Hugs and Kisses

Today is Jen's 40th birthday and I finished her quilt a day early. Actually, I finished it four days early because we are taking it to her on Saturday. Three cheers for me!!!

I *love* the Heirloom fabric! I have wanted to use it since I first spotted it and knew that this would be the perfect project for it. This was actually the first time I used a pattern, not just a tutorial online. I bought this pattern, mainly because it is called Hugs and Kisses. Silly reason to pick a pattern, but it just seemed perfect for my sister! I used some scraps from the front, plus one of mom's sheets for the back. 

Definitely the most challenging quilt I have completed thus far. It was the first time I worked with piecing together non-square pieces. It resulted in finished blocks that were smaller than they should have been, but the quilt is still a good lap size. I also quilted *a lot* on this quilt. I quilted double lines along each diagonal on the quilt and quilted diamonds in the white portions. Lots of work, but totally worth it.

The best part of the quilt is that these two were my helpers. From the very beginning of this project, from ordering fabric to when I was taking the pictures, they knew that this was Auntie Jen's quilt. They even helped me quilt! They sat next to me and they even took turns "working that pedal", as they called it. It was a bit stressful with them in control of the speed, which led to more than a few wonky lines, but I am pretty sure Auntie Jen won't mind:)

**linking up to crazy mom quilts***

February 2012

What a month in our house! We successfully potty trained Abigail. I am actually quite surprised that I do not yet have a picture of her running around the house in just her undies. It has become her wardrobe of choice lately. She is quite proud of herself for being a big girl. It is probably just coincidence, but she just seems so much *bigger* lately. Her imagination is wild and her stories are even wilder. She is a ball of energy...well, she is many things, but I don't think I can include baby in that list any longer. My girl is growing up.

And Charles. He lost not one, but two teeth within five days of each other. The tooth fairy now knows our house well. We catch him staring at his reflection in the mirror quite often these days, even though it has been more than two weeks since he lost those baby teeth. Sweet little man.

We celebrated Valentines Day with a dinner at home. We made molten lava cakes for dessert as a treat. Charles made valentines for everyone, which proves my point of what a sweet little man we have here. The kids were more than thrilled with their dollar spot sunglasses they found in their treat bags. To top off a happy little month, we *finally* got some snow that lasted more than a day or two so we took the opportunity to go sledding at the farm. I cannot believe that it took until the end of February for the kids to sled at Grandma's house. Unheard of! Benji helped chop wood that day so it was just me and the kids on the hill, thus no pictures. There were giggles, smiles, and tired kids at the end of the day, so I think a good time was had by all:)