Special Baby Quilt

Although, I've taken a small break from quilting I was able to create a very special quilt for a friend recently.  I used fabric from two of her baby blankets to produce a new quilt for her little girl.  I will admit that I was nervous taking someone's special treasures and cutting them apart, but I knew I could do it and create something really special in the process.

The finished product. 

Her little girl's name surrounded by applique flowers from her baby blankets.

 The center piece was an applique elephant that was the primary focus of one of her baby blankets.  I made it the center of this quilt as well.

I used pink gingham and the light pink bunny fabric from her original baby blankets and filled in with other coordinating fabric.  I did get some help from the ladies at the quilt shop and found them to be very helpful.  If you ever have questions about scale and color, ask the workers.  They know what they are talking about and it was very reassuring to get their advice.

I love the back print because it incorporates all the colors of the quilt.  The mom-to-be's designing the nursery in pink and brown and her baby blankets had light pink, yellow and turquoise colors.  I wanted to make sure all the colors were represented. 

 I also got new tags from here.  Super reasonable and very nice quality!

What do you all think?

Tea Party Time

My friend, Yvonne, and I decided that we must do a tea party together before she leaves for Florida.  We both love tea and any excuse to eat cucumber sandwiches is okay by me.  I've been in an English mood lately with all this Jane Austen and the Royal Wedding stuff. 

We even went to a tea store and bought special "tea party" tea.  We had a great time as we always do.

Here are some pictures of the day.

Here are the girls playing.   

Our set up.  We had raspberry scones (I substituted raspberries for blueberries), devonshire cream and some cucumber finger sandwiches.   

 Almost done.  Delicious.

Yvonne and Miss C even dressed up for the occasion.

What a fun play date!

Garden Adventure

We've been having some beautiful weather here lately.  A friend and I decided that a visit to a garden was in definite order.  And wow, Duke Gardens is beautiful!  I have wanted to go for awhile and it definitely did not disappoint.

 They have some of the most interesting flowers.  This one looked like a firework.

 Miss C enjoyed herself.  She wanted to pick the flowers, naturally.

 I let her eat a leaf instead.

We got to sit down and let the girls play on the grass while the grownups got to enjoy some pineapple tea.  It's the small things that make me so happy!  A beautiful day with friends and sweet (but not too sweet) pineapple tea!  Perfect.

More Quilts

Well, as you can imagine, I've been spending my time quilting. Here are two recent quilts I've finished.

Sock Monkey Quilt. I just don't think there can be anything much cuter than a sock monkey quilt. I love the colors. I love how it can be for a boy or a girl. This special quilt will go to a special person, who I just happened to mention in my last post. If you haven't checked that last post out you should!

The fabric is just to die for (the knits actually look like knits-- amazing).

A little pizazz for the back. Also I needed a little extra length. Problem solved.

Here is my sophisticated baby girl blanket using the Panache line from Moda fabrics. The colors are scrumptious. This one is on sale in my Etsy shop.

I liked how the borders turned out. Something different.

Simply Divine Designs

I wanted to introduce you to a friend of mine, Melody. She, like me, loves to sew! She makes the neatest baby items (just to name a few): bibs, burp cloths, boppy covers, blankets, diaper clutches, nursing covers and slings (my personal favorite). She uses the trendiest fabrics and makes some pretty special pieces. Her business is Simply Divine Designs.

But what makes her business is even more special is that all funds raised will be going towards their adoption fund!

So, please go take a look at her business website and see what she has to offer. Not only would you get a special baby item, but you would get them one step closer to bringing home a baby!!!!

I don't know about you, but that seems like a pretty special investment to me!

He's Laughing with Jesus

This past weekend Grant and I lost an old friend from high school and church youth group, Chris Raynor. This has to be one of the most tragic stories I have ever heard. Chris was set to be married at 11:00 on Saturday. Sadly, someone ran a red light and hit the car he was in. He died a few hours before he was supposed to walk down the aisle. Here is the story from the newspaper.

I haven't seen Chris since high school, but I have never forgotten him. He was hilarious and liked to channel Chris Farley, who he actually kind've resembled!

