Barclay Clan Adventures

Lovely Thanksgiving!

2011-11-28T13:38:00.000-07:00

We had a lovely Thanksgiving here in Utah with the Barclay side, hope you did wherever you spent your time!

This year we are grateful for much! Grateful for our family and loved ones, for the addition of Grant to our family. We are grateful for work, and the means to sustain our growing family. We are grateful for our testimonies is the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have been blessed!

There was no attempt to get a family picture at Thanksgiving, last year wasn't that successful. Maybe will try to get a candid one in the new few weeks.

We are grateful for little Joshua and Grant!

Love this face!

Here are a few shots of our feast!

It was a small group this year, just 15 of us. Babies and all!

Tye was done 5 minutes into the meal! He ended up falling asleep while Grandma held him.

Took a little walk with the kids after the meal! Evan, Eeva, and Dean

Yes, all the leaves are off the trees! But no snow on the ground yet.

Grant at 3 weeks!

2011-11-16T15:54:00.000-07:00

We've made it to three weeks for our Little Grant. Time has flown by, and it feels like he's been part of our family forever. We just love him, and he's such a good baby. Lots of eating, sleeping, and pooping! I rounded up some pictures of Evan and Dean at 3 weeks. They look like they could be related! Though I think Grant has more poundage on him then either Evan or Dean had.

Evan

Dean

Here are my three cute boys!! Evan at almost 5, Dean 3 and Grant 3 weeks.

Done with taking pictures, but wanted to show Grandma Balke her cute outfit on the little guy.

Elephants and Bikes Baby Quilt

2011-11-04T12:37:00.002-06:00

I guess I'm a softie for new babies and new quilts. Subsequently I've made a baby quilt for each of my boys. With each quilt my skills have improved.

Evan's quilt was a simple rag quilt where none of the corners matched up, but that quilt remains a favorite. Dean's quilt was simple strips that were sewn together. It was the first real binding I had ever done, and I tied the quilt with white baby yarn because I didn't have a sewing machine that could quilt. Fast forward 3 years and I have a better machine and I've made a lot more quilts.

So for this third baby quilt I wanted to do something great. Well the great ideas didn't come. All summer long as my belly grew I contemplated the baby quilt I wanted to make. I had seen the Michael Miller collection of fabric called zoologie that had animals, and another that had bikes. I couldn't decide which I liked better until the women at the fabric store said why not use both. So I bought up some fabric, and waited for the great pattern idea to come. And it came in the form of a pin on Pinterest. Nettie over at A quilt is nice did a Pips quilt that was layed out and quilted on the diagonal. What inspiration!! I loved the rounded corners too.

So I took my fabric and inspiration and made "elephants and bikes" as I'm calling this quilt. I learned that minkie is really hard to piece. And that basting a quilt while 9 months pregnant is never easy. But that when made with love anything is possible. I just love the way this quilt turned out and the little guy it was meant for.

I'm entering this quilt in the Blogger's Quilt Festival, I'm a first timer. It's a great way to see beautiful work out there! I'm #580.

May the Force Be With Us - Happy Halloween 2011

2011-11-02T16:22:00.001-06:00

The story behind our Halloween costumes.

Evan and Dean made up their minds back in March that they wanted to be Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader for Halloween (7 months away). We had been to Disneyland in February and they were enthralled with the Jedi Training Acadamy Show. Daddy had let them watch all 6 Star Wars Movies, and they loved them. And after the movies we had to make a run to Target for the $8.99 light sabers.

To top things off Volkswagen came up with this commercial.

It sealed the deal! And gave us inspiration for a great Darth Vader costume.

Here is 3 year old Dean as Darth Vader with his red light saber. We started with black sweat pants, and a black long sleeve shirt both super inexpensive at Wal-Mart. I made a black cape off of this on-line tutorial from Georgia Leigh. We then studied pictures of Darth Vader and came up with armor and chest box using fux leather and pleather. The big splurge was the Adult Size helmet/face mask. But we figured with 3 boys it's not going to be the last Darth Vader costume.

For Evan's Luke Skywalker, we pulled brown pants, shoes, and a Henley shirt from his closet. I modified a pajama shirt pattern and made a tunic out of muslin, and we shopped the local thrift store for a brown leather belt. I then followed this tutorial on how to make a Jedi Robe. Both robe and cape were out of sweat shirt material that we bought at JoAnn's fabric store with coupons. It was the right thickness and created nice flow and kept them warm.

