{family} helping mommy

Little A stays with me in the mornings while big sister is in school until11:30. We have a good time most mornings.... Some she can be a bit whiny but most of the time she is so funny. She asked me this morning if she could help me get ready. I agreed. She really wanted to put my makeup on for me. She did a pretty good job with a little help from me. She mostly did it though. She also informed me that I had to wear a dress and high heels. She is a bossy thing.

 

 

{family} Happy Mother's Day

 Today is such a special day for me. I am so happy to be a mother to two wonderful little girls and also be so close to my mom. I feel so blessed that my girls get to have such a great relationship with her and they see her so much. My mom is such a great mom and grandma. I so wish my grandma were still here on earth but I know she is rejoicing in heaven. She was a huge part of my life growing up and man I hate that she isn't here to see my girls. 

So today I pray for all of those who have lost their moms or children. I pray for those women who desperately want to be moms and can't. I pray for all women today to have a great day and know that they are celebrated by all those in their life.  

{family} Friday walk

There is nothing better than walking every day with these two and my husband. We ran into friends tonight which is always a treat. 

 

{family} my sweet girls

These were taken January 2013 by a store down the road from our house. I took my big camera with us one day and decided I needed to get some random pictures of them more often. 

These really capture them at this age. D not looking at the camera. A with an ariel doll and her dress from our friends in England. both wearing flop flops as they call them. 

The days with these precious faces pass by so quickly. I am so happy when I do take the time to take great pictures with my big camera (dslr). They turn out so much better than the iphone. 

{sewing} {gardening} {family} - all in one post

I found my first quilt blocks that I made when I started sewing seriously after my first daughter was born. I took a class at a local quilt shop. I liked it but it really wasn't me so I didn't finish. (shame on me) But I knew I wanted to sew so I didn't get discouraged but just kept going on my own. I want to make something with these but not sure what. And I can't believe I picked those fabrics out... eeeek. 

our family walk we do daily. I love that the oldest walks more and more with us. We have to walk in a semi-busy area so she can't walk to whole time. She is really into exercise now which is great. We have always talked to our kids about healthy choices and how important exercise is for your body. 

My mom grows an awesome garden every year. These are her first carrots from the garden for the spring. They are so good. I love making a roast with them.... oh they taste yummy. 

Little sister had a bounce house at her party in April. They let us have it a say early so the girls could play by themselves. Oh did they have fun. They played as much as they could in that thing. It was so worth the money.

Have a great weekend.

{sewing} on the sewing table instagram style

I got these big hexagons at the quilt expo in Lakeland from the Inspire booth. I loved them at first sight. I am going to make a modern flower garden with them. Sewing up those y seams though sure does take time but go fast all of the same time if that makes sense. I have to be in the mood to sit down and think about it. lol 

I pillow I made really fast one night for my front living room. We were having a lot going on here at our house so I wanted to have a handmade pillow on the couch instead of a plain brown boring pillow. The ship embroidery is a piece that was in some fabric someone gave me. I really loved it. 

If you are on my instagram feed you would have seen a lot of this quilt. I love it and it goes together pretty fast. It is the #hashtag pattern by Camille Roskelley on craftsy. I bough the class when it was on sale. I really enjoyed watching it. She has some great tips and I love her patterns.  

and a special package came in the mail from my sewing friend. I love her. She sent me a mini, an awesome tote with some Les Amis fabric! I love those foxes! I mean how cute are they. I saw this on instagram when she posted and she never said a word about who it was for or anything. Total awesome surprise when I got it in the box of goodies she sent. She also sent that cute little pad with 

MAKE SOMETHING GOOD TODAY! 

I just think that needs to be my slogan!

And that ADORABLE card she sent as well. I had to laugh that her address label was a paper piece pattern folded over. I mean you know you are a quilter when you have paper piece patterns laying around:) 

She also sent the girls some puppies and my little ponies. They were so happy. 

I have never met this friend in person but we were in a bee together and she and I become close. She has sent me so many goodies over the years. I try to send her surprise packages too. I am begging her to come see us this summer. If that doesn't happen then I am making her go to SEW SOUTH with me. ha

{sewing} Swoon baby quilt

 5 year old is not quite tall enough to hold a baby quilt up... yet. When she gets old enough she will have to be the quilt holder I think. She was worn after 5 minutes of holding the quilt for me. Oh we are going to have to have some quilt holding lessons in the future. 

The lighting was just not good when I tried to take these but I guess that's okay. We were leaving to deliver this soon so I had to take what I could get.

Fabrics used are the Crafty Chloe line by Heather Ross (love her) sold at Hancock Fabric and the pattern is a single swoon block (pattern by Camille Roskelly). My friend actually sent me a little of every print and I know when I was thinking of making a swoon quilt that fabric would be so cute.

