I just wanted to share this quilt that I made last week for my friend Anna. She opened it at her baby shower Saturday, but since I haven’t finished the binding, I took it back and promised to return it before the baby shows up. I’m hoping to finish it this week.

The blocks are made from the Ginger Blossom fabric line by Sandi Henderson. Anna hinted that she didn’t want pastels, and only minimal pink for her baby girl. Green seemed to be her focus color, so hopefully this combination worked.

I kept seeing this quilt pattern, called Bento Boxes, online and wanted to try it out. I found the pattern online and it was really easy to follow. It’s basically made up of different lengths of 3 inch strips.

With Thomas’ help cutting and ironing, I was able to finish this up in just a couple of days. I hand-tied it because machine quilting still scares me, but I was pleased with how it turned out. I would definately try this pattern again, but I advise going with contrasty colors that have simple designs to see the square on a square pattern clearly.

I don’t know what was in the water this past winter, but I have about 5 friends due all within a month of each other. It’s crazy! Babies spilling out everywhere.

I got to go to two showers for my friend Anna - the first one was thrown by her family, and the second one was thrown David’s (the dad) family. The second one had an interesting twist — our guys were invited too. Thomas posted his thoughts on it on his website.

I took my camera with the 18-200mm lens to the first party but unfortunately, my flash started running out of battery early on. Here’s two shots that I was happy with, however.

This is Anna, her Mom, and her grandmother. They said they’ll get another similar shot once the baby is here, so they can have 4 generations together.

This is my favorite photo from the party. One of my other friends brought her little boy and he entertained us with his huge smiles and attempts to crawl.  She makes it looks so easy - this little guy didn’t fuss at all.

At the second party, I had the 50mm lens on my camera, and Thomas had the 18-70mm. We were on the porch of a restaurant, so we got some really great lighting without flashes. Here’s some of my favorites:

The restaurant we were at, Flying Biscuit, is a brunch place that is famous for it’s biscuits. They were delicious.

This is the Mom and Dad-to be. Don’t they look like they’re going to be fun parents? I’m hoping Anna can teach me all about it since she’s getting a head-start. I already learned at the shower about cloth diapers and all kinds of breastfeeding tools (special shirts, shields, pads, etc.).

Both parties were great, and we had a lot of extra laughs with the guys at the second one. If you’d like to see the rest of the photos, they’re on Flickr:

• Anna’s Baby Shower (14 photos)
• Anna and Dave’s Baby Shower (51 photos)

I haven’t participated in Fun Monday in a while, but when I saw that Lisa asked for a Bird Show and Tell as one of her options, I had to participate. Thomas and I spotted a few new birds for our yearly bird list while we were in Belgium last month.  These were all shot in various parks around Brussels.

Here’s some of my favorites:

This is a Eurasian Coot. He was hard to photograph because he’s so dark, but he had a black body with a red eye. The white shield on his head looked more smooth, than like feathers. We also saw some baby coots (plain gray and fuzzy), and a nest (a pile of sticks in the middle of a lake).

This is an Egyptian Goose. He had beautiful colors. You can’t see in this shot, but he had a bright green under his wings. We saw these, and some goslings, at the same lakes as we saw the Coots.

I wish I got a better shot of this guy because he was really beautiful. This is a Eurasian Magpie. They seemed as common as a Robin or Blue Jay is in the US, but a little bit bigger.

This is a Common Moorhen. We watched a male and female (not as colorful) eat algae in the water. Again, he was hard to photograph because he was so dark, but his feet are bright yellow, and his beak is red and yellow.  It kind of reminds me of candy corn.

And finally, I was very excited to see this bird in the wild. There was a flock of them in a tree in a park. It’s a Rose-ringed Parakeet.  I have never seen a wild parrot before, but these were very pretty.

If you’d like to see the rest of the bird photos we took in Belgium, they’re posted on Flickr:

• Birds in Belgium (13 photos)

Recently, Thomas decided that he really wanted a pair of sandals, so we checked out a few stores and he finally settled on Birkenstocks. He’s become more hippie by the minute. :) After staring at feet all afternoon, I realized that my toes weren’t so pretty after all the walking we did in Belgium last month, so I suggested we get a pedicure.

