Valentine Quilt

The Valentine quilt is ready in time to enjoy for the month of February. I used the Moda Table for Two fabric with the Radio Way pattern. This was a quick and easy pattern to piece together. The framed rails are quilted with a heart pattern and the inside rails and long rails are quilted with a feathered pattern. My machine quilter was excited how it turned out and sent me a picture after she finished.

Below are details.

 

 Looks great on the wall...bright and festive to cheer up the room!

San Diego Christmas Trip

Christmas day we got up early, packed the car and the kids and left for the airport. It was cold and snowy with icy roads. We thought we were going to miss our flight, but managed to get there 10 minutes before boarding started. We've never been on an airplane when it's been snowing and got to experience deicing of the plane. It was a fascinating but long process.

We were thankful to arrive in San Diego with warm weather. However, leaving the cold was only the beginning of our adventure. The car rental agency overbooked rentals that day and set us up with another agency. The car was 4x the amount we budgeted, but we were promised that we'd be reimbursed for the difference. That night Benjamin got sick and ended throwing up. He was miserable and freaked out. Even later in the evening, I was sick going through the same thing Ben did.

We stayed at a vacation rental condo by the beach in Oceanside. The first two days of our trip we were recovering and relaxing. Finally everyone felt better and we ventured out to Old Town San Diego. We found the historic site of the Mormon Battalion. We went through the visitor center and enjoyed the presentation they had.

At the end, Ben got to pan for gold...

and pump water for washing.

I got Mike to pose with Ben.

Ben's highlight of the trip was the Old Town Model Railroad Depot. He ran around and around enjoying the trains. We even went back on the last day in San Diego and spent an hour there.

 The detail was amazing. There was even a hobo on the tracks.

The rest of the trip from here on out I was sick but managed to go along with our plans. I was able to enjoy the boys excitement of the things they got to see.

The San Diego Wild Safari Park was nice to see animals in as close to their own environment as possible.

We went to Sea World and saw several shows.

 Legoland was a fun place to take Benjamin. It was very interactive.

Ben got to build his own boat and float it down the water way.

Ben enjoyed going on rides all by himself. I think he felt all grown up. Good trip and it will be fun to take Levi again when he can go on rides and play with the Legos as well.

Levi's First Christmas

We tried to keep the Christmas gift giving simple this year since we were going on a trip, but we still wanted to make it fun for the boys. After all, it was going to be Levi's first Christmas!

We started off by telling the Christmas story and tried as best we could explain to an excited 3 year old that Jesus was our first gift.

Benjamin helped everyone take out their stocking gifts.

Here's Levi opening his first gift.

Mike's favorite gift below. ;)

Benjamin helped Levi open his gifts.

The Piano Guys have given Benjamin a love of music and hopefully this will encourage him to explore the musician he can become.

We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Christmas Gingerbread Town Square

It's not Martha Stewart's, but it looked great for my skill level and tasted yum! I made the cake for the Stuy Family Christmas party. I really liked the gingerbread cookie recipes I used. There were two different recipes I made to achieve the dark molasses colored houses and the honey colored houses. I halved the recipe of both because it makes a lot of dough. I cut shape of the homes based off of dutch row houses I looked up on the web. The molasses houses had honey windows and vise-versa to give it a bit of a 3D effect. I made royal icing to make the detail on the house. I made Ben some gingerbread men that he got to help decorate after the houses were all made.

Since the cookies were so time consuming, I used a spiced cake mix. The frosting I used was made with whipped cream and cream cheese. The combination is light and fluffy and keeps the frosting from melting if it's going to be a while before it gets served. I sprinkled edible glitter on the top to give is a shimmering snow effect.

Below is detail of all the houses I decorated.

BYU No-Sew Fleece Blanket

I made the perfect Christmas gift for Mike last month. If anyone knows him, he's a fan of BYU football. I'd say he has a love/hate relationship with watching them play. So when Mike mentioned he would like a BYU blanket (I think he was a little jealous that I hadn't made him a blanket since I've made Ben and Levi quilts) I remembered that when I was in Texas last November I helped tie a blanket for my mom to give as a gift to my Uncle John.

Before making my Uncle John's blanket, I had only made a tied fleece quilt once before. It was tied making knots. The technique for Uncle John's and Mike's blanket was different because after cutting the strips, instead of tying them in a knot, a hole was cut in the top center of the strip in order to thread the strips through. I used a crochet hook to help pull it through. This reduces the amount of bulkiness around the edge.

It has been a cold winter so far and I'm happy to see that Mike uses is every time he gets a chance to settle down to watch a show!