Grandma was in town so it made for a fun night!

Grandma does lunch sack lanterns at her house for Halloween, so we thought we'd do a few, it was a cool way to great trick or treaters.

Still being somewhat new to Halloween they got tuckered out fast, but still came home with quite a bit of candy. We allowed 3 pieces and then put it up!

We can't forget our newest trick-or-treater. Mummy Loves Me. He will be forever linked with Halloween since his Birthday in only a week before.

Think we'll keep Him.

2011-11-02T14:49:00.000-06:00

Our sweet Grant is a week old! We are enjoying having him at home with us and we are trying to get use to having a baby around. Which means trying to be a lot more quite while he is sleeping. Luckily it appears as though for now he can sleep through quite a bit of noise.

Big brother Evan loves holding Grant.

First sponge bath at home. He didn't like being naked, but loved having the water washed over his head.

Dean and Evan had to get into the action.

Grandma Balke has been visiting us. Yea for Grandma!! She gives Evan and Dean the attention they need and is the magic fairy who has kept the dishes washed, laundry done, floor mopped, and so much more.

Grandma and her three Grandsons

Welcome Grant Duncan Barclay

2011-10-30T12:06:00.000-06:00

The big day came! For us to meet the little monkey that's been growing for the last 9 months. I had Jon take one last picture of me and my belly. After changing into a hospital gown, answering a million and one questions I walked into the Operating Room around 6:45am, and our third boy was born at 7:06am.

Grant Duncan Barclay

8 pound 6 ounces - 20.5 inches long

Love at first sight and sound.

The first snuggles with Mommy.

Meeting Big brothers Evan and Dean. They were very curious of what he'd look like.

My three boys!

Evan's happy to have another little brother. We are learning how to be a little more quite and hold the baby softly.

Grandma Balke sent some beautiful flowers, it's what each new mommy needs, while she is in the Hospital.

Lots of sleeping, it's a good sign.

Many more pictures will be taken in the next few weeks and we'll make sure to share some of them! We love the new addition to our family!

New love, fresh pasta!

2011-10-21T17:13:00.000-06:00

I might have found a new love. Fresh Home Made Pasta! (Don't roll your eyes at me, it's really good) So I've been borrowing my friend Michelle's pasta roller and it's great and all, but I think she got sick of me asking, so I took my Birthday money (that was originally earmarked for new clothes) and bought a pasta machine!!!

Look what the UPS man brought me!! I went for the Imperia (Italian made) version. I just figured why not! It came with a few extra do dads so that was nice.

And of course I had to try it out and make pasta for dinner. I did spaghetti and meatballs for my sweet husband. His favorite!

Really impressed with this roller, it worked really well and gave me nice sheets of pasta that I then cut into spaghetti. I don't have a drying rack so I hung them over a towel on the chair. (after making sure the dog was outside.)

What's for dinner tonight at your house. I might just be making more pasta!

What have you been doing the last month?

2011-10-21T17:01:00.000-06:00

What have you been doing the last month? We'll we've been busy at work trying to get our basement finished before Monkey #3 comes. Which has included tons of hours put in by Jon getting all the electrical done, and then hiring out the drywall. It's been a work in progress.

It was a huge mess while they were working, luckily they cleaned it up!

The stairway down seemed to be the most challenging part.

And now the work is back on us to paint, and paint, and paint. Don't know what number trip I'm on to Home Depot for paint.

But wow, it's going to be awesome when it's done!! Carpet is ordered, and now we just need to finish painting!

Halloween Trick or Treat Bags

2011-09-19T14:07:00.001-06:00

Halloween is approaching fast (if you can't tell by all the costumes at Target), about 6 weeks to be exact. I've very aware because I have a baby coming in 5. I've had a few friends ask about my Halloween Trick or Treat bags and what it takes to make them. Yes you can do it! It's not hard and you'll have them year after year! Last year I made 4 trick or treat bags. On ginormous one that (would be great for a big boy looking to get a ton of candy), and three normal sized ones that work great for the little ones. (Ages 2-12) They were a custom job for a dear friend in California. I'm sorry to say I didn't really work off of a pattern, and just made it up as I went. So I've gone back and figured out the measurements and cuts.

For the particular bag pictured above I have a sort of Log Cabin layout. One large rectangle with 2 inch pieces around.

