Liam for years to come.

I love new sewing tools. Obviously there are the ones that wow you and the ones that you know are going to make your task at hand so much easier to accomplish. At the Janome Convention last weekend I found one of both. There were some really great vendors there but these two stuck out.

First, the HoopSisters. I don’t know how many of you like to embroider or quilt but for me the combination of both is a fantastic concept. I have seen many embroidery designs that “quilt” in the hoop but it seems to be the same crazy patch concept in just a little different design. Not Annie and Lynda. I met Annie in the booth and was amazed at the amazingly beautiful quilts they had hanging there. These embroidery designs are available in multiple formats and can be done on any machine. I hope to get my hands on one shortly and start to try it out!

The second vendor was the tool I knew would help make my task at hand easier to accomplish. The Accuquilt. If you’ve seen the BigShot or Cuttlebug for scrapbooking it is the same concept…but with fabric and with dies designed specifically for quilting! Gone are the days (and for me it is literally days upon days) of rotary cutting endless strips and squares and circles (yup! Circles!). The Accuquilt Go! cuts up to 6 layers of fabric at a time. This tool would help immensely with one or two of the projects in my upcoming book so it has been promoted to the top of my “really want for Christmas or my birthday” list.

I’m going to go finish a project and start a new one…I’ll share them tomorrow!