Thursday, March 22, 2012

this little girl

This little girl loves oatmeal. And peas, prunes, and sweet potatoes.

This little girl has a beautiful smile. And an infectious laugh!

100_1487

This little girl is grabbing anything she can get her hands on. And then sticking it in her mouth.

100_1493

100_1498

This little girl loves tags. So much so that I made her a litle lovey (not shown) that has tags and ribbons on the sides. I introduced it during our trip and she loves it! She seems to find the tags on everything and focus on them. I had started cutting them off her toys but when she discovered them I had to stop!

100_1495

This little girl has the most beautiful blue eyes. I've been watching them transform over the last seven months from a really deep blue to a lighter shade with a ring of dark blue around the edges. Mesmerizing! (I know this photo was in the last post but you can see her eyes so well! Plus the tag blanket I made is peeking out of the bottom left corner.)

100_1462

This little girl speaks! "Da da da da da da dadadada". "Ahhhhhhh GAH!" "Ay yah yah yah ahhh da!" She has opinions and she wants you to know them!

I love this little girl.

Dang. I knew I was going to cry.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

there's no place like home

We've just returned from an eleven-day trip away. First we flew from Denver to Orlando and stayed at a beach house on New Smyrna Beach with my dad's side of the family. It was so nice to see him and my sisters and brother... and it was my dad's first time meeting Emma!

We took her to see the ocean and I dipped her feet in the water. She lasted about fifteen minutes on the beach before she'd had enough!

100_1447

After about five days in Florida, we flew to Massachusetts and stayed with Hubby's parents. They came to see us a few weeks after Emma's birth, and then again in December, so they marveled over how much she's grown. We also spent time with my brother-in-law and Hubby's paternal grandfather and maternal grandmother, both of whom were excited to meet our little (but getting bigger every day) girl.

Emma was a trooper during our trip. She (naturally) didn't sleep well on the trip and our routine was all out of whack, but we did our best and things went pretty well. She's an excellent flyer, though! All giggles and smiles during all three flights, except when she was really tired.

We didn't buy her a seat but were lucky that the flight wasn't full between Denver and Orlando so she got her own seat and slept nicely in her car seat for about two hours. We've learned our lesson there! Buying a ticket for a little one is definitely worth the money!

100_1462

Our trip was nice... and it was wonderful to see our family, but it's SO good to be home! Even with dirty laundry and grocery shopping and other chores to do, I love sleeping in my own bed with my own pillow, and being in our own space.

Monday, March 5, 2012

mod star mini

I've had this idea for a quilt design floating around in my head for a few months... I decided to make it into a mini quilt to enter into the Modern Mini Challenge that is currently being hosted by Ellison Lane Quilts.

Modern Mini Challenge

My idea is based on a star-within-a-star motif... I'm sure someone somewhere has done this before but I haven't seen it. I think it would be awesome in a black and white combo, or red and white. I wanted to work from my stash, though, so here we go!

Mod Star Mini

So I look at the calendar yesterday (early afternoon) and I realize that the deadline is today! Whoops. I got busy working out measurements for my mini quilt and pieced the top. Today I was able to (between naps, baby feedings, and a Target run) quilt and bind the top. It's about 27" square and I'll use it as a stroller/car seat quilt for the baby.

100_1435

I used various Kona solids, as well as a Mini Mike's print (because I ran out of the teal, oops!) for the top. The back is Ruby and the binding is an unlabeled fat quarter from my stash. :)

Now that I know the measurements for the stars, I think I'm going to use the same pattern for a baby quilt.

Friday, March 2, 2012

finish it up friday... the scrap attack edition

I really thought this ticker tape quilt would be a quick finish. After all, there's no measuring, no matching up seams, no repeated ironing. Just cut the pieces from my scraps and put them together like a puzzle, right?

Wrong. Wrong, wrong wrong.

It took forever. I was way too picky about where prints went... not wanting too much of any one color in a spot, or two pieces of the same print too close together.

100_1422

But finally, finally, it's done! I'm pretty pleased with the end result, too. I backed it in a DS print from JoAnn and bound it in a print I found at JoAnn that incorporates most of the colors.

100_1428

Now all I need to do is wash and dry it, to get that wrinkly softness that I love... then it's off to a special baby!

 I'm linking up with Amanda Jean at crazy mom quilts for Finish it up Friday, and with Rachel at Stitched in Color for the Scrap Attack Quilt Along (link to be added to the SAQA when the linky party happens!).

ETA 3/26/12: The Festival of Scrappiness is happening over at Stitched in Color right now!