wvu quilt

This quilt started out as something completely different!  I wanted to make a scrap quilt, and I decided on the Sixteen Tons quilt here.  So I started in on the 4 x 4 squares, but then I stumbled upon this quilt here.  It uses the 4 x 4 blocks, but then adds the x's.  The pattern is called "Arkansas Crossroads."

This quilt is my charity quilt for 2013.  I was a member of a group in law school called PIA - Public Interest Advocates.  The group raises money to place law students in summer internships where the business doesn't have the funds to pay for their own interns.  We placed interns with the public defenders office (criminal), legal aid (civil), environmental groups, and non-profits.  Every year they hold an auction, which is the biggest fundraiser they have.  I was a PIA intern for two summers in both the legal aid office and the public defenders office, and I loved it.  So this year I decided to make a WVU baby quilt to be auctioned off at their annual auction.

Some details - each little square is 2.5 inches, making each quilt block 8 inches square.  I straight-line quilted it, 1/4 inch off each white sashing edge, and then up and down through the center blocks.  The scraps come from my scrap bin and Memaw's old stash.  These fabrics brought back memories of past projects.

I didn't have enough fabric for binding - I was originally going to use the navy and white polka dot fabric.  So I went to JoAnns and found this yellow and blue star fabric, which reminded me of snowflakes.

The backing is fleece, and the first time I've ever used fleece.  I thought it might make quilting difficult, but there were no problems.  In hindsight, I probably didn't need to use batting, as the fleece would have been soft and thick enough, but I did so the quilt just turned out extra cushiony.

She got a kiss this morning and sent off the law school for the their auction.  I always miss every quilt I make, but this one was especially hard to give up.  It helps to remind myself that it never really belonged to me, plus it's going to a good cause!

Jessica's family visit

When we planned for Jessica and her family of six to visit after Christmas, somehow we never factored in the possibility of snow.  And we got snow.  Not just a sprinkle, we got a full-on snow storm Wednesday AND Saturday!  Luckily, Britton has a sled and we have a sloped back yard.  Jessica came prepared with snow bibs for the kids, and everyone rotated outside to play and inside to warm up.  

Wooden spoons for arms, dead flower buds for eyes...That's how the song goes, right?

Caroline thought up sno-cones!  We added solo cups and grenadine, and the girls were happy!

The first three - and all remember when it was just them for so long

On Saturday morning, we woke up to even more snow.  We had planned to split up, with the hub, Tim, and Garrett off to Cabela's in Wheeling, West Virginia, and the ladies (plus Jason) heading out to the Pittsburgh Children's Museum.  Except we never made it there.  We all loaded into the van, after digging it out of the driveway, and made it to the 7-11 for gas.  With the amount of snow sticking to the roads and the slick conditions, Jessica and I decided that it was better to just go back to the house.

Except that lead to a little cabin fever!  Luckily, Caroline has been bitten by the baking bug.  A girl after my own heart!  We made clementine scones and a copycat Starbucks lemon loaf.  Both turned out great, but the lemon loaf turned out even better than the Starbucks version!

Cupcake apron, and "Cupcake" is Caroline's nickname - coincidence?

While the girls were baking, I was practicing with a baby boy.  His tongue sticking out means he's not impressed!

The guys made it back from Cabelas in one piece, so we set out to clear the driveway and entertain the kids outside of the house.  The hub took out the four-wheeler and gave rides around the back yard, and his tracks helped shape the sled trails.  Saturday night we all sat around talking and catching up, and eating key lime pie.  A fun family visit, and we all survived the snow!

cabin fever

What happens when you bring your child home at 10:30 am during a blizzard, following six full days at home during the holidays.  She found the pile of her underwear I cleaned out of her drawer, and the cabin fever ensued.  Good thing Britton loves the snow, because there are six inches of fresh powder on the ground now.  And we need out of this house!

Merry Christmas!

