crazy mom quilts retreat 2012

For the third year in a row I was able to spend a weekend sewing with Amanda Jean of crazy mom quilts! She is the co-author of one of my favorite quilting books, Sunday Morning Quilts. I always enjoy hanging out with her and Tara at the fabulous B&B that Tara runs. There is always yummy food, plenty of laughter, and lots of sewing time!

As per usual, my camera stayed stuffed in the bottom of my purse, but I took some pictures of all my goodies as soon as I got home (after I kissed my baby, of course!).

Here's the adorable nametag that Tara made:

And some swag and prizes! I won a a set of Wonder Clips and a fat eighth bundle of Liberty, yay! Plus Amanda signed my copy of her book (which if you've been following Instagram, you'll know I found it just in the nick of time! I'm @seaschellquilts).

We also did a potholder swap... I got the awesome set that Tara made! And I snagged some great scraps out of the scrap bin. Not that I needed more scraps, but who can resist?

This great Liberty tote was part of my fat eighth bundle!

Hannah made this lovely Nicey Jane quilt top at the retreat. Nicey Jane is one of my favorite fabric collections and I reeeally loved this quilt!!! (So I guess I did bring my camera out after all, ha!)

This is what I worked on at the retreat... a curtain for our kitchen window. At night it was very creepy in the kitchen... anyone could see in, but I couldn't see out. Not that people were clamoring to see into my kitchen, lol.

I love that it just hangs on clips... no pocket for the rod needed... and I can just push it aside during the day to let in all that great natural light.

 

I didn't realize how satisfying it would be to have something I made be so functional in the house!



emma vs. the tp roll

Emma emerges victorious in her epic battle against the toilet paper roll! TP put up a great fight but in the end was no match for the tiny shredding terror.

She was a blur of motion! A force to be reckoned with!

She's so proud of her accomplishment! (I know she's blurry but I simply cannot get this child to sit still for pictures! Shocker, right?)

Luckily it wasn't a full roll. Otherwise she might look like she's sitting in a snowbank. :)

weekend retreat

Oh, I love love love sewing with friends! Our retreat (dubbed the Lollipop Guild Weekend) was so nice.

I actually made a pretty good dent in my weekend project list. Let's recap, shall we?

1. Ruby's Prince QAYG: I finished quilting one lonely block. Three left to go!

2. Bee Blocks for the 4x5: no progress :(

3. Handstitched Quilt: no progress. Gosh, it doesn't seem like I made any dent at all in this list, haha!

4. FCMQG Bee Block for Michelle: DONE!! And she loves it! This was my first Swoon block and it was a beast! Although now I'm excited to start my own Swoon quilt. :)

 

5. Football Blanket: DONE!! And it's super cute!
 

6. Scrappy Mini Quilt: Sketched out in my head. Does that count?

I worked on another awesome project that is still in progress... will share that later!

I do have to admit that by Sunday morning I was missing my sweet baby a whole lot, and I was ready to come home to her and my hubby! This was the first time I'd ever been away overnight.... I didn't do so bad, and Emma had lots of fun with her daddy. Thanks to my hubs for holding down the fort so I could get away!

i didn't go to sewing summit...

...but I am going to the very first Fort Collins Modern Quilt Guild retreat this weekend! I'm super excited to spend a weekend sewing with friends. I have a loooooong list of projects to work on:

1. Ruby's Prince QAYG: I started this one last November at a retreat with Amanda Jean. I'm determined to finish it soon!

this is one of the blocks from Ruby's Prince

2. Bee Blocks for the 4x5. I'm in the Hexy Hive this round and I'm enjoying a combination of English paper piecing and traditional piecing.

3. Handstitched Quilt: I'm in the middle of the embroidery phase in the white space of this quilt, and I'm loving the handwork! The class is long over, but I'm still plugging away.

4. FCMQG Bee block for a friend who's been waiting very patiently since June. :)

5. Football blanket... in progress and super cute!

6. A mini quilt for this contest.

It's ambitious, for sure, but hopefully I'll get to a good portion of it!

I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday!

emma signs!

We've been teaching Emma a limited number of ASL signs. Things like milk, hungry, mama, and daddy. As a former teacher of one year olds, I've seen first hand how sign language helps babies communicate- when they are still unable to verbalize but can understand words.

We started doing it late last year but the only one I've really done consistently is milk. Today, that consistency paid off!

I had Emma on the changing table after her nap. After I finished fastening her diaper, I asked her if she wanted some milk (I didn't sign it when I asked). To my amazement, she made the sign for milk! I praised her and gave her big smiles, then asked her if she wanted milk again, and she made the sign again!

I picked her up and gave her more praise and big hugs. I was so excited! I really want to teach her more signs and I need to be more mindful of opportunities to do so.