I don’t know why, but Thomas actually agreed…without putting up a fight. He claims that he just viewed it as exploring another culture, like an anthropologist. His rule was no paint, but he seemed to enjoy the foot soak, massage chair, and nail trimming. And he questioned the nail lady what she was doing/using every step.

Since Thomas was bravely trying something new, I thought I’d try something new too. I got a funky color with a design, and they even put a little bling on there too. We had fun, but I doubt I could get Thomas to go again. Next time will just have to be with my girlfriends. :)

I was being grumpy this weekend, so Thomas suggested we go for a walk - it works for Clover, at least. Despite being way behind in my photo processing, I suggested we check out what photos we could find at the Leita Thompson garden. There’s a small area with flowers, where we found many moths, butterflies, and bees. These were some of my favorite shots:

And in response to Thomas posting this photo of me, here’s a lovely one of him…

The rest of our photos are posted on our photo sites:

• Dallas’ LT Garden Photos (16 photos)
• Thomas’ LT Garden Photos (17 photos)

I’m tired tonight, so I entertained myself with silly Internet quizzes.  Then I made Thomas take them to see how we compared.  Here’s our results:

What European City Do You Belong In?

You Belong in Amsterdam

A little old fashioned, a little modern - you’re the best of both worlds. And so is Amsterdam. Whether you want to be a squatter graffiti artist or a great novelist, Amsterdam has all that you want in Europe (in one small city).

In 2004, Thomas and I backpacked from Gotland, Sweden, to Amsterdam, to Paris, and we both agreed that we should have spent more time in Amsterdam, and less time in Paris.  Gotland was cool, but more of the type of city you visit, rather than the type you live in.  I guess the quiz is accurate for us because we both scored Amsterdam.  It was a very cool city, and if you ever go, be sure to tour the Anne Frank Museum and visit Vondelpark.

American Cities That Best Fit You:

65% Austin 60% Atlanta 50% Chicago 50% Las Vegas 50% Miami

Thomas and I moved to Atlanta in 2005 after I finished grad school.  It was kind of a fluke - we weren’t looking here, but an opportunity opened up and we thought we’d check out the city for a while.  I didn’t expect for it to show up on our quiz lists, but we both got it in second place.  I don’t think I’d be interested in the other places at the bottom of my list - Chicago sounds too cold and Las Vegas and Miami sound too ritzy.

The places we were looking at when we moved here were Seattle, Portland, Austin, and Raleigh.  Seattle and Portland would be cool, but they’re a long way from family.  We both lived in Raleigh for several years, and I still think it would be a great place to live…at least Chapel Hill (neighboring town where UNC is).  I don’t think Thomas agrees.  Austin showed up at the top of my quiz list, which I think would be neat, but that’s because I’m a Texan by heart.  Thomas’ first result was Honolulu, which is so not him at all.

What American and European do you belong in?  Just click the links above to try the quizzes.

The day before I left for Belgium, I received my Vintage Sheet Swap package. I just realized I never shared what I got. First of all, Oh Fransson was awesome! She said the final count sent to her was 2,314 fat quarters in 318 prints from 72 swappers. Crazy! Check out her site to see what that looks like stacked up in piles.

I sent her a couple of samples of fabrics I wanted to match with my swap - yellow and green with a hint of blue - and she did a great job matching them. I’m planning on making a cover for our bed, but it may take a while since this will be my biggest sewing project yet.  And I’m not sure what patchwork pattern I want to use yet.

Speaking of packages I received, earlier this Summer, Jane told me about a fundraiser she was participating in called Crafts for China.  Crafters donated items to be sold to raise money for children in China. This bag by Not Yet the Dodo was one of the items and I won it as the only bidder. The quality is fantastic, colors are great, and I have been using it as a purse recently.

Today, I got this little package of cards from Trail Mix. I helped her out with some info on a pattern and she sent me this set of cards as a thank you. Too cool - I had recently admired them on her website. She made them from her own photo. The pink card is another card she made. What a great design!

Finally, this is what I’ve been working on tonight. Actually, this is just the part that is driving me nuts. I worked really hard and went very slow to make sure my lines were straight and everything was just right. And then when I got to the final step - the top stitching - I was too tired and got sloppy. The top stitching is so sloppy that I’m debating if I need to rip out the stitches and redo it…after I get a good night sleep.  Ugh.