to tell you the honest truth

sweet things

New Lollies for Ava's room!

Remember this:

 

Now, it's also an embroidery pattern!

 

Not exactly what this will turn in to, but I like it.  Pete said her shoes look like they are floating, so I probably need a better skin color thread next time. (I was using what I had on hand).  This is also my first attempt at doing a log cabin quilt block, and I like it too.  If you notice any un-even-ness, that is because it is suppose to be "wonky"....that's what the quilting world calls it....the wonky log cabin.  My wonky-ness is very slight compared to some.  I was able to use some fabrics I swapped for too, so that was a highlight for me.  Anyway, that's what I've been up to lately.

Have a great day!

6 months!

So Ava's 6 months old now and I couldn't be happier about it!  She's doing all the cute things now...smiling, laughing, playing with toys, making sounds and spitting, eating baby cereal, sitting up, trying to crawl and growing hair!!!  She has been a super sweet baby and is a little dream come true!

Here are some snapshots I took a few days ago while she played in her room and I cleaned....well after I took photos...notice the clothes still on the floor....or on the other hand, don't notice the clothes on the floor. 

This is her little "crink face" she always does.

We love you little miss ava!

for fabric junkies

I've been doing some totally fabulous fabric swapping on flickr lately.  It probably sounds strange to most, but the fabric loving people are really into this!  It works like this:  I upload photos to my flickr of the fabrics I want to swap, I list the amounts I have available to swap and I also can list a wish list of fabrics that i would hope to aquire through swapping.  Then I wait for the flickr mails to arrive!  I can decline or accept someone's offer or do some negotiating.  A couple swaps have come in the mail and a couple more are on their way.  I am super excited about the variety of cute fabrics I now have to work with.  I won't bore you with anymore details, but all I have to say is...........YAY for swapping!  :)

TTFN...tata for now! 

Lollipops and Lemons

Today as I was embroidering some lollipops, I was contemplating life a little bit.  I started to think how our personalities can be sweet, like a lollipop, but at other times....sour...perhaps like a lemon.  We all have different personalities with different strengths and weaknesses.  Our very own "Lollipops and Lemons".

 

As humans, none of us are perfect.  We all make mistakes.  We absolutely WILL make mistakes.  No doubt we will trip, no doubt we will stumble...

Every.
Single.
One of us. 
Not just me, not just you. 

All of us have the "sweet and the sour" and we all will need the tolerance and forgiveness of each other to make it through this life.  I think everyone can find something about everyone that is sour, if that is what we are looking for.  And on the contrary, we can all find something sweet about everyone, if that is what we are looking for.  I know it is very difficult for me to find the "sweet" in my 3 year old right now!  But it's there if I look.   

The challenge we all have?  To NOT focus on that sour in others.  We ALL have that challenge, not just me, not just you.  We all need to be looking for the sweet.  I feel it would be unwise for any person to think that they do not require the forgiveness and tolerance of others at many times throughout life.  We are all the same that way.

I know that at times, I have been guilty of finding the sour in others.  I plan to get better at focusing on the sweet that we all have. 

But don't expect me to perfect okay!?  ;) (wink)

P.S.
This post is meant to be sweet, not sour.  In case you were wondering.  :)      

miniquilts, mugs and milestones....okay, and memories

I have 3 mini snippet quilts ready for quilting!  Yay!  When they are all done, I will show you.  ;)

Next up, MUGS!  (exciting, I know.)

Pete went to Florida again for work....it was a long HOT week when he was gone.  He always brings back little surprises for us.  This time he brought back Nasa Mugs.  He has been able to tour the Space Center the last couple times he has gone and has been able to go and see and do things nobody usually gets to see and do!  Basically, "special clearance".  He has been very fascinated by it all, if you can imagine.  Which, if you know Pete, you can imagine his fascination quite well.  So we all love and adore our Nasa mugs A LOT around here!  :)  One thing I will add about Pete...just because I feel like saying something nice about him....is that I am very grateful and impressed with Pete's honesty with his job.  Since he works from home 2-3 days per week, he has plenty of opportunity to "pretend" he is working.  This is never an option for Pete.  If anything, he OVER estimates his time and works without compensation.  A slacker he is definitly not.  In my opinion, he is quite the stellar employee.  I appreciate him everyday for his dedication to working hard and being honest with his time.

 

Now, onto MILESTONES.......

Little Ava is showing some of her brothers up!  Only one has surpassed her in the crawling department of life.  She isn't crawling yet, but at just 5 1/2 months, she is doing what we call "Rocky-Rocky".  It's that cute little back and forth motion they do once they have mastered getting up on all fours.  Way to go Ava!

Here's the action...well as best I could in photos:

 

   

 

 

 

That was tiring! 

Here's a couple other recent pic's of Ava.

And finally, one more milestone....sort of.

There are two brothers that come to the neighborhood, from North Carolina, to spend the summer with their dad.  They are Cody and Ethan and our boys have become friends with them.  They met in the summer of '07.  Summer of '08 they didn't come because their dad was in Iraq (or somewhere).  So we were all excited to see them this summer!  They are really good boys, super nice and well mannered, kind to the little ones, etc.  They already went back to North Carolina and we look forward to seeing them next summer!

Here are the boys in '07:

Caleb, Ethan, Isaac, Taylor, Cody

And here they are summer of '09:

And a group photo:

I love it!

For MEMORIES.....some of my FAV-orite songs of my teen years are playing.....such memories!!

C-ya!

hip hip hooray, it's a sewing day!

I've decided to take a little time to make something fun....just because!  In the quilting world, little mini quilts are all the rave.  They're cute plus they are quick so you get that instant gratification feeling.  The above work in progress in called snippets inspired by Crazy Mom Quilts.  If you do a search on Flickr, you can find lots of examples of this fun technique.  There is a tutorial here on the Lady Harvatine blog, which is the one that Crazy Mom followed.  Anyway, it's super easy and fun.  Especially when doing the little quilts.  The point of the mini quilt you ask?  (I know that my sister wonders! hehe)  Well, yes, they have been known to be used for baby dolls, but also for something like this:

This is an ever so popular photo from the blog of Hillary Lang's Wee Wonderfuls and also found on Flickr.

This is something I would like to do in Ava's room over time.  Probably won't ever get that many up, but on a smaller scale.  So, the floral snippets quilt is the beginning. 

Here's a little red and aqua one I did on Sunday.  Not sure what to do with it yet, but i'll keep you posted. ;) 

C-ya!