Motherhood

My boys have been getting along very well lately.  Playing together, laughing together, looking out for each other, excited for each other.  I think watching your kids love being together and having fun together may be the best part of being a mother.  Don't get me wrong - usually the wonderful moment ends in a fight - but the moment was still great.

Last night I was exhausted.  Came home from a long day at work, made dinner, cleaned it up, we ran a few errands and when we got home the kids were playing together.  Not needing any assistance from us parents - just playing and laughing and having a ball together.

I set up shop on the couch and started watching reruns of West Wing on Netflix.  The boys were playing games on the ipad.  Sam sitting next to me humming along to the Star Wars song on Angry Birds.  I paused my show to video him on my phone.  He had no idea - and he LOVES to watch videos of himself.  At the end of the song he saw me holding my phone and said "you can take my picture now".  This boy MELTs my heart.  He is a bundle of energy, stubborn, determined, thinks the world revolves around him.  But he is so much fun.  I love to listen to him talk to Jake and the conversations they have.  I love watching him play games and seeing his face expressions as he gets excited or frustrated.  He is so animated.

The boys went into their room to play together and I continued my show.  Every once in awhile pausing so I could hear their conversation.  My boys are into toys - and they watch kids review toys on YouTube (I blame my husband).  Sam can watch for hours - which is why YouTube has now been removed from the ipad - but last night they were in their room, and had set up toys across the desk.  I could hear them in there practicing their own reviews.  I was laughing out loud listening to my little Sammy describe the toy and what it does - and then you would hear him say "oh look, my brother Jake just came in" like he was introducing Jake into the mix now.  Crazy what these kids pick up at such a young age.  

Mike kept asking me if I was going to go down and quilt.  I needed to - it would have been a perfect night, fairly early, kids were playing well, but I just stayed in bed watching my West Wing, pausing the video to listen to my kids play together.  When it was time for bed - I didn't mind one bit that Sam wanted to sleep in my bed last night.  We snuggled up together and he said "Sure do love you mom".  

Days like this are the best part of being a mom.  I wish I could bottle up these days and keep them forever.  I wish I could be at home with them all day everyday.  Cause you blink and they are grown up - or in really bad moods the next day!  

The joys of motherhood.  

Baby Tickle Quilt

This is one of the first quilt kits I ever bought.  It has pieces from Paris Flea Market from the first release which was about 9 years ago!  I bought it during the first Shop Hop I attended when I got into sewing.

I liked this kit because I was only sewing squares together at the time - and this kit was for rectangles!  It also had chenille in it which was so new to me and had such fun texture.  

So 9 or so years later - I decided to whip up this kit and get it done.  I worked on it when we were in California last month and finally got it bound last week.  

The back was a fun big yellow gingham from an old 3 Sisters collection.  Can't remember which one.  And the binding - love a good gingham binding!

Quilt Stats:

Quilt Fabric: Paris Flea Market

Longarm Pattern: Tickle 

Linking up to Freshly Pieced

Patchwork Chevron

Life has been busy - work is busy, quilting a lot, kids are always busy.  I sometimes feel like I don't have a minute to veg anymore.  BUT this week at work we had meetings which I should have traveled to, but Jake had a program that I wasn't going to miss - so instead of traveling to the meetings, I've been sitting on conference call/webex meetings for 10 hours every day this week!  I decided I needed something mindless to do during the calls so I would stay involved and pay attention - and isn't binding perfect for that? 

 

So I 've been binding up a storm and have a few finishes to show in the next week.  As I said the week has been busy - so pictures aren't great. 

 

I picked this quilt to show first because it is one of my favorites and I'm so glad to call it done! 

I finished the top last year when my friend Ann and I did our sewing retreat.  We both made one.  It is a quick quilt to put together.  I think the results are bold and fun!  I have seen this quilt done in varies lines and looks - and want to copy each and everyone I see! 

 

I quilted this in my early stages of the new machine - and loved the look of the quilting on the solid grey French General fabric. 

