scenes from the weekend

We had a mellow weekend. Cooper is getting more content, and really likes hanging out with his big sisters. He's 14 weeks old today! Ack!



With Rob gone to a conference, I stayed up way too late every night sewing. I completed my first block for the "quilt-as-you-go" quilt along. I'm really digging this technique! It uses a LOT of thread though. I'll need to stock up. My sewing area is overflowing with strips of fabric too. Makes for a big mess (and a little bit of swearing when they accidently get sewn to the backs of other projects).





In my quest for zipper mastery, I whipped up a little pouch for the tools I use to sew by hand.



And I kept on with the batik log cabin quilt. Just waiting for that aqua sashing to show up from Pink Chalk Studio.

What's For Dinner

Inspired by Dana of Little Fists, I've decided to map out my family's dinners each week on this blog. The meals will get more interesting, but for now I'm trying to use what I already have in my freezer and pantry.

Tonight- Beef stroganoff, egg noodles, and asparagus.

Monday- Chicken pot pies, rice, and salad (this is Rob's night to do prepare dinner while I exercise, so I try to make it easy)

Tuesday- Turkey tacos and refried beans

Wednesday- Parmesan tilapia, roasted fingerling potatoes, broccoli

Thursday- Spaghetti with meatballs, salad, bread

Friday- Date night! Woo hoo! We're going out.

Saturday- Teriyaki chicken, red potatoes, and green beans

On another food note, I discovered the best snack ever this afternoon-- strawberries, french vanilla yogurt, and Corn Pops. Yum.

the funky momo

Last night I sewed this into a top to make a baby quilt. This was after thinking long and hard about using 2 more charm packs to make it lap-sized. But I don't think I want to invest much more time on it since I have so many other projects that I'm loving. I don't know of anyone who is having a baby girl though. Or rather, anyone who is having a baby girl and would appreciate such an eclectic quilt. So I think I'll finish this one off and donate it. I'm still searching for the best local organization that takes baby and child quilts.

The fun thing about making this was that it really made me stretch my ideas of what colors "go" together. Like the square with Kona Cheddar and the magenta on ivory scissors. And the Herb with the red print. There are some yummy combos in there.

I'm almost done sewing up all the blocks for the batik log cabin quilt, and have a few rows complete. I'll share more tomorrow.

a good day ahead

Claire finally lost her first tooth yesterday! The tooth fairy was good to her, leaving $5 AND the tooth. Claire used the old trick of putting it in salt water. I bet the tooth fairy was appreciative too. It's got to be tricky digging for those tiny teeth underneath the pillows of sleeping kids.

No school today because of conferences. Avery and Claire got glowing reports from their teachers. They also spent a lot of time yesterday cleaning their room top to bottom, and it looks great. Now they're free to have fun! I love these kinds of days.

it could go either way

I started what could end up being the ugliest quilt ever.



I had a charm pack of Momo Wonderland that I had planned on using for a zig zag quilt like this beauty. But I've been too lazy to cut the white squares. So instead, I grabbed the charm pack of the new Kona colors that I had sitting around and decided to use them instead. There are a lot of really beautiful colors in the pack, but some that are definitely not my taste-- namely the mint greens, pinks, and purples. And since they're more like swatches, they definitely don't coordinate with each other.



But as I'm laying it out, I think it just might be weird enough to work. So I think I'll keep on with it and see how it ends up.

Potholder Pass 2

I finished the bindings on these today! Now time to go pick up the girls from school. We've got half days here.

nine

Avery turned nine on Thursday! We started out the day with a present of Corn Pops. I think she thought it was going to be something better than a box of cereal.

Then a family birthday, with Pizza Hut for dinner and cake and pumpkin pie for dessert.

Last night she got to have her first slumber party. Let me tell you, third grade girls are something else. I'm not sure I'll be sad to see them all go home this morning!

I got the bug to make favors, so I sewed up these bags and put in fruit Mentos, a notebook, pen, and nail file.

I love watching the girls grow. It's amazing how quickly the years have gone by.

another one down!

This was going to be Cooper's quilt if he had turned out to be Charlotte instead. Once again, all I had to do was sew up the binding. I just lost the motivation to finish it once Cooper arrived. I still don't know what I'll do with this. Everyone I know is having boys!

Rob did the 25K Classic event in the Tour of Anchorage this morning. That's him in the mustard-colored jacket. Looking good on those skis!

family placemats- done!

I'm on a roll! I finished these up just in time for last night's dinner.

playmat- done!

Cooper's playmat is finally complete!



He'll learn to love it.

quilt auditions

I have more time for dreaming up quilts than I do for making them. Here are some fabrics that I've pulled for upcoming projects.

Not sure whether to use this combo:

Or this one:

What do you think? I quilted Cooper's stacked coin playmat this past weekend, and although it's probably the worst quilting job I've ever done (he was on my lap for half of it, I forgot to lower the walking foot a few times, etc.) I'm glad it's almost done.

9 weeks

Cooper is 9 weeks old now. Man, how time flies.

I weighed him yesterday and he's just over 15 pounds. Wearing 3-6 month clothes just barely, and even his 6-9 month onesies are getting tight! Everyone who sees him remarks how he looks exactly like his daddy, which we all love.

Just in the last week he's discovered his hands and stares at them intensely for good parts of the day.

He's also fallen completely in love with the sassy bugs that hang from his carseat handle. He coos and smiles at them for most of our car rides.

Cooper's happiest when he's sitting up and able to look around at everything, so I bought him a bumbo-esque chair that he seems to like so far. He's getting ticklish, especially in the ribs and in the folds of his neck.

Sleeping has been pretty good. He still needs to be swaddled tightly to sleep well, and will do around 6-7 hours at a stretch most nights. Naps are not happening unless I'm holding him or carrying him in the baby bjorn, and even then they're more like cat naps. That needs to change!

It's really fun watching this little guy grow. I always thought I liked the newborn stage the best, but that's changed. Every day with Coop is more fun than the last.

quality time

Yesterday Rob and I dropped the kids off with his mom and headed back behind the house for a ski, just the two of us. Well, plus dogs. It was one of those gray, blah kind of days, but once we got back on the trails things seemed so bright and beautiful.

The snow was great and I felt really good on my skis. Though I'm in desperate need of some proper nordic ski clothes that will be more comfortable, and more importantly make me look less dorky. A trip to REI is in order.

My hat is a keeper though. My mom knit this for me when I was skiing for my high school x- country team. Maroon and gold were our colors.

Today I've got a crew putting insulation in our attic. Once they're done I need to go get supplies for Hermoine and Jenny Weasley costumes for character day tomorrow at school. We've got robes, but I've got to make gray pleated skirts and those maroon and gold (!) striped ties for the girls to wear.