A quilt for Lydia

My youngest sister had her second baby on my birthday!! 37 years apart :)

I made this quilt a fair bit bigger than my normal baby quits. The older my kids get the bigger the baby quilts are as I realize how much nicer the larger size is. I didnt get a final measurement on this though

Her older brother Benjamin LOVES this quilt and will likely be using it for a bit first :)

I was able to go visit them when Lydia was 1 month old.  

He really loves it

He will be moving into a toddler bed in the next few months and it fits perfectly!!

new van

well , we were not planning buying a van quite so soon. 

But a pre road trip inspection came up with a few things that needed done so while we were waiting on the inspection i wondered the car lot and found a van i liked.

I took it to Dave in Lenoir and he liked it too.

So we bought it. We didnt get a whole lot for the trade in value but the trade in covered the extended warranty. 

our old van and new

A brand new 2017 Chrysler Pacifica 

we signed the paperwork on it and it only had 83 miles on it! most of those were put on taking for a test drive to lenoir and back

Michelle our sales lady at Steve White Motors was excellent. 

kids loved all the new things

and buttons

look at all the pens from the old van!

almost a week later we got in the van and went on a 3 week road trip. 

i think the kids liked it :)

It got slobbered on

a few rain storms

lots of napping

and kids in the far back while we had mom and dad with us

and the best part is the DVD player for trips over 4 hours!

4 weeks and 5000 miles later!

all in all we are very happy with it. 

We love the electronic stuff like the push button start and automatic doors and hatch. 

Melissa's Wedding Quilt

Last year my sister announced she was getting married. I knew what I wanted to do for her- A quilt of course!

As I was talking about colours etc. I asked her about a signature quilt rather than just a regular quilt.

So I made up the blocks to take to the wedding and had a station so everyone could sign them.

the doors led to the Brunch line

Since that time I was working on getting the blocks together and a backing and getting it to the quilters. 

I managed to finish it in time to bring it with me to my parents house this summer. Less than a year from her wedding date! I made my goal!

this is the back. both were taken at moms house. 

Dave and I had a plan of going on a road trip without the kids so we took a detour and dropped this off at Melissa and Bobs. 

 They loved it!

If you want to read the individual squares they are in this album:

Dignity Quilt for Shalom Manor

Last year the nursing home I used to work at asked me if I would make a Dignity Quilt for them.

A dignity quilt is a quilt that is used to cover someone after they pass away and are being taken to the funeral home.

This is part of the Death with Dignity movement among nursing homes and other long term care.

I loved the Mystery Quilt Pattern so I made another one. (here's the blog about the first one)

They wanted this to be about 5 feet by 7 feet. 

This is about that :) I forgot measure it when it was done!

I had my quilter use her flutterby pattern as butterflies are often used in hospice 

I had a friend embroider a label for me so it will last longer through washings

signed

They also wanted a pillow case to store it in

So I used the leftover fabric

and here it is inside

related news:
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20150329_At_some_nursing_homes__a_changing_attitude_toward_death.html

Melissa and Bob's Wedding

Here is a small sampling of my sisters wedding. She got married Aug 16th in Ontario at my parents house. 

As we got closer to the date we worried about the weather more and more! 

We made it through the ceremony and lunch and the first dance before the rains started. 

The ducks in the pool 

 I am making her a signature quilt and used it as a guest book. 

 the doors to the left are where people went in to get brunch. Everyone had to walk by

 So pretty on the stairs. I love her hair from above!

 My kids did so well as the flower girl and ring bearer. Abigail was doing one petal at a time!

here comes the bride!

making it official

presenting Mr&Mrs!!

Google Autoawesomed this one

such a yummy brunch (her favorite meal). I think she ruined normal breakfasts for us all for a while!

they poured syrup on the waffle rather than cut a cake :)

my sister and our grandfather

SO SO SO windy for the first dance!

never saw a first dance with so much laughing

And her bustle button broke so she had to carry her dress for the rest of the day

 my dad and sister made up their own dance to "daddy's girl"

my daughter with Aunt Awesome