So from various Halloween prints cut out the following pieces for the front of the bag:
#1 - 6.5" x 8.5"
#2 - 2.5" x 8.5"
#3 - 2.5" x 8.5"
#4 - 2.5" x 10.5"
#5 - 2.5"x 10.5"
#6 - 2.5"x 12.5"
#7 - 2.5"x 12.5"
#8 - 2.5"x 14.5"
#9 - 2.5" x14.5"
#10 - 3.5"x16.5" (edge piece, this looks good in black)
#11 - 3.5"x 16.5"(edge piece, this looks good in black)
#12 - 2.5"x 20.5"(edge piece, this looks good in black)
#13 - 4.5"x 20.5" (edge/bottom piece, this looks good in black)

For the back which can be solid black or your favorite print cut one 20.5"x22.5" piece.
******* Now if your thinking all the piecing is just not going to happen you can cut a front piece 20.5"x22.5" and skip all the piecing and just go to assembly.

For the lining cut 2 pieces of 20.5"x22.5"

For the handle cut 1 - 5.5"x width of fabric piece. Then cut that in half, leaving you with two 5.5"x about 21" pieces.

For the Fusible Fleece Interfacing cut 2 - 20.5"x22.5" pieces, and cut 2 - 5.5"x21" pieces.

Start sewing! All seam allowances are 1/4 inch. It is all straight lines, so go for it and just sew them in numerical order. 1,2,3,4,5..... and so on. In no time you'll have the front all pieced to the back.

Then align your front and back pieces and sew along the edges and bottom. Leaving the top open.

Fuse the interfacing pieces to the lining pieces and then do the same for the lining pieces, sewing along the edges and bottom.

Suzanne over at Just Another Hang Up has done some great bag tutorials and I've taken a lot of pointers from her. She did a Lil' Girl Springtime tote and had really good pictures of how to do the handle and put the bag together. So I'm going to have you go over there and start at step #14 for putting the bag together and then go back to step #2-5 for the handle. I like my handles a little wide so if yours looks wide that is why. I just think it works with little hands while they are trying to carry and put candy in the bags.

Suzanne also has a great Halloween tote bag following her Lil' Girl tote.
Other Great Tutorials include: Cluck Cluck Sew , Barefoot in the Kitchen (this one is a bit over the top because it's a pumpkin shape but still cute), Krista Maurer (my only concern on this one is the felt, it doesn't wash up as well and can stretch out making it not last as long, but I love the bats!)

Once you've sewed all the pieces and turned it inside out make sure to close up the lining and then put a finishing seam along the top. It reinforces the handles and gives it a nice finished look.

There you go, it shouldn't take too long, but give your self some time and please feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions.

Here are my boys enjoying their bags I made now 2 years ago.

Last year I also took the same idea and did some Christmas bags for another friend with slightly different fronts but similar idea. It was really fun. Get creative and have fun sewing!

Airplane Baby Shower

2011-09-11T18:29:00.000-06:00

Yea for baby showers! With their first baby due sooner then later we threw a baby shower for Anna and Scott. Scott is a pilot and so Anna thought it would be cute to make it airplane themed.

On the menu was a Spinach Braid, Fruit Kebabs, Veggie tray, Mini Strawberry Shortcakes with Chocolate shavings, Kettle Corn, and Ice water with Lemon. Everything was a hit!

The cute mama to be Anna. Don't worry your body will go back to some what normal.

The two of us. We needed to capture us with our bellies. Because when these boys are 20 we'll look back and think fondly of the summer we were both pregnant.

Anna with her Mom and sister.

When Grandma comes to town!

2011-09-11T18:14:00.000-06:00

We were lucky over Labor Day to have Grandma Balke come and visit from California. The boys ate her up, and couldn't get enough. She read them stories, brought and built Legos, and let them "leap" over her on the back lawn. Oh how we love Grandma. She also painted our kitchen. Yea! So that as I'm nursing away all winter long, at least my kitchen will look great! I've promised to get curtains before she comes back. Can't tell you how many times Evan asked if he could paint. So she let him. Yea for Grandma!

Dean got a turn too. And the finish product is great! Once we get curtains I'll take some good pictures!

And it wouldn't be a trip to Utah without visiting some Kollings. So we had the Kolling women over for dinner. We love you guys!

Finishes

2011-08-30T17:43:00.000-06:00

There are many things in life we start and finish. Sometimes the time in between is short and other times the finish comes much later. As the summer comes to a close and we look forward to some cooler weather we have a few finishes we have looked forward to.

