What are School Days Made of?

Practicing B's (To write his name),





Eating green O's (From the color wheel game),














Dressing like the samurai (a japanese warrior),

























Hanging carp kites (or koinobori). Oh,


That's what our school days are made of.

Snuggle Puppy

We've had lots of new additions recently, and all girls! Girls are great, but so easy to sew for. I've been itching to try some of the patterns from my new embroidery book, Sublime Stitching. I bought it especially for some of the adorable little-boy patterns.

(That means, "Welcome, Andrew!")

Making Music

The newest activity around here these days is piano lessons. He's so excited that he gets to "really play," and diligently practices...everytime I remind him.

Quilt Away

I finished my quilt a couple of weeks ago, but I couldn't show it to you because it was a gift. Well, it's been officially gifted, and now I can share some pictures. Maybe you've guessed that it was made with much love and prayers for my niece, Violet.

This quilt sort of took on a mind of it's own. It started out as a way to showcase some embroidery. I love to embroider, but had not quilted in ages. Well...I found this quilt pattern in Denyse Schmidt's book, aptly named, Quilts. She has some great, contemporary quilt patterns that are very reminiscent of the simplicity of amish quilts, but with a modern flair. This pattern is called, Hop, Skip & A Jump. It uses rows of slightly wacky rectangles.

I fell in love with it, and decided to use it. I chose to use many different fabrics to give it a coordinating-but-scrappy look; feminine, but not too babyish, I hope. After I pieced the quilt top, I did the embroiery work. The first verse of Jesus Loves Me is spread across the quilt. I used white thread on white pieces so as not to distract from the overall appearance of the design.

All that was left was to do the quilting and binding. My free-quilting practice didn't go so well, so I opted for something a little simpler: vertical, slightly wacky lines the length of the quilt. Also, because of the simplicity of the piecing, I didn't want to over-do the quilting. In the end, I was really happy with the look that I got. After I took these pictures, I went ahead and washed it to give it an oh-so-slightly-puckery look; just enough to look soft and cozy. I pray that every time Violet looks at her quilt, she will remember how much we love her- and even more, how much she is loved by Christ.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8