Aren't these beautiful? Peonies are my favorite.

Thanks Shelby! What a fun treat.

Well, we've just been doing a little of this...

and a little of that.

The last day of school was today. B was pretty excited. I am too.

Dang. I sure love these guys.

I've been slacking in the blog area. I've noticed a lot of other people have been M.I.A. too. It's a busy time of year. I'm going to try to be better though. Well for those of you that care, I did get my business license and am ready to get my first 2 patterns printed (I know. I know. I've been saying that for a while now. I gotta make sure they're just perfect though!) A third pattern is in the works. I wish I could just start showing you everything, but I feel like things aren't quite ready yet. I've got a blog, but it's nothing special. Maybe I'll send you the link real soon. I guess it'll be a work in progress, so don't expect too much. Did anyone ever read the book Millie's Got a Secret? It's a children's book about a little girl who tells her friends that she's got a secret. They keep asking her if today is the day she will tell them her secret. She keeps saying, "Not today!" Eventually the day arrives when she is ready to share her secret. She takes all of her friends to a clearing in the garden where her dog has a new batch of puppies. I feel like I'm about to have puppies, I mean patterns. Well, you know what I mean...

If I had a dime for every time Little Missy showed up in one of these costumes... Unfortunately the blue beaded necklace came off right before I took the picture, so you won't get the full effect, but you get the idea.

I think she has her mother's sense of fashion...Too bad.

Well, I feel like I've been M.I.A. for the last couple of weeks. I've been keeping very busy though with all good things of course! I'm happy to be welcoming my bro and his sweet family to my neck of the woods here in a few weeks. They stopped by for a few days to scope things out. I'm glad it met their approval :)

We also got to watch Blake's first T-ball game EVER.

I also took the kidlets on a little hike in our backyard (well, practically)

Up to this bench:

That over looks this:

In the winter, we can see this tree from our bedroom window all lit up at night. So the story goes, that when the man that owns the house below past away, he planted and lit this tree for his wife before he left. It lights up in big white lights every year around Christmas to remind his wife of him.


And last but not least, I would not be me, without staying busy with a little of this:

I just finished this quilt top today. The pattern is called Shortnin' Bread by Fresh Cut Quilts Pattern Co. The fabric is Sweet from Urban Chicks for Moda.

Just Found: Local Blogger

Just giving a quick shout out (do people still do that?) to a blogger I met the other day while at work at Just Sew. Her name is Calli and she has a great blog - all about making do with what you've got. Here's her address if you want to check it out: www.makeitdo.wordpress.com. She's got some great pictures & ideas of little girls skirts, aprons, table runners, garden & cleaning ideas just to name a few of the things she focus' on. I especially loved some of her suggestions to beginning sewers/quilters. Remember girls, you can't just whack away at your fabric (my words), you should measure twice and cut once (as Calli reminds us.) It's so important to be accurate and I just had to "second" that! Check out her blog to see more tips.

Also, I ended up whipping up a little wall hanging at the last minute the other day to count as completed project #6 for the Spring to Finish Challenge. Remember this stitchery from Wee Wonderfuls? Well, here is my version:


I had the stitchery done about a month ago, so I just decided to slap a couple borders on, do some basic quilting on my own machine (which I don't usually do since my machine is so basic!) and then bound it with the striped fabric on the bias.

The polka dots and stripes are from Sweet by Urban Chicks. I have to say that I was a little sick of binding by the end of that project. I had just finished doing the binding on the king size quilt (from the post below) that morning and then did this little wall hanging that same evening. I definitely need a break from that for a little while. But, the Challenge was great. I finished 6 projects and it feels great! I encourage any of you out there with some unfinished projects to see what you can get done in a month. Maybe I'll have to do my own giveaway for that, soon...

P.S. I am a little scared and a little excited right now. I got the "go ahead" from the hubby to get my 2 patterns printed. So I think I'm just about ready. I feel like there is a lot of other things I have to do though. Like get a domain name, a tax ID #, a new blog, just to name a few. I'm sure there are a million other things I should be doing, but my brain is swirling with too much information! This is just a little fantasy of mine, so I feel like I've gotta give it a go. Hopefully things will be happening with that soon! Wish me luck. I think I've got a little something I can giveaway at my "launch" party, so keep checking back for the link to my new blog!