Ada's Version of Being Green

She must have known it was St. Patrick's Day. 

Green peas were smeared all over her face, clothes, in her ears, all over the high chair, some on the carpet and some on Mama.

From there we went directly to the tub, where lots of splashing ensued, and out came one happy and cleaned-up baby.

This was the clearest shot I could get tonight.  She had so much energy and just could not sit still. :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Progress

Had a great day at home on Friday.  It started with a bowl of Lucky Charms (I know, I know - totally not organic, but we couldn't resist the throwback packaging - just one box), and the latest Land of Nod catalog...more on that later - it deserves a post of its own.

The rest of the day was mostly spent scrapbooking.

An in-progress shot; took me a while to figure out how to finish it.

And a look at my very, very messy desk.  I kept being torn between cleaning the mess up and getting some layouts done.  (I chose the latter.) :)

Here's the first layout I finished.

And a close-up of the journaling.

 

I really like how this one turned out.

I also wrapped up another scrapbooking project and finally got started on my Project 365 for this year. (More on that in a separate post as well; hopefully in the next week or two.)

The rest of the weekend was pretty busy.  Saturday morning my sister, Ada, and I went to Archiver's to check out the Basic Grey showcase they were having; basically they put some of the new stuff out on the counter.  They didn't even have any samples layouts or cards...nothing.  And the sneak peek at the two new lines that will be coming out soon consisted of a 2'x2' poster.  I have to say I was pretty disappointed after they'd been advertising it like crazy.  Fortunately the two new lines are really cute. :)  I'm especially loving the Green at Heart collection:

It's definitely starting to feel like spring! :)

We also stopped at one of the shops downtown on the way home where I picked up a great chair for my craft room that I had been eyeing when I was there on Thursday, and it was a steal at only $8.50!  (The others I've seen, including the other three they had there are all marked at $20 or more.)  I'll have to post a pic later this week.

Saturday night we met up with friends for a surprise birthday party at Chin's Kitchen in St. Paul.  The food was fabulous.  They had the biggest egg rolls I've ever seen, and the fried rice was sooo good.

Then today Ada hung out with my sister while Chris and I went to Mitch and Katie's for a Sealab marathon...and pigged out on way too much junk food.

That's all for now.  Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Sew Excited!

After being sick the first couple weeks of the year, and then crazy busy with work for the last month, it finally feels like life is getting back normal around here.  And that means having time to SEW! :)  There's been lots of father-daughter time around here while I've been at the quilt shop catching up on some projects.  I'm feeling like one lucky mama after getting to sew all day Saturday and for several hours Tues. night.  It feels so good to be finishing things.

Here's a sneak peek at the first quilt top I finished:

and the second (at least I think this is done...I might add another border):

I'm also trying out a couple new things.  Last week I took my first machine quilting class.  The class was great; relaxed, with plenty of practice time, and lots of great information and tips.  Here are my first couple attempts during class:

Loops

Meandering / puzzle - you're not supposed to cross over

any of your lines of stitching...still working on that :)

And a new fabric pencil I'm trying out.  I tested one at the shop and it was NICE.  Can't wait to use it here at home.

And a few final fabrics to add to the Baby Floss pile.  So, so cute.

I'd post a picture of my progress on that one, but my tiny pinwheels are best left seen at a distance. :)

The best part of this week?  I got to leave work early this afternoon and went to all the antique shops downtown, and I have tomorrow off!!!  Having a "me" day.  Sew, sew excited!!  I'm planning on sewing and scrapbooking all day, so hopefully I'll have more pics to share tomorrow! :)

To close I'll share two more things that have been making me happy lately:

This lovely stack of fabric that's been sitting on my desk.

It's just too pretty to put in the closet!

And this soon-to-be-published book by Anna Marie Horner that I can't wait to get my hands on; Handmade Beginnings: 24 Sewing Projects to Welcome Baby.  No, we're not expecting, but the book has lots of flexible projects; dresses that can be modified for maternity or nursing (or neither), quilts for little ones, and so many sweet projects that would make wonderful gifts.  Just watch the video on Amazon; you'll see what I mean.  I hope it comes out soon!!

If that's not inspiring enough, it's National Craft Month.  So far I am loving March.  Happy Crafting! :)