What we've been up to..........

My lack of posting over the past month was sparked by defunct laptop. With our busy schedules it took us some time to select, purchase, then set up a new system. But now we appear to be up and running, or back on the grid as Dean says.

During our absence we...... celebrated Grace's seventh birthday dragon style, attended Grace's second piano concert, lost much sleep over a mocking bird going bananas in our tree at all hours of the night, watched a certain someone lose their two front teeth, created new garden beds and sowed the veggie seeds for spring, unplugged from the television by cancelling our cable service, made a quilt for a new member of the family, went swimming for the first time this season, started Lucy in puppy school, visited the farm for strawberry picking, celebrated our thirteenth wedding anniversary, learned to use a pottery wheel and sadly watched spring break come to a close.

And since it's St. Patrick's Day, I leave you with a letter that Grace left on the counter for a wee leprechaun. You see, she was spending this weekend with Meme and Pop and didn't want to miss his visit if he were happen to drop by.


Hope you had a wonderful day and discovered a pot of gold!

A quick project for Lucy

Lucy's arrival, though long talked about, was a bit unplanned. We were expecting her somewhere around mid-spring, but a simple email message changed all that. With this hastiness came no time to make the quilt we had planned for her, so this project was a temporary fix - taking just about an hour to make.




Her love of laces and anything with a tag on/in it inspired this wee flannel blanket. Although it's been a hit, she continues to prefer the real deal - bring on the shoes!

How sweet it is

Just dropping in to wish you a Happy Valentine's Day!

Auction Quilts

Over the past couple of months I've been heavily involved with a project benefiting the annual auction at Grace's school. Every class within each grade level made a project to be auctioned, with first grade being quilts.

Between another mother and I, we managed to go to each of the seven first grade classrooms and have the children draw an image on a prefabricated quilt square. There were twenty squares per quilt, based on a theme that the teacher had selected (Grace's class was the jungle).




Once the children completed the squares, I got busy with the assembly. Needless to say, sewing seven quilts was a rather time intensive process. However, it was such a relief to trim the threads on the final quilt, knowing they were done! Now we await the auction this evening to see how many eager bidders we'll have.

Two weeks later............

I believe that we've been sucked into the puppy abyss. Between play sessions, outside potty breaks, frequent walks and the like, it's simply amazing how much time a little two pound being can occupy - all in a good way, mind you.

It's been so much fun having Lucy around, there are certainly no dull moments. Her puppy antics often cause us to laugh out loud, or in Sophie's case.... growl. We're making an effort to savor this puppy stage, knowing that this period of rapid growth (and craziness) is oh so short.

Here are a few pictures of our growing girl......




I leave you with a quote - "Whoever said you can't buy happiness forgot little puppies" ~ Gene Hill

Then there were five........

Yes it's true, we've added a member to this little family of ours. After much discussion over the past months (and years) we finally decided it was time to adopt another Schnauzer. So here's our new puppy, named Lucy, and all her cuteness....




To say that we are happy to have her is an understatement. In fact, Grace is simply over the moon with excitement!

Monsterly Names

The illustrations in children's picture books often provide inspiration for Grace. She always has a mental list containing numerous sketches she wants to complete based the the wonderful art she's seen in them. This latest project was no exception.

On the cover of the book, "Mostly Monsterly" (written by Tammi Sauer and illustrated by Scott Magoon), each letter of the word "mosterly" was drawn to look rather mosterish (i.e. with fur, crazy eyes, sharp teeth). Upon seeing this, Grace was inspired to sketch her name in a similar fashion. So out came the drawing board, pencils and paper. A short time later.......




Grace's name was perfectly monsterfied!