Boo Boo's Birthday

Boo (and for those of you who aren't in the know, that isn't my "anonymous blog nickname" for him....it's his official, since babyhood nickname!) reached his landmark 4th birthday on Saturday! Woo-hoo!


All of the party supplies are still sitting in my closet, buy we did do some fun things to make it a special day.

Since his birthday miraculously landed on the second Saturday of the month, it was train day at the park! The stars aligned!

This is me guiding kids towards a bustling mini train station. The kids were in charge of the camera, so that is the absolute best picture of our train adventure. I think the rest of the pictures they took were of trees.


The train tracks are all laid out through a shady, ferny northwest forest. We all love to ride past the train yard, where all of the hobbyist are working on their trains. If you're lucky, one of the beautiful little steam engines will make a loud whoosh and send a cloud of white steam into the air. Heaven for toddlers - especially Thomas the Tank Engine fans.

Then we drove over to Grandma and Grandpa's house. We decided to go there and celebrate all of the May birthdays at once. It was a lovely ferry ride (going the cheap direction...you don't have to pay for passengers toward Seattle!)

Boo found two eggs as soon as we opened the car door. That there is birthday luck.


We broke out the new scooter.


....and Grandma gave Boo the ride of his life on her "tractor".


Happy birthday, my sweet little hooligan!

Abby's Doll Quilt

Some simple stars on a white field.

The border was inspired by AmandaJean (can you see the connection?)....and it was stinkin' hard. I need to hone my piecing skillz.

Made entirely from my FREE fat quarters from SewMamaSew. Tony told me that I could google coupon codes for anything, and he was right. I was already in the midst of checking out with my abundance of fabric, when I took a moment to search a code - a free fat quarter for every $20 spent!

....I won't tell you how many I got. But they picked me out some cute ones, don't ya think?



It reminds me a little of the Martha Stewart, K-Mart quilts I bought my girls seven years ago.


...and that picture just makes me want to cry...because they are SO not that little any more.

We've Hatched!

...not a plan - some baby birds!


...and Sofi wants to parent them...but is managing to resist the urge.

"Oh! When I went out to see the birds, they just threw their little heads back and opened their mouths...and I was so sad that I didn't have anything to give them!"

Also, I think the swifts have finally gotten serious about building a nest in the birdhouse.

They're so flighty.

Help Wanted

My little sister, Becky, has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Please pray for her and her family this week.

For My Swap Partner

Ok. I'm never going to figure out the whole flicker thing...and I'm terrified of infringing on someone's copyright, so I'm just going to show you some of my pictures. (That doesn't mean that these are my favorite quilts in the world (they're mostly mine, so that would be a teensy egotistical), but they're the ones that are on my computer. I own them (or at least I used to :).

...but that's enough rambling, here's what I like:

Retro, feedsackish quilts.




Almost anything with white sashing...although I've been converted to blue...and linen...and more creative things.


Scrappy quilts.


Birds and butterflies.






Pretty, modern florals.




...anything from Japan (the global nexus of all cuteness)...and many, many other things. So, I'll pretty much like whatever you make me...and I guess I could have just said that. :)

Marital Discord

I thought my husband was mad at me.

He told me that Boo-Boo was a stupid nickname....for a baby or anyone else.

He did the dishes angrily (grumbling something about the number of cups we use).

He went to bed instead of going to a movie with me.

But he must have forgiven me, because he helped me hang stuff up in the guest room. (I also brought the pfaff down from my room. A guest could have a sewing emergency - you never know. Besides, it's cute.)




Another thing (about me) that appears to annoy my husband: my weed-pulling compulsion. It's just painful for me to walk past yards full of tiny scotch broom plants...and thistles...and mowed-off dandy lions. I have literally had bad dreams about it.

So, he's super-embarrassed that I pull other people's weeds...as I'm casually strolling by. I told him I'd make a super hero costume to disguise my true identity, if it really bothered him. I'd put a W on the front for "Weeding Avenger".

He suggested a BB, for "Busy Body".

Party Envy

My friend Kyrsten just had a party for her daughter too...and it was pretty amazing.

Did you know it was even possible to do this with streamers?


A sunny sky for her birthday picnic.

...and a little picnic table...


...to go on the big picnic table!


Isn't she talented!

In other news, James just looked out the window and said, "It's raining!"

"....I hate that rain."