Batik Quilt

I quickly made this  batik quilt sampler for a fund raiser at work for Voice of the Children. It's a colorful quilt with beautiful batiks. A little crazier than what I normally make, but I think it turned out neat. Below are the details.

Oregon - Cannon Beach

The last week of May we took a family trip to Cannon Beach, OR. Benjamin did really well in the car and kept entertained with toys and such.

 We took a drive to Astoria and walked along the river. It was a bit chilly and rained off and on. 

 Since we were so close to Washington, we took a little detour to one of the state parks across the river. I got to try out the backpack for our first hike. Benjamin loved it! He was looking at everything and blabbing and laughing. So much fun!

 

 Benjamin got to go into the pool for the first time. He was splashing around and had the funnest time.

 

 On our way to Tillamook, we stopped at a scenic lookout.

 The cheese factory was one of our favorite stops. We had never seen so much cheese before.

 We sampled all kinds of cheddar cheeses and enjoyed hamburgers and cheese sandwiches for lunch.

 We found a light house on our way back to Cannon Beach. They are pretty cool.

 

 Seaside has an aquarium. We had never seen an octopus so close before. It was fascinating to see how it moved.

 Our last day in Cannon Beach we went to Ecola State Park. We hiked to Indian Beach. It was really pretty and peaceful.

 On the drive home we stopped off at the Multnomah Falls. I'm a sucker for falls.

Our drive home was a little more rough for Benjamin. He was tired of being strapped in the car. But we did manage to have fun playing peek-a-boo!

To see more pictures that Mike took on our trip go to his website here.

Banana Cream Pie

I wasn't planning on making dessert for dinner tonight, but my sweet-tooth got the better of me. I threw together this pie in 5 minutes (okay maybe it took a few extra minutes). All you need is:

graham cracker crust
1 banana, thinly sliced
chocolate syrup
vanilla pudding
whipped cream
toasted coconut
mini-chocolate chips

I layered the graham cracker crust with a drizzle of chocolate syrup (to satisfy the chocolate craving part of my sweet-tooth) and then arranged the banana slices on the bottom. Next I prepared the pudding according to the package for pies and poured that in. Top it off with the whipped cream, toasted coconut and mini-chocolate chips. Supper easy!

You may notice that only half of the pie has coconut, so it is optional to leave it off to appeal to those who are not fans of the coconut.

Baby Animal Birthday Party

Last Friday Benjamin and I headed to Thanksgiving Point for the Baby Animal Birthday Party. Benjamin got some one-on-one time with a baby kid, baby calf, and baby lamb. The kid took to Benjamin because he was laughing, so the kid nibble and licked his fingers. It was cute!

The calf also licked Benjamin's fingers. The lamb below was not quite sure what to think of Benjamin's fingers. We also saw some piglets, but they were a bit shy.

Progress on the Snowflake Quilt

I started this quilt many years ago. I think that I bought the pattern in 2008. The first snowflake I completed was in 2010. There are 6 patterns that can create a variety of snowflake designs. I have completed 4 of the 6 patterns and have 2 more to go. This is the most complicated quilt I have worked on to date. Since Benjamin has been born, I have (for the most part) been consistent with spending 30-45 minutes a day working on piecing. I'm happy with the progress I've been making. There's still lots of work to do!

Here's a sneak peak at the fabric for a lap quilt I'm going to work on for a little break: