I opted for the second method - I thought it would be easier to stuff the squares after they are all sewn together, then to sew strips of stuffed squares together. The first picture above shows what the quilt looked like before stuffing. And the second is a closeup of the back (before I added the flannel backing) - you can see I made a little hole in the middle of the square, stuffed it and stitched it all back together. It did not take that much time (not more than when you are aligning layers of fabric when doing a "regular" quilt.

This is the finished quilt (actually almost finished - there is no binding in this picture). It is quite heavy - maybe I stuffed the squares a bit too much, but I figured the stuffing will settle over time. When I showed it to Luka, he was excited and wanted to take it with him Saturday when we went sledding, but then the next day he did not want to put it in his tent - he opted for many pillows. He said that this "blanket" would be for the baby. OK then!

This is only the second belly picture I have taken with baby No. 2 - or as we call "it": Jura (this time we decided not to find out whether it's a boy or a girl). I planned to take more, but you know how it is... busy, busy, busy... and, after all, this IS the 2nd baby! (:-) With the 3rd one (hypothetically speaking) there would be no pictures at all!

My husband claims my belly is smaller this time (or is he trying to make me feel better?). I am pretty sure I am carrying this baby higher than Luka, but I don't remember feeling this big this early. I stopped working only 2 weeks before Luka was born, and I don't remember feeling big until then. And this time, I am already having hard time putting my sneakers on. I have a feeling my belly is pressing  my lungs and I cannot catch my breath. I have to dig up old pictures and compare - I am pretty sure my belly is bigger this time (I did weigh more at the start of this pregnancy - no, it was not baby weight, it was lazy-bum weight - but I actually gained less this time). Or, maybe it is just that I am 4 years older and have a very active 3 year old that makes this pregnancy harder?

Only 7 weeks! Actually, it is 8 and a half weeks to due date (03/21), but we have c-section scheduled for Monday, 03/10. I had a c-section with Luka because he was too big (8lb 7ounces), more precisely his head was too large. So, this time time around I opted to have the c-section because the doctor says I have only 50% chance to have vaginal birth since this baby is likely to be even bigger (some doctors will not even consider vaginal birth after c-section because of an increased risk of complications during delivery). I was not opposed to try vaginal birth, but what I was most afraid of is that the baby gets stuck mid-way at which point c-section would not be an option anymore, and they would have to pull the baby out. And, that's bad. We were lucky that did not happen with Luka!

Am I panicking? Not really, well, maybe a little bit. Bit I am aware that there re many things that need to be done still, before the baby arrives (and what if it decides to arrive early - OK, I cannot think about that because that freaks me out!). We haven't touched the babies room, except for moving Luka's stuff to his new room. But the walls need to be repainted, furniture fixed (very disappointed with our furniture - expensive but falling apart!), baby clothes taken out of storage, missing stuff bought... ahhhh... I am not even sure I know what I need for a newborn anymore. I am hoping my memory will be jogged once I start unpacking things. Also, my mom is coming in 5 weeks, so I am hoping she will be helping with some of these things... again, if the baby does not arrive early. I did order a changing table and a mattress pad today. And I made some changing pad covers, as I mentioned in the last post... but I don't have crib sheets, and I want to make a new bumper... and wall decorations, and.... OK, I need to do some planning....

This is what I have been playing with today. My Christmas present - White Serger 2500. I was using the threads it came with - I will be attempting to thread the thing some other time. But I tried the basic overlock stitch with 4 threads as well as adding elastic to the fabric. You can see what the edges look like below. Perfect.

This is sooo much easier than with a sewing machine! Now, don't get me wrong - the sewing machine is not going anywhere, but for knit fabrics (like the one in these images), adding elastic, picot edges... I will be using this puppy. I have a great Singer, but it just does not handle knit or stretchy fabrics well. It is supposed to be able to do a double needle, and it has another single needle stitch for stretchy fabrics - but whatever I tried it stretches the fabric too much while sewing and the end result is not pretty. This will work very well.

So what I made? Two changing pad covers - I cannot really model them because the old changing pad is in the trash, but, apart from cutting the fabric, it takes maybe 15 minutes to serge the four corners and add elastic around. And the edges are all finished nicely. Can't beat that!

Yesterday Luka wrote his name for the first time, without looking at the letters: "Long L, then U, then K and then the small A - a circle and a little stick". That's what he was saying as he was writing. This was a big deal, not only because he is only three years old (he has known all the letters since he was two - he was able to recognize most of the letters even before he could really speak), but because he was not interested in drawing or writing until recently. Actually, he still does not know how to hold the pen properly, and he has not yet "decided" which hand to use. He can write/draw with both hands, but it seems to me that the he is more comfortable, and that the lines seem more "stable" if he uses his left hand. 

Proud Mommy.