i'm thinking perhaps i'll give this a go!

A 30-day blog challenge! 

Day 1 – A photo of yourself and a description of how your day was.

Day 2 – A photo of something you ate today.

Day 3 – Your idea of the perfect first date.

Day 4 – Your favorite photograph of your best friend.

Day 5 – A photo of yourself two years ago.

Day 6 – A photo of an animal you’d love to keep as a pet.

Day 7 – Your dream wedding.

Day 8 – A song to match your mood.

Day 9 – A photo of the item you last purchased.

Day 10 – A photo of your favorite place to eat.

Day 11 – What’s in your makeup bag?

Day 12 – A photograph of the town you live in.

Day 13 – Your favorite musician and why?

Day 14 – A TV show you’re currently addicted to.

Day 15 – Something you don’t leave the house without.

Day 16 – Your celebrity crush.

Day 17 – A photo of you and your family.

Day 18 – Something you crave a lot.

Day 19 – Another picture of yourself.

Day 20 – The meaning behind your blog name.

Day 21 – A photo of something that makes you happy.

Day 22 – One of your favorite blogs you follow.

Day 23 – 15 facts about you.

Day 24 – A photo of something that means a lot to you.

Day 25 – What’s in your purse?

Day 26 – A photo of somewhere you’ve been to.

Day 27 – A picture of you last year and now and how have you changed since then?

Day 28 – Your favorite movie.

Day 29 – Something you could never get tired of doing.

Day 30 – A photograph of yourself today + three good things that have happened in the past.

step by step (basics) guide to sewing quilt

When a friend is having a baby my go to gift is a quilt. I love to sew, and i prefer to give people gifts that are more personal than walking into babies-r-us and picking the first pink or blue item that i see. So my cousin Jackie is having a little girl in April (shes due the day before my birthday) and her baby shower was yesterday, so i put together this step by step on how i did it.

step one: draw a detailed (to scale) chart of what you want your quilt to look like. Include the borders so you can be sure to get a backing big enough for the whole thing.

step 2: choose your colors and color in the chart. This will make it so that you can be sure to cut the right pieces out of the right color fabrics and also prevent ending up with 3 of the same color boxes right next to each other. I would recommend after that you count up all the boxes and then write down how many of what color in what size you need (see bottom right corner of my colored page) and also that will prevent you missing any boxes when it comes time to sew.

step 3: cut out all of your pieces and lay them down so that you can make sure it looks the way you anticipated it looking and you will be happy with it. i also laid it on the backing because it was going to be the same as the border and i wanted to make sure the border would look okay with with colors i chose.

step 4: sew all of the pieces together (this is what makes this step by step the basics). If you have never used a sewing machine then this step is more complicated than "sew them together" and i didnt take any photos of the actual process as my hands were busy. after they are all put together trim the sides so that they are nice and straight. (not yet done at time of photo)

 step 5: i decided to add Lilly's name onto the front with a zig zag stitch so that had to be done after the front was put together but before the back was sewn on.

step 6: add the borders

step 7: sew on the back of the quilt (again, not easy if you're not familiar with sewing)

step 8 (not pictured): tie random corners using yarn. this prevents the front and the back from sliding apart from each other and putting the whole quilt out of whack. you might be able to see some of the yarn ties if you look closely at the above picture.. look at the top left side below the green between the yellow and pink squares. theres a pink yarn tie right there.

and that my friends is how i made this particular quilt. i think it turned out cute, probably my favorite yet. All of the embroidery work is thanks to my MIL in Florida Terry and in the future all of it will be thanks to her because she just recently bought me my very own embroidery machine! im so excited to get that up and running!!

18 months

Last Friday Noah had his 18 month appointment
he is 25.6 lbs (average)

31 3/4 inches tall (little less that average)

and his head was the same circumference as at his 15 month appt.

