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Today I had the fun of teaching an English paper piecing workshop to about 25 students during QuiltFest! at the Maryland Historical Society, @marylandhistory. I taught as part of a team of women from the @baltimoremqg. We explained the history of EPP, did a show and tell with lots of EPP projects (first picture, not all my own work), and then each student got a chance to sew their own hexie flower. We are so grateful to @createdomesticity, @paperpiecesepp, @andoverfabrics, and @aurifilthread for their exceedingly generous donations of class materials. Everyone was thrilled to be able to take home fabric, paper hexagons, and thread! 😍 #baltimoremqg #aurifil #andoverfabrics #domesticitystudio #paperpiecesepp #englishpaperpiecing #eppeverywhere #salmonandsouvlakisews . . . Many thanks to @summer_k_rankin, @urokeay_imokeay, Deanna, and Bobbi for being a great teaching team!Quilts, quilts, and more modern quilts with the @baltimoremqg at the @marylandhistory QuiltFest! My work here includes #fancyforestmedallionquilt, #laurashexiequilt, #carkaihexie, Marko’s HST quilt, and the Facing East mini, pattern by @carolynfriedlander. It’s fun to share the love of modern quilting! #salmonandsouvlakisews #baltimoremqg #marylandhistoricalsocietyWe’re camping at Elk Neck State Park this weekend and the weather was glorious this afternoon! Just right for wading and digging and soaking up some spring sun. And why yes, I have picked up knitting as another portable hobby because I really want to use this yarn that I bought in Iceland when I was pregnant with Marko. 😉 #elkneckstatepark #chesapeakebay #driftwoodbeach #salmonandsouvlakiknitsAHHHHHHHHH!!!! A dragon is living in our yard and keeps trying to break through our windows! First the dragon started chasing Marko. He escaped but then it started chasing Ellie!! What should we do?!?!?! Scream the dragon’s ears off?????? Send help!!!!! . . . This spring silly is brought to you by Ellie and Marko with technical assistance from Mama, as partially inspired by Martin and Sylvia of @sparkle_stories. 😉We have a new loose tooth in our house! 😍 Rather than the tooth fairy, at our house, we celebrate losing teeth with a special Mama-made bag to keep the baby teeth in and a dinner chosen by the child on the occasion of the first tooth loss. Marko finally has a loose tooth and he has been pestering me for over a week to make him a tooth bag. So I finally did. 😉 He requested green with a blue initial and I used some vintage rickrack from my stash for the tie. The design is my own. Swipe to see Ellie’s bag next to Marko’s. I did my best to make them exactly the same although, now that they are finished I see that I made the ties pull in opposite directions. Close enough! . . . See the link in profile to go to my blog and search for “tooth fairy” if you’d like to learn more about why we have chosen these particular traditions for our family. And while you’re there, if you want to, you can search for “Mark quilt” to see pictures of the quilt I made for his first birthday, in which this green fabric is featured. This probably matters to no one else except for me but I find it thoroughly satisfying. First quilt, first lost tooth! #salmonandsouvlakisewsWe just experienced the most amazing living history presentation at the @lewismuseum. We lived Harriet Tubman’s life with her as the actress told us her story. It was such an immensely difficult story to hear but told in such a way that our kids could engage and understand. Thank you to the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture. . . . Here Marko is standing in front with Harriet, so that we could all see how young and little she was when, at age six, her slave master told her she had to earn her keep. SIX!!I decided today was my turn to be *that* person who comes to the @baltimoremqg monthly meeting, having finished the project that she started at the class the day before. 😂 I stayed up way too late (made even later by the time change) and turned these two 24” square practice quilts into a nice big tote. My children were concerned that it needed a way to stay closed so I even added some Velcro. @jacquietps’s lecture at today’s meeting was fabulous and I had fun showing her my tote. 