If you are reading this post, please just take a minute and pray for his family, friends and fiancee. He was an only child and I know his parents are beyond devastated. Clearly, from the things I read, he and Karen were a wonderful, bring-out-the-best-in-each-other kind of couple. I cannot even imagine the pain in her heart and the days ahead for all them.

(Providence Baptist youth group ski trip- 1996)

I have no doubt, however, that he is laughing with Jesus right now.

Some Vacation Pics

Here are some of the highlights of our vacation.

Meri and me ready to brave the "rapids" . . .

It's Deliverance meets Titanic. Can't you just hear the banjo music and Celine Dion?

At the top of the mountain (courtesy of the ski lift).

I've fallen and I can't get up.

Ahh, back safe in the arms of my man.

Contemplation and horses' behinds.

All perty and ready to attend the winemaker's dinner, where they proceed to give you 5 large glasses of different wines. It takes three sips to make me loopy . . . you do the math.

Grant and I all dressed up!

Three very large bears.

My Peace Girls . . .

I was so, so fortunate to be able to go to a small, all women's college. So fortunate even, that I'm still paying for those wonderful memories in the form of a check to the NC College Foundation every month! I know, it seems so old fashioned, but it was, by far, the best experience of my life. There is most definitely a bond you form with your roommates, suitemates and hall mates that neither time nor distance can compete with. And the fact that you don't really have to dress up to go to classes helped too.

A couple weekends ago, Peace held its annual alum weekend party and I, along with several other First Finley girls, packed our best duds and went.

Here are some of the highlights:

Dinner at 18 Seaboard on Friday night.

A science experiment. This well may be the only time I've looked through a microscope. I was a history major after all. But I felt very important wearing this lab coat.

My other very important friends. Robin was right at home in her old lab.

Then we needed to pose with Mr. Peace himself as the class of 2002. Despite some of our faces, we were thrilled to be there.

The party begins. What, no food in front of me. That was about to change. Oh, how quickly that changed.

There was lots of this going on all weekend.

And lots of posing too.



How I love these girls. Forever friends indeed.

Krispy Kreme and other things

So, this weekend was INSANE. Insane (say in a sing-song voice).

The Peace College alum weekend was this weekend. I had a great time with my First Finley girls and some of their husbands. The fun began Friday night at 18 Seaboard. Great restaurant. Great food.

Then we all met up at Peace on Saturday morning for breakfast. This would be the point that I start to lose all sense of healthfulness. You want to know something about me-- do you? Okay, here it is. As you can tell from my blog, I am a lover of good, healthy food. I easily turn down junk food at the store and just eat pretty healthfully at home. But the minute you give me "free" food- I can't stop myself. It's a compulsion to eat as much food as I can. Because it's free you see and even if it destroys your body and makes you feel like crap, it's okay, because it's free. I do this every time. I eat like crap every single time. This weekend was no exception.

There was chocolate fondue (went back for seconds), wine, cheese, crackers, white bread, croissants, ribs, soda, scones, cookies, cake balls (made by me . . . ME), Starbucks iced coffee, etc. The list goes on. I ate everything and stuffed some away for later! AHHHH. I can't be stopped. Oh and to add insult to injury there was krispy kreme thrown in there too- I limited myself to one. I have some scruples left.

Okay, add all that junk food with little water intake, little sleep, a dead car, two dance "recitals" and rain and it made for a CRAZY weekend. However, seeing all my Peace girls, having a great dance performance on Sunday and getting a free healthy meal from Susan (thanks Susan) made up (a little) for my gluttonous ways.

I'll get some pics up of our weekend soon. I'm the one with the krispy kreme in her hand.

Right now, I'm going to take a spoonful of coconut oil and wash it down with a huge glass of water. It's no atonement for what I've done to myself, but it's a start.

Maybe next time I'll read this blog before I go to an event with free food.

Maybe . . .

My weekend

I had such a busy weekend. Which is great because I don't need to be sitting around watching a weekend's worth of Deadly Catch marathons. I don't even like seafood.

I headed out bright and early Saturday morning to my church's yard sale and was able to stock up on some great half-priced items. Then went straight to dance rehearsal. Worked up a nice sweat. Did you know that my hair curls even more when I work out. Strange. By the end of the rehearsal my hair was way curlier then when I began?! But I digress.

