Baby Log Cabin Variation Quilt Top

These are the 2 quilt tops I made for my new niece and nephew. Very simple to make, you just have to know how to sew a straight line. Yes, it's that easy! I didn't have to buy any fabric to make these, I had everything in my fabric stash! Approx size of finished quilt top is 45"x36".

I went with pinks and purples for Alexa and blues and greens for Braiden. You could make this with 2 different colors, or make each row something different. I am sure there are several different ways to pick a theme.



I am going to use the pink and purple color theme for the tutorial.

Material Needed:

Pinks
2- 4.5 x 4.5 squares
2- 12.5 x 4.5 strips
2- 20.5 x 4.5 strips
2- 28.5 x 4.5 strips
2- 36.5 x 4.5 strips

Purples
1- 4.5 x 4.5 square
2- 12.5 x 4.5 strips
2- 20.5 x 4.5 strips
2- 28.5 x 4.5 strips
2- 36.5 x 4.5 strips

1. Using a 1/4 inch seam allowance, sew pink squares to purple to form the center of the quilt. Press seams to one side.

2.Sew 12.5 x 4.5 purple strips to center strip.

3. Sew 12.5 x 4.5 pink strips to bottom and top of block.

4. Continue sewing strips in size order, starting with purple until quilt top is finished.

With several distractions, it only took me about 3 hours to cut the pieces and sew them together to make 1 quilt top. They go together pretty fast! This would probably make a easy quilt to finish for the Linus Project!

This up coming week, I will be finishing the quilts and I will post another tutorial on how to finish them.

More Babies!!

We had some excitement 2 weeks ago Wednesday!! My sister, who was pregnant with twins, delivered her babies!! She has had a very hard pregnancy, there were several foods she couldn't eat and was still getting sick after eating. Last Wednesday, she called me to tell me she was having severe cramps and didn't know what to do. (She had a scheduled doctor's appointment 30 minutes from then.) I told her the babies were probably laying on her wrong or tumbling around. She went to the doctor and he determined that she was in labor!! We were all in shock!! She was only 25 weeks pregnant (out of 40)!! The doctor told her to drive to the local hospital, about 10 minutes away, and a helicopter would be waiting to take her to the University of Cincinnati Hospital (about 35 minutes away by car). She arrived at the local hospital and the babies decided not to wait!! She was in full blown labor, right there in the emergency room entrance. The helicopter didn't even have time to arrive yet, nor the delivery doctor. The hospital staff had to do an emergency C-Section!

They took the little boy out first and he stopped breathing, we are not sure of how long. They were able to resuscitate him. My mom was in the hall and said it looked like a scene from a movie. They have the boy on the gurney, running down the hall while massaging his heart and pumping the bag ventilator on his face. He was rushed immediately to Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati. (Children's was full, so that's why he went to Good Sam)

The girl was a little better off, but not by much. My sister, Tara, was able too see her and touch her before she was rushed off to Good Sam also.

The babies weighed in a less than 2 pounds (900 grams) each!! Neither one of the babies were expected to make it through the night! Everything was such a flash, we couldn't believe it was happening!!

Tara stayed in the local hospital for 2 days while her babies were in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Good Sam (again about 35 minutes by car). Tara is doing well physically, but not coping well well emotionally. WE are in the process of trying to find a support group for her.

After the babies made it through the night, she gave them names! My nephew is Braiden Asher and my niece is Alexa Kristine. They are currently still struggling in the NICU, but no longer struggling to live! Alexa has fluid on her brain (used to be known as "water on the brain") and is recovering from a collapsed lung. Braiden has some breathing issues and has a turned in leg that will require therapy.

I was sick when the babies were born, so I didn't get to see them until they were a week old. I took lots of pictures of them!


Alexa


Braiden


I have already made them some outfits for micro preemies and their first quilt! I will post the quilts later in the week along with the tutorial. They are going to be the best dressed babies in the NICU as soon as she gets the green light to dress them!!

Jaiden's Graduation

Jaiden had her preschool graduation last Saturday. It was very nice, but is was so hot! Her school doesn't have air conditioning and when you pack 50 people in a small room, it gets hot! I have been trying to post the video of her graduation but, it is taking forever to upload. I tried putting it on you tube, but it exceeds the 10 minute time limit. I am still trying to figure something out.

I made Jaiden's dress and had to pat myself on the back. I am so happy about how well it turned out! I am working on creating a PDF to share the pattern I made.

