Valentines Day Quilt

I came across this cute Valentines Day quilt last week and instantly fell in love with it. The colors are vibrant and sweet, the pattern is simple and I have gobs of leftover Valentine scraps from previous projects. With that being said, I rolled up my sleeves and got started.

Here's the link to the full tutorial including pictures.

http://www.modabakeshop.com/2010/01/hugs-kisses.html

Here's my stash that I had to work with.

The quilt only took me 4 days from start to finish. I think I could have easily done it in 2 days, but Carmen needs constant companionship. Plus, I'm 8 months pregnant, its not easy getting up and down to cut fabric and press blocks every few minutes. I had to pace myself!

Here's the finished project.

And what quilt would be complete without a matching pillow case!?

Carmen loves her quilt and pillow. Mission accomplished. And now she can enjoy it for a few weeks before Valentine's Day!

A touch of heartburn

Nothing is worse than heartburn. I have to admit, I don't think I've ever had heartburn until I was pregnant. When I was pregnant with Carmen I lived on Fruit Smoothie TUMS during the entire 3rd trimester. They actually weren't too bad. I have 6 weeks to go this time around and heartburn is just now coming into the picture. And hoooo-boooy is it bad. The best cure for heartburn? Ice cream! And lots of it!

Nap vs no nap

Some days Carmen will nap for 2 hours, other days... no nap. Today is one of those "no-nap" days. Heeegghhhh. Instead, I got her up out of her pack-n-play and made her sit and quietly read a book in her rocking chair. I'm too cute to nap is what she seems to be thinking here.

1st snow of 2010

The weatherman has been preparing us all week for snow and it finally hit us lastnight. What I woke up to this morning was a big disappointment. Snow they say? Pffft, all we got was a light dusting. Totally pathetic, but this is, mind you, the South. Still, it was pretty to look at and Carmen had fun playing in it while it lasted.

Even the dogs loved it.

Welcome 2010

Now that Christmas is over and the New Year has begun, its time to start taking down the decorations. Andy had a little helper this year. And boy was it COLD outside!

Goodbye 2009

Its been a great year.

White Christmas Cartoon

I received this cute holiday clip in an email several years ago only to find the link non-existant this year. Luckily I found the clip again on youtube. So adorable. Happy Holidays!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddVZOK_9UUI

doing vs not doing

what i have been doing:

cuddling a sick toddler

reading twilight: a new moon

eating lot of sweets and junk food

christmas shopping

lounging on couch watching dora

what i haven't been doing:

hanging around blogland

answering emails

sleeping (i have pregger insomnia)

laundry, dishes and housework in general

Carmen & Grandma W

Carmen had a great time with Grandma and didn't want her to leave!



Good times...

Santa at the Pink Palace

The Pink Palace

www.memphismuseums.org/museum-overview



Inside we visited the Festival Of Trees:

www.memphismuseums.org/exhibit-12056

And completed our trip by visiting Santa Clause for the first time!

Thanksgiving Is Over

We had a pleasant and quiet Thanksgiving this year - just the 3 of us. Traditional dinner consisted of a yummy turkey, stuffing, mashed taters & gravy, green beans, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. Yum. Luckily we didn't buy a very big bird, so we had leftovers for 2 days. None of us care to have any more turkey for quite awhile now.

After an early dinner and a nap, we drove around the neighborhood scoping out Christmas lights which then inspired us to get our tree out that evening (yes its a faux tree but has pretty white twinkle lights).

Friday was my birthday. Andy bought me a pretty silver necklace with a heart and butterfly pendant. And of course Carmen couldn't be left out, so she also got her 1st necklace - also with a cute butterfly pendant which she insists on sleeping with!

Saturday the outdoor Christmas lights went up along with this huge lighted wreath that I purchased last year on the after-Christmas clearance sale. Its hung over the garage and looks wonderful.

Sunday was a day of catching up. Laundry, dishes, bath for Carmen and a little housework for our guests that are arriving this morning. Can't wait!

Hope you all had a nice long holiday weekend.





Carmen wore her 1st dress Thanksgiving morning. She enjoyed it only for so long and demanded to have pants put back on. Maybe because her legs were cold? She insisted on wearing her Halloween shirt for the rest of the day and she even managed to sit still long enough for me to put a sloppy french braid in her hair. Too cute!

Polar Bear

I bought Carmen this furry vest last Christmas and I am surprised and delighted to see that it still fits this year! She loves it and keeps calling herself a Polar Bear. Too cute.

I'm Lovin' It

This has become my breakfast staple. Bacon, egg & cheese biscuit with a Coke. Soooo good. Last week I woke up around 3am starving. The donut store doesn't open until 5am and I was almost sure that our local Taco Bell isn't a 24 hr place (come to find out, nope, its not) so I settled on McD's once again. Lucky for me McD's starts serving breakfast at 0430.

The colors of Fall

The colors of fall are upon us once again. I just can't get over the beauty of Autumn in Tennessee. I was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest - the Columbia River Gorge, to be exact, and I never thought I would see anything more beautiful than Fall time there. Boy was I wrong!

Here it is the middle of November, but Autumn is in full swing. Since almost all of the trees here are deciduous, they make for some lovely colors such as yellows, golds, orange, rusts and reds. I have been taking my camera with me when I run errands around town just to try and capture this time of year. It won't last long, as streets and driveways are already littered with heaping piles of fallen leaves just waiting for the huge vacuum to come suck them up.

Oh, and its Week 24 already!

Happy Halloween

Carmen didn't go trick-or-treating again this year but she had a BLAST handing out candy to all the kids that came to the door. Everytime the door bell rang, she ran like a shot to answer it and to get a good look at all the cute costumes. Next year will be a completely different ball game.