 

Quilting Stats:

Quilt Pattern - Patchwork Chevron from Moda Bake Shop

Fabric Line - Moda French General Rouenneries Deux

Longarm Quilting Pattern - Flights of Fancy

 

Love this quilt and so glad to have it done! 

 

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict

 

Updates

We had a busy weekend -

- pedicure with my mother in law
- spent all day Saturday quilting - got 5 done
- Sunday was spent cleaning and quilting - 2 more completed!

Practicing my channel lock quilting

- Made these Oatmeal Chocolate chip bars from Pinterest - may be the best recipe I've found so far!
- busy week at work - got a few quilts bound while on an all day conference call

 

 

 

- Long days at work hopefully mean a few more quilts bound this week! 

 

Here's to a few finishes!

 

Bloggers Quilt Festival

I love the Bloggers Quilt Festival because there are so many amazing quilts entered.  This festival is pure eye candy and something I look forward to all year.  

I decided to enter my Lucky Stars quilt in it this year.  It is one of my most recent finishes and was a true labor of love.  

I started this quilt in November 2011 at the first ever quilt getaway my friend and I had.  This was the last project I started that weekend and I got about 10 blocks done.  But I was smitten.  

I loved the pattern, the fabrics, stars - I had been obsessed with this quilt for a few months before I started so I was thrilled to get working on it.

Once I came home - the quilt got put away - and was not seen again for a year!  How could I have done that to this beautiful quilt?  So I pulled it out in November 2012 and was determined to get it done before Christmas.  Although this line was a Christmas line, I don't think it screams Christmas.  I could be a great addition to the house during Christmas, but these are my colors - so I also feel it will be used year round.  

I was so thrilled to get the quilt top completed - in January of 2013 and the quilting followed shortly after.  I FINALLY got it bound on a business trip a month or so ago.  A year in a half in the making....at least it is done.  Usually I fall out of love with quilts that take me this long - but not this one.  I loved it all the way through.  

This backing fabric was my favorite print in the line.  I love it with the paisley and the roses.  This quilt was a joy to work on.  I love this pattern - it is easy enough assembly, yet I think very striking with the results.  I may have to make another quilt in this pattern.

Quilt Stats:

Quilt Pattern - Lucky Stars by Atkinson Desgins

Fabric - Grace by 3 Sisters for Moda

Quilting Pattern - Floral Wave by Anne Bright

Pieced - by me

Quilted - by me  - Latimer Lane Quilting

Thanks Amy for the fun festival - can't wait to see all the other quilts!

Client Quilts

I haven't been as good at taking pictures lately of my quilts because I've had so much going on!  I thought I would share a small selection of the quilts I have been keeping track of.  

The first two quilts are cute baby strip quilts.  I love a good strip quilt and these ones were so cute!  

This client is easy and didn't care which patterns I chose.  I thought they would look great with some geometric shaped ones.   So we chose Spiral Squares for this one.  I especially love how these turned out on the back with the soft minky!  Love the way they look.

The next one was similar and we used Geometric on this one.  

And the look on the back - with minky - I think this pattern always turns out great!

These next 2 quilts were from a new client.  I was so excited to work on this one cause it was a new pattern for me to try! 

She chose Color Me which was perfect for this quilt and quilted out so nice!  Below is a picture of the back where you can see the crayons and the writing of Crayon on them.  This is a great pattern for those teacher gifts!

Her next quilt is hard to see the quilting - we used Cotton Seed.  I loved this quilt.  I'm a sucker for stars.  This line is called Spa by Deb Strain and I wanted to head to the spa after working on this quilt - just makes you feel relaxed and tranquil!

These next 3 quilts I had a hard time giving back.  This client and I have very similar tastes in fabric and pattern selection - and I loved each one of these quilts!

This one I love everything about and want to make myself a quilt of my own exactly like it!