Britton came in to wake us up this morning, exclaiming, "It's Christmas!"  Now, we may have over-played the "Santa doesn't come if you're awake" card last night, as Britton did finally get to sleep, but ended up in bed with Memaw at 2:30 am!  By reminding her about Santa every 5 minutes, we in essence made her just so freaking excited.   This is the first Christmas where she understood Santa and wanted to leave cookies for him (and carrots for his reindeer).

So we rallied and all went downstairs to see what Santa brought!  This is a camping set, and the log has a "flame" and the lantern makes wilderness noises.  

Santa brought a new kitchen!  Britton fell in love with this kitchen when we were all at Cracker Barrel in Ohio, so the hub and I had run out to get it that night - at 25% off!  Santa loves a deal, ya'll!

Memaw and PawPaw got Britton this bean bag chair.  At first she was apprehensive, but it has now become one of her new favorites.  It's great for her to lounge on, but she also expends a ton of energy jumping on it!  And since our living room doesn't have any chairs except for the desk chair, it became a great place for Britton to open presents.

Britton starts ballet/tap/gymnastics class in January, so we surprised her with tap shoes, a leotard, tights, and a ballet skirt.

Memaw helped Britton open her gifts.  We got her a Lego castle because the hub spotted her playing with Legos at school.  Her teacher reported that Britton loved playing with them, so we got a set.  We tried to get more interactive toys this year, toys she can manipulate and use for imaginative play as well.

This dog.  See that obnoxious bah-humbug look on her face?  It was there all morning, for no good reason.  She sulked, slinked around, and in general was not in a good Christmas mood.

Stockings!  We did stockings last, as we moved into the family room.  Britton had wanted to open the Legos and some other small-piece toys, and we didn't want the pieces lost in the debris field of wrapping paper.  Once we got in there, she spotted the stockings brimming with candy and got down to business.  Poor thing reported less than an hour later, "My belly hurts from too much candy!"

Below, I wanted a family photo, and Britton wanted to get back to playing.  So she refused to look at the camera.

Eventually, we all managed to get dressed and start playing with our new toys.  I pulled out the violin Josh got me (which Britton promptly asked me to please stop playing), Josh set up his remote-controlled helicopter and Go Pro camera, and Britton leapt onto the horse she had been too afraid of only hours earlier.  She then yelled for me, "Mom!  Can you bring me my cowboy hat?"  That's my girl!

Merry Christmas 2012!

deuce: twenty weeks

I'm officially half way through!  I've been progressing now, getting more and more tired and achy.  My belly growth has slowed down (for now), and my cravings have mostly disappeared, except for an especially strong craving for Lucky Charms cereal!  The easy cheese still makes an appearance on the grocery list, but the hub has started indulging in it too.  For my pregnancy with Britton, the hub loved pizza - now this time around he loves easy cheese!  Truth be told, I think he's disappointed that I haven't had more cravings, but with such boring and bland food options in Pennsylvania I just haven't been inspired yet.  If we had an In-N-Out Burger or a Taco Bueno, it'd be a totally different story!

On the nursery front, we ordered our bedding!   It's the "Jackson" bedding from Pottery Barn Kids and I ordered the sheet, crib skirt, and bumper.  I also ordered a 12-month picture frame, same as Britton has.  We still need to get a crib, a dresser, and a rocker/glider, and we've decided to go with cherry.  Except for the dresser, which is blue.  I found some adorable whale alphabet and number prints on Etsy, and once the holidays are over I fully intend to sit down and order the accessories.  

Lastly, I had my gestational diabetes hour test last week.  I fully intend to fail, and I told my doctor that we should just skip the one-hour test and go directly for the three-hour test.  He didn't agree, so I got stuck drinking the orange "soda" and waiting around the local Lab Corps.  My doctor's appointment this month is the day after Christmas, so we'll see if I failed!  But, since I haven't been told I failed yet, I still got to indulge in Santa cookies with Britton!

it's the end of the world as we know it

Look, I'm not some crazed apocalypse prepper, though I do admit that I've always had some trepidation about December 21, 2012.  I remember seeing that 2012 movie with Nicholas Cage a couple years back and thinking not only how bad the movie was, but how scary the whole prospect was.  But then the hype died down and I never heard much, except when television shows presented these people as freak shows instead of people with a legitimate concern.  I figured there was no point in being petrified of something I had no control over.

