Finish Flashback

This little quilt was finished before Christmas, there just was not time to share it!

i am in love with how soft and how amazing the heather ross mendocino fabrics are. Unlike any other fabric i have ever put my hands on.

I quilted this quilt in a variety of ways...trying to make it as carefree as the fish and mermaids feel when you look at them. This required a little letting go on my part, but in the end i was so pleased. I made waves in some strips...a single wavy line in others...this oval shape that crosses back and forth...and some straight lines. Yup, a little bit of everything.

I just need to get a label on it and then i can send it off to its new little owner. I plan to do this in German since that is where she lives. however i do not speak German so i have to find a translator.

So glad to have it done.

Art Class

My sister always seems to be up for any kind of project with the kids. She might hem and haw a little bit at first but she always breaks down and lets the kids have some good messy fun. She is very brave, much braver than me. I hate a mess.

My niece got a new art easel for Christmas and i think they all did a fine job breaking it in. Avery does very modern looking art...i sometimes see quilts in her pieces. Julia is a very fine artist as well. She taped a picture of the Eiffel tower as a guide and then painted her own. She is very good right?

I love to see their faces when they are concentrating so hard on what they are doing....adorable. Mitchell says that he painted a undersea picture...with sharks and dolphins. I can not be totally sure because i was in the other room so i think i was only hearing pieces of the conversation but i thought i heard him telling some of the older kids that the sharks were eating the dolphins. Figures!

And even though it was not a finger painting project, somehow it turned into one.

I also wanted to share a short little poem Avery wrote here. She has taken a recent interest in poetry and I thought this one was so clever. Here it goes....

"New day, what a delight.
Having fun on New Year's night!"

From my Sister

I wanted to share this gift I got from my sister for Christmas. She really surprised me. This was commissioned by her and made by a fantastic silhouette artist on Etsy, Carolin. This lady visited my blog and then based the silhouette on what she found there....my quilting, i love birds(and if i was to have a pet bird i would want it to be a crow, simply because they amuse me, and they are smart...my sister told her that hence the crow), my sewing machine and best of all my kids. She searched my blog for good side views of both kids and added them to the piece. It could not be more perfect. I can not wait to get it on the wall. Thanks sister!!!

New Years Day

We went to Virginia to spend new years with my sister and her family. We all had a really fun time. The kids played lots of Wii with their cousins...there was lots of goofing around and lots of yummy food at our new years eve party. On New Years day we all went to a local park attraction near their house called Great Falls. There has recently been lots of snow so the falls were huge and roaring. The trails were a little muddy but we had a fun time anyway. The kids always love to scramble around on the rocks, and when you add puddles to this you have created a special kind of heaven for a 5 year old little boy. This collage thing is new to me, and it is so much fun, but i promise i am going to try not to over use it. :o)

I can hardly believe that one whole year has gone by. The kids have grown and changed so much...we have settled in a little more where we are living now. I have no idea what this year has in store but i am holding out hope that it is all going to be good and that we can make just what we want out of anything. I am making no resolutions this year...i don't usually. It just feels too mush like i am setting myself up for failure in the event that i don't do exactly what i had set my mind to....instead i am going to have goals. Personal goals, crafty goals, parenting goals...wife goals, house goals... all the while planning ahead for change and knowing that they are just goals and it is ok if they change with me as this year carries on and changes around me. Change is not something i have ever been good at. And more than likely i will share some of those goals in this blog as the year goes on.

Thank you to everyone who comes by and reads. It has been exciting to meet new people here as well as reconnect and keep up with old friends. Happy 2010!!!!

**this evening i stumbled on mosaic mondays...so i thought i would go ahead and link up. I know it is not monday but that seems not to be an issue. Go and check out more mosaics at Little Red House.

Christmas Collage

There were way too many pictures to choose from, and i did not want to bore everyone with a thousand Christmas posts so i thought i would play around with the mosaic collage option on picasa...it is pretty fun!!!

The kids were so excited about the presents...but what kids aren't? The big gifts were the gun and the american girl doll. They loved them as we expected they would.

My kids are special, and apparently very considerate. They wanted Santa to know that if he needed a potty break that he was more than welcome. Click on the letter to make it larger and you can see just what Avery wrote(i think that will work, but i have never done picture collages before). Was it wrong? we went to check the potty and found that Santa had been there....there was red glitter on the seat and elsewhere!!!!!

These were some of my wonderful gifts. Is this not the cutest little elf ever? i think he will be living with us all year, not just at Christmas time. Avery and Chris made me this owl holder for my i pod. They spent a long time crafting this together, and i love it. This bowl is from a local potter, and i knew when i saw the sewing machine dish i had to have it...and sure enough it was there on Christmas morning.

Then we finished our Christmas day at my mom's house for dinner and more presents. It is nice to have them close so we can have Christmas together. Doesn't she have a pretty tree? Thanks for the yummy dinner mom.

Merry Christmas

The presents are all opened, the house is a huge disaster...candy and toys everywhere, but it is a happy house. We are recovering and spending time playing together with all the new toys. I am thankful for my friends and family and for the gift we were all given on Christmas day. Hope that you all had a wonderful day. My sister has a great poem on her blog you should go check out about the day after christmas. very funny, and clever sister!!!! Blogging will probably be a little slow between now and the new year...enjoy all your celebrations!!!

Geek Heaven!

