It is essential for my sanity to be creating something. That has made this nomadic summer a bit hard, but as soon as we got here to my parents house and I had access to a sewing machine I got to work on this:

My little brother and his girlfriend had a little baby girl right before we got here, so naturally she needed a blankie from her Aunt Jess.

I have fallen in love with Kaffe Fasset’s shot cottons— the warp and weft threads are different colors, so the fabric is almost solid with the perfect amount of subtle texture.

The other cool thing is that another brother’s mother in-law (you got that?) has a long arm quilting machine. Driving that thing over my quilt was like magic. I love how it turned out.

(For real baby quilt inspiration you should really check out my friend April’s quilts.)

I haven’t been totally idle on the creating front until now, though. While we were in Alabama I discovered that I was growing little fingers and toes and eyelashes in my tummy.

And since I didn’t pack any maternity clothes for our summer of travel, the first thing I had to make was a new skirt to fit over my tummy. I wear it nearly every day. I used Amy’s tutorial here with a few minor adjustments.

This pregnancy is the main reason I just haven’t been able to wrap my head around blogging. I just didn’t know what to say. I could have just not said anything about it, but the nausea and sleepiness were a hard fog for me not to mention. I mean, 5 kids! That’s a lot of kids. And, I’ve had miscarriages between Jonah and Logan and then between Logan and Ian, so I was sure that this pregnancy wouldn’t stick– just make me a tired, crazy, emotional wreck while my husband was thousands of miles away. But, now the bump there is undeniable and I can feel the flutter of little elbows and feet every now and then. I did have scare a couple of weeks ago, made a trip to the ER, and tried to hold myself together as I layed on the bed for an ultrasound, positive I would see just a bunch of lifeless globby stuff with maybe a recognizable limb or head, like I’ve seen on previous ER visits, but to my surprise there was a crystal clear spine, little ribs, and a beating heart right in the middle of them. There was a sweet, perfectly shaped little head, fingers and toes, and, of course, obvious little boy parts.

So it’s real. I’m going to be the mother to 1 girl and 4 boys come February.

And I can be excited about it now.