Fredia the Fundrasier

I feel like "Fredia the Fundraiser" right now. I baked 36 Sesame Street cupcakes for a bake sale at Jaiden's church for a Haiti Fundraiser, I ("and Jaiden") raised $190 for a trike-a-thon for Jaiden's school that supported St. Jude, and I have baked 60 cinnamon rolls for a business expo Jaiden is participating in at my mother's school. I am just in fundraising mode right now!

My Cookie Monster cupcakes need a lot more practice, but I thought I'd share them any way. I cheated and used store bought icing and used coloring to tint the icing. For the fur, I used tip #233 and for the eyes, I used tips #12 and #18. Cookie Monster's mouth is an Oreo cookie cut in half. I also made Elmo, Oscar, and Big Bird cupcakes, but I didn't get a picture of them.

The kids had a lot of fun riding their bikes at school! The teachers had a drink and snack station set up for the kids and a toy gas pump. Here's a little video of the trike-a-thon. Jaiden is in the hot pink helmet.

Happy, Happy Birthday, to You!!

Today is Arya's 3rd birthday! Time is just flying by! After 3 short hours of labor and a bunch of pain, Arya was born after 5 in the afternoon.

Ryan and I were having a hard time trying to find a name for her. We both wanted something unusual, but couldn't decide. I was in love with the name Araya (A-ray-ah)and was trying different ways of spelling it when I came up with Arya. It is a combination of both Ryan's and my name. I fought with Ryan to put a "H" on the end of her name, but he was really against it. I wish I would have listened to myself and put it there anyway, then maybe people wouldn't have such a hard time trying to pronounce her name. (Oh, well, I guess it goes with choosing an unusual name!) Arya's name is pronounced A-RYE-AH, not "area".

Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my little girl!!!

Tubby Little Snowman

One day, Jaiden started singing this song to me and I thought it was so cute! I had never heard it before. Last night we were down at my grandmonther's house and I asked her to sing it for me.

Here's Jaiden's singing debut:

Enough is Enough!!

It snowed, it's snowing, and it will snow! We got our first round of snow last Friday with another round yesterday and today, we are getting round three. The news is also predicting a round four to come through on Sunday with more "significant snow". We easily have over a foot (0.3m)of snow already on the ground. Ryan used the snow blower last night when we got a break in the snow, and an hour later, you really couldn't see when he worked. This really is an unusually high amount of snow for us.

I am staying inside cleaning and baking. The girls are getting cabin fever because it's just too cold to allow them to go out and play. My utility bill will be high again this month due to the very cold temps!

This is the amount of snow piled up on my outdoor table.


This is the side of the snow path where Ryan just plowed.


Can you find the girls' Barbie jeep?


This is what one of our cars looked like yesterday afternoon. It had been cleaned off from the last snow.


This is our grill.


Can you find the two lane road in front of my house?


This is the tree in my front yard.


This is a special treat for all of those who do not get snow.

It's My Birthday

I am celebrating my birthday today! I plan on taking it easy and not cooking today! Last night, Ryan took me out for wings for my birthday dinner and we went to the antique mall. Tonight, my in-laws are taking me out for dinner. My mom and grandmother always pay to have my license tags renewed for my birthday.

The picture above is from when I got my birthday spanking in kindergarten. Gotta love the knee socks that match my dress! As I'm typing this, just thought how there would be no way schools could do this now! We've come a long way in some areas, but have boxed ourselves in, in a lot of areas!

Also, just wanted to thank everyone for the birthday cards!

Another Interesting Week!

It has been another long and busy week! The whole family has been down with a violent stomach flu. It started last week with my sister and BIL and then filtered to my grandmother to us. My MIL even got it from the kids on Saturday. It is the worst stomach flu I've had in almost 5 years! I am going to weigh myself today to see how much I lost. It's a horrible way to lose weight, but I'll take it!

We are also in the planning stages of rearranging our house. Eight years is long enough to go without a shower! We have been planing on installing one, it's not just as easy as replacing the bath tub. If you've read any of my other posts about the house, you'll know that our current bathroom is built under the stairs that lead up to our bedrooms. It is impossible for Ryan to stand up straight in there, so putting a shower in the current bathroom is not an option. I think we have come up with a solution of knocking down walls and removing our front porch. I'll post full plans when we nail something down.