My dancing friends and I then hopped into a car and had lunch at Sweet Tomatoes. We then mosied on over to our other dancing friend's baby shower. Too much fun. Ever played the rice and safety pin game- amazingly difficult. Or how about the "what did daddy feed the baby" game. umm hmmm. Fun times. The cheesecake almost did me in though.

Then I went home and started cleaning.

Sunday started bright and early too. I had to be at church at 7:30 to begin warm up and dance rehearsal on the stage. Services were at 9:15 and 11:00. Then I went home and cleaned even more. Non-stop cleaning until 5:00. Then my dancing friends and I decided to go to a free modern dance concert at Cary Academy. I knew several of the people dancing and let me tell you it was fabulous. If I could only dance like that!!!! Maybe one day. Or am I running out of time?! I don't know, but it's fun to dream. Got home at 9:40 and finished putting away laundry and then off to bed.

Fun good times. I was with the same people almost all weekend and I kind've miss them today. Hey guys! See you Wednesday for another dancing date!

Dance Pictures

The long awaited Rainbow pictures. So here's the deal. The following photos were taken by a husband of one of the dancers, Richard Warr, while we danced in the concert. He did a fabulous job capturing the essence of the pieces. I also have some posed shots that I'll post in another post.

15 points if you can pick me out of the crowd!

Strawberry pickin'

Oh, I'm excited. I actually have plans this Saturday. Real, live actual plans. That involves other people. And strawberries.

That's right- I'm going strawberry picking at an ORGANIC farm tomorrow. Whoo-hoo!

Did you know that strawberries were one of the "dirty dozen" fruits- named so because most farms use tons of pesticides on them and they don't have a hard outer covering to protect themselves (say, like a banana or orange).

So needless to say, I'm thrilled that there is a organic farm nearby! Hope to have some pictures of our morning so I can post them later.

And since I will be getting lots and lots of strawberries, I was thinking about making some jam out of them- this would be my first experience with canning. Let's just pray that I don't give myself botulism or something equally as exciting! I'll have to blog about that too, if I decide to brave it.

Anyway, in addition to strawberry pickin' I need to work on my arbor/trellis thingy. 75 degrees tomorrow- couldn't be a better day to be outside!

Rainbows and Butterflies

The Rainbow dance concert was a success! Wow, thanks to all the many friends and family that came. I even got a comment about how many of my peeps showed up!! You guys rock!

I got so many wonderful comments about the swimming piece! I can honestly say that I was a tad apprehensive about my costume-- halter top bathing suit with shortie short shorts, but once the music came on it didn't phase me. And I know, people think I 'm crazy and way too self conscious, but I cannot help it-- really, I cannot help it! But then, I remembered that there were tons of little girls around and the last thing I wanted to do was set a bad example of negative body image issues. So, I sucked it up (literally), took off the cellulite-hiding tights and embodied a 50's synchronized swimmer cheesing it up for the audience. After all, when will I ever get to wear a polka dot bathing suit, swim cap and bright red lipstick again? Hopefully, I can get a few pictures of the piece up soon.

Sunday was beautiful and I was able to enjoy the sun for a few minutes. My doctor said I was Vitamin D deficient and that I MUST sit out in the sun for at least 15 minutes a day. Hmm, okay doc, if you insist. I can just hear it now . . . "No Grant, the doctor said I must sit outside. I'm sorry, but breakfast/lunch/dinner/laundry/dusting must wait." (I kid, Grant would never interfere with the doctor's orders). So, I sat and I read and I watched butterflies flutter by and I felt the wind and I heard the birds sing. It was a glorious ending to a LONG month.

Thanks again for all your support (dancing, life, etc.)- you all are great! Here's to Spring.

Cards, Cards, Cards

I had so much fun at the Stampin Up soiree. We made some cute cards and I got some good ideas for Valentine's day cards. And let me just say-- those women are SERIOUS stampers. They all screamed (literally screamed) when a decorative paper sampler was passed around (little strips of paper people). There were a few times when I had to hold in a laugh (Krystal knows what I am talking about)! Serious stampers equals cute cards though.

Here are a few of the cards we made.