A Girly Quilt and Grandparents Visit!

If you know me, you know that birthday cards are usually the last thing on my mind and they are always late, if they make it at all.  It is just not something that stays in the front of my mind and I forget.  It always has been this way and may be a permanent piece of my personality.  This quilt, however, might be the start of a positive trend (or just a fluke), but I finished this birthday gift before the birthday!  :)

This cute little girl quilt is for my niece, Jade, who is turning 2 shortly and has moved into a twin bed in anticipation of her baby brother coming into the world soon.  It was so much fun to work on something really girly and then quilt it with giant mums.  :)  The size is 60" x 90" and the fabric line is called Wee Wander if you are interested in that sort of thing.

Here is the back...

and some closeups...

My parents were also in town this week and the only day I pulled the camera out was when they were working in the yard with us.  :)  We had a wonderful visit with them and just hung around the house and in town...so relaxing and Timothy loved the play time and the awesome bug cage that my dad built him.  We added a small butterfly net to the cause and he was a happy camper.  However, the cabbage moths were making their annual appearance and with last year's crop being totally eaten by their caterpillars, we took some preventative measures.  A little boy with a net and bug cage is a pretty cute and environmentally safe method of pest intervention, but not necessarily very effective.   Bird netting and some stakes will hopefully keep the brassicaceae family happy and free of holes.

Everything seems to be coming along well and we have almost the entire garden covered with newspapers and grass clippings.  So far, we have eaten broccoli, radishes, lettuce, green onions, and herbs.

The raspberry bush got a haircut earlier this spring and is loaded with berries!

Timothy got his first staple gun lesson.

And here is the only pictorial proof that my mom was here.  :)  Check out our not so little trees!  We actually have useable shade!  We totally fit 4 lawn chairs and the water table under those trees one afternoon!

Lots of fun in the water table...

and a popcorn party to boot!