A Quilt Designer is Born

Prepare for lots of pictures.  (You can click on any of the images to see it larger).

This quilt finish is #3 in the Year of the Log Cabin Quilt series. It's also Sarah's first official quilt design. Sarah was involved in the project almost from the beginning because the quilt is a donation project for her school auction which is this Friday, March 7.

So I was thinking we would do something like one of these designs:

When Sarah came in and said, "can I move some, Mom?"

So I said, "sure," this being one reason I take lots of pictures during the process. We can easily change things and use the pictures to go back to a design that was better.

After crawling on the quilt for a while and moving around just a few blocks she says, "I'm gonna have to change the whole thing, Mom." Again, that was ok with me. I literally sat on the couch and watched.

She picked up all of the blocks except for the ones in the corner that she wanted to start with.

And after two tries, she ended up deciding she liked this one best.

I realized she was right. It was better than my design and since the quilt is for her school event, she should get to pick. I think a tradition is born.

There wasn't time to do the actual sewing together of all the blocks on the day we first designed it, so I had her do it again for me (below) before she went to school on sewing day.

And I sewed and I sewed while she was at school.

And here's the finished product.

Along with the official quilt label.

She's pretty proud of herself.

We like the back, too.

I'm really super nervous about how much it will fetch in the auction. If it does great, I'll edit the post to let you know. If not, well, back to the drawing board for next year, I guess.

Edit March 7: the quilt sold tonight for $250 at the auction. Sarah was beyond thrilled that someone actually bought what we made!

Public Service Announcement - Say Excuse Me

In our recent travels I've noticed that many adults have apparently forgotten some things that I think they should know. For example, if my six year old daughter is standing in your way, staring at the back of her head will not make her move. But, if instead you simply say, excuse me? She will hear you and she will move.

Sarah stalking pigeons in Chicago.

And, if she doesn't hear you because she's busy being completely engrossed in being six years old? I am way more inclined to encourage her to move for you than I would be otherwise.

In conclusion, grownups, please say "excuse me."

You're welcome.

In case you missed it - Sarah's first sewing lesson

Not too long ago I wrote an article about Sarah's first sewing lesson. Hope you'll click through and take a look. 

Loves

Have you ever looked around and realized "there is absolutely nothing I can do to show these people what they mean to me?"

Ok. I might be feeling a little overly emotional tonight. Or this might just be who I am.

Stop and look around.

Those people. Think for a minute about what they really mean to you.

Now go and find a way to show them.

Loves.

Back to (back to) School

Sarah gets to go back to school this fall. She's been in school before but we took her out for a while because in order for me to run my business it was more convenient to have her in day care full time than in pre-school for half days. 

Spanish Immersion

This fall she gets to go back to school. She's going to be in the Spanish Immersion program at Covenant Christian School. We're really excited about it and she keeps telling us that she's going to learn Spanish "all day long!"

We stopped by the school building today so she could have a look around since she'd never been there before. I took loads of pictures of her in the classroom but could only get her to be still one time for the photo above. I'm pretty sure she tried out every toy and book in the room. It made me feel good that she was so willing to try everything out but I'm sure she'll still be apprehensive when I leave her on the first day of school.

So, what are your best tips for happy pre-schoolers at drop off? Is your kid a crier or one who kisses you and runs off, not looking back? For the criers, do you drop them off and run out the door or do you hang around for a while? I'm typically a "drop & runner" but if you have any better ideas I'd love to hear them. 

Ain't She a Beauty?

This "angel."

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Did this on the floor in her bedroom.

And yes, she did use a Sharpie permanent marker.

When I stop laughing, I'll have to contact Sharpie to find out how to remove it. 

And yes, we did make a bee-yoo-tee-ful blueberry pie this morning.

Blueberry Gump

I feel like Forest Gump.

Blueberry pancakes. Blueberry crisp. Blueberries with ice cream. Blueberry jam. Blueberry sauce.

Today was opening day at the Blueberry Ranch and we came home with 24 pounds of yummy, delicious superfood. Sarah and I picked 14 of those pounds ourselves, the other ten we let the nice people at the Ranch do for us.

