I heart making quilts

This last month has been a juggling of stitching whenever I could and still continuing my goal of healthy new family meals and just the rest of life as I know it, pounding impatiently. I've had little ones on my lap and crawling around 'helping' me safety pin quilt after quilt. This first one was a 24 hour extravaganza! I still can't believe the miracle that I was able to finish in time for a friend to fly out to her sister and new niece.

  

This quilt was long awaited. I believe Katie has requested a quilt from me for the last 4 years at least! I have to say being able to be in California this last weekend and hand deliver this was beyond satisfying! Katie was over the moon! I really love what a departure this quilt is from my usual. I love it's retro modern feel. It's cheerful and simple. It was a pleasure to make for Katie and I am just so pleased to have a new skill under my belt.

I made this quilt for one of my bestfriends. She just got married! I am so excited that this quilt will follow them to the beach and snuggle them on a cold night. Mary and Adam were showered with homemade blankets, lucky couple! I had so much fun doing something of a Mary Ingelbright feel, for my very own Mary Ann. I love this quilt and I love you Mary!

Warmth in food

(Honey Dijon Chicken & Quinoa Veggie side)

(Mango Quinoa Salad)

I've slowed certain aspects of my life down, just a tad. It's been a beautiful gift. I have brought myself back to the home. Being more present and aware of my homemaking skills. I have felt more confident and sure. I have been making efforts to educate myself on what we are eating, how I am fuelling my family. We are trying new things and I am excited to cook dinner again! I made a visit to the Farmer's market and I let that steer my direction for meals. I can't get enough of simple fresh ingredients! Pintrest has made finding new recipe's so easy. I keep forgetting to take pictures but below are links to some of the ones I have made with success. I love being a Mom. I love being a wife. I love being a homemaker and I love being an artist. Make something new tonight! I'm trying out personal sized meat loafs in a muffin tin iced with potatoes. If you have a favourite new recipe please share it with me!?

Honey Dijon Chicken
Quinoa Corn and Scallions
Mango Quinoa Salad
Sweet Potatoe Veggie Burger (I would add garlic and more egg to bind.)
Energy Bites (These make a great snack for the kids after school.)
Greek Chicken and Potatoes (Use butter in stead of so much oil.)

The little one

Oh my sweet Seger! He had his first day of Preschool today, and he loved it! He actually stopped and sat in the hall at Evan's school yesterday when we dropped him off, he wouldn't move and insisted he needed to be in school now! Well the day has come and he did so well. However you can see below that Felix did not love losing his brother for a couple of hours. He was quite ticked about being all alone. He didn't stop asking where Seger was. As soon as we picked him up he mimicked everything Seger did. So cute! I love these little boys! Seger you are so confident and cool!

Note: it was mentioned in the comments that Seger wore his fave jacket. You know it! Seger has been obsessed with his 'soccer' jacket for months now! like since January. it barely gets washed and he has it right back on. Again totally cool kid! I went through a spandex phase as a child, he can have a jacket.

Sigh.....

I am trying to process today. I feel so behind. I took a week or so off, and I am so glad I did! I have really enjoyed the time spent with just my kids, no work looming. However aside from the obvious editing of photo shoots, I have so much of this summer that I haven't even begun to share. Does it still work to post late and out of order and all of that? My perfectionist self says no. But I want to tell me, that better late then never. My kids have grown up so much lately. They are just surprising me daily. Evan has become just the most incredible big brother. I need to devote an entire post on just him. Vienna has really strengthened her spirit this summer. Seger cracks me up, he so badly wants to be bigger. Felix is becoming less my baby everyday. It's so fun to watch, but makes me so sad at the same time. I can't believe that this stage is slipping away so quickly. I love hearing his chirpy little voice around the house more then anything right now though.

Today was the first day of school for Evan and Vienna. Evan has the same teacher as last year and I couldn't get over the confidence that gave him. He introduced himself to a new kid and started making the introductions to all his class mates. I'm so proud when I see him being a good person. Vienna and her cousin Talon are both going into Grade one. He's new to our school and we requested them be int he same class. Well we arrived and they were not! Vienna and Talon were VERY emotionally distraught. We quickly and easier then we thought, got them in the same class, they are now happy as clams! I hope they stay out of trouble!

Here they all are. I love the closeness between these three! It makes me happy that they will be able to look out for each other. So both my oldest in school all day! I can hardly believe that I am down to one and two kids 5 days a week. I am excited for this new time with the little boys, but very sad to be losing so much time with the older two. School now gets them the best hours of the day. Something that I will battle all year long. Here comes a new challenge in that beautiful thing called balance.

