I finally finished! It was very difficult to photograph though. Sorry about the lighting. And in case you were wondering, that's my husband behind the quilt holding it up.
Birdcage on a Chain quilt using Amy Butler's Belle quilting fabric and Gutterman thread. All 100% cotton.
I had to share this super cute picture. This is our friend Betsey at a cookie decorating party we went to. (We had two cookie parties in one week...sugar high.) I thought she looked cute covered in icing. 
Here's the cookie spread. Notice everyone busy decorating, but Liam is busy eating.
I made a couple more dresses last week. One went to my niece Gemma, and this one is for my Matilda. I think it will be her Christmas dress.
Yes my addiction to Oliver and S patterns is still going strong. I decided to make the playdate dress for two very sweet twin girls I know in Texas.
It was really fun making two dresses at once. Liam picked out the fabric. Pretty good choices for a 3 year old boy. And it just so happened that he picked fabric from Amy Butler's Daisy Chain line while she was sitting right behind him signing books.
So to get to the review...the instructions were very detailed and easy to follow. This was my second time doing a pleat, and it was super easy to do. This was also my first time to do piping, and I now know that I was way to scared of it for no reason. I also made the buttons myself because I thought it would look better with coordinating buttons. I used a button kit from Joann. The only thing that didn't come out quite right were the ruffles on the front. I think, however, that's due more to my inabilities than the pattern.
Basically, it's an easy, fun pattern for an intermediate sewer. (I think that's what I say about all Oliver and S patterns.) Although if you are a beginner sewer and want to be adventurous, I say try to tackle it. 
The kids and I spent hours at the park this week enjoying our Indian summer. There aren't words to describe how beautiful the changing leaves are with the noon sun shining through them.
I want to knit those colors. It makes me feel like there is really a Lorien on Earth.
We had a delicious mommy and daddy only dinner last night. It was my first experience with spaghetti squash. Yummy recipe found here. The great thing about it is that it was very filling, very nutritious, and extremely tasty! Now I'll have to test it out on the kids.
And finally, Jack is Charlie Brown. Doesn't this shirt fit him so well? All I need is Lucy holding a football.
Thing 1 and Thing 2 in action!
Thing 1 and Thing 2 and the goldfish in the pot who said, "Tell that Cat in the Hat you do not want to play!"
Mommy the horse, Liam the cow, and Jack the pig at Circle S Farms.
Our jack-o-lanterns (which Liam wanted to know if we'd make Liam-o-lanterns too). The seeds were roasted and thoroghly enjoyed by two little boys.
Liam and the great pumpkin.
Matilda on her pumking throne.
Daddy and Jack in the sunflower maze.
The butt pumpkin.
I actually got to meet the Amy Butler last night! There was a book signing at the quilt shop (Quilt Beginnings) near my house. She really is as nice as everyone says she is. I wanted to get a picture with her, but between my shyness and my kids being ready to go home and eat supper, it didn't work out.
Once a week or so the husband and I cook dinner for just the two of us after the kids go to bed. This week I made something that I used to make a very long time ago, and now I just can't understand why I ever stopped making it. It's baked feta stuffed tomatoes. It's a very light but filling meal. 
I'm in the middle of a "life revamp." I got so wrapped up in doing so many things for other people, that I neglected to do anything for myself in a long while. In order to enjoy my kids, my husband, my hobbies, I've decided I'm not doing anything for anyone unless I really enjoy it. Selfish? Nope! Healthy? Yes!
In the past few weeks, I have simplified my life a lot. It's great! I was so stressed for a while that I suffered great fatigue for about a month. I'm talking about slurring words fatigue. So to de-stress myself, I've dropped all obligations and such except being Mommy and wife and just me. I love it! 
As part of being Mommy, the kids and I have decided to explore Ohio a bit more every few weeks. So today we went to Granville. This is the most adorable town I've been to in a while. We had a picnic at this great park. It was a beautiful day, and the kids had a blast.
This is another Oliver and S dress, of course. I was scared to start this one at first, but once I got into it, it was easy peasy and really fun to make. 
I'm obviously not great at time management. It takes a little longer to redo a basement than I thought. It's mostly because we can really only work on the weekends. We're done with the painting though! The color looks great. In the meantime, I'll leave you with a few lovelies I found.
We went to the state fair last weekend. It was a gorgeous day!
Jack enjoyed the Ferris wheel immensely. Poor guys was too short to ride any other rides, so we rode this one twice.
Liam's first roller coaster ride was on this freakish caterpillar.
I finally finished a little cardigan for my niece who will arrive in September. It's from a Debbie Bliss book, and I used the oh so soft cashmerino aran. I love the simplicity of it.
I'm also sending my sister the baptismal gown we've all been passing around for years. My siblings and I were all baptized wearing it. So far all of our children have also been baptized in it.
Since it's been around for so long, I had to make some repairs to the smocking. I hope I did a decent job. It was my first smocking and I was kind of nervous.
I know this post really has no point except to say that I have the most adorable daughter. My mother-in-law took this picture (or at least her husband did since I just noticed her hands in the pic) about a month ago. Don't you want to kiss those chubby cheeks?!
I have finally completed this Moby Dick of a blanket. I haven't blocked it yet or anything, but I have finished crocheting it!!!
I like the way the colors turned out. I used Palette from knitpicks.com. There are soooo many colors to choose from and only $1.99/ball! Now I have to ship it off the the luck recipient.
I am almost done with this quilt top. I just have some sashing to finish, then I can begin the long process of hand quilting! I'm really excited with how this turned out. The colors are a lot more vibrant than in this picture. I didn't have good light while taking it, but I will be sure to post many pics of the finished product.
We had to take a picture of this. This is what two tired little guys look like after two weeks on vacation. We stopped at a hotel on the drive back from Houston, and it took us a couple of hours to calm them down (hotels are exciting to little guys). When they crashed, they really crashed!
I see these other blogs where people take pictures of their beautiful workspaces. Do people really have extremely neat workspaces? Or am I the only slob? I'm working on a quilt, and there's no way to keep things neat (especially since I only have nap times and night time to work). Does anyone have any organization advice? I think I'll make a trip to Ikea soon or get the husband to build shelves.
I fell in love with this pattern as soon as I got it. It's really hard to find classic and cute patterns for kids anymore. Well, Oliver + S certainly does that!
The pattern is super easy to follow and is easy enough for beginner sewers to tackle. The way the bottom hem is done and the understitching make this little dress look so professional. I made two in 0-3 month size, but the pattern goes all the way up to 18-24 months. You can also purchase 2T-5T. I did make the bloomers with the dress in the bottom picture. I do, however, usually put a onesie underneath it, so I don't really use the bloomers. 
There were a couple of glorious days when I got to actually hang the laundry outside to dry. It's been raining every day since. As a matter of fact, I had to rush out to get clothes off the line in a sudden storm. Getting pounded with hail while doing so wasn't fun.
