Calling all Quilters

Or anyone else that might have an opinion on this.

I have been putting off making this quilt for months now, in fact it has been so long, the fabrics I chose aren't even around anymore. I thought I would wait until we either got into a new house that could fit a real crib, or until Luke upgraded to a toddler bed. As I have mentioned before, I have been desperately hanging onto the baby of my baby, but night after night of Luke climbing out of his crib repeatedly and us having to put him back into it repeatedly, we figured it was time to make the switch..  Anyhow, I have finally pieced this thing together, a much more tedious process than I anticipated, but I am really excited about it, and think when Luke has his own room that isn't borrowed from my brother, it will look great.

Now what I need help with...Katie, Brooke, Kelly, Carrie, my experienced quilter friends, and like I said, anyone else that wants to offer an opinion, what color should I chose for the binding and backing?  I have an idea for the back, but I want more feedback, and as for the binding, I'm stumped.

This is the adorable bed and boy to which it will go to:

And the quilt in progress:

In advance, I "thank you" for your suggestions.

Laying Low

A late night doctor visit, pink eyes, ear infection, terrible cough, and a mourning period for the death of Luke's new fish, looks like we will be taking it easy for the next couple of days.

Besides getting this little guy everything he needs I have lots of crafting projects I need to meet deadlines on.  So stay tuned...I might be requesting some help with one of them.

well color me HAPPY!

As some of you know, I lost my precious hello kitty watch last summer, and I have been quite "unhappy" about it since. The thing about this watch is, it's not just any watch, it is a reproduction of the 80's watch that many of my friends had but I didn't. I really wanted it though, and I never stopped wanting it. I searched and searched for it, going in and out of every Sanrio store I saw, browsed Ebay weekly, and finally finally found one on Sanrio.com. Finding it really made me happy, I even considered buying two, I am still regretting not doing it.

I wore it proudly for almost two years. I was truly the envy of every girl between the ages of 4-10. But one day it was gone. I tore everything apart I owned, combed the apartment and even began searching ebay again. But no luck. I even thought that it would turn up as we packed up the place, but as the last box was taped, it hit me, it was really gone.

This morning for the first time since I have moved back here I decided to check ebay once again. (There is something about living here that has made me forget about shopping, which really, is a good thing). I typed in my usual searches: "Hello Kitty Vintage Watch", "Hello Kitty Flip Watch", and then on my last shot "Hello Kitty Retro Watch", it came up. HOORAY! And for only twenty dollars. I must also note that this was a great deal. I actually found one over a month ago, on ebay, went to my sometimes trusty auction sniper, and put in my bid at $26. For sure it would never go that high, I was the only one bidding on it. Well, I put too much trust in the sniper and lost, by twenty five dollars. Yep, the watch sold for fifty. So you can see how I thought twenty sounded great at a buy it now price, not to mention it comes with a calculator.

And this time, I bought two of them!

* Sorry about the photo quality of these, I couldn't wait until I got them in the mail to do a post, I am just way too excited!!

The Party

Last year it was Star Wars, this year Nemo. After this party, it was quite apparent I really am my mother's child, we both tend to bite off a little more than we can chew, delegate the design stuff to our husbands, recruit the help of the construction paper wiz Whitney, and stay up way too late the night beforehand. It was all worth it though. Luke loved every minute of it.

The invites:

The decorations:

In keeping with the fishy theme.

The food:

Fish sandwiches, gold fish crackers, and carrots for the kids. Fruit, chicken curry croissant sandwiches, and tortellini salad for the adults, & cupcakes for dessert. Luke blew out his candles but only pretended to take a bite of his cake.

The games:

A favorite from my childhood, go fish, for many useless nemo inspired knicknacks. & the old standby, the Pinata. The kids went crazy for both.

The kids & presents:

All of Luke's new friends spoiled him rotten, but the crowd favorite was the fish from Aunt Tara.

The favors:

Craft boxes filled with Nemo goodness for the kids, and sweedish fish for the adults.

And the birthday boy:

Still reveling.

My recipe for a happy valentines

People I love 

I love a whole lot of people but last night I just couldn't help not narrowing it down to my family and my hubby.

+

Good Food

Because reservations are often an afterthought, we usually cook for Valentines. Since it was my turn this year, I made my favorite dinner and Tom's favorite desserts. Clockwise; Salmon, Asparagus, and Parmesan potatoes, Chocolate Molten Cake, Chai Cheese Pie, & Berry Cheesecake.

Combine these two ingredients together, talk & laugh for approximately 60-90 minutes, cool after too much dessert, and voilà, a wonderful holiday.