#babyburf meets Uncle Schreve and Aunt Alicia

Sometime before we went off on the baby's first vacation #babyburf got to meet his uncle Schreve and Aunt Alicia.  They were most excited to meet him and Schreve even held him even though he was a little apprehensive because he was so small.  I think he slept most of the time when we hung out but they still got to love on him. Since then they already got to babysit for a whole day which I am pretty sure they enjoyed (jones is such a good baby very low key).

#babyburf meets family

So another fun aspect of our trip to DC was that #babyburf got to meet a bunch of his cousins which are really like third cousins or something.  My second cousin Dave happened to be having a wedding reception while we were in town so we saw lots of family there.   So we got to see lots of family. 

Like Lauren.

And Uncle Stevie who taught jonesy about the drums

Cousin Dylan who's about a foot taller than last time I saw him.  (Baby in the way back sleeping)

And uncle rob and aunt kate. 

Aunt Sara and uncle Bruce not photoed

And Jessie... And Cody and Dave  and new cousin Jiilian not photoed

And uncle Andrew who loves babies, and Aunt Jo. 

He also got to meet his great great aunt ila and uncle walter, but I shared those photos already. 

Zombie/Michael Miller Challenge Quilt

So I finally finished my Michael Miller Quilt only a little bit late (Michael Miller Fabrics sponsored a challenge with the Modern Quilt Guild - which Indy Modern Quilt Guild is a part of).  The rules of the challenge were to use the fabrics they supplied + only solids or other MM prints which I was on the right track with previously.  But I went ahead and broke the rules since I can't win the prize now and I added in a print that is not by Michael Miller but rather by Riley Blake.

Dustin has been wanting me to make him a quilt he seems to think I'm making everyone else a quilt but him, he specifically requested bacon and or zombies.  I pretty much denied booth of these options, but then when I needed backing for this and didn't have something coordinating in my stash that wasn't solid I remembered about Riley Blake's Zombie fabrics and ordered the gray one.   I think it works perfectly with the colors on the front.  I added a block from the front to the back and then quilted this with straight lines up and down and then a 35 degree angle rather than a perpendicular angle to hide any imperfections.  It's quilting with a thread that is probably not really a good option as it kept breaking but I pressed on - I think it's an embroidery thread but it was in my stash of threads.  

From a distance the triangles on the front look great (ps I'm not a fan of paper piecing triangles it's so wasteful of fabric). 

I guess they don't look so bad up close either. My original idea did not include the green or the blocks of prints but when I was running out of blue and the store was out.  I just went ahead and picked a green close to the green in the prints.  To make it less like a frame I added in the strips in the middle of the design.  I like how that turned out. 

A close up of the quilting.  The pucker on this is my favorite part of the quilting it's just enough. 

And the back which is almost entirely zombies.  

But there's that one lone triangle - which by the way for some reason even though I paper pieced these was like 1 inch smaller than the other blocks?  The struggle is real.

And the binding,  it machine stitched (which I prefer) and pieced from two grays in my stash and a small bit of a Michael Miller dot I think.  

Anyhow Dust pretty much loves it he's already using it for watching Netflix on the sofa and then still bringing to bed at night.  Clearly this guy really did want a quilt. 

#babyburf goes to washington

Seriously is this not the most adorable kid you have seem next to the Washington monument?  Okay so I am biased.  But he's pretty cute.  We took jones to see some of our favorite monuments while in DC.  We know how much he'll remember it.  We were joined by these crazy cats our old friends Dan and Megan. 

Babies in the bread line.  Note we have no clue who this baby is and his parents didn't speak English but they agreed to line the babies up. 

MLK

And my personal favorite.  Jones screaming at Lincoln 

About two seconds later he passed out.  And slept the rest of our tour. But we bought his a book about DC and I am sure he will be back no fewer than 10 times before he's 5. 

#14on14 October

This post was scheduled for the 15th blogger had other plans.  

October 14th was a regular work from home day which meant it was actually almost 5 before I took any photos.  Anyhow this is real life:

1- jones 2- playtime 3- mommy baby selfies 4- apples for dinner 

5-6 bathtime 7- fussing 8- baby and mommy feet

9-10 getting sleepy bedtime

11 - Lego mag 12- project life

13- more project life

14- pumping

WIP Wednesday - End of October

I have been making progress on the Michael Miller Chalenge Quilt.  I am about 75% done with the quilting with any luck I will finish by this weekend.  I made the mistake of quilting it with some kind of thread in my stash and it keeps breaking which is way annoying but I no longer can win the challenge so it is what it is.

