the jessica quilt

Jessica and I recently had our 40th birthday (ugh, is 40 really the new 30, because seriously, 40 feels old) and I wanted to commemorate the occasion with a quilt!  Jessica loves reading as much as I do, probably more, and spent many a lunch hour with a "Sweet Valley Twins" or "Babysitters Club" book under the table.  Those books were published monthly, so we'd race to Walden Books in Pembroke Mall as kids, and get to take turns being the first to read the book we bought.  Even now, we'll mail each other books we've read and loved!  And, of course, Jessica is a librarian, which made this quilt all the more fitting.

                                         

I made pillows for Jessica's library in this pattern (Tall Tale Quilt by Kate Basti), and knew an entire quilt would be time-consuming.  The blocks are paper pieced, and so individual that much thought needed to be given to each book cover.  I wanted the covers to be something about Jessica or her life or kids or job, and make her smile when she looked at each one.

The background colors were mostly solid (I think I threw in a blue polka dot too), in greens, blues, tans, and whites.  The binding was a cross-hatch grey, and the backing was smokey blue cuddly minky.

I used "writing" in some of the page parts of the books - newpaper print, encyclopedia print, and a rare book print that is now out of print.

Jessica went to Gifted and Talented Art School for years

Who doesn't love mermaids?  A nod to growing up at the beach

Jessica was a science teacher before becoming a librarian

 Some of my favorites blocks:  the dogs, foxes for her school mascot, a cupcake because it's our birthday, mac and cheese because we both love it, Halloween because it's near our birthday and so many parties growing up were costume parties, coffee because Jessica introduced me to yummy sugary coffee drinks, and yarn because she crochets!

I added this tag on the back, and I found the quote after I made the quilt - it was fate to use it!

"Life is a book and your forties are the chapter where it all starts making sense."

It's one of my favorite quilts I've made, and it's already in use!

barrett: 66 months old

Barrett got his hair cut!!  It's been forever since Barrett wanted his hair cut, and he got to the point where he was chewing on it, so I had enough.  It's still long-ish and it really makes him look so much older, that I got a bit sad upon seeing him with short hair - my baby with the long curls has left the building.  He now has shorter hair and no front bottom teeth and is growing up so fast before my eyes that I am often surprised how different he is from even months ago.

And Barrett is reading now too!  We're working on sounding out words he doesn't know, but he's doing so well on his sight words and reading easy books, that reading is exciting for him.  I hope he loves books as much as Britton does.

Barrett has a couple of soccer games left this season, and he's not nearly as enamored with the sport as Britton was.  But that's ok, because we're going to try baseball in the spring!  

Likes:  Paw Patrol, the color green, Lunchables for a lunchtime treat, Sam from school

Dislikes:  the color red, soggy food, and mean people (a kid pushed him on the playground at school, so we had a talk about telling the teacher and not letting people touch you in a way you don't like, and all that stuff you fear when your kids leave the warm hug of home)

ugh, turning 40

Last week I turned the dreaded 4-0.  It wasn't nearly as traumatic as I thought it would be (or movies have led me to believe), but that might be because I really just avoided even thinking about the actual number!  Cammy came to visit and we celebrated with a spa day - massage, mani, and pedi.  Then, on recommendation of the nail tech, we went next door to the French bakery for lunch, and it was so good!  Cammy and I really classed the joint up by wearing our pedi flip flops over to the restaurant, and showed off our massage glows.

On Saturday night, we all went to Lupe Tortilla for birthday dinner, and sadly no one thought to tip off the waiter so that the hubs would have to cringe through a waiter-led round of "Happy Birthday!" The kids played in the sand box outside while we enjoyed some incredible fajitas.  Then, we went home for a Nothing Bundt Cakes carrot cake with extra cream cheese icing, and it was incredibly moist and delicious.

A milestone birthday,  good times had by all, and I'll ignore the whole 4-0 part!  ;)

111 months old (and the 1000th post!)

We've had a fun-packed month!  Britton is busy with school-related activities, including her GEMS Club (Girls Engineering, Math, and Science), she's playing the teacher in the fourth grade play in two weeks, and she's a student council representative.  Whew!  And somedays, she's doing more than one activity per day, so we have to keep the fridge calendar up-to-date so we know where she is.  

Yesterday, the hubs and I got to chaperone her field trip to the Outdoor Learning Center, where the kids went through science/nature stations, and also toured a pioneer school house.  As much as the hubs and I were gunning for the school house, they needed volunteers for the science center, so we helped out over there.  

Likes:  Halloween candy, ragdoll cats, playing with friends

Dislikes:  waiting for Daylight Savings time