We chose the Vickies Feather and it turned out great.  I try not to pick favorites - but this is up there.  This line Chocolate by 3 Sisters for Moda was one of my all time favorites - so hard not to love everything about this quilt!  My favorite part of her piecing is not only is it perfect but that she uses different backgrounds for each block.  Love the scrappiness of this quilt.

This quilt above is again - a fun scrappy quilt.  All different lines/colors/backgrounds which add so much character.  The scrappy border was so fun too.  She wanted a simple pattern so she chose Meander and it looked great.  Perfect time of year to be wrapping up this quilt!

This last quilt - was a fall quilt which I love fall - so fun to work on.  

She chose Harvest Time which turned out just perfect for this quilt.  A close up of the quilting - it has pumpkins, leaves, and gourds.  Love this pattern for fall!

This last picture was taken at 2am so lighting not good using my phone - so kind of fuzzy - but I love this quilt.  I want to recreate one.  Perfect pattern, perfect fabrics.  

Pattern is Pow Wow by Cluck Cluck Sew.  I love the greens, blues, and orange fabrics she chose.  This will be on my to do list!  She chose Spiral Squares for the quilting which you can't see well in this picture but turned out great.  

And that is just a little of what I've been doing the last few weeks!  Quilt market was in town last week.  I took a few custom classes that I'm so excited about and bought a few new patterns.  I've updated my pinterest board - so go take a look at the new additions!

Motherhood

Source: wallsneedlove.com via Abby on Pinterest

I've been getting in some quality time with these two this weekend - its been a great couple of days.  Need to remind myself to do this more often!

Menu Mondays

I've been in the mood to try some new recipes lately.  I tried this one last week and it was really good.  So I'm going to keep it going and try a few new ones again this week.

Monday - French Dip Crescents  (quickly becoming a family favorite) w/ fruit
Tuesday - Chicken Tortilla Stack
Wednesday - Pesto Tilapia w/noodles and fruit
Thursday - Mini Tacos Cups
Friday - Pizza Cupcakes
Saturday - Spaghetti w/salad and garlic bread

Menu Mondays

Its been awhile - but I'm back and back in the game.....  Here's to another week...

Monday - Pesto Chicken/Salad/Fruit
Tuesday - Sour Cream Noodle Bake
Wednesday - French Dip
Thursday - Pizza
Friday - Chicken Pot Pie Cupcakes

Strawberry Fields Brick Quilt

I've decided I have NO creativity at all when it comes to naming my quilts - none.

But I do have a completed quilt to show - and I feel like its been so long in the making!

I finished this quilt top in July of 2011.  Using this great pattern from the Moda Bake Shop Finally got around to quilting it in November 2012 - and completed the binding on the plane ride to California last week.

I love this quilt - I love this fabric line - Strawberry Fields by Fig Tree.  Probably my all time favorite Fig Tree line.  I used the pinky gingham for the binding and love it!

When I did quilt it I was so excited to get it done - it was one of the first handful of quilts I quilted up and we were playing with patterns.  The Rose Panto pattern was so big - 22 inches - and we left it that way.  A great lesson for me to learn to pay attention to the sizing of patterns!  I loved the rose - but think it would have looked better a bit smaller.  

I still love this quilt - the bright fun cheery colors - perfect for spring and just in time to go up on my quilt rack.  I'm so happy its done.

Linking up to Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Crazy Mom Quilts

I'm Still Kicking

I can't believe its been so long since my last post!  Things have been a bit crazy here in the Latimer household.  

Had a little vacation, had a little business trip - been a lot of quilting going on - doing a lot of living with no time left for blogging!

I did take a few projects on my trip and got some binding done - so have a completed quilt to show this week - and I finished a few tops.

But tonight I am finishing a big ole quilt - and am so tired - I'll have to get caught up this weekend with a few posts.  

In other big news - we've got Sam sleeping with in his own bed - it might not last all night, and every so often he ends up with a friend - but I'm ok with that....

Aren't they so cute when they are sleeping?  

I gotta get off to bed myself!