 

My little smarty pants with her milk!

emma {one year}

This happened a month ago, but my sweet girl turned one year old! The last year has gone by so quickly. We went from this...

to this!

She's crawling everywhere and finally pulling all the way up to her feet (she was stuck at just pulling up to her knees for a while). She takes steps when holding on to a piece of furniture or Mama or Daddy.

Naps are anywhere from 0-25 minutes if I'm lucky. I'm not lucky most days, ha! I think she doesn't sleep well when she's teething, and that is most definitely going on right now. Emma has two bottom teeth and two top teeth, and I know more are on their way in because she chews away on her fingers, toys, and her pacifier. She giggles when we brush her teeth and gums (just water for now, no toothpaste yet).

My formerly bald little babe has lots of hair now! It's growing like weeds. Or maybe it's growing like hair? Either way, it's getting long and she has terrible cowlicks in the back. Poor baby has been saddled with hair that's very fine with lots of flyaways. Just like Mama.

She babbles and chatters like crazy, and she loves music and dancing! In fact, just today she sat in my lap and sang  her own little baby nonsense song and bopped her head. The cuteness factor was off the charts!

She started waving "hi" and "bye" in the last couple of weeks. Now she waves at everyone, especially when we are in the grocery store and Mama just wants to get in and out without stopping to talk to every nice grandma that's shopping that day.

She still loves books and will sit for a surprisingly long time while focusing on turning pages and looking at pictures. Books are among the first things she pulls out of her toy box in the family room. I love that she's a little reader!

Happy birthday, Emma! We love you so, so much!

what i did this summer

I found three different posts in draft form that I never finished (obviously). This includes Emma's eleven month pictures. She's over a year now, so I guess that post is moot. I'll have to post her 12 month pictures soon.

Life the last few months has been insane! We put our townhouse on the market in May and got an offer a few weeks later. Our house hunting intensified and we made an offer on a house about five  miles away from the old one.

Unfortunately, the contract on our townhouse fell through and we had a few very tense weeks of being back on the market before we got a new offer, and we close on the old house next week.

In the meantime, we moved into our new house (about three weeks ago) and are getting settled. I hate moving. I hate packing. I hate unpacking.

I've also realized that I dislike almost every painted wall in the house. Argh.

Emma handled the move with surprising ease, although her napping habits have changed drastically since her birthday. She doesn't like taking them anymore.

I haven't been doing any sewing lately, but I stare at my WIP bag regularly. It involves this...

hopefully I can get back to it soon!

emma {ten months}

My sweet baby is ten months old today!

This was the most challenging photo shoot yet. Once I put the sign down near her, she couldn't get enough of it! Oooo, a new toy! Thanks, mama!

Turn it around and around...

Emma has learned some amazing tricks! She can clap her hands together, which is absolutely adorable. She's learned to feed herself and is finally rolling from her back to her stomach (she's been rolling the other way for months now). Her legs are getting strong and her balance is improving, too!

It seems like over the weekend she started moving around more and she's slowing figuring out how to army crawl. She can scoot backwards but not forwards (yet). Pretty soon I'll turn around and she'll be gone!

And, last but not least, we have our first tooth! Finally! It's on the bottom in the front, and only just peeking out of her gums, but it's a tooth nontheless. Good job, Emma!

retreat recap {long overdue}

What is this? Two posts in less than a week? It's a bloggy miracle! I've written at least three blog posts recently and none have made it past the draft stage. I actually wrote this post a while back, but it sat pictureless for a while and I ended up publishing Emma's tumbler quilt post first.

We've just put our house on the market and getting it ready for showings has been exhausting. We've had a parade of painters, landscapers, photographers, stagers, and others through here working on various things, and also I've gone through pretty much every nook and cranny to donate, throw away, and analyze every item in this house.

Plus, what's just as hard as getting the house clean? Keeping it that way. Argh. I just have to remember that I'm getting a sewing space out of this whole deal! Hubby agrees that I need it. I think he's tired of me taking over the kitchen table. And the island. And the coffee table. And the living room in general. ;)

I definitely needed this quilt retreat last month... it was so much fun! If you've never been on a quilt retreat weekend, you really should go. There are several reasons...

1. Yummy food. Especially if Tara's cooking. (TR: Next time I'm adding a bucket load of sugar to the tea. You better keep an eye on me.)

2. Time to sew. No kiddos, TV, chores, or other distractions.

3. Making new friends. I love getting to know friends and acquaintances better, as well as meeting new people.

4. Time to laugh. Seriously, there was one point where I was laughing so hard I thought I might wet my pants. If Emma hadn't been a c-section baby I might well have.

5. Did I mention yummy food? :)

Our topic for the weekend was paper piecing. Penny is a great teacher when it comes to designing and constructing blocks. We did a little practice, watched some demonstrations, and then we got to piece Penny's famous Kitchen Aid block!