I love my kids. I am so blessed to have their incredible spirits in my home. I hope they know that. I'll have to work hard to make sure, just in case. A great responsibility, worth while.

Father's Day 2011

Father's Day is a great day! We so enjoyed having so much time with Kent. The kids and I woke up early to make eggs benedict (a family tradition) for breakfast before going to church. Felix was asleep when we got back home, but I still took a pic of Kent and the other three. And Kent was nice enough to take a few shots of me too.

Kent is this incredible Dad. I often admire his patience, or his calm with the kids. He loves them so well, and balances me out, in the parent department with ease. Kent is fun! He is always greeted with hugs the second he hits the door, and often begged not to go! The other thing is this man gets up more in the night with the kids then I do! What a blessing. I adore this man, the father of our children. I think he's super handsome too! Thanks for making beautiful kids with me Babe. They sure are spectacular little people.

Then we headed over to my Dad's place with his gift from my Mom. A new bike. He loves it as you can tell!

Isn't my Mom Cute?! Aren't they even cuter together?! (My Mom just got her bike this month too)

This is my Dad's racing game face! I love that my Dad does everything whole heartedly!
And of course the kids wanted to ride a little too. Here are my kiddos in action! P.S. Seger has not stopped wearing this jacket except to be washed (against his wishes) since APRIL! He calls it his soccer jacket and even wears it to bed some nights. He's a little attached!

Before we left my folks house, my brother and his clan showed up. What a treat! My Brother is an amazing father too, and loves his Five kids. I only managed to capture the oldest and the youngest, and their good looking Mom too!

Some Sunday Morning Fun!

We had a sick day a few weeks ago and despite Seger's case of slap cheek, we managed to have a little fun. I put the kids in the bath and after all the hooligans were clean and mostly dry, we jumped on the bed! I love you all! I love your giggles and smiles. I love your pouts too. I love how much you love each other. Seger I love that you want to do everything that your older siblings do. I love letting you be crazy and let loose and break all the rules. You are all wonderful, beautiful, and you make me so happy!

Quilting Bee, or just me!

So I was quilting like mad it seemed, before Christmas. I made a couple of these quilts back in Oct and the other FOUR I started the second week of December to be done for Christmas morning. Can you say INSANE! Miraculously I did not have a single meltdown over the magnitude of it all (which was the goal) and was crucial because this first quilt was a surprise for my husband and therefore not mentionable that I was making 4 quilts in 2 weeks not just 3! I am so glad that I made it a priority to fit in a quilt for Kent. He was so genuinely thrilled and we had set a very low budget to spend on one another this year, so this was at least sentimental so it made the money not even matter to me. Kent has curled up in it everyday since. I love that it's slightly vintage fabrics in a modern composition with a gentle masculine feel.

This is a quilt that I made for a friend that just had a baby in Australia. She didn't know the sex of the baby so this is the gender neutral pallet we came up with. I love it's whimsy! I have been totally shocked at what a great response I got from those that saw it in person. I love it, but I know it's quirky too!

This quilt was made for my niece Lucy. I actually did a tulle crib skirt and the cutest curtains to go with, but I didn't bring my camera the day we set up and well, it's on my to do list to get pics of the room. Lindsay has the cutest wall decal on the wall and well it's all very sweet! Another post perhaps. You'll just have to take your inspiration from these pics and imagine the room to go with!

The big finale!! The APPLE QUILTS! Now you have to be a MAC fan to understand this. But My goal was to create a guy quilt, without being tacky, that related to the tech-y side of my Dad. Who by the way is the Apple/Mac Guru! Well I had this idea in my head of pixels and the original Apple logo (because it's iconic and bold and visually fun) I think it translated well. Now after having this idea for Dad only, I got to thinking that my brothers are pretty hardcore Apple fans too. SO why not make 3! A cinch right?? Well 1200 squares later!!!! They each got their quilts. Well actually Dad and Conor received theirs at Christmas gift opening, while Nathan had to wait until his birthday the next day, make him sweat a little. I hear that My Dad had himself wrapped in this thing for days while laid up sick, and it made it a little more bearable. Quilts can cure!
So how's that for ya! So now you all know why I didn't even touch my blog over Christmas, unless absolutely necessary!! And why I haven't since, until now. I needed a break from the quilts and everything 'to do'. However I have started on a few new projects that I can't wait to show you hopefully in a week or two!! I can't help my self!