I don't know if I'm officially participating in this or not, since I'm a month behind, but I wanted to try at least from here to do it.  I came across a blog, The Outnumbered Quilter, here.  About a month ago he had a Pay It Forward Post.  This is how it works: 



1. I will make a little something for the first 3 people who comment on this post. It will be a surprise and it will arrive when you least expect it.

2. I will have 365 days to do it in. What's the catch? To get a handmade present from me, you have to play too! This means YOU pledge to send a little handmade something for 3 readers of your blog. It doesn't have to be quilty - just handmade and you don't have to make it, you can have someone else make it if you want to.

3. You must have a blog.

4. Once you comment here, you must post about your Pay It Forward on your blog to keep the fun going - with the Pay It Forward badge. Also, feel free to join the Flickr group to see what else is being sent!

I'm going to follow Paul's slight change:  The first three to comment will receive something from me regardless of whether or not you have a blog. If you don't have a blog, agree to make something for 3 charities. Or 3 things for one charity. (Project Linus Quilts, Quilts for Kids, Your local homeless shelter, etc.) In order to adhere to the rules set forth by those who started this, I will make something for 3 bloggers. So, if the first three are bloggers, then I've met the obligation. I just don't want any non-blogging followers to feel like they can't participate. So, will I make 3, 4, 5, or 6 items? That depends on who responds to this post!

So what do you think?

I have three more blocks done!  They're pretty wrinkled as I didn't take pictures of them until after they'd been packed into a bag for a bit, but here they are:

Pink

My kids favorite.  You can't tell in the picture, but at the top the fabric second from the right is dragonflies that sparkle.

Red

I love that little frog with the umbrella

Green

My favorite block so far.

My favorite Tiny quotes of late:

"I'm right here Babe." She said this randomly as we were walking out to the car.

"My color is yellow."  Someone had asked Mowg what his favorite color was.

Happy Easter!

I love Easter as the quintessential harbinger of Spring

I love the remembrance of the Holy Week

I love the whimsical springtime baby animals

I love colored eggs

This is the first year that is was simply fun to watch my kids dye them

First eggs

The thrill of the first view of color on the egg

(don't mind the morning hair and the candy encrusted face.  The Easter bunny visited us this morning.  Don't come between this girl and her chocolate!)

See?

Sometimes a big brother needs to help his little sister.

Organizing the eggs

Pose by the eggs



Happy Easter!

In my blog reading this morning courtesy Soulemama I came across this quote.  It's lifted my spirits even though there's not much sunshine this morning:

Hello sun in my face.
Hello, you who made the morning and spread it over the fields
Watch now how I start the day in happiness, in kindness.

M. Oliver

Here are the blocks.  I like them much better in person than I've been able to photograph.

Here's my first block

And my second

Here's my handsome assistant.

Our camera is having some trouble with the auto focus at the moment--which is tricky for a blind girl that's been heavily relying on it.  For now I'm off to make paper mache bowls and more blocks!

Notice my new button above.  I've joined my first ever quilt along.  I made two 11 inch squares tonight using her crazy scrap method.  The cool thing is now I have something concrete to show my dearest when he looks at me like I'm crazy when I get more scraps from somewhere.  I don't know why, I just love other people's scraps of fabric.  They have things I would never dream of having and suddenly there it is under the needle in my sewing machine making something I really like.  I didn't try really hard to make things match--other than sorting my scraps into color piles.  They turned out!  I like them.  I took pictures tonight, but I don't like how the pictures turned out so I'm going to try again in the daylight.  Some of the fabrics are light and they've faded to white in the picture.  Anyway, tommorrow then I'll show.  Tonight I just had to tell! :)

Celebration-the pictures

On the platform waiting for Traxs

And waiting

Here comes the train!

Mowg is his most excited when he's just looking about

Tiny on the other hand is much more expressive

"We riding the train!"

Visiting the Museum of Church History and Art

The quilt piecing wall

Catching fish always holds the greatest appeal

"Look what my got!"

Trying some traditional Mexican dancing

Can you beat a skirt like that?!

They had a mirror that you could watch yourself in, but for some reason neither one of the kids wanted to see themselves.  I'm still puzzled by this as they are usually looking into any reflective surface at themselves when we're at home.  Perhaps it was the lifesize adult strangers in the TV screens behind them.

Wood dolls with clothes to go with them.

Pretend food to "eat", a garden to pick carrots and onions from, and chickens to collect eggs from.

At the end of the visit a lion to rest on

And stand by for a brief moment

The single picture I got of our cougar experience is a blurr of mountain side, not a lion in sight. 

That is still surreal.