It's a lovely block but HOLY MOLY did it take me forever! This was most of my day on Saturday but that's okay becaue I really wanted one. I'm debating between making it into a mini quilt for my kitchen, a trivet, or a cover for my Kitchen Aid mixer.

Sunday, I pieced a sewing machine that I'll incorporate into a sewing machine cover. I'm actually debating redoing this block... it's all kinds of wonky plus I realized I didn't reverse the image, so the machine is backwards. Whoops!

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!

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!

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.

emma {six months}

It amazes me every day how much my lil pumpkin has grown! She's getting smart AND sassy, lol.

We did a little photo shoot for some Valentine pictures for Daddy.

I finally had to take the paper away to get her to pay any attention to me.

OH YEAH!! The sweetest picture ever!

So then I put a new sign next to her and tried to distract her...

but then she saw it... baby attack!

I love this kid. :)

At six months, Emma, you are rolling from your tummy to your back. You're sitting up with assistance and getting stronger every day. You're grabbing anything you can get your hands on (see pictures above) and have learned how to put your pacifier in your mouth by yourself. Actually, everything is starting to go into your mouth.

You are enamored of your feet and love to grab them and kick and do all sorts of fun moves.

You are eating rice cereal, oatmeal, peas, squash, and zucchini. You love the oatmeal best! Peas, squash, and zucchini, not so much.

Emma, you have a happy smile and the sweetest dimple! You think we are hilarious when we play peekaboo or make funny faces at you.

You used to smile at anyone who smiled at you, but lately you've been a little skittish around strangers.

I love you dearly, sweet Emma, and I feel blessed every day to be your mama.

2011 in pictures

When I went back to look and see what I've made in 2011, it turns out I did quite a bit... mostly baby projects, which comes as no surprise! (These are most definitely not in chronological order, by the way.)

And here are my most recent projects...

Don't even ask me about what I didn't take pictures of. I didn't take a picture of the gingerbread house I made my MIL for Christmas. I didn't take a picture of the sewing kit I made for Penny for our quilt guild's Secret Santa. I also didn't take a picture of a mini I sent to Laura as part of a swap. C'est la vie!

But, in my opinion, my most spectacular creation of 2011 is this little sweetie... and I have plenty of pictures of her!

I hope your 2011 was as wonderful as mine, and I wish you peace and happiness in 2012!

emma {3 months}

Unbelievable. She's three months old? How did this happen already?

See the bears hanging from the canopy of the crib? Emma has figured out how to kick them! Her daddy lowered the canopy so that she could see the bears better, and in the last couple of days she's started kicking them. It's so fun to watch... she stares the bears down and then readies her feet, then POW!... she kicks as hard as she can. Love it!

Taking the three month pictures was a bit challenging.

Hmmm... too many shadows, and you can't really read the sign. Let's change to better lighting, shall we?

Okay, better lighting (the background's weird, though) but now we're blurry.

Oops, still blurry, can't see the sign, and what's with her expression?

Okay, here we have three adults trying to get a decent picture of one tiny baby... Daddy's hand is by her face trying to get her to smile, Uncle's hand is holding the sign, and Mommy's standing on a chair trying to get a decent angle. Meanwhile, you can see all the crap in the background...

Oy. :)

peek of the week {baby hip ultrasound}

Did you know that first born baby girls who are breech have a higher risk of hip problems that can translate to crawling/walking difficulties? Yeah, me neither.

We went to the hospital on Wednesday so that Emma could get an infant hip ultrasound. I was really nervous about it; I had visions of technicians holding her down while she screamed. I dreaded the possibility that she would be fussy the rest of the day. Also, they were running late and by the time they called us it was time for her to eat. Great.

Thankfully, everything went very smoothly. We were in a dimly lit room and everyone was very mellow. Emma smiled the whole time as I distracted her with stories and such. She was great!

The doctor who did the ultrasound says that things look good. We'll follow up with our pediatrician later, but hopefully Emma's hips are fine!

I'm linking up with Peek of the Week over at Happliy Home Sewn!

peek of the week {halloween}

I swear, I am doing crafty things! But this little person takes up most of my time these days...

Hubby's company invites employees to bring their children in to trick or treat at Halloween every year. We dressed Emma up as a cupcake and showed her off around his office. No candy, just baby!

She wasn't too thrilled about the costume. Shortly after the last photo was taken, she had a meltdown in the middle of the (quiet) office. Luckily, a bottle was the answer, but she still wasn't crazy about all the strangers fawning all over her. She cried in the car on the way home and then conked out. The lighting in this next photo is awful but I wanted to show off Daddy's Little Pumpkin!

I just realized all the photos show her with her pacifier. She does love that thing.

I'm linking up with Peek of the Week over at Happily Home Sewn!