My Baby is 4!

Sorry, I have been absent for a while. I had a nice 2 week vacation from work so at home I tried to stay away from the computer. I have a bad habit of checking my work email from home so I had to show some self control. I also did not sew except for the bag I made in the right measurements for myself (see previous post- exact same just a bit smaller.) I did have plans of sewing the whole time but the sun was out so we spent a lot of time at the park. Now I have a ton of stuff to make in a short period of time.

So, my baby is 4 today. I guess she is not a baby anymore. I remember the day she was born like it was yesterday. Her skinny long limbs and big ol' eyes. Time really does go so fast.

Saturday we celebrated by going to the FunZone with all her friends. Its a big warehouse with those gigantic bouncy houses. The kids were worn out in about 20 minutes. Everyone had a great time. M wanted a soccer theme. I don't know why. She doesn't play soccer or even own a soccer ball but about a year ago she said she wanted a soccer party and that is all she talked about for the entire year so that's what she got. See the soccer uniform? I also got her a soccer ball. I couldn't find a soccer cake and I didn't have time to make one since her ballet recital was the night before so she picked out a princess cake and I found candles in the shape of soccer balls so she was happy.

After, we took her to Red Robin with her friend J. J is one of my college friend's daughters. We live about an hour and 20 minutes from each other so we bought a membership to a Children's Museum halfway between our houses and we meet once a month. We get to gossip - they get to play. They both were so funny telling jokes and eating of course....macaroni and cheese. My husband told the old knock knock joke banana, banana, banana, orange you glad I didn't say banana? Then J retold the joke and mixed up the orange and banana and said "banana you glad I didn't say orange." Didn't make any sense but it was so funny. 4 year olds are hilarious.

Since today is actual birthday I made a mini cake for her last night and sent cupcakes to her day care/preschool. We'll bbq tonight and give her the last of her presents. My child is way spoiled. I think her dad may even pick her up and take her to Build a Bear. Man, I don't get this spoiled on my birthday!



M also had her first ballet recital this weekend. They were so adorable. I can't wait to get the video so I can watch it again (and probably again and again). I was back stage with her helping out so I didn't get the best view of her. She looked really nervous looking out at the audience. She was a fairy and she flew for most of it. They did really well though for their ages and how many people were in the audience (a couple hundred). It was at the historic Mt. Baker theater. I was surprised at how many people came and this is an entire weekend thing. 4 shows! (little kids only once) After the recital - we took her and her cousins out for ice cream at Mallard's. The best ice cream. All freshly made. Yum.

I hope to get to some sewing this week. I think I am going to make another ballerina for a birthday party this weekend so I kind of have to get motivated.

U-G-L-E-E

This quilt is not one of my proudest projects. Probably my most loved however. M has been collecting dog fabric for a while. Every time we saw one, begging would start for me to get some. So, I made her this "puppy love" quilt. I started with paper piecing dog squares. I saw them and I knew M would want it. She was mixed on them at first but that was because I didn't use her favorite colors at first. Then the center is one big piece of fabric. It was just so cute with all those faces. The poodle is her favorite. Then the squares on the sides are just to show off the fabrics she chose. Now you may not be able to see them but there are random dog buttons all over the quilt. She wanted more but I said no. I hate hand sewing. So boring. I just realized that I sewed on all those buttons but I haven't given the dogs eyes yet. I guess I am not done yet.

I still have a ton of dog fabric left but my mom asked for it so that she could make M a doll blanket for her doll. She thought M would like to be matching. I even have some I didn't use. The reds didn't match well enough (like it really mattered) so she will probably get a little outfit out of it since I have 3/4 yard of each.

So, there you have a mismatched, paper pieced, uneven (see some squares are trimmed to fit) quilt with buttons. I purposely have the fabric in different directions and the dogs facing out. I wanted them to face M whichever direction she had the blanket. I actually finished it the other day and I asked my hubby to help me take a photo of it but I can't get it away from her. She even had to sleep holding the puppy love button that is actually covering a quilting mistake (shhh). Funny kid. I'll be so sad when she outgrows this phase and hates everything mommy makes her. Oh and to make it even more of a dog quilt. My dog help sew it. Yes, she did. She laid on my foot while I had it on the presser foot. You know how hard it is to get a comfy 65lb dog off your foot in a timely manner. I think she is trying to tell me I am sewing too much and she needs more love. Poor puppy, poor, poor puppy.

I started my next project already, making a wedding throw for my friend which I hope to have the top done to show you later this week. Its more of a twin size but that is what I make for a throw. I want my whole body covered when I curl up.

PS Don't look at my floor! The shards of my dogs favorite blanket are there and I haven't vacuumed. Why vacuum when I can sew. :)

A Busy Weekend

This weekend was so productive and busy. Friday, M and I drove down to the Children's Museum in Burlington. We love it. Its a 45 minute drive but it is so worth it! Plus my friend drives an hour there from another town so we can hang out. She has a four year old and a one year old so its a nice break for the both of us because the girls can run crazy and they are never out of our eye sight. We were worried the girls wouldn't get a long this time but they ended up okay. We had lunch first and J sat at a different table then us pouting. I don't know why. Four year olds are difficult to figure out. By the end of the day they were best friends.

Then that evening we went to my Brother in Laws house. They live like a mile from our house and we never see them unless one of us needs to borrow something or needs help with something. So, my sister in law and I decided we needed game night. We decided to play the CLUE DVD game that my hubby got like four years ago for Christmas but you needed three to play so we never had the opportunity. We think our DVD was broken. We could not get it to work so that failed miserably. We played Apples to Apples instead. Fun game. Totally recommend it.

Saturday, our friend called us and she had extra tickets to the Seattle Children's Theater to see and adaptation of "Good Night Moon." We were curious at how they could make a little children's book into an hour play for kids. It was so good. The girls had a great time. They were laughing so hard people were looking at them. So if you are in the area you should check them out. The Seattle Center had a Japanese Festival going also so the girls got to see Japanese drummers which was pretty cool. Then they got hot dogs and cotton candy and a pressed penny souvenir. They had a blast. It was a great surprise day out.

Sunday was quite relaxed. Didn't do anything but crafts and annoy my child. First, I worked on a landscape picture for the Six o'clock Swap and then I worked on M's dog quilt. I am making paper pieced dogs right now. Other than that I don't know what I am doing to the quilt. It is going to be a totally ugly quilt with dog buttons and every dog fabric we spot. But it will be so loved by a little girl with a dog obsession. I'll show it as I get more complete. Maybe when I finish the four dogs. I have two adn a half done.

Here is one other thing I did. When we got dressed Sunday morning, I noticed a stain on M's shirt so I made her this flower pin to cover it up. She loved it so much she made me wash the outfit so she could wear it today. If you want a tutorial, Grace Violet has a good one. Mine, is just a bunch of circles cut with a zigzag rotary cutter held together with a funky button and a safety pin in sewn on the back. Its nice because it uses scraps and it took me like 5 minutes to make. Sorry, its not a better picture of the pin. M is requesting a pink one and a purple one.