1. The first real crop of our peach tree! Yes we have peaches!! They are a bit on the small size but boy do they taste good. It's really the aroma of them that is intoxicating.

2. The Finish of my Supernova Quilt!!! Lee over at Freshly Pieced put together such a wonderful quilt along. And though it took me a while longer to finish it, I am super excited that it now is finished!!!

If you look at her original example you'll notice I choose many of the same colors. I'm not that original, or maybe I just liked her's so much, I wanted one as close to it as possible.

I added some of my own touch with my name and date embroidered on the bottom corner. This pattern was a real stretch for me as I'd never worked on such a detailed block before. I learned how important it is to stick to your 1/4 inch seams. I also used my sewing machine to "quilt" this one, which was a first. I love how the star pattern shows up on the grey back. I can't remember all of the fabrics I used, but put together I love it! I will definitely make this pattern again, I'm thinking maybe a red and white theme. I'm already collecting pieces.

It's all washed and ready for cooler weather. Now cooler weather get here!

Love having something on the back too!

Other finishes on the horizon:

- Our basement (hopefully before the next one)

- This baby growing inside of me!

Happy 3rd Birthday Dean!

2011-08-30T17:24:00.000-06:00

Three is a big number for such a little kid. And the year that's been from two to three has been a big one too! We've gotten rid of the pacifier, learned colors and shapes, learned to ride a bike, learned tons of words and is quite good at using them. Can run faster then Mommy & Daddy, and sleeps most nights in his own bed. Oh how we love you Dean!!

He got to choose his meals for his Birthday, and we started out with pancakes!

Birthday Package from Grandma Balke

All he wanted was a "shoot gun", Mommy & Daddy went for a Nerf!

Big brother Evan enjoyed the pizza too!

Kind of glad he only ate the ice cream and icing, because it wouldn't be a Birthday without throw-up around 10:30pm.

The next morning, playing with all the toys.

The aftermath the next morning. Mommy was too tired to clean up that night.

Bikes Bikes Bikes

2011-08-21T20:08:00.000-06:00

At some point in a boy's life he learns how to ride a bike. With 2 boys and a third on the way bikes are definitely in our future. We are at that point that Evan wants to ride a big boy bike, and so our adventures start.

A bike would normally be a birthday or Christmas gift. But Evan's birthday is in December and when there's 2 feet of snow of the sidewalk you don't really want a bike. It is Dean's birthday in August, but it's unfare to get Dean a bike when really Evan's the one who needs it. So we did 2 early birthday's and got two new bikes. I know we are crazy.

After a week and much running by Daddy Evan can ride a big boy bike, and Dean is having tons of fun pedaling and stopping.

Enjoy the video's Grandma!

An Awesome Week of Food!

2011-08-21T19:53:00.001-06:00

Some people eat to live and others live to eat. I'm more of the second. I'm not going to say that I was born with innate cooking skills, but I was raised in a home where food mattered, and where my Mother was a great cook. I'm sure I picked up a lot just by watching her. I learned from her that when baking cookies, take them out of the oven, give them a minute, and then transfer them to a wire rack. They cool better that way and don't stick to the cookie sheet.

I left for college with the standard Better Homes & Gardens Cook Book, and did enough to feed my roommates every once and a while and tried a few things like pies. I got married and soon realized that I liked cooking for my husband. My specialty was Spaghetti Pie (which is basically noodles and sauce pressed into a 8X8 or 9X13 and baked). Once our first child came along and I became a stay at home mom, I had more time to find new recipes and try new things. Somewhere, (I think my Mom had them at her house) I picked up a copy of Cook's Illustrated magazine. This is where my culinary world changed. I found the "best recipes" for classic dishes and learned methods of cooking and baking that are like a mini cooking school at home.

Last year for my Birthday my sweet husband gave me a dual gift. Something that benefited me, and him. I got The Best International Recipes and The Best Italian Classics. Can you tell what his favorite foods are?? Noodles anyone. Last week I pulled out the International Recipes book and decided that I was going to pick 3 new recipes to try. At almost 8 months pregnant food is sounding really good again and I want to be cooking, which I'm sure will change in a few more weeks.

So I picked home made cheese ravioli, empanadas, and kung Pao shrimp. At the end of the week I ask my husband which one he liked best and he said there was no way to choose, they were all fabulous.

