So I've been super busy lately with creating.  I've managed to make 3 stuffed owls in the last two days.  Maybe that doesn't sound like much, but when you figure I've also been playing with the kids, cleaning the house, breaking up fights before they escalate to far, and trying to include the boys in the owl creating process with me... well, I think I've accomplished a lot. 

The owl project started as an experiment really.  I wanted to see how well I could do making a stuffed toy.  It was a really enjoyable process and when I showed it to Aiden the next morning he just fell in love with it and would not let it go.  Then I decided maybe I should make one for Odin's birthday a few weeks away but he ended up getting his yesterday since Aiden was carrying mine around and you absolutely can NOT give one child something without the other getting it as well.  So... Odin got his yesterday and then I had to make one that was truly Aiden's.  He helped me pick out all the colors for the wings and the eyes and said I could have mine back when his was done since mine was a "girl one anyway".  (It does have pink polka dot wings).

I'm really loving making these now.  They are so much fun to put together and the boys enjoy cramming the stuffing inside their little owl bodies, maybe a little too much, but that's okay with me.  It was so rewarding for me to make these little cuddly cuties and it just warmed my heart to see how much the boys enjoyed them.  Aiden snuggled his all day and told me at naptime, "Mommy, thanks for making these owls.  They're so soft and cute. " To which Odin then chimed in, "I sure really do love my owl friend mommy."  If there is anything cuter and more precious than a child with a full and active imagination, I haven't found it.

Okay so my blog was being goofy and I couldn't get all the photos listed of the other two quilts.  Here they are (I hope). 

Fandango Tango baby quilt.  I just love how this quilt came together.  The fabrics are some of my absolute favorites right now!

Here's a view showing the back of the quilt.  The binding is strips of fabric leftover from piecing the quilt together.  This one is for sale at my etsy shop also.

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I just liked this photo.  The wind blew the quilt up just as I took the picture.  It does showcase the great prints in this fabric line though.  

"Frolicking Fun" baby quilt.  This quilt was so, well...fun, to make.  The colors are so bright and the prints have such lively patterns to them.  I will be using this fabric again for sure.  It makes me happy.  :)

Here's a view of the whole quilt.  Don't you just want to snuggle up into it?

 

And of course here's Odin again.  He found my Snickers easter eggs and decided to have one under my sewing table while I was working on a new project.  He's such a little cutie isn't he?  I just love those yellow rubber boots!

Here are three of the baby quilts I've just recently finished! They are all for sale now in my etsy shop.  Stop on over and take a look!

This little cutie is "Sugar Pop Change". 

I used a charm pack of Sugar Pop from Moda Fabrics w/a soft gray solid.  The back is a pale blue flannel.  










Below is a closeup of the front.  You can see the quilting in this picture.  I used a soft gray colored cotton thread and free motion quilted in a flower bud design original to my quilts.  I am so pleased with this quilt! It makes me so happy just looking at it! :)

I'm going to be so sad to see it sell.  The only comfort will be knowing someone else is loving it as much as I do!

So here are some pics of the completed placemats.  I've finished these two so far (and managed to get my sister-in-laws birthday gifts out the door yesterday) and am going to start working on two more placemats to go with this set.  Hopefully while the boys nap today I'll be able to get the other placemats at least pieced together and maybe start quilting them.  I am hopeful that they will be up for sale on etsy by Monday morning.  We shall see.  I feel I have been quite productive in the last few days.  I also have a few baby quilts to finish for gifts and several to list for sale over the next few weeks.  Phew!

Here are the pics!

In the making.  I am quite pleased with my quilting on these.  I just echoed a few times around the coffee square and then used some modern straight line quilting around the rest.  The borders are straight line quilted all the way around echoing out to the binding.  You can see the quilting better below.

Close up of the little coffee panel and quilting.  Yay for coffee!

Here's a view of the back.  Such cute fabric! My mother-in-law actually gave me these fabrics.  They were pieces leftover from the wall quilt she made for me and Jake when we were engaged.  I should list a pic of that quilt later today! It's a great quilt! 

And the two finished mats! I just love the feeling of accomplishment that comes with completing something handmade.  Especially something that holds so much meaning.  The coffee theme does that for me (especially with these fabrics).

For those that might not know, working in a coffee shop in Alaska was how my husband and I met.  :)

Odin came in from outside while I was quilting these and said, "Can I have a picture too please?" And really, how can you resist that face?

Haha! He's standing right next to me while I'm typing this now and he just said, "Hey! That's me! I'm pretty handsome!" 

and he is...

Good Morning Everyone!

I hope your day is off to as great a start as mine.  I woke early for the first time in awhile this morning.  Normally I wake around 5 am and get my coffee going and enjoy a few hours of quiet creating and email answering before the Whirlwind Double Trouble awakens.  Lately though, I've been going to bed much too late and awaking much too late (630 am is quite late around this house-unless your name is Jake. Love you honey!).

So, this morning, I woke about 545 - a perfectly respectable time in my opinion - and went about my morning routine. 

1. Stare blankly into the mirror for no less than 45 seconds.
2. Walk in half-sleep down the hall to start coffee.
3. Enter shower and begin to feel a little more human.
4. Get dressed, brush teeth, etc.
5. Walk back down hall to retrieve coffee which is now at the optimal 120*.
6. Hold the coffee cup reverently in my hands for a few moments, basking in its healing properties.
7. Take a sip and smile.  The world has suddenly come alive! Now I can hear birds singing outside the kitchen window, the sun begins to shine, I skip around the house singing Walt Disney worthy tunes and clean up laundry and dishes with the wave of my magical fingers, all without spilling a drop of coffee.  8. Then I enter the sewing room, whip out my magical rotary cutter wand and with a mischievous twinkle in my eye, begin to hack up a whole village full of perfectly innocent fabric. All in the name of progress, of course.  Bwahahaha!  

Well, I never said I was the good witch!

Hope your morning is going just as fabulously as mine is! ;)

Sorry for my absence lately.  Me and the boys have all been sick for going on two weeks now.  Of course they decided to get the sniffles just days before Jake left for work.  And of course the day of his departure they woke up with a full-blown cold and of course the next day I was sick as well.  Isn't that how it goes?

So... what's been going on with us lately (other than being sick)? I have completed two more baby quilt tops and am currently working on a secret Birthday present for my sister-in-law, Becky.  It has to remain a secret until she opens it because she reads my blog! I will soon post some pictures though.  I'm also working on a set of coffee-themed placemats which will be available for sale in my shop soon.  I will post some pics of those later this afternoon.  I also have two little babies soon-to-be-born (both in June) that I need to finish some things for. 

The boys and I have been spending a lot of time playing together lately and it has been so nice! We have turned off the TV, put away the video games, and just played.  It's so much more fun than sitting in front of the TV!  I've found that not only does it benefit all of us, but it allows me to get a break from work and projects and bills and relax.  It's so inspiring to listen to my kids and watch them play and really see how their little brains are developing and how each one of them has such a different take on things.  I found them both the other day inside their bedroom closet with the door closed and light on snuggling together in some quilts I'd made them and telling each other stories.  It warmed my heart! There was a bookcase full of books behind them but instead, they were using their imaginations and creating a story together.  I would never have known they were in the closet if it weren't for the fits of giggles the story was creating. 

We have also been going outside at least once a day, rain or shine.  It's nice to get outside, even for just 10 minutes and enjoy the fresh air.  We have been blowing bubbles and discovering bugs and last week they helped me plant half of the vegetable garden.  When we were done Aiden stepped back and said, "Wow mommy! Look at all that salad for us!" 

More to come later...