Hand quilted pink baby quilt, finished!

Finally finished. Its my first hand quilted baby quilt. It was so relaxing to sit and watch some mindless tv in the evenings and quilt away on the couch. This is far better than sitting hunched at the table over the machine.

I wasn't sure if I had enough fabric to bind it, but luckily enough I found some in my shelf that had fallen behind some books. Huzzah!

This one, like the other, is also for sale. $60. You can email me at jamesblonde85 at gmail. Also you can follow my instagram jamesblonde85 #mirandaquilts to see more works in progress.

Spur of the moment Adventures

This morning we started out with only the library in mind. There were brand new books we had put on hold that were ready. We grabbed a couple more since we were there, while waiting for a bus home, I realized it was a perfect day to visit Tony in Vancouver and grab lunch.

We turned around and caught the skytrain downtown. Mr Sassypants decided to sit beside me on the not so crowded train and then turn around and shout SKYTRAIN at the people behind us. Letting them know what we were riding, check!

This one wanted to stand and hold the bar like big people. She was thrilled that I let her. Bus pass tucked in her pocket and everything.

We met up with Tony near his work and headed to a vietnamese place for lunch.

Noodles and tea for everyone! 

They both had to try eating with chopsticks. Might even get them some childrens ones to learn on.

This one was starving and ate Tonys bean sprouts.

Our trip meant that nap time was skipped. They were content to watch a new Max and Ruby DVD from the library and relax on the couch.

Its now 7:41 pm and they are exhausted and grumpy. I think Lucas might be asleep on the couch already.

Oh, and I have to show you all the pot holder I finished.

TA DA!

Since I'll be hand quilting Mikaela's chevron quilt, I need to practice. This batting was not easy, its not fluffy and thick, its weird and metallic and has fuzz on it. I hope it goes through the wash ok. I like these wonky stars. I foresee a quilt in them definitely.

5 things happening lately

Im terrible at keeping this stuff up, but I should. I've been tempted to start a new blog. Need a change and all that.

1. What have we been up to lately? Well, besides the pink quilt, I've been working on 2 other small baby quilts and my sisters quilt. Its too big for me to use my machine on, so I'm going to hand quilt it. Waiting on supplies so I can test it out on one of my small ones. The site I ordered from said it was shipped. Ya, I ordered my quilting thread and stuff online. It was a pain in the rear to try and colour match my fabric to the tiny swatch on my screen. Never do that. I'm hoping I got colours I can use.  Give me some credit though, I did try a quilt shop in Abbotsford, and they looked at me like I was nuts when I asked them about the size of quilting thread that I wanted. The sweet old lady told me to hit up the yarn store. I had no time, so that was out. Oh well.

2. Sadie had a speech therapy follow up appointment. It went really well. She's caught up now. Just needs to work on adding to her sentences, and saying "I" or "me" instead of third person.

3. We are going trick or treating again this year. Sadie will be an owl, and Lucas will be a teddy bear. Their costumes were really easy to make. Bought the teddy bear hood from superstore, added a bowtie to it and am going to paint his nose. Sadie has her owl wings and a toque from last winter that has an owl face on it. I'll give her rosy pink cheeks and or glitter too. Not doing extensive trick or treating though, just our street and a couple cul-de-sacs near us.

4. Got a bunch of fillings done. Ativan was really the best. I was so calm and relaxed. Tranquil even. I'm not as terrified anymore, and thats the best. I have a crown to do soon and a few more fillings. After the appointment, I walked like a astronaut on the moon, my knees felt really bendy. I took double the prescribed dosage though. Maybe that did the trick. I haven't been to the dentist in a few years, well, since I got married in 2007. Yeah..........I'm bad. I promise to go back now that we have decent dental coverage. Don't go and make your teeth so bad that you need a crown, just saying, they be expensive, even with coverage. It makes me sad.

