Eli: 5-7 months

Time sure flies doesn't it? This poor little blog isn't getting much attention these days because this sweet boy gets it instead.

Eli is army crawling and pushes up on his hands and tip-toes. He is absolutely in love with his brother Daniel, and I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual. Eli loves to eat baby food and drink from his sippy cup. Most days he takes 2-3 naps and sleeps 10-12 hours at night, usually waking once to nurse. 

I have several quilty things to show, including a couple recently finished quilts, and one top and a few older finishes that still have not made it to the blog. This week is packed with errands to get us ready for our vacation to Sea World this weekend to celebrate Daniel's 5th birthday!

Slow Eater

My Family

We spent the past long weekend in San Antonio visiting family and celebrating my grandparent's 60th anniversary. We stopped by my parent's hotel to do a little swimming before heading to my Aunt Beth's.

This was Eli's 3rd time in the water, and he is loving it. 

This shallow step was perfect for a little baby to play on.

Splish Splash Eli!

My grandparents and their five children. I asked my granddad what his advice for staying married 60 years was and he said, "yes dear." He's a smart man!

Four Generations! This is so special to me!

Grandkids and Great-grandkids. We were missing Kaitlin and Tito.

Here's another 4 generation shot, with me only a few weeks old!

On Saturday we went to my uncle's river house and spent a day enjoying the quiet of the country. I'm fairly sure Eli will be crawling any day now.

He was worn out after a long day of traveling and splashing. I was a little jealous of his two hour nap in the hammock.

His Family

Over the past weekend we spent time in San Antonio visiting family. We went to Kiddie Park in San Antonio with Tommy's mom, sister and kids. It is the oldest children's amusement park in the United States.

Daniel and Isaiah riding the boats.

Daniel and I on the carousel.

Cousins Isabel and Eli. She is 1 year, and he is 6 months! We are waiting doctor visits in the next couple weeks to determine who is actually bigger. And yes, they're kickin' it old school with Tommy's childhood Ninja Turtles!

WIP Wednesday

This is my very first go at paper piecing. It is the botm for my guild. While I don't anticipate using much of this method anytime soon, it was nice to try it out. Tommy held my hand through it and told me that according to physics I was using imaginary numbers. Mhmm. 

Here are the first six blocks all together. 

Another project I'm working on is a kaleidoscope quilt. So far I've been doing lots of cutting. Over 500 pieces so far and another 300+ to go! A few years ago that would have freaked me out but now I am so excited to be working on it. Last week my friend Julie picked up this kaleidoRuler for me; it is a must for cutting these blocks!

I considered going for an ombré effect in the quilt but after seeing these fabrics in black and white I realized that there's not nearly enough contrast in their values to do that. So I'll just sew at random and save ombré for another day. 

Episode IV

He is almost five after all. 

Stash Starting Resources

I have a friend who has expressed an interest in learning to quilt. I must admit I am a little hesitant, because, what if she's better than me; or what if she realizes that it's not always all *that* hard, or what if I feel the need to do some sympathy fabric shopping?

Regardless, I thought it would be nice to share some good resources, and a couple favorite blogs. There are tons and tons of great quilting blogs, but I limit myself or else I would get nothing done because I'd spend all day scouring the internet.

Stash Building:

One of the first blogs I remember reading was Crazy Mom Quilts. In this post she shows how she folds her fabric, and also shares her criteria for scraps.

I love Connecting Threads, and their fabric. They come out with new lines often and are very affordable. 

They sell their fabric collections in precuts as well. And they don't charge for it! Buying a charm pack pretty much anywhere else will cost you 30% more or even more than that! For reference, a yard is 36"xWOF (width of fabric, which is usually 42-44").

For more thoughts on fat quarters, read Don't Call Me Betsy's post Dear Fat Quarters. She discusses what size cut she prefers and why.

Another blog I love is Cluck Cluck Sew. It's full of fresh colors and clean lines. She shares a post on how to start a fabric stash here. And I love her bottom line: the bottom line is, whether you have a big stash or a small stash..buy what you love.  If you love it, you’ll use it and be more happy with what you have. 

In Color Order has a whole blog series discussing fabric and color. She covers topics like: storage, organizing and buying as well as color schemes, tones, etc. This girl is thorough!

If you know of any other great resources on starting a stash or organizing or fabric, please share in the comments.

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