Life's Little Joys: Friday Edition

Here are the two quilts I finished tonight. I made the toppers over two years ago and I finally sent them in to be quilted a few weeks ago and today, I picked them up. So trying to keep the momentum going, I hand sewed the bindings on both of these strip quilts. It is just a joy to finally finish a project! One is an Autmun quilt with many fabrics of Fall leaves (the top picture shows the backing on the Autumn quilt up close) and the other is many coordinating pink fabrics. I enjoy playing with color and fabrics and I am finally enjoying the finished projects which I can finally give to my friends, Jennifer and Donny. Jennifer, if you're reading this, I'm so sorry about these extremely belated Christmas gifts. I hope they bring joy!

Now, I can get started on that quilted sailboat hanging. I said I wasn't going to buy fabric for any new projects until these were done, but I admit it. I cheated. Luke and I chose the fabrics a couple of days ago, but I knew I couldn't do any more than that until the above quilts were done!

I also have some knitting to get back to and I'm trying to learn to crochet, but after knitting, crocheting seems like trying to knit with only one arm. It's so weird!

Easter

I'm a little late in posting the Easter pics, but better late than never. There's Luke and Ella with the Easter Bunny. For the second year in a row, Sammy has refused to sit with the bunny. I thought another year would cure his fear of the big rabbit, but no. So, we'll try again next year.

I love buying the boys matching sweater vests for holidays. They look absolutely adorable!

Happy Easter!

Good Friday

"For God so loved the world, that he sent his only Son..."

See Catholicculture.org for more info about Good Friday.

No more snakes in Ireland

Here's Luke's drawing of St. patrick driving all the snakes from Ireland.

It's Finally Done!

Here's the quilt (you can see Sammy's toes in the picture) I started for Sammy a few days after we brought him home from the hospital. Somehow, in those early days, I managed to cut it out, piece it and sew the topper together very quickly despite taking care of a newborn. I know it's not a terribly difficult quilt, but I was really motivated after Sam was born. Then, we put our house up for sale and I put my sewing machine away and all my quilting stuff too. A friend of mine from church quilted it for me and then the poor thing just sat stored away waiting to be finished. Recently, I pulled out four unfinished quilts and decided it was high time that I finished them. It's so easy to lose your momentum on a project if you put it away for too long. Anyway, thanks to Steph, it's finally complete just shy of Sam's third birthday. Steph helped me hand sew the binding on last night. I hadn't sewn bindings in over two years and I totally had forgotten how to do it. I now have three unfinished quilts and I'm anxious to begin a new quilting project and I won't (see how disciplined I can be?) until I finish the other quilts which remain in-progress. The next project I want to attempt is in this book. It's a cute little sailboat that will make a great wall-hanging for the boys' room. I'm already thinking about the day I can purchase more fabric!

St. Patrick's Day

I know that St. Patrick's Day has been moved this year due to Holy Week, but Luke and I have been reading several books about St. Patrick and this one has been his favorite. This book combines the legends of both the Loch Ness Monster and that of St. Patrick driving the snakes from Ireland. The Illustrations are just whimsical. I'm not sure he's going to want to return this one to the library.

Journey to the end of Winter

I can't believe it's been two weeks since I've posted anything. I've been thinking about it of course, but I just haven't found the time to sit down and post anything. Well, I probably could have found some time if Paul and I hadn't been catching up on Lost. We've only a couple more episodes to go and we'll be caught up and well that mysterious island is starting to make me crazy! Who are the Oceanic 6?

Anyway, it's been a tough Lent and it has felt longer than past Lents. You know that one book that I was going to read during Lent? I was trying so hard to simplify my Lenten journey, but I didn't even get to it. It's been on my nightstand and I only flipped through it a couple of times. The good thing is I don't feel guilty about it. Normally, I would berate myself for failing miserably during Lent, but I don't feel that way this year and that makes me happy. I'm growing! I don't have to do it all or even read the one book. We've been cooped up a lot this Winter, but the weather is slowly getting warmer, but I know not to get too excited yet. There is definitely more snow in our future, but still, it's lighter longer now and Easter is almost here!

Here's some pictures of the highlights from this winter. There's Sammy and Ella all snuggled up on the couch. I'm sure it was a pretty cold day. Aren't they so cute? Then there's the pictures of the boys in the kitchen. Sammy has asked me almost everyday if he can help cook. He says, "Mama, me cook egg." Hence, Sammy wearing the puppy chef's hat! Then there's the pics from that super warm day right before the big snow storm. Paul and Luke decided to fill the bird feeders because soon the birds will be back. Luke identified a chickadee in one of our bird feeders. After that extraordinarily warm day came the snow and here's the picture from my bedroom window.

Tonight we're going to Stations of the Cross and I'm looking forward to some time focusing on the Cross and ironically that will bring me joy.