Wednesday, January 12

so even though Brenna has a slight cold - she is still smiling for me :-) Above - one of her new Christmas dolls (interesting fact in our house - all dolls are considered Barbies by Brenna - not sure why...). I have been busy making her some cloth hankies for her runny nose (she has 3 right now - we lost the first one I made at Target on the first day she had it - bummer!). I also finished my first two quilts that I made in Germany yesterday and today. I took them to a longarm place to be quilted together - I love the job the person did and her prices were very reasonable.

my corners all looked pretty good - and Brenna loved it so much she slept with it last night...

Brenna pretending to sleep ...

my first tag that I made...

Brenna being silly with her ice pack (she just bumped her head - I don't really think it was bothering her - do you?).

this quilt has hearts in the embroidery - looks great in person :-)

more pretending to sleep (from today)

don't you love the closed eyes and tongue sticking out???

Brenna had to include her hand in the shot with the tag...(I dated it 2010 since all the work but the binding was done in 2010 :-)

I love the shot below - if I send out Valentine's picture cards, I think this would be it :-)

Hello All!!!

Hope all is well out there! Things are o.k. here - Brenna has a cold and I feel like I may be starting one :-( Dustin is in Mexico until Saturday (but then we have big plans for Sunday and Monday together as a family :-)

With all the new snow here, I kept Brenna home from preschool yesterday and today (and we also will be missing dance class tonight - but thinking ahead to Sunday and Monday I am hoping for my healthy little girl). I may regret it, but I didn't shovel the driveway today - planning on doing it tomorrow...(we are still supposed to get more snow and blowing snow tonight).

Well, time to get food ready for dinner here - hope you enjoy all the projects I have been working on here :-)

Take Care!

Wednesday, July 14

Today was my last German class :-( Only 23 days before we fly back to the US, so there is lots to do at the apartment (one of which is trying to stay cooler...) These are large size potholders - they are big enough for a large pot to sit on. My teacher said she loved the red - it was one of my favorite colored blocks, so hopefully she will enjoy them both.

I also gave my teacher a blue hydrangea - I think I will have to get one of these back in the US, they are one of my favorite flowers here and will always remind me of our summers in Germany...

The temperature in my apartment today (this wasn't even the high - I think it went up to almost 93 today, but we are going back down now - yeah, the temperature has dropped to 91.7). Anyway, it is too hot in my apartment and outside. After we walked home from kindergarten, we to stay cool in the apartment - we took a cool bath and lounged in front of the fans in the house, but it is still hot! (I know, it is summer, what do we expect??)

Our other pictures from Disney (I know you aren't surprised that there are more, lol). Brenna loved all the characters - we got some really great pictures of her with them (even if that was the only time she wanted her picture taken).

It was hot waiting for the princesses, but Brenna did great waiting and then taking a picture with her.

Love the pictures of Brenna and Minnie at Woody's Roundup, they are some of my favorite for the day :-)

Mickey and Brenna at Woody's Roundup

an example of most of my pictures of Brenna from the park when she wasn't with a character (or on her favorite ride)

My only picture of Brenna and I from Sunday - she did not want to take any pictures with Dustin or I....

On the riverboat ride in Frontierland. There was a young boy that kept tapping Brenna on the shoulder and waving to her - they had fun giggling with each other (isn't it great to know the things that are universal in all countries)

Our blue skies for the day - love the Disney Village sign

Our only family picture from the trip (when we were on the It's a Small World Ride)

Hello All!!

Hope all is well out there. Things are hot and sticky here, but we are hoping for rain later tonight to cool things off. I really hope the weather is more comfortable tomorrow.

I finished my gift for my teacher last night (two large size pot holders - they are 12"!). I wasn't sure what to make, but thought I would make her something from my newest hobby (I will admit that it was supposed to be a table runner, but when I quilted it, my outside fabric bunched so much that I cut them down to pot holders (of course that was after I had all the hot fabric and batting on my lap on Saturday))....I really like how they turned out - I have one more that I can make the same (although the back isn't as perfect as I would like) - wonder if I should keep it for myself or give it as a gift after we are back in the US??