This is one of my favorite pictures from today...Chris got to make a trip to the 5th avenue Apple store. He was more than thrilled. This is a picture of him gazing up from the depths of the store. It is very cool...from above ground it just looks like a big glass box, then you go down a winding staircase and you are in the store, where geeks and nerds abound!!! They all have their silly saying shirts, in red of course for Christmas. He did manage to get a Christmas present out of the trip...he picked it but i am still insisting that we wrap it and it go under the tree with everything else. As a side note....isn't he is just too cute???!!! I love him!


ps..i do have a few fun crafty and sewing things to share but i am afraid if i shared them now that there would be no surprise for Christmas...since i am certain they are reading this...so i promise that i will have a few things to share soon.

Because my Mother Said So

What have we been doing? Lots more than i thought we would be. Somehow despite my best intentions to stay home as much as possible during this over the top shopping season we have been out for some reason or another. All the while wishing we were home.

But, today was an exception to that. Because if you live nearby, a trip into NYC during the christmas season is a must. It is so fun to listen to cheerful, happy christmas blaring from store fronts while people are being rude to one another in the street and horns are honking. Very NY!! The people watching is fun. There are the lights and the pretty storefronts....grand central terminal has a laser light show....there was even a scraggly Santa walking amongst the crowds of people there to see the tree at Rockefeller Center.

Today we headed to the Central Park Zoo, just to prove to Avery that there is more in NYC than just the american girl store. It was small but very fun. We loved the tropical rainforest bird house, if for nothing more than the chance to warm up, because it was freezing today. My glasses fogged up as soon as we walked in!!!

Chris and the kids had a great time posing as animals in the children's zoo. My favorite is the Avery turtle...she looks stuck but trust me we got her out!

Now of course we did stop by to see the tree and what a tree it was. When you stand right up next to it it is amazing how big it is and it looks so pretty. I had the kids stop so we could get a picture with it and without me realizing it i captured the true essence of my son...see that tongue sticking out? Little stinker!

And this is them winding down on the train ride home....plugged in to our respective game/phone devices. They were completely unphased by me taking a picture, never even flinched or bothered to look up. All in all it was a good day....bought a few gifts....avery got to go to the AG store...had a street hot dog and pretzel. See you next Christmas NYC.

Mug Shots!

Before

After

Before

After

The kids had haircuts today....very needed! I love the face Mitch made...making this look even more like a mug shot, I know. Avery has wanted shorter hair for a long time now, and i finally conceded, letting her get a more big kid hair do. She is thrilled! I had no idea getting her this kind of haircut would be like when Mitch got his first big boy cut. They age years right before your very eyes and i don't think i am ready for that.

Family Cookie Night

Chris wanted to make some cookies this weekend so we got busy...so busy we had 4 different recipes going at once. This, i think, was the first year that both of the kids could be so involved. Avery even was able to work at the stove this year. Chris was helping...we were all doing it together and it went amazingly well.

The back story on that is that in our early years chris and i could not be in the kitchen for more than a few minutes together before one of us lost it. So it is refreshing to be productive in the kitchen and happy together at the same time. I love you honey!!!

These are the results of our time in the kitchen together. Yummy right? It was a perfect weekend together...we cozied on the couch and watched christmas movies with the kids...made cookies...had breakfast for dinner. perfect!!! i loved every minute. Me thinks my heart grew three sizes!!!!

Everything's Coming up German!!!

In the spirit of the season....and the hopeful defeat of the Navy football team....i am making a big pot of Gluhwein, pronounced, glue-vine, to take to a party this afternoon.

Start with 3-4 bottles of Gluhwein. It is a pre spiced, mulled type of wine in either red or white that you can get in most liquor or grocery stores during the holiday season. You can see we used red today. If you can not find actual Gluhwein you can use any cheap white or red wine as your base. Pour it all in a large stockpot. Add 2-3 cinnamon sticks, a palmful of whole cloves and 2-3 sliced lemon and oranges.

Now add a 1/4 c. sugar per bottle and a half. Today i used three bottles, therefore i added a 1/2c. sugar. Stir and let this simmer on low for about 1 hour. Be sure not to let this boil. Not good for the wine. And measurements are not exact, make it to your taste!!!Strain this over a crockpot to get all the large and small pieces out. Just set your crockpot on low and enjoy.

Sew and Tell Friday

I made it!!!

It is not always easy to find what I am looking for. This is the kind of mess i make when i am looking. What was i looking for you might be wondering?....and if you were not that is ok too. :o) I was looking for some scraps to make, maybe the one and only handmade gift i will finish this Christmas. There were some good scraps in there.

Since i am fully confident that the family member i made this for never reads my blog, i feel comfortable sharing. Sorry, those of you that do read it is not for you. hope you won't be disappointed.

I made a bread bag...to store fresh bread, homemade or otherwise. It is lined with the same green floral in the patchwork. In doing this bag i conquered some of my least favorite things that i am not so great at....buttonhole and interfacing. I know you seasoned sewers are thinking, what those are easy things....but i tend to shy away if i have more to deal with than straight lines. i used this tutorial from this fun blog Adelaide Lemonade. When i saw it i knew right away that it would be a great gift for my uncle who makes bread all the time.

I embroidered it with the words 'frisches brot'....German for 'fresh bread'. Said aunt and uncle enjoy things of german persuasion...and when i last spoke to my aunt she was gushing about my uncles latest bread and how it was like a good german bread....crisp outside and soft and chewy in the middle. Sounds good to me. hence...frisches brot. NOW, i have not been to Amylouwho's to check out the rest of the finishes because i was too busy trying to finish mine while it was still Friday....so go and check them out with me. I know there are going to be some great ones.