I didn't get a picture of the ravioli, we scarfed it down to fast. I could have eaten more then there was.

The empanadas were to die for. Who really wouldn't like pockets of meat baked in a soft dough, to golden perfection. Pure delight.

Then Friday night we had home made Kung Pao Shrimp. Much better then anything I've had locally, but then again we live in Utah and not China. The best part is that it came together in about 30 minutes.

To finish off the week I made Profiteroles filled with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce.

You know you want them. Yes they were that good. Best part is there is come chocolate sauce left, and you know I'm going to take the left over Ice Cream and go for it tomorrow. Thank you Cook's Illustrated. You've taught me to be a better cook, and taught me to love to make really, really good food!

The boys liked it too.

For all of you I'm giving you the Chocolate Sauce Recipe.

3/4 cup heavy cream

3 tablespoons light corn syrup

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 3 pieces

Table salt to taste (about 1/4 teaspoon)

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine

Bring cream, corn syrup, butter and salt to a boil in small saucepan over medium-high heat. Off heat, add chocolate and gently swirl. Cover pan and let stand until chocolate is melted, about 5 minutes. Uncover and whisk until combined. Serve warm over Profiteroles or let cool to room temperature. Place in an air tight container and refrigerate. Use as desired.

I think the boys got a hold of my camera!

2011-08-05T16:57:00.000-06:00

I think I have a budding photographer. We need to work on focusing.

Happy Pioneer Day! Camping

2011-08-05T16:42:00.000-06:00

Needing to get more camping in this summer Jon reserved 2 nights at Little Mill camp ground, in American Fork Canyon over the 24th of July Pioneer Day holiday. We had lot's of fun with Uncle Scott and Aunt Anna, and our good friends the Davidson's. This was only the 2nd camping trip for the Davidson family so we were proud of how well they took everything!

The gang on the first morning.

Sweet AnaBelle

Dean trying to stay warm.

Yum Yum Breakfast!

Our hike at Cascade Springs!

Carter and Matt

Barclay Family 2011

Davidson Family 2011

It's not camping without a little fishing! We did well, and the kids had fun!

Carter excited about his fish!

AnaBelle trying her luck.

She's still all girl!

We Can Do It! Skill Builder Quilt-A-Long

2011-07-21T13:06:00.000-06:00

I'm a sucker for all of the quilt-a-longs that are running online. I feel it's a way to take a quilting class at your own pace and you get the support of the online community. I joined in on the

Mostly because I'm not famillar with traditional quilt blocks and thought this would be a good way to learn how to do some of them. So here is the proof I've started. My first 4 blocks. I'm trying to use some of the fabric I have so I decided to make each block the same color pallet.

Log Cabin

9 Patch

Churn Dash

Pinwheels

I'm in love with the pinwheels. Might have to try some of these bigger for a baby quilt.

It's not to late to start up. All of the tutorials are great and the best part is you can do it at your pace. I know some of you might think I'm crazy for starting this while expecting. But I figure I can take a little break when baby comes, and hopefully have that hour a week to put together the block.

Carlsbad 2011

2011-07-18T15:44:00.000-06:00

Obviously we love camping and we love Carlsbad State Beach, California. We were there in March 2008, July 2009, August 2010 and now July 2011. It's becoming a tradition for us, but it's a long standing tradition in the Lohrke family. Here is 2011!

Cute Patrick. Camping with a non walker is always a challenge. That will be us again next year!

Kari choose unwisely with the white pajamas. She was a first timer.

Hanging out at the breakfast table.

Genevieve and Kari, having fun in the water.

When Jon was not eating, in the water or sleeping, he was studying for his "big" test. We'll see how he did in a few weeks.

Don't know if they are looking at the Dolphins or the Squirrels.

Mom is still trying to figure out what these are made of.

Kennie ended up getting sunburned and her skin matched her suit.

We love Kevin and his family! Kevin, Kari, Hyrum, Karlie, and Patrick!

We made a visit to the San Diego Temple. It was a wonderful day at a beautiful place.

Half the time was spent digging for sand crabs.

Most of the kids, minus Charlie Moore.

Proof I was at the beach too! I begged Jon to take this picture, and I think Brian ended up doing it.

Daddy helping Evan with boggie boarding.

The ever stylish Uncle Dustin.

Got to love those dirty faces!

A little bit of everything!

2011-07-18T15:26:00.000-06:00

So this summer had taken over. It's finally warmer and we are enjoying trips to the pool, and lots of ice cream. A little re-cap of the last few months.

