my first quilt
a couple months ago, i started on my first quilt. i was inspired by all of the amazing masterpieces my Mom has quilted over the last decade. halloween is my favorite holiday, so i thought starting off with a halloween themed quilt was just the ticket!

this is at the home stretch! when the quilt is all put together and everything is ready to go, the final step is to HAND stitch the binding on. i was dreading this particular step because it is my mom's least favorite........ but i loved it! i loved having control of the needle and thread as opposed to the machine. (my new found love of hand-work is what has given me to the courage to make my christmas quilt...... more to come on that :) )

this is the pieced back of my quilt. the back is made of all flannel, so it is incredibly soft and cozy.

i found this in the store when i was already three quarters of the way finished with my quilt. but i just had to have the little halloween kitties........ bet you cant guess why.

this is a close up shot of one of my favorite fabrics i used. if you look close enough, you can see the black stitching around the circle. at first, i couldnt decide between using clear or black thread to sew the circles on. i am glad i ended up going with black. i think it adds to the whole "halloween" effect.

those little grey blobs (they are actually cats) dont show up that much in real life. they are pretty dark, so they blend in with the black background more.

this is the final product! i am so proud of this thing. i carry it around with me everywhere i go. i am glad i have found a hobby that i enjoy. i tried out the art of knitting this past year, but it just never caught on....... so i have moved on to quilting, and it is great!

a big thank you.
at first, louis inquired as to why he recieved such a wonderful surprise in the mail........

then I explained to him, "because your auntie jocelyn loves you very much." and then it all made sense.

a big party calls for a big post.

last night, we hosted our annual halloween donut party. it was such a blast. my aunt has a cabin, in the woods, on this quaint little lake. it is the perfect setting for an event such as this! we also ran a spook alley down in the CREEPY basement. it was all so much hard work, but definitely worth it.

my mom and i took the day off of work to prepare! we have this amazing recipe for donuts (actually spudnuts because they have a little bit of mashed potatoes in them). we made over 450 donuts and there was not one left by the end of the night!

despite smelling like grease and being super tired from working with yeast since 10am, my mom always has time to look pretty.

i, however, dont have time for anything but serving donuts!

our good friends, jill and bart, showed up in the cutest costumes ever. little red riding hood and the big bad wolf (with the fake chest hair and all)! we were so glad they came to go through the haunted house with us and eat all the donuts!

craig helped me with these little devils! and i say devils because they were so laborious! i saw them in a magazine and thought "wow, what a great way to light up the driveway, i think i will make them!" well, easier said then done. i am glad i have a husband that is A. very handy and B. doesnt get fed up with my crazy crafts.

my best friend from highschool, kirsten, came with her good friend craig! i was so grateful they made the trek out to the eastside. i love how a couple of months can go by without kirsten and i hanging out, yet we always pick up right where we left off and have a great time together. she is such a terrific friend.

this is the perfect setting i was referring to! what could be better to set the spooky mood?

this is the "white room". it is frustrating trying to capture the true scary-ness of a spook alley. the flash makes it look too bright and without the flash nothing shows up. but i think you can get the idea. there was an intense fog machine going in this room, that by the end of the night the two guys "working" in there almost passed out! workers comp.

this girl has been the "dead bride" for three years in a row. she was reluctant to do it again this year, but i think she is perfect for the job! she looks like pure evil. (that is a compliment to the actress! :) )


so, the main star of this event is always the homemade donut! people come from the every corner of western washington to get a taste of these little sweets.

there is nothing like a little dry-ice to add some drama.

the chocolate glazed ones are my absolute favorite. they are all so yummy though. we couldnt make them fast enough!

now i know why the donuts were going so quickly. the food monster was never far away......

well, i guess this crowd helped too. (cant give all the credit to my husband)

dont ever mess with a pregnant lady after a hard day of hostessing.

this is probably the first of many

i always said that i wouldnt put a picture up of me with my belly. but here i am, posting a picture of my 24 week belly in black spandex. couldnt get more hypocritical if i tried. so, when i say "the first of many" i dont mean that i will post a bunch of pictures of my pregnant belly in the future.... i mean that i am about to become a mom, so i will probably be sticking my foot in my mouth a lot!

mimi's first quilt for the baby!
my mom makes the most beautiful quilts ever quilted! i am so excited that she has already started making some quilts for my baby. this inaugural quilt is the cutest thing i have ever seen. and we have all agreed that it could be for either boy or girl.....

those are little sock monkeys. so adorable! and the yellow polka-dotted binding is supposed to kinda remind the on-looker of bananas. i love it so much.

the quilt matches my stroller to perfection. now all we need is a baby. i am working on that, ok!

oh how the times have changed.
i have no idea when this special little family portrait was taken. tucker isnt in it (and my mom doesnt look too pregnant) so i guess i can carbon date this photo to be circa 1991. the bow in my hair is made entirely of deflated balloons. dont ask. wasnt my brother the cutest little thing ever? that's the beauty of pictures. you dont see the drama before and after the flash!

this was taken last christmas. i think i have already used this picture on my blog but i wanted to post the before and after all on the same post! in this more recent picture, we are missing taylor but tucker, craig, and my mom's hair are new additions! it is a blast to look back on old pictures and see how much things have changed.

however, the real purpose for this post is to give a little shout out. last night, some friends came over to visit me at my mom's house. they mentioned a couple of different times how lucky we are to be able to live in such a cozy and loving home. they are right! every night, craig and i pray and express our gratitude to my parents for letting us live in their home. i know craig eats a lot, louis gets fur everywhere, and i come home with shopping bags a little too often.... but my parents are always so nice about it all. it is a HUGE sacrifice to open your home to guests (even loved ones) and i just want my mom and dad to know how much we appreciate their love and support. we wont forget the the little people that helped us on our way.

it's not always gonna be like this
i know that there have been a whole lot of "baking posts" as of late, but i was going nuts with that same post about LARS and the REAL GIRL. (by the way, it didnt come out in any of the theaters near me, so i didnt get to see it this past weekend.bummer.) so i thought these cookies were cute enough to blog about.

since i was a little girl, my grandma would ship these cookies to us every halloween. they are spice cookies with frosting and a cute pumpkin face on top. they were always a little overdone, and the frosting was always a little too sweet, but i loved them just the same. they are a tradition.... how could you not love a tradition? however, a couple of years ago this big process became a little too much for my grandma. she stopped sending them. it was so sad. so i decided to get the recipe from her so i could carry on her tradition. they are so fun to make and very yummy.