I can't believe this quilt is actually done. It is a king size and I have put off having it quilted for the last year or two. It's been sitting at the bottom of my quilt cabinet for a long time, since I knew it was going to cost a pretty penny to quilt. I got a great deal on the quilting though (a penny a square inch as opposed to the 2 cents the quilter normally would have charged for it, plus 10% off for a first time order.) The Spring to Finish Challenge really motivated me to just do it and I am so glad it's finally off my "to-do list." This was just a scrap quilt. I didn't have a pattern for it (I saw half of a picture of a quilt like it by Blackbird designs and decided to go off of that.) It ended up being enormous (!!!) and I don't think I will ever make a quilt this big again. It's not one that I'm even in love with (o.k. this is sad, since that is a reoccurring theme with most of my quilts) but hey, it's done - and I am a happy girl.

I hate to say it, but I think I might possibly like the backside the best. I love the pattern used to machine quilt it and you can really see it well from the back.

I thought I would see if it looked good on my bed (just to mix things up a bit), but I don't think it is quite the right feel for my room. So, now I need to find a good home for it...hmmm. What am I going to do with a king size quilt?

Exploring

I had to post this cute picture of B with his Kindergarten animal diorama. His class had a family "showcase" last week and it was so fun to see all of their projects and hear them tell facts about the animals they chose to research. So cute!


Blake chose to research a Baboon, since he loves monkeys. I bought the mama baboon with the baby on her back, found the shoebox and then let Ryan and B go to town, making the diorama together. I was so impressed with Ryan who oversaw the whole project but had Blake do most of the work. Blake picked out all of the rocks, hot glued the branches on (with Ryan's help), drew pictures of the kinds of foods Baboons eat, etc. It's so great to see a man gently helping his son learn, work and be creative. I'm reminded of a quote that I used on a scrapbook page back when B was a baby. It had 3 pictures of B and Ryan together. The quote epitomizes to me the kind of man Ryan is. I love & respect these two character traits that are the essence of Ryan.

Nothing is so strong as gentleness

Nothing so gentle as real strength.

Ryan is strong and gentle all at the same time and I think those are the two best qualities a man can have! He is a great husband and father and we are truly lucky to have him in our lives.


Yesterday I took the kids and one of B's friends to a nearby hidden oasis for a little exploration time. The main reason we went was to see the bird atrium that someone has in there backyard near by, but there is also a bridge and a meadow that the kids love to run around in. It's the second time we've been there recently - both times we've spotted deer.

B fell in this little ditch. I didn't realize how deep it actually was. He got a little mad because I was taking pictures of him, "when he didn't want me to." Sorry, Blake!

5 down and a million more to go...

Well it's been a long time since I posted last. I've been busy with lots of projects. I've been painting my laundry room (walls and cabinets.) You get a little sneak peek at it in the pictures below. What do you think of the color? I was having panic attacks (o.k. I may be exaggerating just a little) about the color. I did have to buy a different color than the original one I was going to do. My advice for the day - don't buy a quart of paint as a "sample." And then don't go buy a gallon of it - all before testing it on the walls. Man, I do some stupid things sometimes. Anyways, I found the final color through my friend Keri who let me borrow some of her paint samples that she had around her house (thanks for all your help Keri!) It's called Atlantic by Martha Stewart. So, please - someone tell me I did good after wasting about $30 (anyone want a gallon & a quart of turquoise paint?) I've had no one to tell me whether they like it or not since Ryan has been "hands off" on this one (he wasn't a big fan of blue in the first place - that's another story though) and no one has seen it yet. O.K. I'm getting off track - I just wanted to say that I painted my laundry room and will hopefully post some pictures once the room is all put together again and has all of the finishing touches on it.

Now, back to the subject. Below are before and after pics of my chair I sit on when I sew. I really loved the needlepoint design on the seat before, but it just didn't go with the new color scheme.

I have to admit that I wasn't patient enough to wait for RJ to set me up with his staple gun so I taped the fabric on. Nice huh? I only needed a fat-quarter of fabric ($2.50) to recover it and loved the fabric when I saw it. It ended up matching perfectly with the new paint. The whole project took about 10 minutes. What an easy change to match my decor.

This is one project I finished in time for April's Spring to Finish challenge. This was a gift for my friend Brooke who is having a baby boy soon. I delivered it to her today.

I delivered this today too. A little blanket for my friend Sabrina. I loved this blue and pink rose fabric by Grand Revival for Free Spirit. It's called Ava Rose. The pink paisley minky on the back - I fell in love with the moment I saw it. I had never worked with it before. I heard the trick to working with minky is "Pin. Pin. Pin." so that's what I did. It didn't end up being too hard. Another completed project for the April challenge.

I have a 2 others done, but won't be posting pictures of those yet. I am also hoping to get a monster of a quilt back this week and will then have to kick it into high gear to get it bound by the end of the month. So, I think that will end up being 5 projects done this month. That is a good feeling.

