a change of color

When I was originally looking at fabrics for the nursery, I decided to base everything off of the central fabric in the picture below: Amy Butler's Water Bouquet in midnight. But the more I've looked at it & rearranged fabrics, I kept thinking it was just a little too neon for me. I love the fabric, but I don't know that I want to be surrounded by it.

Last night at my baby shower, I got an amazingly cute doll made by my friend Julia . . . and the colors were exactly what I kept going back to in my mind. I am such an orange/coral & blue type of person. So today, I went to Beverly's to see if they had the same Water Bouquet, but in the mint colorway. Surprisingly, they did! I couldn't resist, & I bought it, along with a couple more coordinating fabrics. I am much happier when I look at the color combos together now. It just feels so much more like me.

Isn't this doll so cute?!!

I finally drafted the quilt out today, so I hope to get this bad boy knocked out in the next couple weeks.

It's finally starting to hit me that I'm having a baby girl, & I'm getting really excited!

New Quilting Project: Farmer's Wife Quilt-a-long - Week 1

On Saturday morning, I went to my very first Quilt Guild meeting. It turned out to be more uneventful than I thought it would be, but I did come away with some great inspiration.

One of the ladies there mentioned a quilt-a-long based on The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt. The quilt-a-long was started by Fussy Cut & MsMcPorkChopQuilts & has been going on for almost 4 weeks now. People all over the world are participating & share their progress on blogs & in the flickr group made just for this project.

The inspiration for this quilt was based on letters written in 1922 answering the question:

"If you had a daughter of marriageable age, would you, in the light of your own experience, want her to marry a farmer?"

When this question was posed to readers of The Farmer's Wife magazine, it was during a time in history when World War I had recently ended, jazz, flappers & booze were gaining in popularity, & women had just received the right to vote. There were a lot of social & political changes going on in the nation. With all these changes, the answer to the question was in the affirmative by 94% - these hardworking women would want their daughters to marry farmers for a number of reasons.

For each letter shared in this quilting book, the author has assigned 2+ quilt blocks to go with it. There are a total of 111 - 6 inch blocks (this is pretty small for those who aren't very familiar with quilting), & the goal is to sew 2 blocks a week & have the quilt finished in about a year. When I started looking at all the amazing blocks people were making, I couldn't resist & had to buy the book. I got it yesterday & sewed my first two blocks today while Will napped. I can already tell I'm going to love this project. There is so much variety in it, & it's such a great way to expand my quilting skills (or lack thereof).

 Getting Started:

I didn't realize how small the pieces were going to end up being.

I mean really, really tiny!

My first block ended up having 51 pieces in it - if I could make it through that one, then the other ones shouldn't be nearly as intimidating.

My first two blocks:

(going in order of the letters written in the book)

Reason why your daughter should marry a farmer:

"living in God's open air"

#26 - Cut Glass Dish

My Grandma Aileen had these tacky, but awesome green glasses that I loved drinking from. I couldn't resist throwing a similar shade of green into the block to remind me of her.

#54 - Kitchen Woodbox

I am loving how these are turning out so far, & I'm really shocked that they're actually the right size once all sewn up. Thank goodness.

2 down, 109 to go

playing at the pool

This afternoon, Will & I went to play at the pool with our friends Tiffani, Carson & Caitlin. I played the part of paranoid mom & had a hard time relaxing until a lifejacket was finally put on this kid. How do you make them understand that leaning over the side of the pool to reach toys in the water is not safe? Just wait for them to fall in? Maybe I would have been more willing to do this if I knew I could move quickly enough to get him, but this pregnant belly makes everything so much more awkward.

got to love the little butt crack peeking out - - -

Will enjoyed his first Otter Pop - I'm going to have to invest in some of these this summer. It's so hot!

camping in New Brighton

June 14-17:

Last week, Scott, Will, & I went on a camping trip to New Brighton with 8 other families. We had such a great time & are excited for next year when we can do it again!

on the road

setting up camp: Will was obsessing over some banana bread that I made earlier that morning. He almost destroyed the loaf before we even took off for our trip. Thank goodness Scott noticed him with it (still warm from the oven) & grabbed it before it was completely demolished.

It didn't take long for Will to get filthy dirty. Scott tried showering him before putting him to bed the first night, but Will fought him too much, so he went to bed with dirt practically caked in his hair. Who said camping was supposed to be clean? 

swinging in the Taylor's hammock

 Our second day, we all headed out to the Boardwalk. The weather was beautiful, & Will had a great time watching the "trains" (rollercoasters) & chasing birds.

29 weeks along

After the Boardwalk, Scott & I headed to Ice Cream by Marianne's in Santa Cruz. They have so many random, delicious flavors to choose from. Scott got Peaches and Cream & Blueberry Cheesecake, & I got Horchata & German Chocolate. Will just wanted whip cream, so he got a cup of that for his lunch/dessert.

Later that evening, we headed back to camp for dinner. Scott cooked up some chicken quesadillas (thanks for the hook up on the taco chicken, mom). 

Our third day, we went to the beach & played for a couple hours.  

Will & Genna

Will got sand in his eyes.

looking for a lost frisbee - sadly, it was never found:

Ryan, Scott, Cory, Brent

Scott found a little crab in the sand.

playing Bachi Ball: Scott, Brent, & Ryan

On Friday morning, the ladies went out for breakfast at Gayle's Bakery in Capitola (the boys had their boys' golfing trip the previous morning). There were so many different foods to choose from: egg sandwiches & burritos, salads, pastries, hot chocolate . . . .  It was so much fun to get out alone with the girls & enjoy some great food.

Gayle's had some beautiful flowers outside. These were super tall stalks w/ tissue-ball-looking flowers. They were pretty awesome.

After breakfast, we all gathered at camp to take group pictures. 

I loved watching the ladies try to get all the kids' attention for their group shot. (Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the whole group yet - it was on someone else's camera.)

THE KIDS (really sorry for misspelled names) - top row: Maddie (holding Lauren), Payton, Hailey (holding Aaron), Jake & Will 

middle row: Allison, Hailey, Kaylee (holding Quinn), Mia, Genna, Keira

bottom row: Avery, Mason, Dillan, Ryan (holding Piper), CJ, Wesley (holding Meagan), & McKay

some details: