twenty minute tote

I made this twenty minute tote today and it literally took twenty minutes...well, maybe twenty-five I found the pattern in purlbee and thought it would make a cute Sunday bag for Maren to haul all her junk around. I just made it a little smaller and it turned out so great. Unfortunately, Maren is not one of these kids who likes to pose for pictures so after a few pleads and bribes, I got her to stand in front of the camera with the bag on her shoulder. She wasnt' too thrilled about that, but she does like her new bag.

first day

This month Maren started preschool. It's just a co-op (mommy) preschool once a week. I'll admit, I was a little nervous at first...but she did great and even said when I picked her up, "That was fun. I want to it that again." She is officially a big girls.

labor day weekend

Maren's first concert...Labor Day weekend was spent in West Virginia, where we stayed at Uncle Jerry and Aunt Syd's cabin. We also attended Bela Fleck (who Chris and I saw at Deer Valley a few years ago and really loved). Despite the weird expressions, Maren had a good time. Silly bands, glow sticks and animal crackers go far with two-year-old.

summer visitors

In July, my parents and youngest sister paid a visit. And later in August, my sister and her two kids came out. Which means trips to the beach and DC, swimming at the pool, wrestling with Grandpa, laughing with cousins, fighting with cousins (and one fantastic night at The Kennedy Center seeing Wicked). Another summer gone and we are looking forward to fall.

blast from the past

I am a fan of using Chris's old button-down shirts in my sewing. In fact, I have at least a few scraps in almost all my quilts. (Sometimes I think I tell him I like a shirt, not because he looks nice wearing it, but because I know it will eventually end up in the fabric box. He's on to this.) I have been saving a small stack of pockets for years now and finally made a quilt with them. When I showed Chris he responded, "Whoa! Blast from the past." I guess some of those pockets take him back.

Claude Moore Colonial Farm

I am doing a pretty poor job of keeping updated. Life is finally getting back to normal around here, which means it's time to fill in the blanks of our summer. Maren and I headed out on another one of our little adventures. We visited Claude Moore Colonial Farm, a living history farm, on a really hot and muggy Virginia day and the entire time all I could think was, "I can't wait to get back into my air conditioned car!" (Maybe not the entire time...the rest of the time I was realizing that I would not, in fact, want to be a pioneer.) It was still very interesting and worth the trip. A goose honked at Maren and she chased the turkeys and chickens around that little house. So of course, it was worth the trip.