one more quilt

This was Wednesday night:

Free-motion spiraling away. I decided to take a stab at free motion quilting the pattern I did on this quilt using a long arm quilting machine. I broke my thread quite a bit at first, but once I got in my groove it went really quickly. I think I got this one quilted in less time than the one I made last week. I like how it turned out better. April’s got her signature quilting pattern. Maybe this one is mine.

The back of this one is a fun Amy Butler flannel. The front–some Kona cotton and a few fun prints.

I can’t think of a cute way to end this post. Maybe you can. I need to go tend to the screaming baby and the hoodlums pounding on the piano.

quick finish

I whipped this baby quilt together in 2 days. It is good for me to have a deadline. I get things done that way.

I kept it super simple– just using some Amy Butler scraps I had on hand and little bit I added with a trip to a local quilt store. I haven’t had time to venture to many quilt stores since moving here. I try to get to the Fancy Tiger whenever I can, but it’s a long drive when I can really only steal an hour at a time. My mission was to find something closer, but it was kind of a let down. There were a lot of sample quilts made in fabrics I liked, but only one on a bolt. Oh well. I guess driving all the way out to the Fancy Tiger is worth it because I know I’ll find something I love.

It turned out cute, though. I copied April’s swirly quilting (though I think I need more practice) and just used a solid flannel for the back. I’ve got another baby shower coming this weekend. Can I do a 2 day quilt again?

up close

Potty– and shameless bribery. I got a Buzz Lightyear that lives on the a moire and comes down when there’s tinkle in the potty.

A trip to the zoo. Last week– highs in the 30s and 2 feet of snow. This week– highs in the 70s. Colorado– where you can have all 4 seasons in one week!

A welcome, quiet moment to sit and feed my baby. The only way he’ll let me hold and snuggle him these days.

Blue skies and evening light.

Just a little late night quilting.

Life seems so very, very full these days. School time, field trips, music lessons, church responsibilities, not to mention diaper changes, feeding people, and trying to dig through the ever accumulating pile of laundry. But it’s joyfully full– baby squeals, spinning, and jumping, “look what I made,” reading aloud. When I think of the things that my life isn’t full of I am oh so grateful. Bring on the laundry– of it comes required with all these sweet blue eyes my life is full of, I can take it.

Trick or Treat!

When Brenna was tiny I was very idealistic about Halloween. I saw it as a little microcosm of life– that she could be anything she wanted, and I would help her get there. Silly, I know, but the dressing up and making was so much fun. As each new child has entered our family that whole idealism has, well, gone out the window. Now it is a last minute scramble to get the costumes decided on and all the stuff gathered up. Halloween ranks right up there with Christmas on my kids’ list of favorite holidays. At least once a day, ALL YEAR LONG, Logan tells me what he’s going to be for the next Halloween. I guess there is some magic in the thought that he really can transform himself into anything he wants. This year he settled on being a pirate:

Jonah was an alien:

Brenna was leopard:

Then there was Buzz– which has been Ian’s everyday uniform on most days lately:

And for the third time we had a little dinosaur. I made this hood and tail when Jonah was a baby. Logan was only 3 months old his first Halloween, so he was too little to wear it, but Ian did, and now Hunter:

(Barry took these pictures in the church parking lot during our Trunk-or-Treat.)

The only sewing I did this year was make Brenna a tail and ears to pin on to her sweats– the rest was just paint and hairspray and a good dig through the dress-up and recycling bins.

We lit our Jack-0-Lanterns and did a little Trick-or Treating around the neighborhood too.