So yes, I'm growing a baby. This picture is already 6 weeks old, so my growing bump is larger. We found out we are having a third boy! Yea for us. It's surprising how being pregnant slows you down just a little bit.

These two monkeys have been keeping me busy. Evan is 4 1/2 yr. and Dean will shortly be 3.

We've done some fishing with Daddy and friends. The boys get so excited every time we catch one, but they don't like the waiting. That's were Mom comes along so that the boys don't frustrate Daddy in between catches.

And some more sewing! This was another Amy Butler Birdie Sling. I can't get enough. Finally made myself one.

Jon's been busy with the basement. We kind of have a deadline.

I've been trying to keep up on the cooking too. Tomato based things still don't sound good (thanks to baby) so I've been trying to get around that. This one was a Chimichanga. So freak'n good, (and easy)

And there's been a lot of babies born around us. So I've gotten a little pro on the baby burp cloths. You know you want one too!

Supernova Qulit-a-long

2011-04-04T11:17:00.000-06:00

As you've noticed I have a new button on the side of our blog for the Supernova quilt-a-long put on my Lee over at Freshly Pieced. Thus the fabric buying. I've got to get caught up with my piecing but I'm having a lot of fun with a goal project.

She's also posted some beautiful quilts, that I can't stop drooling over. I love the Urban Lattice Quilt. I think I'm really into the modern quilts. Go check it out and tell me what you think.

Random March

2011-04-01T14:55:00.000-06:00

Yes, it's April 1st. Like you I'm shocked that March was so short..... Just holding down the fort here. So here are some Random Pictures for our Random March.

Jon decided to introduce the boys to Star Wars. New and old. We've now watched all 6 episodes (14+ hours) oh helps us. And I believe we already have Halloween costumes picked out, Luke and Darth. Should be fun.

Jon is still diligently working on the basement. It's a lot for one man. So he enlists the help of his brother Scott and our cousin Brad. It will be so nice when it's done, hope we get there.

Yes I bought some fabric. Should be fun.

Combined two recipes and came up with a, wait for it...... awesome orange roll. I might share my secret but for now I want you all to droll and hope I make some for you.

Happy April!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

2011-02-13T17:52:00.003-07:00

In my mind I wanted a perfect video for Grandma, where the boys looked good, and they both sang, and sang well. But it wasn't going to happen.
Here are the first two takes, right after bath, but before Church. (they were clean) But Grumpy pants Evan came out.

Requested Photos

2011-02-13T17:37:00.000-07:00

Our relatives in Germany requested that I post more pictures of the boys. I guess they don't like my craftiness as much, as I do. I think really they just like to see my cute boys. (they are super cute if I say so my self)

So here is a quick picture review of some fun we had at Christmas.

We went to Vosen's Bakery in SLC (a must if you love German Brotchen) for St. Nicolaus day. They gave out the best German style gingerbread men, I tried and tried over Christmas to duplicate, with no success.

We had a wonderful German Christmas Dinner of Rolladen, potatoes, gurken salat, and butternut squash. Can't forget the Martinelle's.

We had a huge snow storm the Tuesday before Christmas. So we had Santa come a little early because they boys got sleds for Christmas. It was a good thing because by Christmas we had to go up American Fork Canyon to find snow and it wasn't that good. Jon owes Brian and Dustin for putting together the Sleds.

Babies Galore!

2011-01-28T11:00:00.001-07:00

It feels like a bunch of people I know and love are having babies. So I'm in full baby gift mode.

We start with Baby Pender Fritz, born to my good friend Janelle who moved to Texas back in July. I purchased the "baby" print about a year ago in California on a trip to M& L's. But when I got it home I found it hard to put colors with. so I stuck in my stash. I had gone to IKEA and picked up some fabric for Pender but when I got it home if felt a little girly, so I went through my stash and re-found the "baby" print and was determined to find some other fabric to go with it. A trip to Hobby Lobby solved my problems.

The original pattern I designed is very simple, it was the really the colors that stretched me, as well as the quilting.

We can't forget big brother Zayne, he is a big fan of skulls. Something to keep him busy. I found this great tutorial for the Crayon Roll on The Pleated Poppy.

Then we have up coming baby showers for two of my cousins. I believe they are going to be over loaded in the baby blanket realm, so I went for embellished burp cloths. Really happy with the way these came out.