Yeah, took a break from posting to put Brenna to bed and rain came - hope tomorrow is much more comfortable :-)

It is interesting watching Brenna play with the other kids from Kindergarten. She understands german pretty well now, but only speaks a couple words (or phrases) sometimes. She mostly talks to the other kids in English. When we were at the field trip on Monday, one of Brenna's best friend's mom mentioned that her friend said that Brenna only speaks gibberish. Good thing that playing house, dolls, and in the sand is universal :-)

Well, that is about all for today - hope we have comfortable sleeping weather tonight!

Take Care!

Friday, June 11

I just had to show come pictures of my binding that I added today - isn't it great for a kids' quilt??? My corners were great too (pretty darn perfect if I do say so!) - I followed a tutorial on this website (http://moosequilts.blogspot.com/) (for machine binding - I was so happy that this was all done on the machine :-) and it made it so easy to do binding (I even emailed the author to say thanks - it was that good!). I tried to show all my corners here, but the one on the top and the one on the bottom show up the best - they all really look good (trust me, lol).

The back of the quilt - it is hard to see here, but it is bears (the one in the middle) and paw prints (the white fabric). I loved the feel of the flannel - I will have to do another flannel backed quilt again in the future (and hopefully use up all the squares I cut out and didn't use for this quilt, lol!)

I was hoping this picture would show how great the quilt looked, but it just doesn't do it justice! The polka dots on the outside are great on the front of the quilt - I am very happy with how the quilt turned out :-)

Hello All!!!

Hope all is well out there! Things have been busy here this week :-) (and hot - it was around 90 yesterday - and boy does that feel hot in our apartment!). Happy birthday to Papa C today - hope you have a great day!!!

On Tuesday, after Brenna went to school, we played at home and then headed to the park...We got soaked on our walk home (and she only got to play for about 15 minutes before the storm hit) - poor planning on my part there - guess we should have went earlier in the afternoon. (The most disappointing thing about our walk home was that the rain killed my timex watch - the last two have proved to be really, really low on water resistence - I think it is time to switch models...). So, we came home and did some paper crafting (Brenna is great at cutting and loves to glue everything :-) (I need to use up some more of our crafting items - not sure what we will be able to bring home and what will need to be tossed before we leave...).

On Wednesday, we spent some of the afternoon at the pool. We were very bummed to find that the kid pool area had no water, but Brenna still had fun in the bigger pool (and lucky for me it was only chest high). Brenna isn't sure about getting her head wet in the water - she enjoyed watching others go under and the kids with the diving boards, but when I dunked her (because I thought she wanted me too so that she could be like the other kids), she got very upset with me....I'm sure if we spend more time at the pool this summer she may get more daring. We met a girl who was 11 at the pool - she was very interested in Brenna - all the people here seem to really love her black hair (and she is just too cute to resist I think!). (It was kind of comical as I walked up and down the length of the pool with Brenna - the place was empty and the girl seemed like she was following us - turns out she was and she wanted to talk to us...(she also gave me a compliment that she thought I was only in my 20s when she saw me (hey, maybe my expensive hair dye really was worth it, lol)- the Germans are not shy about asking a person's age - it is not a taboo question at all here, lol)).

Yesterday, I worked on Brenna's summer quilt that I started a little while ago. With the weather turning so hot this week, I determined that we needed to put less on the beds - so between yesterday and today, Brenna finally has her new Brenna quilt :-) I think she really liked it (even though it isn't pink - but she will have that one (hopefully) for the winter when we are back in the US). The quilt doesn't have any batting in it (the stuff that makes the blankets really warm) - so hopefully she will like having it for the summer (it just has flannel on the back - a good use of my flannel stash :-) (I had planned to do the backing a little more checker board like, but with the desire to finish the quilt, I abandoned that plan (and all the squares I already have cut out) and just went for simple.)

After we sweated all afternoon indoors yesterday (it was 87 in our apartment when I went to bed last night), we went out for a international gathering for Dustin's company to play Bocce (Ball). I had rinsed Brenna off before going - turns out I probably shouldn't have bothered as she ran around so much there that she was red faced and sweaty only a few minutes after we arrived. (no surprise, but the Bocce courts really aren't that fun for kids - I was hoping they would have some kind of play area for kids, but no luck there. We kept trying to slow Brenna down as she was up for running around, but you could see how hot she was (so we enforced numerous drink breaks). How can kids not be bothered by that much heat???).

Well, I think that covers most of our highlights!

Also, another birthday wish to my Aunt - hope you have a great day as well!

