Maggie Monday-Valentine Mini Shoot

I did not intend to have pictures taken for Valentine's Day...I mean, who does that? Apparently, I do. 

Jennifer Hall posted a sneak peek of the set she put together for the shoot, and I KNEW that Maggie had the perfect dress for the set. I couldn't resist it.  When else is she going to wear this dress?  The headband was custom made to go with the dress. It was just too perfect, right?

With this mini shoot, there were 4 digital files and a Facebook cover file included, but I just couldn't narrow it down, so I ended up with 8 files, paying for 4 additional files.

Maggie does this little face almost every time!

 

Mummy couldn't resist the glasses!

She wasn't a fan of the wings...

...so we distracted her with candy!

My love...so beautiful!

Maggie's next photo shoot will be her first birthday smash cake session. I can't believe she is almost 1 already! Where has the time gone? My sister is making the cake with bright rainbow icing. I'm sure it will a HUGE mess!

More to come,

Maggie's First Birthday Chalkboard

Miss Maggie's birthday is coming up in 9 days. I can't believe that time has gone so fast! I return to work in a short 7 days! Crazy.

So in planning Maggie's birthday party, I want to keep it simple. I mean, she's not going to remember, so no need to go cray-cray. So, the theme is stripes. Target is in the middle of being liquidated here in Canada, so I got stripey invitations, large plates, a paper bunting banner, a make your own message banner and plates at pretty good prices. Oh, and thank you cards and loot bags.

As I was searching around for other ideas, I came across millions many blog posts about chalkboard posters. This trend is probably passé, but I really like it. I am not crafty enough to make an actual poster by hand, so I chose to use PowerPoint to create the poster. Several days and many computer hours later, here is the (almost) finished product:

I even figured out how to make it a jpeg so that I can get it printed as a photo for Maggie's baby book. There are some small things I need to tweek, like updating her weight and height, and I just noticed the little gap in the "I love" section, I'll have to fix that. Other than that, I love it!  I am going to go to Staples to see how much it will cost to make into an 11"x17" poster to hang at the party. I can also upload the JPEG file to Shutterfly and make smaller prints.

More to come,

Frogs, and Turtles, and Birds, Oh My!

Almost all caught up with the Elephant Parade Quilt Along! Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts has designed this cute quilt and I couldn't help but gather fabric and join.

So cute!

The frog block came together pretty quickly...Just need eyes on this guy!

Blind ribbit

The turtle went together just as quickly...except something was wrong...

What's with all the extra fabric on the top piece?

I kept looking and looking and couldn't figure out what I had done wrong. I was JUST about to trim down the block so the top piece fit the bottom...when I moved something to grab my rotary cutter and saw the tail section. Phew! Disaster averted!

Sooo much better! :)

I got the frog and turtle put together in one Maggie nap (45 minutes). Yay, me!

I tackled the birds the after I put Maggie down for the night. I thought I was being careful with the instructions, but clearly something went wrong.

I'm not exactly sure how I'm gonna fix these guys. I have to ponder that and let you know later.

Lorna posted the instructions for the flowers on Sunday, so that is what I will be working on this week. Check those out here. Linking up with the Let's Bee Social linky party!

More to come,

Maggie Monday-6 Month Photos

Maggie had changed so much in her first 6 months that I decided to have her photos taken again by Jennifer Hall. I just love the photos she takes.

I love this face!

 

Eyelashes for miles

Hello!

Jenn captures the best moments

My favourite

More to come,

Baby Elephants!

These are the baby elephants from Sew Fresh Quilt's Elephant Parade. I have been running behind with this quilt along, and honestly, I didn't think that I would get these little guys done in time for today's link ups. Working late into last night and finishing this morning, these babies turned out so cute!

They are NOT perfect. There are some wonky bits. I think that it gives them character!  :)

I continued to group my cut pieces together for each block. I like how this organizes all the bits and I am not constantly looking for pieces.

For the left-facing babies

The Good

I feel that, overall, my piecing was much better with these little guys.

They look good from a distance, don't they?

A little closer...

This seam makes me happy!

The Bad

I'm not a perfect piecer and that is okay. I ended up with some pieced sections that looked a little curved...weird!

A little wonky in places

The Ugly

Sometimes, my seams are waaaay off. I'm not really sure why. Possible reasons: inaccurate cutting, fatique (just go to bed, already!), sewing on a diagonal (I don't seem to do this well), and , of course, a combination of all three!

A little left side wonk

Yikes!!

Anyway, Mamas and babies are done.  Moving on to the frog, turtle and birds. I think I can get these done for next week. Then I'll be almost caught up! YAY, me!

Linking up with Let's Bee Social by Sew Fresh Quilts and WIP Wednesday by Freshly Pieced.

More to come,

5 Things I Couldn't Live Without in February

This series of posts started with inspiration from GnomeAngel. I thought I would try to continue it for every month this year.

So here is what I could not live without in February 2015.

1. Shovel...so boring, I know. But there has been a lot of snow this month. And cold. It's been cold.

2. My nephew, Lucas...I have been spending a lot of time with this little guy in the past month, and I cannot get enough of him! He and Maggie are best buds and I am so glad that they will have each other as they grow up. He just turned one last week and I cannot believe that the time has gone so quickly! That means that Maggie will be 1 in a few short weeks...

3. Treehouse...the kids tv channel. It is on in the house as background noise. I have come to appreciate the educational aspects that are built into some of the programming. Peg + Cat is pretty much all math based and problem-solving. That is awesome.

4. Adult night out...For my friend's birthday, I left Maggie with my parents and off we went to the big city! A great dinner, followed by dancing and a drag show at a club and topped off with an overnight in a hotel with great friends. SO. MUCH. FUN.

5. CAA...Along with the cold came the trunk latch not catching one evening, so the interior lights were on...all night. Dead battery.Thank you, Dad, for the annual CAA membership!

I am really enjoying being more mindful of the events, people and things in my life to be thankful for.

More to come,

Lucas is 1!

This is a picture post today, cuz pictures say 1000 words, right? 

My nephew, Lucas, turned 1 yesterday. I can't believe that the year has gone by so quickly. Here are a few pictures of his first year.

1 month old: Hanging out on my tummy (Maggie)

Don't look at the camera!

Cousins

1 year old

More to come,