I fussy the unicorn print for the center of the block. I LOOOOVE how that turned out. I think that is my favorite of all of the prints. It is so cute and my girls love it so much. (I need to make them something with it now)

I pieced the back with a strip of white, a pink I had (not sure the name), and more of the crafty chloe. I love this one too... it is a close runner up to the unicorn print. I bound it in a simple green print. I didn't have enough of the unicorn print so I just used a green I had in my stash.

I mean look at that cute green sewing machine. I can't wait for my girls to sew with me. This print makes me think of them so much. 

Quilt info:

Swoon pattern

Crafty Chloe fabric by Heather Ross from Hancock

baby/crib size

made March 2013

{family} riding bikes

When the girls wake up from their nap/rest time then I always like to head out and let them ride their bikes. The weather has been so nice that it makes it such an easy choice in the afternoons. 

Little sister just learned to ride her bike really well in the last couple of months. I just love that she can now keep up with her sister. It makes it so much easier on all of us. She is proud of her skills too. 

Someone climbed the tree to watch us a little more. Silly kitty. 

I know these moments are going to be gone so soon... we all try to enjoy them. Those eyes and those smiles. The cute helmets. The excitement.

The way they still look at us as parents... we are so awesome to them. (I am sure that awesomeness might change as they get older. lol) That we are still holding hands so much. They are the most precious little girls ever. They fill our hearts and lives with such joy. 

A flower for momma and daddy and sister and whoever else will take one. They are always full of ideas and gifts. They love to wear dresses all of the time. They are pretty picky about their hair sometimes but bike helmet hair is cute too. 

{sewing} my machine and random quilt blocks

Doesn't everyone decorate their sewing machine with washi tape and stickers? no. Oh well maybe I am the lone one out on that. I don't mind. I love love love looking at that fish and oh so cute tape. 

The picture above was taken at my quilt guild's sewing retreat in March. I didn't go the whole time but went one day and man was it so much fun!!!!! My parents happen to live not far from where it was so they helped me with my kids which helped me to relax and have a great time.

About my machine. I bought this machine back in 2009 I think. It is a singer 7470 confidence. It was a big purchase when I bought it... I spent way more than I thought I should but I knew I wanted to sew for a long time. I have just started free motion quilting on this machine. I have really used it a lot in the past 4 years but I never felt it could handle a big quilt. Well it can but I think you really have to know your skills to do something like FMQ a big quilt on it. It takes some patience. I have made bags, quilts, pillows, clothes, dolls, banners... a lot let's say on it. I really do love it and it has been a great machine. I clean it a lot and make sure to get it serviced when it starts getting a little clunky. all in all I would recommend it with one acceptation. Singer has the WORST customer service EVER! enough said on that point... so just make sure you have a good repair man to keep it in good condition for ya because singer won't help you at all with anything. 

Sorry for the bad iphone pictures.... eeeek. This is a paper pieced star using DS fabrics from Joanns. I used this tutorial from The Quilting Climber and also used this as reference from Six White Horses. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this block and actually would like to make more. I really enjoy paper piecing because it give you such accuracy. Wouldn't it be cool to make this one from From the Blue Chair!?!?!

And some scrappy AMH feathers. I wanted to try to use all of my tiny scraps. I will be making a large quilt of a bunch of scrappy feathers. I love these. I think the one of the left is oh cherry oh and the right is hello betty. I think. Here is the link for the tutorial HERE.

{family} Easter 2013

my girls ages 5 and almost 3. this picture is priceless. (and yes I should have moved that pot behind them!)

this is a framer

My girls are so precious at this age... they are learning to really love each other more and more. They are enjoying each other more and more. I can't say as a mom how awesome this is. My husband and I talk a lot about this... we are noticing so many changes in them lately. I just love it. I love how they are growing into their own. This Easter we hosted lunch at our house. My mom always hosts holiday lunches... but this year we did and I loved it. I got out the wedding china and set at the big table with everyone, kids and all. I loved it and I can't wait to host another. 

The girls really enjoyed Easter this year. They enjoyed having everyone over and getting out the fine china. They loved having all of the family over to spoil them. They loved that they got a special dessert and a lot of it thanks to the grandparents. ha They really got into the Easter egg hunting. It was so much fun. It was hunt after hunt after hunt. And then they got to go our neighbors and she got them each a flower to plant and a garden set. It was perfect. 

my mom and the girls. I will frame this one too. I love all three of them so much. 

I will cherish these pictures for forever. I love that we are making so many memories. I love that our new house is so family friendly. Everyone feels so comfortable here and that is so special to me. I will frame these pictures. I want to remember them. I want to cherish the smiles on their faces and the smile that my mom has too. priceless.