Colton's Toy Story Quilt

I'm so excited to share this with you! So as I blogged about before, we are having another little baby boy in April. We could not be more excited! Since the boys are going to share a room, I'm making the room into a Toy Story theme. I thought that Woody and Buzz Lightyear just might fit them perfectly. :) 

In order to make a baby blanket that had a Toy Story theme, I decided to do a strip quilt. My aunt Sue showed me this method and it could not be easier or faster!

First things first.. Get the back of the quilt ready. I did just a yard of flannel and kind of cut it off until it was about the size that I wanted. I kept it pretty simple! Then get your batting down on top of it. At the same time as cutting the back, I cut my strips. I had bought about 1/2 a yard of each fabric and I had some scraps from previous projects. You can make them simple strips, or you can do fun things with them, like I did a strip of pinwheels. 

When you start sewing, you are going to sew the middle piece first. I pinned it down so that I knew that it was even and straight. My middle one was the blue polka dots. You just sew it down to the batting and backing with the raw edges showing. It will get covered up so it doesn't matter. Another great thing about this quilt is it's a quilt as you go blanket which cuts down on a lot of time!

After you get the middle piece in, you can start adding pieces on each side. When adding a strip, you pin the raw seams together with the right sides together (picture below). 

Then just sew your straight line and pull it back! Add your next piece and keep going until you have them all sewn down. On the final strips, I sewed down the raw edges again. Then I just had to do the edging and it was done!

I wanted to add a bit of Toy Story flair, so I appliquéd a cowboy boot on the bottom and added his name, just like Woody has Andy's name on his shoe. 

Now the only things left to do for the nursery are making the paintings. Wish me luck! Only 12 weeks to go!

Christmas Time Wrap-Up

Happy Holidays everyone! Did you forget that I existed? I can't believe how fast the last several months have gone. Pretty much from October 1 until the New Year, my life is just packed full of birthdays and parties. I always say that October 1 marks the greatest time of the year, but it does take more of my attention away from things like blogging! :) Just a little update on us.. Steven turned the big 2-5 and is now at the U of U and little Westy turned a whole year old! He's running around like crazy making all sorts of animal noises. We also found out that we are having another little boy! April 18 is the due date for Mr. Colton and we are so excited to have a little brother!

Now onto crafting! I had to share my favorite present that I made this holiday season. I made a family tree pillow cover for my parents...

It was so much fun to make and not too hard at all. I bought a blank pillow from Ikea and enough cotton fabric to cover it. I had looked up different drawings of family trees on Pinterest and came up with this drawing that I just sketched onto the white fabric with pencil. Pencil is great to use because it just rubs right off. Once I had my sketch on, I just embroidered away. 

Every family has roots and I'm particularly fond of ours. :) The four roots are my four different grandparents. In the middle of the tree are my parent's initials. 

There are four branches, one for each of their daughters. Each of the leaves will contain the initials of the different grand babies that come along. My favorite part about this pillow case is that I made it so I can always go back and add initials for the new grand babies or the names of the new husbands. 

Here's the back. I just did snap buttons but I covered them up with cuter buttons. :) This way I can always get to the back of the family tree in order to add the names. 

It turned out super cute and my parents love it! I'm convinced that homemade gifts are the best type of gifts. :) 

Steven took off some time from work so we had a blast over the last couple weeks! We took family pictures (which Weston seriously LOVES to do).

And of course, Santa stopped by our house! I told Weston that he almost didn't make it to the nice list... It was a close call. ;) He loved the truck and puppy that Santa brought him!

And Steven and I got lots and lots and lots of candy! 

{Hi, I'm Cortney, and I'm a candy-holic}

At least I can admit it right?

Every year we get ornaments that reflect something big that has happened in the past year. 

This year Steven and I got an ornament that was 5 golden rings since we celebrated our 5th anniversary. And Weston got a little silver shoe since he started walking (and running!) this year. We have had this tradition since we got married and I seriously love it. 

What are some of your holiday traditions? 

We hope everyone is having a fun wintery break!!