I also am mostly finished wih jonesy's halloween costume.  I need to make some adjustments so it fits him better can't wait to debut it this weekend.  

Also our roof is done and we are now working on the porch roofs and the internal repairs.  Anyone have ideas for how to make 1950s aluminum awnings look less 1950s?  I am tempted to repaint the trim piece the siding color and have them install it when they do the work.  Otherwise it will just be white.

And in other news playing catch up with project life too and the baby's book watch for a post on those. 

#babyburf 4 months

Dear #babyburf - 

You're four months!  Finally growing bigger too, we recently retired all the 0 sized clothes and moved you up into 3-6 months.

+You sleep between 8-9 hours a night and this is a miracle (we love it). 

+You love to grab your feet and put them in your mouth.

+You coo when you sleep at night and it's so nice so we know you are alive. 

+You like to play with your toys specifically your hungry caterpillar, and your weird loop ball. 

+You try to sit yourself up most of the time when we lay you down it's like baby crunches.

+You prefer not to held like a baby unless you are sleepy or it's grandma holding you.

+You try and cover your eyes when eating to block the light.

+You giggle and laugh at things we don't even know why. 

+You have a new chair that lets you sit up-right and supports you before you can sit in the high-chair. +You love to have a spoon when you sit in said chair.  

+You talk baby talk all the time - mostly to mommy.

+You love singing.

+You eat about 5-6 oz at a time although we have seen you take up to 8 which usually results in spit up.  (We added in formula because mommy can't keep up with the pumping.)

+You can roll about 3/4th of the way over but then stop for some reason and either roll back or lean on your side.

+Mommy loves to play with you after work and loves that you are full of spunk!  She regularly rolls with your spit up on her.  You like to grab her face.  You also love to sit on her lap when it's meal time because you are fascinated by food and cannot wait to actually get something other than milk.   We spent our first night apart when I was in a wedding and you were so excited to see me when I came to get you the next morning.  

+Daddy has been working super hard lately.  He was on call for two + weeks and he thinks you learned all this talking while he was out doing emergency work.  He likes to have you stand while holding his hands.  He still tries to sneak you into our bed at night but I usually put you back into your bed. You like to grab at his beard and run your hands thru it.  

We love you so much little one. 

Love Mommy

Family Photos September

In August we barely took and family photos, but September we redeemed ourselves taking many more.  We took some at the vineyard, in DC, in our backyard + extended family! at random bbqs and picnics.   Those taken later in the month jones is much more alert and less woobly. 

#35 Play date with Uncle JJ

Uncle JJ asked to be added to the list as a play date with #babyburf.   So we had several morning while we were visiting where Dustin and I went out and uncle JJ watched the baby.  #babyburf is especially playful in the mornings he's usually all laughing and chatty and will usually play by himself nicely or with someone.   He especially likes his new monkey toy that uncle JJ and I picked up at Target one morning.

I love these photos we captured of them playing.  Too cute.

JJ has also decided that the baby should call him "fun uncle jay". Because doesn't that have a nice tin to it?  
(As I'm looking at the photos I snapped on our trip I'm realizing I really need to make an effort to use our SLR camera more (the quality really is THAT MUCH BETTER).

My friend Amy from 13 Spools, asked us to share 9(9) Problems but a stitch Ain't One.  PS She also wrote a quilting book that's out next year - she's pretty much FAMOUS ;o) 

At first I was like I ain't got any seeing problems but then they flooded back to me.

1) Despite purchasing basting safety pins three to five times in bulk - now I can't seem to find them.  I think they ran off with the socks and the spoons.

2) speaking of basting my living room is too small to spread out quilts larger than twin to baste appropriately even when I move chairs and the coffee table which is way annoying. 

3) I actually dislike Amy Butler fabric (the horror I know) - at least 90% of the prints they are too fru-fru for me.  

4) my walking foot is tempermental and won't stay screwed in - this why I often quilt with my regular foot.

5) I am the opposite of a perfectionist I rarely will rip stitches out and just make imperfections work.  

6) my cutting mat i once ironed on and it's slightly warped but I can't be bothered to get another one.

7) I am on the struggle bus using fussy cut prints. I never know how to use them in blocks aside from a "log cabin"

8) I brought back lots of fabric from Sweden (easily 10 yards) and I am not sure I want to ever use it, but it's gorgeous.

9) I have 6 work in progress quilts and I want to start a new one for the baby rather than finish any of them even the ones that are almost complete.