And so it got to last week, to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, to the father in Texas who carved a pentagram into his six-year-old child's back with a box cutter, and it just got to be too much.  I don't think Old Faithful will erupt, I don't think a solar storm will evaporate the atmosphere, but seriously, what do I know?  Nothing.  Because I didn't think anyone would ever shoot an entire kindergarten class to death either.  And there's a lot of people out there who think the world will end, and there won't be any earthly consequences to despicable behavior.  I kept Britton with me today to protect her from the crazies, plain and simple.

We started our morning early at McDonalds, with Big Pancake breakfasts.  Everyone knows crazies don't get up early.  That's their universal rule, right?

Then we went grocery shopping and to the library.  And by the time we got home from the library, we had quite a lot of snow sticking!  Now, this was a little worrisome because everyone knows that adverse weather conditions are a sure sign of pre-apocalyse.  But, you know, it IS winter and it IS Pennsylvania, so I didn't read too much into it!

If the world does end, I want to be on Britton's snow seal sled when it does!

Our miniature snowman, Frosty.  We raided the hub's hardware box for screw eyes and a picture wire mouth.  Britton is in love with Frosty, and if he's still here in the morning (frankly, if any of us are here, let's be honest) she might try and convince me to let her bring him into the house.

Christmas cards are out!

I mailed my cards out right after the calendar switched to December, so everyone should have gotten their card by now!  If not, please blame your local post office.  I had to send them out early this year because we have a different address than last year, and I wanted people to have our new address.

This year we went with a grey and red theme.  Funny thing is, as we were leaving the photo shoot from last year (at the Fort Worth Stockyards, in browns and turquoise - see here), I came up with the color scheme for this year.  I just try and keep it different from the year before.  Maybe next year I'll just go traditional red and green!  Hmmmm......that gives me an idea...........

We lucked out in that red and grey happened to be a popular color combo for cards on Tiny Prints.  Unfortunately, their cards no longer include an option where you can put a quote on the back of the card, now only photos.  Last year we used, "Little full.  Lot of sap." from "Christmas Vacation."  This year we were narrowing down our favorite "A Christmas Story" quote to use, only to discover there was no text options!

Funny story - this picture was taken by a co-worker, who used to be a professional photographer.  She asked if I had a place in mind, and the hub and I decided on the Westinghouse campus.  Westinghouse is one of the biggest employers around here and their office campus is huge and park-like.  All those trees behind us were covered in beautiful fall foliage when the hub and I had discovered the area.  Not two weeks later, Hurricane Sandy had managed to blow off all the leaves!  We kept the same location anyways!

more Christmas fun days

Luminary Night in the neighborhood

Every year, our neighborhood association hands out luminary bags and candles to all 303 homeowners, and everyone sets their out along their sidewalk.  We drove around the neighborhood to see the effect, and it was breathtaking.  Though, I have heard rumors that those who don't participate are ostracized, and I can see why - the continuance of lights is enchanting.

Tomorrow, Santa Claus is coming to town - to Britton's daycare class, to be exact.  And Saturday is my company's kid party, with ornament painting and another visit with Santa Claus.  But it is a good chance for her to meet the kids of some people I work with, and the party is at our favorite apple orchard and farmer's market.

Then, one week from TODAY, it's Christmas.  Are you ready?  We are.  I'm ready to slow down, take a breather and put my feet up, be with my family, and just take a moment to remember what Christmas is all about.  

a christmas story road trip

The hub and I planned to go up to Cleveland Saturday to visit the "A Christmas Story" house.  While the movie wasn't actually shot in the house, the outside of the house and the street were used in the movie, as was a school in Cleveland.  

Twinsburg hosts a Twin Festival every year, and one day Jessica and I will make it there.  In matching clothes!

The hub and I figured we had planned pretty well, since it wasn't the weekend directly before Christmas.  

