Lemonade Stand Doll Quilt Swap

Last week, I joined the Lemonade Stand Doll Quilt Swap that is being hosted by Mortimers Mom of Ubercrafty. I have always wanted to jump in and join one of these swaps, but never felt that my skills were up to par with the other ladies who participate. Luckily, I came across this blog and saw the words "Anyone Can Join, All Skills-Level Welcomed, Might Be Used By An Actual Child, Doll Quilt Swap". That seemed perfect for me, so I joined in! I have had a charm pack of Aunt Grace Scrapbag 2008 fabric for a couple of months, just waiting for the perfect project, and decided that this one would be great! The quilt rules encourage you to try something new, so I decided that I would try working with triangles. Here is what I have so far.....not sure if it will be the final layout, but it is a start....

I had twice this many squares, so I let Anneliese play with them because she likes to help me lay out my quilts on the floor. Here is her final design

"How to sum up 2 months in one post"

Yeah, so I've been really slack on my blog....I started it all excited, knowing that I would have tons to talk about and show, but the truth is, it is very intimidating! But, I know that I just need to buck up and I will hit my stride and get more comfortable with it if I just practice! So here goes! So this is kind of a sum-it-all-up post with lots of pics and a few comments when needed!

So, in no particular order:

We played outside

Christopher won the Pinewood Derby in his den!

My super talented SIL won not one, but TWO, blue ribbons at the Quilt Show!

Mary Rose discovered the awesomeness that is the Starbucks Frappuccino!

Anneliese posed for me in my wedding veil (we won't discuss the fact that my wedding dress wouldn't zip up when I tried it on!)

Anneliese and Gram planted flowers

I made some stuff (including this doll quilt for my BFF's dd's birthday)

Oh, and there were many birthdays, Valentine's Day, and Easter, but this will have to do for now!

They really are a handful!

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week at my son's school, so a couple months ago I had the idea of making a quilt for his teacher for the occasion. His teacher is a quilter, which made me think that she would really appreciate it, but also intimidated me b/c I'm sure her abilities are far above my novice level skills. I discussed the idea with the room mother, and she was totally on board! I wanted to do something with handprints and using the term "handful" b/c they are a challenging class, but didn't want to do painted handprints, so I had the idea of making appliques of their hands and even embroidered their names in their own handwriting.





Here is the final product:

I took it in on Monday and she really loved it! The kids were also very excited to find their names and handprints on it! It was really a lot of fun to make and I learned a lot in the process, including that I am addicted to quilting (not a word, Sara!).....so now I have many, many more in the planning stages as well as two child size ones in progress for the Relay for Life in May!

Works-in-progress...

So, yesterday was a pretty busy day for us. Picked up Christopher early from school for a dentist appointment concerning his crowding teeth....there was discussion of orthodontists and possibly "wiggling" some teeth out (don't you love how dentists have nice names for not-so-nice procedures?). Then on to a haircut for my little man who was starting to resemble a little woman. Christopher has recently been into styling his hair all funny after bath and wanting it to stay that way, so I told the hairstylist to style his hair. She put some sort of gum in it and made all messy on top and he loved it! The rest of the day, he kept telling me to not mess his hair up! Oh, goodness, do I have a metrosexual on my hands? Of course, this morning I had to style it for him again! He does look cute and grown up....I'll post a pic later!

Then it was on to a couple more errands and then home. My stepmother-in-law came over last night for her first sewing lesson and she did a great job! She even got a gift made for my father-in-law's birthday done! I think maybe the sewing bug has bitten her!

I have quite a couple of w.i.p.s in progress that I'm gonna share. First is a set of accessories for my kids' bathroom. They have a great shower curtain that has all sorts of big colored polka dots, and has been decorated with a construction theme, since my son was the first kiddo born. Well, now we have 2 girls also, so I wanted to make it more gender neutral while still using the same cute shower curtain. So, I got the idea to make accessories using the cute monkey fabric lines from Moda. A few fat quarters later, and we now have a new bathmat using the tute from Montessori-by-hand ...

And in the works for the wall is a small wall quilt using a crazy 9 patch design. I'm about halfway done sewing the binding on...

And also a do-again quilt for a certain little boy (again still need to handsew the binding)...

Also in the planning stages....

-embellished handtowels to match the monkey stuff

-matching aprons for Anneliese and me

-Easter dresses

-stuff for Valentine's Day

Plus a million other things swimming in my head!

Recipe for a cruddy monday morning...

Ingredients:

1 school holiday
1 demanding 2-year-old
1 non-sharing 6-year-old
1 non-napping 1-year-old
28 fights over diecast cars
576 episodes of TiVo'd cartoons

Instructions:

Place all three children in living room. Turn on TiVo. Place 1-year-old in play-yard for own protection. Enjoy the 3 quiet minutes following to sew. Break up 28 fights over diecast cars. Calm down 28 temper tantrums. Attempt to put 1-year-old down for nap. After 10 minutes, realize that 1-year-old is not going to sleep. Return to play-yard.
Now, decide that maybe children will do better at Barnes and Noble than at home. Dress children and self. Get into minivan. Crank the portable DVD players. Say a quick prayer. Drive to Barnes and Noble with the knowledge that at least a Coffee Frappuccino awaits.

Baby Brett's Birthday Bash

Today, we celebrated our youngest daughter's first birthday. Actually her birthday is December 28, but we decided to wait til all the Christmas hoopla was over to celebrate. Luckily, she didn't know the difference and didn't complain at all!

So, we decided on a butterfly theme for no other reason than the fact that there was nothing else I liked at Party City. But we made the most of it. I made a cute birthday cake, hung some tissue paper butterflies from the dining room light, and even made an adorable butterfly dress! My mom made some killer lasagna, and we had fun introducing the greatness that is the Wii to some friends and family while the kiddos ran around the house like crazy, getting into this and that.

I can't believe that she is already one! She has been the sweetest off all the babies. Always smiling with that cute little dimple in her cheek. She has cheerfully put up with all her sister's abuse, which has been frequent and unmericiful. She was also the first and only not to scream bloody murder when eating her first birthday cake. The other two freaked at having a mess on their hands, but she was content to stab at her little cake with a spoon while the rest of us ate the butterfly cake.

I know all too well that sweet babies can turn into demanding little 2 year olds (ahem...Anneliese), so I better treasure this time of wet kisses and sweet little baby babbling while I have it! So, Happy Birthday, my sweet little Mary Rose....I love you.

Dear Writers Guild of America,

Okay, I totally get that the producers are trying to rob you of your due on the sale of dvds or whatever, but, really, have some pity on the poor television addicts out here!

Instead of quality tv like The Office and Heroes, and the cute new Samantha Who? we are being hit with junk like Carrie and Bruno Dance War, Clash of the Choirs, and American Gladiator! American-freaking-Gladiator! The only good thing about that show is that it gives good material for the The Soup, which, thank goodness, continues to satisfy. The options are so bad that tonight's choice of programming consisted of watching the Fox News guys talk about the SC primary and a repeat Green Bay game. My TiVo guide is even so boring that I watched half of a repeat Dr. Phil episode! On a Saturday night!

I know that the lack of good television could be a good thing....I could use all that new found time to be productive. Sew, cook, clean, yadda yadda yadda. I do like to sew, and have actually cranked out several cute things this week, but there are just times when you want to veg in front of the tube with some wine and watch the Pam-and-Jim cuteness continue. But the cooking and cleaning part...well, I'll just stick with Dr. Phil.

Sincerely,
Suzanne