-He still doesn't have many more words than last time although it would seem that he makes attempts at please and thank you.. sometimes
-he LOVES to dance (in fact he's dancing as i type this)
-he is getting much less picky and now will eat chicken or some types of beef
-LOVES dips.. salsa, ketchup, salad dressing.. anything he can dip something in to he's all over.
-he made his first trip to urgent care because your's truly dislocated his elbow (note to other moms, dont pick up or swing your young kids by the arms.. they dislocate very easily given the right angle :/)
-he's gone through a growth spurt recently and for the first time is fitting into clothes that are made for his age (18months. obviously)
-loves to color
-makes the cutest little faces and uses them to get out of trouble
-still climbing everything in sight
-likes to help throw things in the trashcan and sweep the floor
-also likes to help mom cook dinner
-has a renewed interest in his swing out back and in the park.. he could swing for hours again.
-still a great sleeper and a great napper
-LOVES babies
-likes to play with other kids but doesn't really understand how.. so he just follows them around and touches them usually.
-loves his dogs
-prefers to be outside at all times

theres a ton of other things i could say about my little monkey but i need to go put him down for a nap!

17 months

well lets see. My little monster is now 17 months old and everything is a game. He weighs 26lbs and is 32 inches tall. he loves to ride us like horses and does the same to the dogs.

 He loves to climb anything and everything he thinks that he might be able to climb but hasn't discovered that he could possibly climb out of his crib yet.. i'm sure thats coming soon. He loves to run around outside and play at the park.. already loving puddles and splashing around in them.

 He says momma, dada, doggy (or dogdog.. depending on . i dunno what it depends on), nala, sometimes monster.. giggity.. which is terrifying so i hope i can figure out what that means to him soon!!! he also has a few pretty consistent "words"they arent actually words but he uses them for the same things.. just havent figured out what exactly they mean yet.

 he loves to give an recieve kisses....
but not nearly as much as he loves to eat!
currently he  is mostly eating things with melted cheese.. still.. fruit, and snack items with the occasional surprise that he is willing to eat something besides fruit thats even decently good for him. he still doesnt like to watch tv but if a friend posts a video of their baby or i'm watching a news clip on the computer he puts his face up to the computer screen and is so intrigued by this computer baby/person.
He's still a great sleeper which other moms tell me is not common for a kid this age to nap 2 times a day for a few hours each nap and still sleep consistently at night.
he loves to give raspberries to anyone sitting on the floor although its more of him putting his drooly open mouth on your stomach after he's pulled your shirt over your head!
i just noticed yesterday that he is getting his canine teeth (i think thats what they are called, the sharp pointy ones towards the front) on the bottom but that doesn't seem to be bothering him too much as he is pulling at me right now for lunch.. and that's my que :)

 

Seasons greetings

So every Christmas Chris and I go through the "let's send out Christmas cards" "okay, but just do a picture because printing out the actual cards is too expensive" "well thats boring but okay." That is until this year my friends. For Chris' birthday last month i made him a photobook on Shutterfly that consisted of all of our favorite photos from our wedding and our engagement shoot. It turned out amazing and it was really NOT expensive.. so I looked to Shutterfly for this years Christmas cards. I haven't decided which one we will send out yet, but there are several cute ones. I'm thinking we will be using one that has multiple pictures because a lot has gone on this year! Here are a few of my favorite ones: (its not letting me upload the pictures.. no idea why.. so here are the links)

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards/snowflake-wishes-noir-holiday-5x7-photo-card-5x7-photo?sortType=1&storeNode=93480

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/modern-cranberry-noir-christmas-5x7-photo-card-5x7-photo?sortType=1&storeNode=93480

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/merry-montage-christmas-4x8-photo-card-5x7-photo?sortType=1&storeNode=93480

so check your mailboxes to find out which one we chose to send.. and check shutterfly to see if there are any that catch your eye!

finally finished

so it took a little bit longer than the first quilt.. and also i lagged in taking pictures of it.. but i finally finished the little boy quilt that i was making.. i'm thinking now that i have more than one sample quilt i will start an etsy shop and see if by some chance anyone wants to buy my quilts so i have a reason to keep making them!
the baby's room has a stars and heaven theme.. so this is what i came up with .. hope she likes it!

packing packing packing

sigh.. so we unpacked what we needed here.. knowing that it was temporary.. but still unpacking what would make us comfortable. As time went on we unpacked more little knick-knacks and what nots.. and we now find ourselves in the process of moving again in the next few weeks.... i never want to leave it all for the day before.. but what wont i need for the next however many weeks we will be here??
that being said.. i've been working on a new quilt but havent gotten very far. we've had a very busy few weeks. i am happy to report however that when we get into our new house we will have an extra room beyond the guest room and chris has so nicely agreed to allow that to be the computer/workout/ sewing room! so i dont have to pack up my machine and everything every night when i'm done so its not on the table.. this will make projects so much more convenient and therefore faster!