Showers

Younger daughter is getting married in May and older daughter flew out from Colorado this weekend to host a bridal shower for her. 
 
Today's party was sandwiched between a trip to ER (Rachel fell in the parking lot at Target and thought she broke her ankle. Turned out to be just a bad sprain) and a leaky roof in my craft room when that other kind of shower became surprisingly heavy. 

But the afternoon was a lot of fun. We had fancy (and delicious) cake - 
 
and finger food - 
 
with family - 
 
 
and friends.

We played games, including one Rachel devised called "Dress the Bride" 
 
that involved a craft kit, tissue paper and whatever the individual teams had in their purses. 
 
Marie had to pick a winner based on which one looked most like her. Lots of laughter and ingenuity. 

I may have to stock up on those kits, to have them on hand for the next family party. 
Marie's little helper arrived in time to help open the last few gifts  
and star in a nice round of "Pass the Baby".

Congrats to Marie and Scott. Now it's on to Vegas!

Star Light, Star Bright

Star #3 is finished. Finally.
 
It would have been done days ago, but anything I could possibly mess up, I did mess up. Had to go back to the quilt shop and buy more fabric to finish the inner section. But it's not all bad - I actually like the light fabric better than the original.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Cupcakes

Auntie Rie-Rie made cupcakes today but left the icing for the little girls to do. 
Leia - as expected - spent more time eating the icing than putting it where it belonged.
Naia was grossed out that Leia was putting the knife in her mouth, then back on the cupcakes.
Made me laugh - wasn't so long ago it would have been Naia doing that. But she's all grown up now (just ask her.)
 
Both girls ended up wearing a fair amount of frosting. Leia decorated her own face. 
Naia, on the other hand, was being waaaaaaay too neat.
So grandma gave her a little assist with a friendly tap on the nose. 
Took her awhile to figure out what was going on. . . .

Mr. T

Travis and his mommy came to visit today. 
Look how big he's getting! At his recent 3 month check-up, he was up to 12 pounds, 12 ounces.
 
I managed to tease a couple of smiles out of him, although with gastric reflux (ouch!) and a possible tooth coming in, he was justifiably cranky most of the afternoon.
 
But he did enjoy seeing the little humans who live here. He seemed almost as fascinated by them as they were by him.
 
Even Uncle Gary came down to visit and ended up serenading us with his newest composition. 
As soon as he started playing, Leanne was absolutely transfixed. 
She stayed this way, with a little time out for dancing, the entire time the guitar was out. I'm thinking she may be my future musician? 

I know this video of the bigger girls dancing is pretty dark, but I'm going to post it anyway, mainly for the part - at about 20 seconds - where Leanne takes a few steps. 
 
She's going to be a terror on wheels legs in another few days.  (The video's a little bit easier to see if you view it full screen'.)

Hello, Spring

We were a day early, but it was so gorgeous yesterday that we couldn't resist taking the little girls to Gardens of the World to celebrate spring's arrival.

  

Leanne loved being in her stroller,

showing off her new shoes, 
 
and being taken anywhere she wanted to go by cousin Leia.
 
We took a lap around the entire park, 
 
stopping to do a bit of baby wrangling (aka "pictures with flowers"),
and to admire the waterfalls, 
 

 fountains,

 

formal gardens,

 

tunnels! (Leia's very favorite part)

 
and flowers in bloom. 
 

Leia inspected Archie's mouth, 

 
and practiced posing for the camera.

 
Gardens of the World is the perfect size for little girls - plenty of room to roam, lots of well-spaced attractions, and no need to be super quiet or watch where you're going. 
 
I think we'll be back again soon.  

Star Bright

The second of my 13 stars is done -Leia helped me pick out the colors (from the 10 or so that were in my kit.) I think she did an exceptional job. Love how bright and cheerful this is. And it goes well with the first star. I've already picked out the fabrics for star #3; can you still I'm well and truly hooked on this project?

Someone asked about paper-piecing, so here's a short(ish) pictorial: 

Fabric #1 and #2 are lined up with the pattern, 
sewn, 
 
seam pressed open
 
and excess fabric trimmed.
 
Repeat for fabrics #3 and #4 (the blue background fabric) -
 
For #5, add a few stars to the mix -
 
Then #6, which Leia especially loved' -
  
And finally, #7 adds a little pink 'punch'. 
Sew quarters into halves - 
and halves into one whole. 
And . . . . Presto! Quilting magic.