We went ahead and froze the first ten pounds. The other 14 pounds have been sitting on the counter for nibbling throughout the day. We even made the first blueberry crisp. I love the berries but I'm thinking about doubling the crisp next time. We like that part, too.

Sarah Bear was a trooper out in the hot sun picking today. When she was finished she found a nice spot in the shade to sit and eat her blueberries.

I can't wait to go again.

If you go to the Blueberry Ranch to pick your own berries, remember to wear your sunscreen. Also, remember to apply your sunscreen and bug spray in the parking lot because there are no aerosol cans allowed in the fields. We must maintain that organic status!

Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta go get some blueberries to eat.

This Moment - Life

You can see other's moments from this week at SouleMama.

Today

(Mostly) Wordless Wednesday - Sarah Edition

Sarah (a.k.a. Miss Pretty Pretty) likes to use my phone for taking pictures.

I love to see the world through her eyes.

I'm linked up today with It's a Blog Party. I hope you'll go check it out.

Happy Birthday!

This week is Miss Pretty Pretty's birthday.

She's very, very excited about it.

I just thought you might like to know.

Sarah says Boo!

Sarah at six months.

Sarah today.

Happy October everyone!

What are your kids (or you!) going to be for Halloween?

This is not a sponsored post

Sarah, apparently, felt the need to do a little self expression. All over her bedroom wall.

She did this to the wall in her bedroom with crayons and colored pencils.

This is what we used to clean the wall. It's Clorox Green Works natural all-purpose cleaner.

And it worked. Totally.

We used the spray cleaner, toothbrushes, and paper towels. The wall is now completely clean.

Sorry, no after picture. 

In my relief that the wall was clean I forgot to take an after picture. 

And now she's asleep in her bed.

No more pictures tonight.

So next time your kid colors on the walls, try our method for cleaning it.

You're welcome.

Miss Pretty Pretty

Yes, I think she does know how pretty she is.

The Color Blue

This photo sums up how Sarah felt about our recent vacation.  No matter what we were doing she had an amazing time.  

If this is not how you get to work in the morning, you can consider yourself lucky.  Check it out, I'm pretty sure he's bailing water from his boat.

I wish I could bottle all of the different colors of blue we saw in the Caribbean.  The colors in these clouds and in the water are ones that we never see in Indiana.

More soon about our recent Caribbean cruise vacation.

Wordless Wednesday - Miss Pretty Pretty

Sarah's 3rd Birthday!

Today is Sarah's third birthday.  She is such a joy to have in our family.  She is fun and laughs all the time. When she is excited she makes the cutest show of it opening her mouth into a big wide 'o' and placing her hands over her mouth.  Jon asks when she went away and learned all of these cute little girly things that she does.  He doesn't know that we have little tutorials while he is at work during the day.  ;-)

Her most recent developmental advances include asking "why" twelve billion times a day.

Sarah: Mommy, why does the kids go to school?
Mommy: So they can learn.
S: Why?
M: So they can know things and be good mommies and daddies when they grow up.
S: Why?
M: So they can take good care of their kids.
S: Why?
M: Because God wants them to take good care of their kids.
S: Why?
M: Because He loves the kids and the mommies and the daddies.
S: Why?
M: Because He made all of us and he loves us.
S: Why?
M: I don't know Sarah.

She generally continues asking why until I say "I don't know." Not sure if this exercise if for her to learn things or for me to learn humility.  Either way, I think it's working.

Sarah is also using the big girl potty!  For the longest time she was just NOT interested. I could put her in big girl clothes and she would happily pee in them all day long. Obviously, we didn't do that very many days.

One day though she said, "Mommy, I want to wear panties to school.  Mrs. Barnes and Mrs. Snyder will LOVE them." And so she did. And of course they did, love them that is.  And her.  So since then we have been making it more and more of a habit and she is doing fantastically.  Hallelujah.

Sarah also loves to do things herself. Like climbing into and out of the van and her car seat, getting things down from cupboards, dressing herself.  Especially dressing herself.  Yes, she wears clothes backwards sometimes and yes, they usually do NOT match.  But we like to go with what we've got, and this little girl has style. So here is her birthday outfit for today and some cutie patootie pictures for you on Sarah's birthday.  Happy Birthday Sarah Bear!

This Moment