Linda's Giveaway Prize

Dear Blogger,

Why do you have to be so difficult? You know I love you. I give so much of myself to you, and you still question my motives. Why can't you trust me when I tell you what order I want my pictures to be displayed in? Why do you have to reverse them just to make me mad - when I specifically told you I wanted the last one first!?! And then, you have the audacity to make me click and scroll, click and scroll, ever so slowly to put them back in the order I originally told you that I wanted. We've been together for so long now. Why can't you just let me put all 13 pictures on at once, rather than making me only put 5 on at a time. I'm a big girl, Blogger. Can't you just treat me like one for once in your life!!!

O.K. Sorry about that. I don't know what came over me.

Anyways, the point of this post is to say that Linda has received her Golden Crow Brag Book and I thought I'd post some pics. Oh, and I have to say I am quite impressed with the postal service right now. I mailed the package on Thursday around noon and it was in Linda's possession on Friday afternoon. Wow. That's pretty good! But anyways, Linda won this personalized Brag Book from the giveaway I did a couple of weeks ago. I hope you like it Linda! For the rest of you, I am a crafter, not a photographer. Please excuse some of my blurry photos. I did my best.

April Motivation

Jacquie from Tallgrass Prairie Studio is doing a challenge this month, motivating her blog followers to finish up some of the quilting/sewing projects they have in the works. So, I'm taking her up on the challenge and will be posting about some of the projects I get done this month. We'll see how many I can get done...oh, - that's scary to think about. It won't be many, but I'll try. Today, I picked up those two wall hangings I mentioned a few posts ago and am working on the bindings as we speak (or as I write or whatever.) Wren Woodland from Sew Small Stitches in Highland did a fantastic job on the quilting. They turned out great. If any of you need some motivation too, then check out Jacquie's blog. She'll be giving out a prize at the end of the month. The more completed projects the more entries in the contest you'll get. You can click on the "Spring to finish" button on the right for more details.

Snap Doodle Breakfast Cake

Being that today is "Conference Sunday," I had to make this traditional recipe for my family that I grew up with. Here is a picture and the recipe for any of you that are interested. My dad use to put a piece of it in a bowl and pour a little milk on top.

2 eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup milk

2 cups flour

1 tsp. salt

4 tsp. baking powder

12 Tbsp. butter, melted & divided

brown sugar

cinnamon

walnuts (optional)

Beat eggs. Then mix in sugar. Add milk and mix again. Then mix in flour, salt & baking powder. Add 4 Tbsp. melted butter and mix one last time. Pour into a buttered 9x13 glass pan. Sprinkle with lots of brown sugar, cinnamon and nuts (if desired.) Pour remaining 8 Tbsp. melted butter over top. Bake for 35 - 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

* The topping kind of melts down into the cake, so about half way through the cooking time, I added some more brown sugar, cinnamon & butter to make a little crumble on top.

LOVELINESS

For some reason, this is loveliness to me...

Remember this quilt from Nettie's blog (A Quilt is Nice) that my family is going to make for a secret family member? Well, we worked hard on our blocks this week. Here's what we've got so far (including Brittany's blocks.)

~ Cassie ~

~ me ~

This was fun for me to be able to quilt with my Sisters. Even my nephews joined in and made a couple of blocks. Well, all good things have to come to an end and now it's time for me to leave Montana. It was a great trip but now I'm looking forward to seeing My Guys.

Sisters Trip

I've got two sisters and we each live in different states. When my little sister decided she was going to my older sister's house in Montana (for her Spring Break), I decided I couldn't miss out on the fun. We don't see each other very often, so I took Little Missy and the two of us drove the 8 1/2 hours to Turah, Montana.

My older sister, Tammy, is the activities coordinator of the family, so she planned lots of fun things including lunch and pedi's (her treat!) at a local spa. I'm not sure what I enjoyed more -the fact that we didn't have 4 crying kids around, the wonderful lunch or the foot massage. There was definitely too much goodness going on. I won't forget the convo either...like Tammy sharing her fantasy about being Grace (from Will & Grace) and having a gay guy friend. A guy who works at a local high-end kitchen boutique in MT. doesn't know it (or her for that matter) but he is her "fantasy friend". She makes up stories about he and her getting together for lunch and he asking for her professional opinion on decorating the front window at his store. We had great laughs about that one!

Decisions. Decisions.

We couldn't come home with beautiful feet and not share the love with our little one's so Aunt Tammy gave all (and I mean all - even a couple of the boys:)) pedicures! M was in heaven!

On the last day they took a quick dip in the hot tub - just the cousins!

And, hopefully we'll all remember the good times (and not the hard times. Hey, we had to tote 4 kids under the age of 4 around with us everyday. Maybe someday we'll get a TRUE girls trip! )

Here's Asher lovin' on M. So sweet! He's such a good boy.