{One Year Blogiversary GIVEAWAY!}

I can't believe it has been a whole year since I started blogging! I've realized that as I get older, the years go by soooooo fast! Sometimes I'm grateful, and sometimes I'm just trying to keep up. So,.... one year ago I was writing my first blog post, learning about my new camera, remembering Cabo and our wedding,.... oh and painting. :) I have come a long way since then. I am currently writing my 115th blog post, working more and more with my year old camera, remembering South Carolina (and still, our wedding) and continually re-arranging. :) But I am also doing things I never thought I would be if you had asked me a year ago, like being featured in a magazine, Quilting (here, here, here, here, here, here and here too!) becoming God Parents and becoming fur parents (again!).

In celebration of my blogiversary and as a thank you to my loyal readers, one lucky winner will get a cute set of handmade crochet cotton dish cloths and a copy of The Harmony Guides, Basic Crochet Stitches, 250 stitches to crochet. I have recently gotten back into crochet (like I need another hobby) and this giveaway is inspired by the most recent Craft Hope project. I made a ton of these cloths while I was out at the beach and decided that they were so adorable, everyone could use a set.

(please note that the actual cloths in the picture will be mailed out for the current Craft Hope project, but the winner will receive 3 identical cloths)

Leave a comment, let me know what you were up to a year ago, or last weekend,... or yesterday and I will be picking the winner at the end of the day, Wednesday June 30th. (My apologies, but only US readers please,.... still love all my international readers too though).

xoxo

{On Vacation......}

.... be back soon ;-)

{A New Box For Scott & Erica}

A friend of mine ordered this custom box for her brother and his fiancee who just so happen to be having their wedding this weekend!

I especially like the bright cheery colors and the crepe paper flower (yellow, Martha Stewart) that I found at a local craft store.

Congratulations Scott & Erica!

{Aaden's Second Birthday}

This handsome Little Man is Aaden, my boss's son. :) He had his 2nd birthday party last weekend where he ran through the Spongebob sprinkler, jumped in the bounce house, crawled through the tunnel, ran laps around the yard, drove his little Porsche, mowed the lawn, chased the girls for hugs and kisses and created art work on the driveway with chalk. He is just a cute, crazy 2 year old bundle of energy!

{Henry}

{Brooklyn}

This little Brooklyn was just adorable. She caught me trying to get a picture of her and started making silly faces at me. Ham,... that is all, just a ham.

{Ashlyn}

{Ruby}

Ruby and Henry are twins, and pretty much everything they do makes me laugh,... kids do some funny stuff.

{Aaden & Mom}

{The Troast's}

Happy Birthday Aaden!!!

{A Quilt For Lincoln}

A co-worker of mine recently experienced the loss of a long-time, childhood friend of hers. His name was Gabriel and he left behind a sweet little family including a young daughter, a baby boy and a stay-at-home mom. She reached out for the help of friends and co-workers to get a care package together which included diapers, formula, clothes, and she asked if I would be interested in making a special blankie for the baby boy.

Lincoln was only 11 weeks old when his Daddy passed away, so we decided to make a simple quilt with Gabriel's name on it. It's something he can keep forever and hopefully, when he gets a little bit older, it will give him comfort when his Dad is not able to.

I backed the quilt with dimple minky fabric. It is SO soft and gentle. I thought, after I received it in the mail, that it would be difficult to work with, but I was pleasantly surprised. It's fairly light weight and didn't create any problems in my machine. I was really over thinking the "dimples" when I was trying to decide how to quilt it, that I should avoid them and maybe do straight line quilting. I'm glad I changed my mind last minute and just started stippling because I think it looks AWESOME, front and back! I did use blue thread on top and red on the back and I noticed red appearing through to the top of the quilt. I'm still unsure if it is the thread from the back or the fuzziness of the minky. (I like to believe the latter).

I did have a little trouble with some puckering on the back from the quilting. I used like 700 pins when I basted it thinking that it would prevent movement, but I still had some problems. (okay, really, I probably used about 100 pins :-) ) Does anyone have any basting advice? Do you use pins? Basting spray? What kind? Do you baste on a hard floor or carpet? Should the backing fabric be taped to the floor? Any help or tutorials would be greatly appreciated.

My thoughts and prayers are with Gabriel's family and friends.

{Molly's First Birthday}

This is Molly. We met a couple weeks ago at Jordyn's birthday party! :) She had her own first birthday party on Memorial Day and her mom contacted me for some pictures.

I was really flattered when Molly's mom emailed me about taking pictures at Molly's birthday party after she saw Jordyn's pictures. COOL! I'm getting clients that aren't even my friends! :)

Happy Birthday Molly!

{A Rain Forest Quilt for Baby Santos}

Over the past couple weeks, I have been working on a rain forest quilt for my new little niece or nephew. I. LOVE. IT. I think it turned out so cute!!!

I bought a bunch of blue, green and red rain forest-y looking fabric from Fat Quarter Shop along with several Kona Cotton solid fat quarter bundles. I used a LOT of different fabrics for this quilt!

The whole quilt is made from half square triangles turned pinwheels. :)

And then of course, some super cute green polka for the backing.

That's the Mr. right there!! (he LOOOOVES to be my photo assistant,... loves it)

I attempted pinwheels once before and had so much trouble with my simple little machine jamming up through all those fabric layers that I was really hesitant. BUT, I swapped out my needle and it changed my whole life. :) I KNOW!! I am so dumb! Why didn't I think of that before. Anyway, it made the pinwheels perfect AND made my quilting go very smoothly. OH YEAH,... I also used this really cool green variegated thread that I found at my LQS for the quilting! FUN!

Yeah, my niece or nephew has a totally awesome rain forest to live in! Don't you just LOVE it!!! Can't wait to meet you little Santos.