Help me!

I have been on a quilting kick quite recently. It has taken a bit to get anything done, what with the 500 other things that need to be taken care of around here! I do need some advice though. I have e tendency to go overboard. I love bright colors. I love colors! And when I finish a quilt and look at it, its not always as great as I had hoped. Sometimes 2 fabulous fabrics are not so fabulous when put together.

I am currently almost done with one project, and I want to begin another. Here is the one I want to get crackin' on!

I love the blues. I love the starfish and fish. I had originally thought to put it with the lighter blue fabric on the right. Then I wondered if that fabric was too busy. Click on it to see it bigger and tell me what you think. Should I go with the solid darker blue, or the lighter, patterned blue? The other one will probably end up as the backing.

And here is my most current delimma. I am done with the top on this quilt and need a backing. My pictures are out of order here.... I picked a lovely red print for the back, and am second guessing it now. Should I switch to the blue?

Should I keep the red?

See, it is a lovely, bright print, and already pretty busy. Will the red be too much? Perhaps I should go find a nice green? What do you think I should do with this one? And do you think it needs a border? I was going to do one, but then thought it might make it too big. Its 10x9 rows of 6" squares, and I didn't mean to make it quite so large, but I loved the fabric!

So, that's what I'm mulling over right now. I would love your opinion on this! I have no vision, no sense of colors, and zero idea of how things will look at the end till I get there!

The Fun, and the Inexplicable!

Rylee has done 2 new things this week! The other night, she rolled over. I went in in the middle of the night to feed her and she had rolled onto her back. Yes, I do put her to sleep on her tummy. And she had rolled onto her back. I think she scared herself.

Normally I don't really think babies need to start solid food till they are 6 months. I mean, if they can't even sit up alone, do they really need food that requires an upright position to consume it? However, today I was bored. It snowed, the kids were all home from school and Rylee sat in her Bumpo on the table, watching me eat breakfast and I thought, why not? So I mixed her up some rice cereal and she actually ate it well, and liked it!

Yep, she opened her mouth, swallowed it and managed to eat more than she drooled out. It was kind of fun.

And then we went out to play in the snow! Yay!

This is my fabulous snow sculpture. Delaney kept saying it was Daddy. It was pretty big and took a while to build. Fortunately, the snow was amazing at sticking together!

Here is another view. Joshua helped me sculpt individual fingers. We did a pretty good face on it too, but you can't tell from the pictures.

Joshua and the neighbor kid made this good-sized snowman on the curb. Marian just wanted in on the picture. She is a funny kid!

Speaking of funny kid, see what she's wearing? Her very favorite fuzzy shirt, shorts and boots. That's my girl!

Callie got hit by snowballs and was sad. She lay down in the snow and then ran to the backyard to cry. I really don't understand this child sometimes, but she was darn cute in the snow!

This one I have no words for. She is wearing snow clothes, but guess what she is wearing underneath all that?!

Yep, she's wearing her snow gear over her swim suit! She found the beach bag yesterday and has been obsessing about the swim suits ever since!

Before the swim suits, she was wearing this- Marian's shorts. And nothing was going to convince her that these were not her own pants. What a pickle! (What's actually even funnier is that at this very moment, Delaney is wearing Rylee's pants! They look like Capris on Delaney and again, she is convinced that they are HER pants!)

And here are the "capri" pants. Also worn with 4 shirts: A long sleeved red shirt, with a onesie over it, Delaney's favorite Frog Jammies shirt on top of that, and the lovely Halloween shirt on top. I can't even guess as to why!

PS- Mom, I've been working on only taking her picture while her hair is out of her face!

My week in Pictures

I realized I hadn't had any pictures of Delaney recently, so we'll start there. We have been having bedtime issues with that one. She won't go to sleep before 10pm, and now she roams out of her room and keeps the other kids awake as well. Not good. I cut out her nap and that helped- but only on those days that she did not fall asleep in the late afternoon!

This is the little pickle NOT going to bed. I went to see what the ruckus was and I found her happily playing in this bag. She was delighted to see me. I snickered and grabbed the camera. And then I put her in her room and shut the door and she wasn't happy anymore.

Nakey and with no ponytails in.... add the peanut butter on her face, and I think this must be right after breakfast on a lazy day! This week we did not have to rush in the mornings like we usually have to. Mostly because getting up was almost too much work, and with an unhappy Rylee, I wasn't going anywhere first thing in the morning.

Yep, look at her hammin' it up for the camera! Delaney loves having her picture taken. She always wants a video taken as well. Now when the girls sneak off with the camera, I find really long and confusing videos on it. They think it is hysterical and want to watch them over and over.

She's giving me "the Laaaaaazy Eye" now! She is such a fun kid.

This is what I spent most of the week doing. Rylee is in the process of growing some teeth, and she's got a little bit of a cold. Its enough to make her unhappy unless she's being cuddled, and she's fairly pleasant as long as she is being held. Specifically, she wants Mommy to hold her. None of this Dad stuff right now. The first part of the week was rough, but it got better.

Look at that face- Drooly chin and runny nose. But smiley and happy if you interact with her. She has slept better since the all-nighter on Tuesday. And getting up every 2 hours is a significant improvement over every 20 minutes!

And today is quite exciting. Not so much for me. I had planned to get out all by myself, but it is snowing. I may brave it anyway, but it is accumulating and our road is unplowed. The kids are delighted with it though and currently, Dan is out at the park with everyone but me and Rylee! He didn't want to take the camera, so no sledding pictures for you. All I have is prep pictures.

Delaney was actually the first one up and out in the snow! She played by herself for a while and then came in. She was ready to go back out when the big kids were though.

Marian cracks me up. She loves to wear a hat and it is so hard to get her to pull it up enough to see her face. She likes to have it hang over her eyes.

Joshua was all ready, but he needed a scarf. It was funny to watch him try to get it around, after he's already put on his gloves and zipped up his jacket. I did take pity on him and I helped him get it on. And then they all left with the sleds to play on the sledding hill at the park. Yay!

Grump

I'm tired. Really tired. And grumpy. When I'm tired, this tired, I get mad at the world, because I'm so stinking tired I could cry, but that won't help either. Rylee is teething and now she has a bit of a cold. Just enough of a cold to have a runny nose so that she must be constantly held, and she can't sleep. No sleep for Rylee means no sleep for Mommy. So Mommy is tired. And grumpy.

And I'm done posting my crankiness.

Smiles, Sillys and Tummy Time

Somehow Delaney has managed to escape the camera for the last 2 weeks. Other than the 2 video clips Callie took of her, that is. And trust me, they are something else! I'll have to get to work and sneak some shots of her. In the meantime, I have to share the cute kids I did get pictures of recently!

Rylee loves the walker. she likes to sit up and see what's going on. And boy does she give big smiles when she's happy!

Callie and Marian were wrestling on the couch. I got a shot of Callie before the not-fun and the crying part occurred.

This is Marian during the wrestling match. She's sitting on Callie here. That's why she's so happy!

Here is Joshua in one of his losing rounds of "Put your hand in front of the camera before Mom can take the picture".

Guess who is 4 months old today?! That's right! It's Rylee!

Check out that smile!

Rylee is happy to hang out on her tummy, but she wants company.

When she has an audience, she does this! (When no one pays attention to her she tries to eat the carpet and cries.)

I love a happy girl!