Over this past week, my camera has gone missing. Arya is known for taking things and hiding them. We thoroughly searched her room last night, and came up empty. She has hid it good!! my birthday is Sunday, so hint, hint, maybe I'll get a new one.

On the subject of missing, Nutmeg went missing again. Last Wednesday, she left the house at 8 A.M. to go on her morning roaming adventure. She never returned. By Friday, I was getting worried. We put up posters and checked the local animal shelter. It was like she disappeared in thin air. The beauty salon across the street, told me Saturday, they saw some man pick Nutmeg up on Wednesday and carry her off. Nutmeg is just too friendly and will let anyone pick her up. She was wearing tags and is micro chipped, my only hope was he was an honest person. Nutmeg is allowed to roam because she comes back and comes in at night. A ton of people walking by thinks she is lost and want to take her. Anyway, we did end up fining her up at the shelter Saturday afternoon and it cost $30 to "bail" her out. I was okay with the cost because of all the animal shelter does, but upset because someone even picked her up in the first place. I know "he" thought he was trying to do the right thing by taking a "lost" cat to the shelter, but cats do roam and she was wearing tags!

Now to end the week, my dad called me Monday to tell me that my stepmom's daughter was found dead on Saturday. She was my stepmom's only child and my stepmom is, of course, fairly upset. I have only met the daughter twice, but I am hurting for my stepmom. My dad and stepmom have been together over 13 years, so my dad is hurting also because he has been in her life since the daughter was 13. So, a funeral will wrap up my week on Friday.

I am so hoping for a much better week next week!!

Cute Story

Ryan is fast becoming a huge fan of country music, so when he drives, we listen to country. There is this song called "Chicken Fried" by The Zac Brown Band. If you listen to country, I'm sure you know it because they play it on the channel Ryan listens to about 5 times a day. Anyway, it goes, "I like chicken fried. Cold beer on a Friday night. A pair of pants that fit just right. And, the radio up."

Jaiden has taken a big liking to this song and goes around singing it, but we changed the "beer" lyric to juice. Yesterday, she asked me to play the song for her on my computer. I went to you tube and started the video. She goes, "Why is Uncle Ryne singing on the computer?" She thought for sure the lead singer, Zac Brown, was her Uncle Ryne, my BIL! I of course called my sister and she told me that they have heard this from other people before. I told Jaiden to make sure she has Uncle Ryne sing the song for her next time she see him! It's just so cute what kids think and see!!

Here's the video:


Here's Uncle Ryne:

Beauty Shop, to the Next Level

Last night, while Ryan and I are watching some TV, the girls decided to take their beauty shop role playing to a whole new level! Arya came downstairs to show me her new hair style, then we called Jaiden down. I could not believe my eyes! My girls took their long pretty hair and chopped it to look like little boys!

Arya apparently stole my scissors from my sewing desk and then handed them over to Jaiden. So, Jaiden is responsible for the majority of the cutting. I was so mad!I know all little kids go through this, but I'm still upset! I think they got off fairly easy on punishment and should be thankful considering how mad I was! Neither one of them is allowed TV during bed time for a week, they will, without question or argument, allow me to put ribbons and barrettes in their hair (they hate them), and no family movie night this week.

Here is Arya just one week ago on New Year's Eve.


This is Arya now:






This was Jaiden New Years:


This is Jaiden now!

2009: In Review

I told Jaiden that I wanted to get a video if her saying "Happy New Year" to everyone and of course she agreed. It was her idea to introduce herself and decide to say her ABCs. I think they are all too cute not to post!







Well, when I think back over the past year, a lot has happened here!

In February, Nutmeg adopted us.

In March, I became an aunt!

In April, Nutmeg surprised us with 4 kittens.

In May, we began siding our house.

In June, I started successfully selling my products at a farmer's market, our dog attacked Stormy, and my grandmother fell, breaking her clavicle.


In July, Ebie and Dargo came into our lives.


In August, we took in a pregnant stray, Peaches, so we give her kittens a home after they were born.


In September, we finally got to take a family vacation to Myrtle Beach, Peaches had the kittens, and we put Daisy down due to arthritis, old age, and behavior.


Luckily, the rest of the year had been pretty quiet for us!

Both Jaiden and Arya have grown so much over the last year! Just look at the pictures for last Christmas and this Christmas:





From the Red Mommy Family to yours, HAVE A GREAT NEW YEAR!!!