5. We are trying to be better at using less heat this winter, so Tony found the window plastic kits at the place he volunteers at. They were really cheap. So after we did one together, I brought Beth up so she could help Tony with the rest. Why, because WWIII would have hit. We will never be a DIY couple, its not in the cards. The kits weren't the greatest (should have realized thats why they were so cheap). Ended up using extra packing tape to seal the deal yesterday after the kids rammed into the plastic and broke the tape seal. I hope this plastic crap helps.

So that's it for now. I'm gonna go make dinner. Good night :D

The pink scrappy baby / lap quilt

For the last little while I was determined not to buy new fabric for the little quilts I'd be making. I had yet to make a quilt like this, and it was exciting. Scraps of vintage sheets mixed in with some pink and white cottons I had laying around make up this little quilt.

Its a crib sized or lap sized. It turned out better than I expected, probably due to the fact that my walking foot came in the mail while I was working on piecing the top together. Its going to be up for sale.

I'm asking for $60. If you're interested in purchasing, email me at jamesblonde85 at gmail.com

If you're curious about what else I'm working on, I post my works in progress on Instagram under jamesblonde85 #mirandaquilts

Thunderstorm!

Recently, the kids got new boots and rain jackets, and what better way to test them out than during a thunderstorm! 

This one did not like thunder, he'd come running when he heard it, and he'd hug me, then he'd take off and play with his sister.

They only stayed outside for about 5-10 minutes, but it was enough to have lots of fun. 

Puddles were the best part.

lately

Its fall! Finally! Bring out the soups and stews and all things delicious that are baked in an oven.

I wish there were more thunder storms. We've had one really nice long one, and it was fantastic.

We've been baking bread and all things yeasty, and its been a delicious journey. I am no longer afraid of yeast recipes.

We've been reading a ton, even Lucas. The library is our friend.

I've been drinking through my tea collection. Quite proud of myself. I haven't bought any since spring, so its time for some warm spiced fall teas, and eventually the winter teas! I will be getting a tea advent calendar again, it was just too much fun last year.

Potty training Lucas was a big fail, but we still had a good weekend together just him and us. Sadie was at Nana and Papa's house having a blast and being spoiled.

I've almost finished 2 baby girl quilt tops. One will be hand quilted, the other will be done when my walking foot arrives and when I pick up some batting.

It got cold enough to pull out the feather duvet last night. I missed that thing, cause its totally like sleeping in a cloud.

Beach Evening

One evening, my parents spur of the moment decided to come out and take us to the beach. 

I underestimated how warm the water would be, and that my fish children would never want to leave.

Sadie was in the water as long as her chattering teeth would allow. 

This one was determined to pick everything off the beach and then put it back.

Papa schooled them on how to make sand castles.  

We picnic'ed and played until it started to get dark.

Papa's feet disappeared.

And then it was time to go home. She was sad to leave, but they both brought home a bucket of the shells they collected and I swear a ton of sand. It was our first ocean day this year -- so sad I know. I need to go more than once a year next year.

Berlin, the last of it (Part 3)

So one day, we decided to go out and see the Holocaust Memorial along with the other famous buildings in the area (there were 3 tourist attractions right together-awesome). Also, everyone in Berlin rides a bike. I would if I lived there, the bike lanes are huge and built on the sidewalk.

For the entire trip, he drank only coffee or beer. Yep, true story.

Also, if you go to Berlin and then want asian food, don't expect them to speak english at all. It will be either korean/mandarin or german. It was all just pointing at pictures and nodding yes or no, and hoping you got what you wanted. It was good though. I had pho and Tony had a duck something dish. His was better.

The really neat looking Brandenburg Gate. It was the former city gate, and was pretty damaged in the war, but has since been restored.

 So many tourists. Also, I went on a day where there was a Vegan protest. People dressed up like cute animals with signs promoting veganism.

I think that guy is a panda. 

Reichstag was another stop on our exploring adventure. It used to house their parliament. Pretty neat old building. Wishing we had gone inside. 

Crappy iphone pictures, but this was breakfast every morning at the hotel. So much delicious food. I had mini bratwursts with herbed eggs, and I swear 4-5 different amazing cheeses. I think I could live on cheese and bread there.

But as you can see, I still made sure to eat fruit and stuff too.

