Hi Grandma!

Baby K decided the bunny needed to be in the picture tonight. (It's the same bunny as her monthly baby pictures...I'll do annual bunnies from now on.)

Trying to get her to look at the camera at the same time the shutter clicked was a challenge!

I have some sewing and knitting to share, but that will have to wait until later in the week. Stay tuned ;-)

Play at the Park

We are very lucky to have a park at the end of our street with a picnic pavilion, a big field to play soccer, and a jungle gym. Baby K runs everywhere! She can go down the slide by herself.

She asks us to follow her through the tunnels.

And she can balance on the curb and find a good spot to jump down.

Oh my stars

All done with nap time! (I was trying to get her to pose with her hand on her cheek)

Sewing time...I quilted some mis-matched feathers on the Hawaiian Star
Here is a wider view...that light green to the right is the outer border. The end is in sight!
I'm using a JudyL Quilt for an Hour pattern to make some batik stars:

My colors got a little wonky in a few places, but that will give it a scrappy feel :-)

Thanksgiving Festivities

Playing with spoons, spatulas, etc is great fun. Today we're using an ice cream scoop.

Even when there is no blood, we sometimes need a band-aid. Baby K pulled up a chair and was singing "Bringing home a baby bumblebee" when I grabbed the camera:
At lunch time, we progressed to a scoop, and enjoyed some spaghetti for lunch.


After naptime, we got ready for the big turkey dinner.
I made three dishes of stuffing, since there were 20 of us for dinner. Note to self...don't bother expanding the recipe...I came home with two full dishes. Good thing I love stuffing, I'll be eating it for a week!

Three views

Shredded Wheat for breakfast this morning.


A few pushes on the swing this afternoon.


Trying on Mommy's windbreaker. We love zippers!

Tuesday Pictures

Grandma is out of town, and she needs a baby fix every day!
When I said I was going to take a picture this morning, baby K immediately laid down on the floor. What an imp. (don't adjust your monitor, the picture really is that blurry, sorry.)


Here she is when I picked her up after school. I try to remember the apple juice if I stop at home first, because she asks for it right away.
Then we took a picture with no cup in the way.

Here she is with a lollipop.
It's a bluuuuuuuue one!

Early Turkey Day

My brother in law is a GOOD cook! Baby K sat right up and tasted most everything.

Uncle Grant let her lick the bowl of fresh whipped cream.

And Monday morning we put on a new purple outfit.

Say cheese

After getting dressed for school, baby K announced that Mommy needed to take a picture. She doesn't stand still for ponytails very often!

Saturday we laid around...

and practiced picking things up with our toes...

Inspiration

The Quilting Gallery is a great site for quilters. Lots of links to explore! I did not make an entry, but I decided to post the contest button anyway so you can head over there and vote.

Friday Fill In

Each week, new questions are posted here. My answers are in bold.

1. The last band I saw live was Keith Urban.
2. What I look forward to most on Thanksgiving is sharing the meal with family and friends.
3. My Christmas/holiday shopping is mentally prepared.
4. Thoughts of teen drama fill my head (I'm eavesdropping on my high school students).
5. I wish I could wear sweaters, but it's still to warm here in Phoenix.
6. Bagpipes remind me of Edinburgh.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to having girlfriends over, tomorrow my plans include cleaning house and Sunday, I want to enjoy my brother-in-law's cooking!

Mini Quilt-a-thon

I follow Judy's blog, Patchwork Times. She declared this weekend a Quiltathon and invited fellow quilt-bloggers to join her efforts. Our family commitments are quite different, so I participated as best I could...an hour last night when everyone was asleep, and 2 hours today while Baby K took her nap!The result...I have an I Spy quilt that only needs borders! I think this will be fun for my active toddler.

Here she is in a new outfit. Candid photos are such fun - in the first one she was picking her nose, then you can see her closing her eyes. Finally, she stood still and smiled!

Just Because

Rules: answer the following questions with just one word, then pass it on!

Where is your mobile phone? purse
Where is your significant other? work
Your hair colour? reddish
Your mother? happy
Your father? stoic
Your favourite thing? sweets
Your dream last night? gone
Your dream goal? writing
The room you’re in? classroom
Your hobby? quilting
Your fear? pain
Where do you want to be in 6 years? here
Where were you last night? computer
What you’re not? shy
One of your wish-list items? diamonds
Where you grew up? various
The last thing you did? snacked
What are you wearing? clothes
Your TV? off
Your pets? kitties
Your computer? necessary
Your mood? optimistic
Your car? useful
Something you’re not wearing? wristwatch
Favorite shop? Cotton Fields
Your summer? relaxing
Your favorite colour? sapphire
When is the last time you laughed? today
When is the last time you cried? weekly

Quilting Day

Daddy's Christmas socks are done! Mine are on the needles, with the colors switched, and hopefully there will be enough yarn leftover to make the toddler pair. My goal is to take our family picture wearing coordinating socks...that gives me about a month to finish the other two pairs.

Baby K went to daycare today so I had time to work on the Hawaiian Star quilt. Here are detail pictures.


That scallop fill literally made my eyes water as I concentrated on the small design!

I love this little fleur-de-lis in the flying geese. I will go back and add some loops in the blue background. I quilt one color at a time, so I am working on all the purple areas at the moment.
Here you can see some other meandering around the green spikes.

I told my students yesterday...only 24 school days until finals. I hope they start studying and doing their homework soon, LOL.

On second thought...

OK, you get the happy toddler first! She is in a phase where she comes home from daycare and has to change her own clothes. Lots of backwards, inside out shirts in the afternoon, LOL. Our minor drama the last few weeks was a missing purple shirt. It got wet on the playground one day and never made it back into her cubby. The whole staff at daycare was on the lookout for this thing! ($3 special at the checkout stand before Halloween, NOT a big deal.) After two weeks of looking, the director apologized and gave me a small credit on the weekly fee. Of course, the very next day they find it somehow shoved between the shelving units. Hooray! Don't you love a happy ending?

Here is my finished piece for the longarm challenge "Shades of Black and White." I decided not to enter it for judging, since I can see such glaring errors. For instance, the messy spirals. On the smaller swirls that you can see part of to the right, I did not backtrack very well, and the designs in the corners do not match. As my husband says, it's all a learning process.


And a full view, laid out in the rocky backyard. (We believe in desert landscaping. Besides, who wants to mow a big lawn in 100+ temperatures?!?) I used the Blooming Nine Patch pattern, which I'd love to try again with a different color palette. This version is 38 inches square.