What we didn't plan on, however, was Groupon offering a 50% off admission deal on Thursday.  So that little coupon turned into a ridiculous line at the house.  Complete with food truck, I kid you not.  But we didn't care.  See, since the house inside wasn't used in the movie, it's just been recreated to look like the movie.  So I wasn't keen on waiting in a line to see a mock movie set anyways.  The hub and I decided to head straight to the gift shop!

See that couple there?  I wasn't taking a picture of them, even though passersby probably thought I was, and how creepy is that?  No, I was just taking a picture of the leg lamp in the window of the house!

The gift shop is a small house located across the street from the movie house.  Look, I'll level with you - you're driving down some narrow street in a neighborhood that has probably seen better days, then WHAM - the house is right in front of you.  The house, the museum, and the gift shop are all in the same area, probably sold by grateful owners who just wanted to get away from the traffic and lines of living so close to the "A Christmas Story" house.  So the gift shop is tiny, and on Groupon 50% off day was just downright crowded.  We did manage to pick up a Department 56 Ralphie's house, a Department 56 figurine of the guy delivery the "major award," and some stocking stuffers.  

We did venture into the Museum because the Museum was included in the ticket price.  There was an actress there, a woman who played one of the elves at Higbee's Department Store.  She was saying that for the first couple of years after the movie came out, she left it off her resume because it was critically panned.  But as it grew a following, she gladly put it back on her resume!  Also, the guy who played the delivery man of the leg lamp was there!

the jen quilt

First of all, can you guys believe it's 12/12/12?  How crazy is that?  Second of all, here is the Jen quilt!  This baby has been a long time in the making, let me tell you.  The fabric line is "Salt Air" by Moda, and I remember impatiently waiting for this line to make its debut in March 2012.  When it finally arrived, I bought charm packs and yardage, not quilt sure what design I wanted to try.  Well, I stumbled upon this "spinning pinwheel" pattern (not even sure if that's the technical name for this pattern), and I loved how it would showcase the fabrics.

Well, I started in on this last spring and the whole project just got pushed to the side after half of the blocks were completed.  I liked the pattern, I loved the fabric, but I just wasn't feeling gung-ho about the whole process, and honestly I was a little burned out on quilts bigger than a baby quilt.  Each quilt is such a time investment (for instance, this one took about 20 hours from start to finish) that I just wanted a project that was easy.

But then, as luck would have it, my friend Jen emailed me and asked if I would make her a snuggly quilt.  Instantly I thought of this quilt.  And when she said she was redecorating her living room in oranges and greys, I knew this quilt would coordinate, but not be so matchy-matchy.  Then it hit me.  The reason I couldn't get going on the quilt before is that it was waiting on an owner, and that owner wasn't me.  Once the quilt had an owner, finishing it was not a long drawn-out process anymore.  In fact, it was relaxing and easy.

A close-up of one of the stars and the free-motion quilting, done in my oh-so-favorite loopy loops.  And a glimpse of the whale tail fabric and waves fabric.

Target was having a sale on their nice bedsheets, so I got this grey sheet for only $11!  No way could I get material for that little, and the sheet means I don't have to piece the back together.  I was originally planning on doing the quilting in white thread for the front and blue for the back (to give it interest).  But I couldn't get my sewing machine set to where the blue wouldn't show up on the front.  So I gave in and did all the quilting in white.  I like how it shows up on the back, but isn't too much.

When I free motion quilt, I sneak in a hidden heart.  Except in Memaw's Swoon quilt, which got Mickey Mouse ears instead (see quilt here).  I told Jen about the hidden heart, but I never said where she could find it!  Now it's like "Where's Waldo?" over at her house!  Hopefully this picture gives her a good hint as to which fabric to check.

The binding is the "cabana stripe" of the collection, and ya'll know how I love my striped bindings!

I got it finished up last week, and mailed it out this weekend.  Jen got it two days later (only because I insured it and tracked it - if I hadn't, the package would be lost right now) and immediately let me know she had received her surprise and would be commencing the non-stop snuggling right away!  Hopefully she loves it forever and lets her kids use it or picnics or forts, because the best way to break in a quilt is to use the heck out of it.