One more thing.  There's a new quilting blog I've discovered.  I'm still learning on the quilting front and from what I've seen this is a great place for inspiration.  To top it off she's giving away some beautiful fabric.  Go and check it out here at Oops Lah. 

I have so much to tell you!

We had a bit of a celebration yesterday.   We celebrated the arrival of my favorite person into this world.  It was an especially grand afternoon as we had been away from each other for a couple of days.  We went to the Museum of Church History and Art in downtown Salt Lake City.  They have an incredible (and free) hands on exhibit for kids.  I'll post some pictures soon.  We rode the trax train which was "better than riding Thomas because it was fast!"   Then we stopped in a little valley and had dinner in a diner that was built in the late 1930's.  It was gorgeous and the food was so good.  There is something to be said for local beef.  After dinner we took a short drive up a canyon just to look.  As we were coming back down the canyon we saw, not one, but two cougars/mountain lions (whichever name you prefer to call them).  A Mom and what we surmise was a year old kitten.    We were so excited!  We watched them scale a rock face on the side of the road.  I attempted a picture, but failed miserably.  We were pretty buzzed by the excitement of seeing the big cats.  Then as we went on our way we saw several hundred head of deer in a field along the freeway.  There are times when I bemoan where I live.  When we take some time to look about it reminds me of what a grand place it is.  It may take me a bit to post pictures, but I will.

Here's my little snowman

"I be a snowman Mom" 

In other news, remember a while back I asked what I ought to do for this big birthday coming up?  I decided (since an opportunity was given to me) that I would attempt to publish an article.  My dearest took some pictures for the article and I thought I would share a few "from the cutting room floor".  These are the ones that I didn't send, but still like for my own purposes.  I'm a little partial to those faces.

Ring!

Thanks to those of you out there that gave me feedback.  I really appreciate it!

So here's my little plan for this year:  Try 40 things

Here's what I've done so far:

1.  Publish an article (in process, but out of my hands at the moment)

2.  Accept an opportunity to sit on a teacher interview board

 (even though stepping into a school makes me slightly sick to my stomach).

3.  Make a quilt top of my own design that isn't squares.

(I'll take a picture of this one as soon as I can.  I really love how it turned out)

4.  Complete a quilt top from a pattern. (this went off with Granny before I remembered to take a picture, but 2 years into it it's done!)

That's only one a month so far and I'd better get going if I'm going to make it by the end of the year, but summer's on the horizon.  There are all kinds of opportunities there.

Spring Envy

It really is Spring here, just not the textbook definition.  It's warmer some days.  Snow falls, but doesn't stay long (except of course for the stuff that's still piled up).  It's only hard that I was in Oregon and Washington a few weeks ago and there were roses already falling off of bushes.  I think the other kind of spring that includes flowers (not partially or mostly covered in snow) are some kind of other-world-spring.  I realize that snow is a huge part of our lives when my little girl obviously loves the snow.  "Look Mom, I a snowman!" (This said as she puts on a scarf and once in a while a hat).  Then both of my children want to make snowflakes and hang them up around the house.  There's not enough outside.  They do love a good snowball fight.  I guess I just need to buck up some.   Snow, after all is not swirling dirt.

Fabric!
Just in case you're interested, I thought I'd tell you about a color swap that is happening over at another blog.  You send in 200 4 inch squares (that's about 2 1/2 yards of fabric--10 fat quarters) and you get back 200 squares in a large selection of colors.  You have to sign up for a specific color, but it's a fabulous fairly inexpensive way to get a variety of fabrics to make a quilt with.  Go here for the details.  Oh and make sure that your comment works.  I had to try about 4 times before mine did.

Yesterday's quote of the day came from Mowg,

 "I don't think I'll ever see spring again."

This morning as he opened the blinds to check on the season,

("spring, winter whatever its going to be")

This is the view that greeted him

From the deer we learned how to cross the street. 

First:  look right

Look left

When you notice a car driving on the road, wait.

Look right again

Then left

When you're sure it's clear proceed across the street at a leisurely pace.

Crossing the street deer style is not that different from people style.

That's what I learned.

I have a short list of what I call my top shelf books.  They're books that I love.  They're usually books that use language in a way that makes me want to stay.  One of those books is Love that Dog by Sharon Creech.  It's about a boy's introduction to poetry.  It's becomes the medium that he learns to express loss and love.  I cry every time.  It gives me that twisty feeling of sorrow and joy that so often amalgamates in life.  I watched a reader's theater performance of the book today and thought I'd share the link with you.  It's 14 minutes long. Go here to see it.  If for no other reason that to hear Walter Dean Myers rich voice.