😀 #salmonandsouvlakisews #charmcitysewcial #baltimoremqgI had a wonderful time today at the @baltimoremqg class with @jacquietps! I’ve been quilting with a walking foot for over eight years (as long as I’ve been quilting) but I still learned so much and came away inspired. I’m definitely going to use gentle curves (1st pic) in an upcoming quilt. The 2nd and 3rd pictures are from the same sample piece. With curves, you get the orange peel pattern and with straight line, you get diamonds. So cool! As always, I am now inspired to do and make more. I’m so grateful that I found BMQG three years ago. Thanks to @makergonnamake for convincing me I would like it there. She was right. 😉 And thanks so much to @rauenamy and Marcia for all their hard work to make the class possible. 😍 #salmonandsouvlakisews #baltimoremqg #charmcitysewcialI almost panicked a couple weeks ago thinking that I had gone to all this trouble to make these ornaments and then forgot about using them. 😂 I was grateful when I figured out that this year, Lent didn’t start until yesterday. We are super fancy and so are taping each one to the wall after we’ve read the corresponding passage from the book of Matthew. We are reading first from NIV, and then the corresponding story from the #jesusstorybookbible (if there is one) and also, at his insistence, from Marko’s beloved #legobible. We should have the book of Matthew thoroughly covered by the time we are finished. 😍 . . . From now on, every day I am going to post an up-close picture of each ornament in my stories as well as the corresponding scripture passage if you would like to read along with us as we travel through the book of Matthew over the 40 days of Lent. #lententradition #jesustree #salmonandsouvlakisewsMarko has asked me to “put this video of Gary on Instagram so everyone can see it.” He has titled it, “Gary’s show off” [of all his gear]. Gary is the super villain who Marko has created with his Legos. 😀 #unschooling #selfdirectedlearning #legosalldayeverydayLast week, we spent the afternoon at the park in 70 degree sunshine and I got a bit sunburned. Today, we spent the afternoon outside, shoveling wet snow in the rain. While we were out there, Elllie invented a contraption to help Marko get up into the tree more easily. Never a dull moment around here, weather or otherwise! 😀Who needs coats when it’s 56 degrees (a full 40+ degrees warmer than a week ago)? The polar vortex has decided to take a little vacation. 😉 When discussing my childhood growing up in Alaska, Nik has never really understood how we could say that it felt super warm when it got into the teens (or even just above zero). But, when it’s been -40 or colder, 15 feels downright tropical! The same principle is at work today! #springinwinterCategories
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Monthly Archives: January 2011
In negotiations
Ellie is nursing, mostly, thankfully. Thanks for all the encouragement everyone. She still seems to have some issues and just this afternoon went almost 4 hours without nursing and then would only nurse while swaddled and almost asleep. So things … Continue reading
Posted in Ellie, nursing
2 Comments
Ellie joins the AFL-CIO*
*Association For Little Children in Opposition In her quest to support organized labor, on Saturday afternoon at around 1:15, Ellie decided to join the AFL-CIO. When a child joins, he or she decides what to be in opposition to. The … Continue reading
Posted in Ellie, nursing
6 Comments
Oh the cuteness! Oh the tinyness!
Last summer, we looked like this: Now, we look like this: (Only, we switched babies.) Welcome Luke William, born last Wednesday! Good job Nikki! He’s so cute! He’s so tiny! He’s a boy! (And it’s impossible to believe that Ellie … Continue reading
Posted in Ellie, family
4 Comments
Captain Literal
I have to be careful what I say around Ellie these days, because she takes me literally. For example, last night I said to Nik, “Wow, Ellie hasn’t been talking very much today,” and immediately, she started cooing. Or yesterday … Continue reading
In which Laura throws Eliana at Noah and Noah, being the nice cousin, rescues her from certain peril
*No babies were harmed in the taking of these photos.
Posted in Ellie, family
6 Comments
A few hard lessons I’ve learned already today
1. A baby cannot be rushed. (Actually, I learned this lesson while nannying 6 years ago but I evidently forgot it.) 2. It’s not a good idea to start a baking project where the items have to come out at … Continue reading
Posted in Ellie, parenting
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