WiP Wednesday: Birthday Edition

Yesterday was my birthday.  The big 3-0!  I'm excited to be thirty.  It feels better than twenty.  I'm more confident and sure of myself and my opinions.  I feel like I've been around the block a time or two especially since I now have 8.5 years of marriage and four kids under my belt.  I got a few things done this week in spite of the birthday prep and hoopla but what I'm most excited about are the presents that will help me start new projects!  I'm linking up with Lee and Freshly Pieced for WiP Wednesday.

Here I am being the birthday girl.  My hubby blew up thirty balloons, it's a tradition in our house, but he couldn't get all of them in the picture.  I didn't feel like thirty was that big of a number until this point.

Happily I got some fabric mail on my birthday and I was pretty excited.  This is the background and the backing for my SIL's Sentiments quilt that I plan to get working on next week after I wrap up my Moms.

This picture is from my Monday post.  I hoped to make some more progress on my Mom's quilt but I didn't really feel like sewing on my birthday so I skipped it.  It should go together pretty quickly in the next few days.

Also in the birthday mail I got the backing for my Mom's quilt.  I love it!  I put it under the blocks for the front side for a color comparison and I think it is perfect.  It's not too dark and just the right touch of pinky.

My friend invited me to a crafty retreat with her on Saturday. Her mom had paid and was ready to go but at the last minute had to go out of town and I took her spot.  It was fun.  We stayed about five hours and I got some crochet time in.  Sadly I only really have this hat to show for it.  It took three tries because the pattern was wrong.  I keep coming up on that and it's making me doubt my crochet ability but I checked the gauge this time and used the exact same yarn size and hook.  While that was all right on the hat came out baby size.  So I made up my own pattern but I wasn't focusing and increased one too many rows so it was giant size.  Then I had to unpick it all again and finally came up with the right size.  It was an ordeal that took about four hours to do.  I love the result though!

Here's the hat alone so you can see the detail better.  It's so soft being fancy wool and I just love how it feels!

I got some birthday money from my Mom and Step-Dad.  I was so excited but had to take a while to figure out what to use it for.  It was a touch choice and now that it is spent I keep thinking of other things I want.  It's a good thing I have an awesome hubby who buys me crafty things for holidays and I'm not just out of luck (see the bottom of this post for an example).

I got this Wonder Clips.  I've heard many good things about them and I can't wait to try them out.  Since I hope to finish at least two quilt before Christmas I'm sure to do some binding sewing by then.  I'm hoping it will speed up the process making it so I don't have to stop and fold every few inches.

I also bought the circle die for my Accuquilt.  I'm making a quilt for my son that is all circles, 130 at 5" each.  Think twister with pirate fabric.

This is the pirate fabric I'm using.  It just shipped yesterday and I need to get on finishing my mom's quilt before it comes!

My last present was this fabulous fabric.  Isn't it just yummy?!  It's Bella by Lotta Jansdotter and I got one fat quarter of each of the 19 prints.  Want some too?  Get it here.  I have so many in line before I can get to this but I'm excited for it just the same.  If nothing else it will brighten up the shelf of my sewing room.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope I have a lot of progress to show you next week but in the mean time I'm reveling in the birthday haul.