Quilting Party

My mom is an avid quilter, so as you can imagine, Charlie has lots of fun floor quilts to play on. Grandma was visiting last week to help with Charlie while his sitter was on a much-deserved tropical cruise (thanks Grandma!), so I got to help her build a new quilt for him. We picked out the fabrics last summer (before we even knew about our little guy!) and Grandma got to work cutting and cutting and cutting! I had seen a quilt at a show with mom many years ago that had all of these little puffed-up, stuffed squares sewn together. I always had that in mind as the quilt I'd ask my mom to make when we had a baby.


Mom (btw, mom & grandma are the same person...just depends on what I'm feeling like calling her at any given moment!) brought her old sewing machine & showed me how to wind the bobbin & load up the thread & all that good stuff. I had so much fun sewing all the little squares into strips. I don't think I've used a sewing machine since 8th grade home-ec class, so it took me a while to get the hang of it. As we started to build the strips, I realized that I liked the texture of the pleated squares all by themselves with no stuffing at all. That's the great thing about making your own stuff. The creative process kicks in and things just kind of evolve into what you want it to be. I can see why my mom loves quilting so much. It's awesome to see the pieces come together to form something great. (I love this picture, because calculators come in very handy when you're designing quilts - who knew?!).

Grandma packed up the goods (minus the old sewing machine - I get to keep that. She has a much fancier, experienced-quilter-type jobbie she uses) and is working to finish things up back at her house. I can't wait to post the final result once it's done!

Spring in California

We're enjoying our last day in California visiting friends & family. Charlie has loved getting to see GG & Nay Nay, his cousins Mason, Ryann & Landon, Uncle Cade & Aunt Chelsey, Grammy Bonz and so many others! He did great on the plane ride out and has officially adjusted to the new time zone - which should make the next few days back on EDT fun! The weather has been great - lots of clear blue skies offering beautiful views of Mt. Shasta & Mt. Lassen. Definitely a change of pace from the flat lands and rolling hills we're more accustomed to. We're headed to Chico today to have lunch at the Sierra Nevada brewery before heading back to pack and hit the road back to SFO around 5am tomorrow!

Sweet Surprises

"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted." Aesop

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I was treated to the most pleasant surprise today. My friend, Neysa, included me in an article about our work together at her house for an upcoming issue of Cincy Chic. I typically count myself a generally happy person, but I find that I'm smiling even more than normal today from such a simple act of kindness. Go spread your own kindness today - it's contagious.