Take Care!

Thursday, May 13

Hello All!!!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, but with Dustin's busy schedule and our computer internet outage this weekend (it crashed on Saturday and Dustin finally got it working this morning), we just didn't have an opportunity before now.

Our weather here has been rainy all week - good for my morning crafting, but bad for any outdoor activity with Brenna (it even rained so much the one day that I let her ride home in the Chariot stroller - not a frequent occurrence here). I am busy working on finishing things to send back with Dustin (he travels to the US at the end of the month for business) - I don't think I will have finished as much as I like, but oh, well... I finished Brenna's I Love You Quilt top - can't wait till it has the quilting done too (although that won't be until after we are back in the US - it is one of the projects that I am sending back with Dustin to make some more room here :-)

Hope all the mothers out there had a very nice mother's day - we enjoyed a day of relaxation here and Dustin and Brenna "picked out" a very nice new necklace for me for the day (aka - we all went into the jewelry store and after I narrowed my selection, Brenna chose the one she liked the most - what a great way to shop :-)

I don't think I mentioned it before, but Brenna has a great sense of direction here in our town - she led me the day we walked home from the "Kindergarten" church (Brenna's kindergarten is affiliated with the church) - (actually, she was very insistent that we go her way and not mine - but I'm glad that we did go her way as it was shorter :-).

Well, I will try to get everything caught up soon - just thought I would do a quick post to say that the internet is working here again :-)

PS - we are off on another exciting trip on Monday - I think this will be Brenna's favorite, but who knows, lol!

Thursday, May 6

I am hoping that I will like the block above and below in my quilt - the person who did the quilt along had a couple blocks in hers that were all color and I thought they might be fun in mine too. (I guess if I don't like them in the quilt, they will be put to good use somewhere else)...

Hello All!!!

Hope all is well out there.... Things have been crazy here with Dustin traveling again this week (back to England). By the time I can post in the evening, my eyes are all fuzzy, so no posts really this week. (and in the morning, I have been working on my pinwheel quilt - only 4 more blocks until 30 (and two of those are almost done), and then on to my pinwheels for the sashing...).

The weather has been dreary and rainy all week (although we did make it out for a walk with Justice yesterday and the day before (Brenna napped during our walk, so I extended it - made Justice happy). Today has been the worst rainy day so far - pouring rain all day - I even let Brenna ride to and from school which isn't our normal (she normally walks home).

Well, since I would need to put my glasses on to make this post longer, I am going to stop typing here (sorry!)

Take Care!

Sunday, May 2

Brenna's newest quilt below (maybe I will get something actually finished of the 3 quilts I am currently sewing soon, so that she can actually have one to use). I bought a new embroidery font for the name - I think it turned out pretty cute (although my spacing isn't perfect - but I still like how it turned out)I tried to get Brenna to lay under her new quilt, but she wasn't interested - maybe once it is finished she will jump in a picture for me...

So, I have been very busy this weekend with my pinwheel quilt along. I am going to make 30 blocks rather than just the 16 we were given instructions for, so it is taking me a little longer to get this done (plus, I still plan to make the small pinwheels for the sashing, so it will still be a few weeks before this quilt is done...) - I might need to switch to my other quilts before Dustin's trip to the US at the end of the month as I want to send my completed quilt tops back with him... (hope you don't get bored by my craft pictures today, but I think the squares are pretty - hope you enjoy seeing them)

Hello All!!

Where did April go? It passed us by so quickly here with all of our travels and Dustin's busy work schedule. I have been keeping busy with any free time getting my quilts together. I am really happy with my progress on the pinwheel quilt along - I have 23 blocks done (of the 30 that I am planning to do - and almost have 2 more that are done so I will be at 25 in no time). I also used one of my new charm packs that I purchased to make a fun animal quilt for Brenna - I am just going to back it with flannel for the summer (and no batting) so she will be able to use it shortly (especially for the hot weather that is bound to be coming soon).

The weather here has been very overcast and rainy this weekend - so lots of indoor time this weekend (luckily Brenna and Dustin have been having fun together). We did play cards and bingo together as a family today too, so that was very nice for all of us. Dustin and Brenna even cleaned the garage together today :-)

Well, not to much else going on here (or maybe I just missed it all while I was sitting at the sewing machine, lol)!

Take Care!