Mathew Paul 4 months

Mathew turned 4 months old on April 5th. He then proceeded to spend the rest of the month sick. He caught the same bug Mikaela had and then shared it back and forth with mommy & Mikaela all month. We stayed home a couple days from work, from church, and even had a few snow days to help us recouperate, but even those didn't help. We were all sick! Luckily daddy stayed healthy and could make us soup and get us juice. At his 4 month appointment on April 29th. He weighed 14lbs. 6oz. and was 25.25" tall.
 Mathew is on the afghan he got from Dad and Ann for his baptism. Ann's sister Marti made it and the amazing thing is she's almost blind and yet she can knit to no end. She does beautiful work. The outfit is one of my favorites of Mikaela's. It's from my co-worker Kay and she picks some awesome outfits.



Mathew is just starting to smile more.



He can finally be perched up and hold his head up.



Mikaela is starting to learn to color, however she colors on everything. Thank goodness for Mr. Clearn magic erasers! We didn't have any coloring books, so she colored on junk mail with the crayons from Famous Daves. She's now got several coloring books, crayons, and she's discovered stickers.



Mathew is also setting up and loves to sit while we make supper and even sits at the table while we eat.

He's definately got the drooling going on.

Quilt Retreat Prep

April has been filled with some interesting sewing, no quilting, and a lot of piecing. At the end of March, beginning of April I made 16 glasses cases out of fleece for my brothers 4-H gun club. I used the leftover fabric from a fleece blanket I made for Mathew, so they were hunter orange and camo colored.

I finished Ahhhh #1 this week. I ordered all of the Ahhhh's and joined the gotta have them all club, so I have quite a few to get caught up on, but I have 7 completed so far.

I also made these 1 1/2" needle book hexies to be made into needle books.


On Sat. the 6th, I made notebook covers with the Autism awareness fabric. They are going to a friend and her nephew. I love how quick and easy they were to put together. I used 1 half yard, plus a fat quarter to make both, so not a lot of fabric.  I also made a couple pairs of PJ pants, one for me and one for Mikaela. Hers fit great, mine, not so much. They were too tight for my liking, so I'll give them to Ann.

I've slowly been working away at my winding ways blocks. I did the two light blocks a couple weeks ago and wasn't happy with how my centers were turning out, so I changed my quarter inch and the two dark ones turned out much better. I actually really enjoy sewing these, so I think I'll be cutting out more to take to retreat to sew.

Sat. night my friends and I got together for a PJ pants making party. I taught a couple how to make them and we all finished with cool pants we can wear at retreat. Gaila, Jenn, and I all made sewing themed ones. Now I just have to get the shirts embroidered, which I hope to do this weekend.

I've been working on the blocks for my scrappy swoon. This is the center block.

These are the blocks for steps 2-4. It's going to be very dark, but that's the look I was hoping for since I want to use it on our bed and I hate real light colored quilts on the bed since stuff, cats, dog, etc get on the bed.

This is what I have so far. I'm hoping to get all the blocks sewn in the next three weeks, so I can put it together at retreat.



















I also finished all the setting blocks for my Thangles BOM quilt. I hope to put it together with the sashing at retreat. I've been slowly putting stuff together and I now have about 6 quilt tops I want to make. I'll need to re-evaluate as I get closer and see if that is enough to keep me busy. I'm thinking I may cut out a Happy Hour Snapshots quilt to make since it is simple and easy and mindless sewing with not a lot of seams.
I still have a bunch of little things I want to make for our trade, so I hope to get those done this week. I'm feeling very creative. I need to get it all done by next Friday as we're going to be replacing the flooring in our bedroom/ my sewing area. I won't be able to sew the weekend before retreat as we do that, so I want to be packed and ready next week, so in the move I don't misplace things I need. 

March Quilting Accomplishments

March was a pretty successful sewing month for me. I had 85 hours of sewing time in, while a lot of it was hexies. I did do a lot of prep work for retreat, so not many pictures of the blocks.
I finished Ahhhh #13.

I completed the unity top and it now needs borders.

I finished the snowflake as an example for my class on hexies.

I made this striped table runner for the shop. It turned out great and was fast and easy.

I made the Hugs and Kisses quilt and the backing, so it is set aside with the batting ready for quilting.

I sewed up and cut up this layer cake into HST's in preparation for retreat when I'll make a chevron quilt.

I finished the Peaks quilt which was a Moda challenge at the shop.

I feel great with all I accomplished and hope to get more prep work done for retreat this month.