 So one one of my explorations alone I wandered into a grocery store. Currywurst is a big thing there, its their famous street food. Its a hotdog on top of french fries with ketchup and curry powder on top. Tony had it and was not impressed. So they also sell a lot of curry ketchup. I bought some and tried it. Also, not impressed. So don't go buying the currywurst out there, its disappointing.

While shopping I bought a snack. 2 small cheeses, and I had no idea what they were given that their names were in German. Creamy and very STINKY. I tried to get past the smell, but it was too hard. I ended up buying different lunch.

 It was really hot on my adventures, so I had mango ice cream and lemon ice cream. Lemon was fantastically tart, and the mango was perfect. It was hot all week long, around 29 degrees every day. After walking all day, it was nice to have AC to come back to at the hotel and an ice cream cone.

The Holocaust Memorial. The last of the three big tourist attractions that were grouped together. If I cared more, I would have better organized this blog post, but I just needed to get it done. 

These cement blocks are not supposed to be coffins like what you'd think, they are called Stelae and they are supposed to make you feel uneasy and confused. It represents what appears to be an ordered system that has lost touch with human reason. It was quite impressive to me.

We went through the exhibit beneath the Stelae which was incredible. I went through a phase where I found the holocaust interesting (when I was 13--yep, death phase or something), but a lot of my information was not close to what this had. It was very depressing, very real, and some of the stories and photos were heartbreaking. It was a lot to take in, but we were both very glad to have gone through it. I'd totally recommend this to anyone (no kids-that would be too tough).

Now on to more happier things that I saw. I went exploring through Hackescher Markt. They have a big outdoor market once a week, and it was so cool. I enjoyed browsing all the cute stalls of handmade toys, clothing and all the food. Pretty sure Hackescher Markt is dead center of Berlin. I bought some goodies there for the kids. I also hit up another huge flea market. It was neat, but hard to communicate with the older crowd who are less likely to speak english. 

The goodies! I especially love the bear. 

 The U-Bahn! Transit there was so nice compared to what we have out here. You could take transit anywhere, and it was decently priced. So quick. Oh I wish Vancouver would take a lesson from Europe and make improvements. I took the U-bahn to Senfelderplatz where a friend from Vancouver was staying. Crazy that our trips were overlapping. We got to visit and go shopping together before they headed home.

I almost forgot one of my favourite parts of exploring, the Berlin Wall. I never knew much about why there was a giant wall and why people were trying to get over it asap, but I learned a lot about it. I really do love history, always have. So the giant pieces are still there, and all along where part of the wall used to stand was information, memorials, and really neat pictures of people and tales of their escape to West Berlin.

It took a couple hours to get all the way through all the information, but it was well worth it for me to see.

One evening we went out for dinner in the Hackescher Markt area. The restaurants pretty much just set up outside and took up a large part of the street. There were no cars going through, so just a sea of tables. We got to sit and eat outside and watch street buskers (who were hilarious, one guy was a clown who mimicked passers by). Its not like your typical homeless guy with a guitar in vancouver. We were happy to enjoy the entertainment and eat dinner. 

I loved this neighbourhood because the buildings were all rainbow coloured. We had turkish food with Tony's boss that night. Turkish food is delicious. I need more of that in my life.

Things I loved about Germany:

-Such neat history, however depressing it could be sometimes
-Food - Typical German food was very meat and potatoes, but the sausages and dishes were very homey.
-Beer, I hate beer normally, but I would have a few sips here and there without gagging or anything, so I'm sure its awesome, Tony assures me its the best ever
-I loved that most everyone spoke English. It made things way less stressful for getting around
-I loved the transit
-Loved being immersed in a different place

The Rockies! It was terrifying to look out the windows of the plane rides, but towards the end I got used to it, and less scared. It was such a good feeling seeing these. I missed my babies so much, I was overjoyed to see them come home from Grandmas house. I also missed eating as many veggies as I do. Their traditional food had very little veggies. We were not used to that, and paid for it later.

So that was Berlin. It was a whirlwind adventure that has made me want to travel back to europe again soon.