Threading the machine

I have a mischievous 2-yr old who is fascinated by my sewing machine.  This week it was attempting to thread it.

Scout is 2!

It seems strange that the baby is now 2.  He is growing quickly and finally talking a lot.

 He had a little help blowing out his candles.

 

The family all came over for burgers and hot dogs on his Birthday and he loved all the attention.  He is a sweet little boy who loves playing and following the other kids around.  He also loves his blankie, and wants to drag it everywhere.  He keeps me on my toes and I love him.

Blowing in the Wind

We had a few warm days in the beginning of April.  It hit 90 one day.  I came upstairs one night after dinner and heard giggles.  They were all sitting under the window and letting the curtains blow I attemped to get pictures.  The pictures don't match the joy and giggling that occured, but it was fun.

 

Cute Kid pictures

Boy Scout Flag

Sewing skill tend to come in handy in lots of situations, like making a flag for a Cub Scout Den. The boys designed the flag,  I did the sewing, Daddy made the stencil and the boys painted it with fabric paint.

The boys at a tour of the radio station.

Easter Egg hunting

The kids got to have 2 Easter Egg hunts this year, one at their school and one at home.  Munchkin was sick with influenza so she didn't get to do as much, but she still had fun at home.

 The boys figured out how to go for horsie rides.  Scout usually does this with Daddy and somehow they figured out how to do this without getting hurt. 

Spring Break Ice skating

When my nephew came to visit, he discovered there is a skating rink nearby and it is pretty cheap to go. 
Of course the next week we did go skating.  Buddy loves it and trailed around an older boy the whole time.

Princess skated slowly and chatted with this other girl the whole time.  I got to skate alone and take pictures.

Snow in March 2013

Of course doesn't everyone get snow at the end of March? 

 

Then the very next day (25th and 26th) it is warm enough to go outside without a coat in short sleeves. 

 

Strange weather.

Spring Break with cousins

The cousins came and spent their spring break with us.  My kids were still in school, but we did take an afternoon off to go to the city and take a tour of the Capitol Building and the botanical gardens.  I didn't take many pictures of their tour, but I do have a few.

The statue outside Union Station

 Back of the Capital

 My Beautiful Girls

 

Yes Scout was there too, but he spent the day on my back.  It is for the best when we are wandering around the city.

Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show 2013

I actually took a weekend AWAY from my children and went by myself to the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show. It was wonderful to wander around the show and look at all the vendors without anyone else. I even took an all day hand quilting class.

These are some of my favorite quilts from the show. 

One of the challenge quilts was to make a quilt based on page 57 of any magazine.  This one had a beer ad, it just made me smile.

 There was a heart theme challenge and this was my favorite from that bunch.

 THis is individual paper pieced quilts appliqued onto a white background, the overall quilt was interesting, but I loved the detail on the paper pieced sections.

 This big quilt was beautiful and was hand quilted... all those little baskets.

 Finally this is my quilt... My class was on had quilting and this is the project quilt, it took me a few weeks to finish, and I like the quilting work, but I don't actually like the pattern.  (in a class there is not much choice.)  Now I don't know what to do with it.  I don't like it on my walls because it needs a dark wall and all the walls in this house are light colored.  For now it will be put away. 

Detail from the center flower.

Oh yeah, I finally made some labels for my quilts and other stuff, not perfect, but it works.

 

Variety Show hat

Princess performed in a variety show at her school.  She did a great job, but I was given the task of creating a costume.  She was supposed to be a 1930's hobo.  They recommended dirty brown pants with patches, a henley shirt or button down shirt and newsboy hats. 

I found this pattern online and I had a wool sport coat i bought at an estate sale with a few holes.  I was able to put it together and get this.

A cool hat.

I actually made 3 hats, one for her, one for a friend and one for me.  They all turned out pretty cool.

 

This is the vest with her sister modeling it for me.  Notice the pocket I was able to salvage from the original coat.

 The back

 Fully lined and with buttons recycled from the original coat.

 This is during the performance.  You can see her with the other kids.  She did a great job and I think sh has the coolest costume.

 

Finally this is the hat I made for myself.  I actually love it and wear it more often than I thought.

Sewing Room clean up

My sewing room is a mess and always will be, however I do attempt to have some type of order and some type of decoration. 
This is my attempt this week.  I took the old crib rail from the now illegal to sell drop side crib and used it for storage of fabric. 

AND I did some english paper piecing so that now all 3 frames in my sewing room have something in them.  Now this room has a little bit more decoration and a lot more organization.

Sometimes it is the little things that make you smile.

Scary Robot costume

Munchkin needed a robot costume for school. One she could wear all day and so a cardboard box wasn't going to work.  Of course I thought I could sew something really simple.  Well, it was simple..

She designed this herself and just told me where to sew.  I think it turned a little bit scary looking but she loved it.

This is the back.

All made out of fleece, so nice and cozy.

Wake up call

We had a unique experience this spring of being woken at 2AM to the sound of a car accident.  This is a reminder for all not to drink and drive, and to always wear your seat belt.

This car hit a tree across the street from the house.  We are amazed it didn't end up in the very cold and icy water. Car totaled, driver with a compound fracture of the femur and took an helicopter ride to the city hospital.  Passenger climbed out the sunroof and was banging on our door while I was on the phone with 911.  Not much fun.

Though Scout also called 911 the next day.He was playing with the phone in our bedroom and managed to hit redial and call 911 from the phone.  We found out when 2 cop cars arrived at the front door. Oops.