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It arrived…my prize from the Amy Butler Midwest Modern contest. The fabric is super fun, but I have NO CLUE how to read patterns! So I guess I am going to be learning. The patterns I received look beautiful and the software looks amazing. The software has lots of patterns that you can customize and change digitally…oh to figure that out one day. I am stoked (to use one of my husband’s favorite words) to learn….I hope my mom is as excited to teach me

I originally thought I would use the fabric I won for my Craft Hope quilt, but it hadn’t arrived yet and I really needed to get started (seeing how I have never made a quilt before). I rummaged through my fabric piles and choose some that coordinated. I didn’t use all these, but they gave me a place to start. I will say I was intentional on the fabric I chose. I always thought my first quilt would be for my daughter, but I think one day she will be happier to know that my first quilt went to a child that really needed it. I didn’t want to just use fabric I had around and didn’t like so I picked specific fabrics for specific reasons. (I think about things way too much!). I chose the fabric that was used as curtains in my oldest son’s nursery, fabric from my daughter’s quilt, fabric given to me as a gift and fabric I had bought for myself because I liked it so much.

I will say it is much easier to work when kids are asleep and though I do take advantage of that time, I also try to be intentional about making certain things when they are awake. I wanted my boys to be a part of making this quilt so I included them in whatever way they wanted to help. Big Brother wanted to help lay out fabric then he wanted to test it to see if it would work good for Hop Scotch – since he knew the kid getting it would want to play Hop Scotch!

Littlest Brother doesn’t understand all of it, but he loves his blankets and he knows we are making a blanket as a present for another kid to keep warm.

The finished top part. Obviously I am not a quilter so I chose to do a VERY simple block pattern that I made up as I went.

I really like it…I want to keep it…I can’t wait to give it away!

I attempted to get some pictures of Baby Sister on it. Her brothers tried to help me get her to look at the camera. Big Brother is blowing a kazoo while pointing to the camera. It didn’t work.

He kept blowing it at her and she just closed her eyes ignoring him…cracked me up, frustrated him.

I wish you could hear the loud annoying sound to appreciate how funny her response is!

Turns out I had to wait until the boys took naps to get a good shot or two.

Again here I go thinking too much, but thought went into these pictures as well. My grandmother (you have to click on that link to see how cute my grandparents are) snuck me this dress a while back. It was my grandpa’s as a newborn…in 1926!!! I’ve had it for a while trying to figure out what kind of picture to do with it for him. My grandma is a tremendous quilter…she is non-stop quilting and giving those quilts away. Since this is my first quilt and one that will be given away I thought it was a perfect backdrop to use my grandpa’s dress (not sure what to call it for baby boys). I love that this picture of her has pieces of two of her great-grandparents in it. Today is also my grandma’s birthday…Happy Birthday Grandma!

Surprise Grandpa…hope you like these! Prints are coming your way.

For this post I went back to the year Biggest Brother was born to pull out just some simple candids of me with the kids. I purposely chose pictures that aren’t “great” photographs…just run of the mill shots. Most are of Biggest and Big Brother….I lost track of time looking at old pics. In fact the only one with Littlest Brother is the second on the top row, the only one with my daughter is the third on the bottom row. It is amazing how many of Big Brother look like Littlest Brother (like under the “mommy” circle)

Last week I mentioned I was speaking to a group of women in Glenpool…I also mentioned that I was excited about a project they were working on. Well, I had a great time with those ladies. They were gracious and hopefully they enjoyed what I shared – I am in no way a speaker. I think I did a lot of rambling. The project they are working on is called “She Left Proof”. Here is a brief summary from the flickr group dedicated to this…it is well worth your time to read it. The below is written by Emilie Ahren:

“Many scrapbookers knew Aleida Franklin. She was a wonderful wife and mother and a brilliant artist. I didn’t know Aleida personally, but she taught me something I will never forget.

She emailed me last year to tell me she loved my blog and to ask if I liked my short hair-cut. This lead to a series of emails which eventually led me to remark that I really loved how often she posted pictures of herself with her children on her blog. And she replied to me, “Have you ever seen a photograph of your own mother and thought to yourself how fat she looked? Or how she wasn’t wearing make-up? Or wasn’t dressed in a glamorous outfit?” Of course my answer was no.

She then responded with saying that she made it a goal to take a picture of herself with her children at least once every month. And that to use excuses about how we look, as women, is ridiculous, since our children will never care what we looked like, but only that we had physical evidence of the bond between mother and child.

Aleida tragically and unexpectedly passed away in an auto accident in September of 2008, leaving 2 small children and a grieving husband. After she passed I thought of how those children must feel to have those precious photographs. I have made it my personal goal to follow her wise suggestion and I try to take photos of myself with my children….double chins, make-up free, bed-head and all.

I invite Mothers everywhere to take Aleida’s Challenge. To photograph yourself with your children each and every month. And to post them here so that we can see Aleida’s legacy unfolding.”

Powerful. I love looking back at pictures of my mom – especially her LONG 70s hair. What a great challenge this is to moms (and dads) – to get over how we look in pictures and capture ourselves with our kids. So grab your camera, a tripod, a friend or a spouse and capture yourself with those important to you!

I saw this photo a while back on One Pretty Thing and knew I wanted to make several for our house. You can find the tutorial here. I love how simple it is. So I had a great plan to take the boys to the park and use child labor to gather tons of acorns. I bribed them by saying we were going to go feed the ducks…which we did.

After feeding the ducks I handed them 2 pails and got them excited to fill them with as many acorns as we could find. Turns out the acorns were still hanging from the branches, so I came up with Plan B on the spot. We gathered leaves….

Of course you can’t gather leaves without running and diving in them too…

Or without flipping into them….

Or without getting major grass stains on 1 of your 2 pairs of school pants…

Later that night I set out the leaves, glue and a big sheet of paper to make our version of ABC cards I saw on Martha Stewart.

Biggest Brother loves to read and write, so this was perfect for him.

His dad won with the best design…a cricket. Biggest Brother took his paper to school the next day to show his teacher. He thought it was super fun…this is a great indoor activity to pass time in the horrible frigid below 60 weather….I still plan on making that wreath.