Reading , eating out, and a zoom birthday

My lovely daughters!  Emily, Genevieve, and Hannah - as beautiful inside as out, I must say!  All three are now mothers, fine mothers all of them - my heart is so full!
Genevieve celebrated a birthday recently - but we were NOT all together, as shown in this photo (taken at Scott's birthday party this past February):  we  "met" via zoom.  Ah, the times we are living in!

Favorite photo of Genevieve and Scott - we were about to attend "West Side Story" at the Lyric Opera last year.  I said, jump up like you're dancing in the show, and they both did it!  Note, Scott is 69 years old, and had both feet in the air!  Genevieve is a dancer by training (BA, Northwestern University), and it shows. :)

Lovely Genevieve.

Scott and I WENT OUT TO EAT for the first time since early March.  Hannah had just gone back to work at the local establishment, so we went to support her.  It was late afternoon on a Saturday, before the dinner rush (so not crowded), and we didn't have to wait for an outside table, so we felt fairly safe.  Masks were worn going to and form, of course!  

Just finished this book, and enjoyed it thoroughly!  Our library was closed for months - I think they just reopened yesterday, with reduced hours/services - but you could still pick up books.  I put in a request for some novels, gave them some guidelines, and a librarian curated a selection of books for me!  This was one of them, and I loved it.

Stay safe, everyone!

Playing catch-up - Gen and Dave's Baby Shower, Liliana's Southwest Dreams Baby Quilt

Wow, we have been living life on "fast forward" lately!  In the course of about 6 months, our family has experienced or will experience:  3 showers; 2 births: and a wedding.  Very busy, but it's all good.  We are so blessed!

This quilt is Liliana's Southwest Dreams, modeled by Liliana herself.  More on this later. 

Genevieve and Dave at their baby shower back in November. We had a nice big group of family and friends, gathered to celebrate the upcoming birth of their little girl.  

Sister moms-to-be! Genevieve on the left, Emily on the right.  My lovely daughters!  (both have since delivered, Genevieve had Liliana Noelle on Christmas morning, and Emily welcomed Ella Karen on February 12)

Emily, her husband Matt, Danny (Hannah's fiance), and Hannah. You can see the nice bright space we rented at our park district rec center. 

Love this clever gift from one of Genevieve's good friends!

The two grandmas-to-be, and shower planners, Annette and myself!  We had fun working on this together!

The rowdy table (every party has one!):  our good friends, Diane, Paul, Andrew, Molly, Cindy, and Bill. 

This stole the show!  Scott made this "watermelon baby" himself! (modeled after many found on pinterest)  I think he did an AMAZING job!

This was some of my inspiration for Genevieve's baby quilt.  She wanted something with a southwest theme, and I love this squash blossom quilt block design.  Found this quilt on pinterest, sorry I don't know the source.  I did a LOT of searching for ideas, and went through several design choices before settling on this one.  I even started sewing one of the other options, but was not happy until I found this.

Quilt in progress.  I love the off center feeling of this quilt.  

Genevieve asked me to design the quilt color scheme around this framed artwork, but with a southwest theme.

Finished quilt and Lily.  Machine quilted perfectly by Sue Pawlowski.

Hello Lily!

And back to sleep.

I LOVE how Genevieve posed Lily for this photo!  

Sweet dreams, Lily!

Hannah and Danny's Engagement Party!

We hosted a small engagement party for Hannah and Danny last night, and it was just so much fun! They are a perfect match, they have so much fun together, and their love just shines through, doesn't it?

Just before we cut the amazing cake, which I had made especially for Danny and his love of golf. Cake created at Kirsten's Danish Bakery in Burr Ridge, IL. 

It was delicious, too!  Yellow cake with chocolate mousse filling, and buttercream icing. Yummy!

Our special guests were my brother and sister-in-law, Chuck and Jean, from Burke, VA, who just happened to be travelling through town the same weekend as the party!

Scott and I with Hannah.  Love her new dress! 

Group shot (and my finger, too, I guess - oops!), featuring Hannah's friend, Katie, our daughter, Genevieve, her bf Dave, Emily's husband, Matt, and our daughter, Emily. It seems that Dave and Matt became best friends last night after sitting together!

Nice smiles from Emily and Matt!  You can see  everyone having a good time, which I love.  We decorated with sunflowers, Hannah's favorite.

My wonderful husband, Scott - the party happened to be on our 39th wedding anniversary!

The guests of honor! Their wedding in May of 2018 will be here before you know it!

Couple more finishes for 2017

"Oh My Stars" for a special baby-to-be! My daughter's sister-in-law, Erica, expecting their first, a little boy, has planned an adorable aviation themed nursery, with navy, gray, white, and gold scheme.  I had lots of fun with this!  Did NOT turn out as planned, but better!

After searching locally, I found this cute border fabric on etsy, and the quilt was planned around it.  Simple blue stars (mimicking propellers?), set off by smaller stars, centered with compass points. 

Love this little touch of yellow, and the two different gray/white prints in the background. Quilted flawlessly by Sue Pawlowski.

Soft and snuggly for the little boy! 

Fun at Erica's baby shower!  L-R, daughter Genevieve (due in December), daughter Emily (due in February), Erica, me, and daughter Hannah (getting married in May. Needless to say, I have lots of quilts to make!!!

"Eleanor's 4-Patch" for a dear friend of the family's second born, little Eleanor.  I was unsure of her color scheme, so I used some soft baby quilt fabrics from my stash, with splashes of lime green, my favorite, and a wide white border. Simple quilting finished this quilt in a hurry!

Gratuitous puppy shot! Our dog, Buddy, loves to pose. 

Quilt on my antique baby rocker, which held me, my mom, and my grandma!

Cute baby Eleanor, with her equally cute mom, Cara.  Irrestible!

Balance, New Quilter, 4th of July

No, this is not trick photography - it is real! Our daughter, Genevieve and her bf Dave are pregnant! We are so excited to welcome our first grandchild - a girl! - in December!

Dave was a competitive gymnast, and Genevieve is a dancer.  

Genevieve and her little dog, Buddy.  

My niece, Natasha, recently contacted me about teaching her to quilt! Woo hoo, always great to welcome a new quilter into the fold!  Now I live near Chicago, and Natasha is in Austin, Texas - but we communicated via email, and this is the result.  I think she did great!

Natasha designed her baby quilt (for a friend's baby on the way) with a simple pattern of squares.  She found the skull fabric on spoonflower.

So proud of her first attempt!  Natasha has made a splash with her adorable quilt, and already has an order for another!
It's a very ancient saying 
But a true and honest thought 
That if you become a teacher 
By your pupils you'll be taught

(from "Getting to Know You")

Congrats, Natasha!

My handsome husband grilling up our 4th of July dinner.  It was a perfect day for a bbq!

Happy 4th of July! 

Mother's Day and Blogger Woes

Wow I have no idea why my banner looks so strange all of a sudden.  If anyone could enlighten me on this, I would be so grateful! Now read on as I gush about my lovely family. :)

Happy Mother's Day! Darling daughters:  Genevieve, Hannah, and Emily, and happy Mom (me)! It has been MANY years since we were all together on Mother's Day.  Oh happy day!

All gathered around the table - my preference over brunch in a restaurant at $40 each! My daughters can all cook, too!  Scott, Hannah, her fiance Danny (they just secured their wedding venue for next year!), Genevieve's boyfriend, Dave.

Scott and Hannah.  

Danny, Dave, Genevieve, Matt, and Emily.  It's a special Mother's Day for all of us because Matt and Emily just moved back to our area (Illinois) from Texas! 

There was a theme to this year's gifts:  the pool! I have a goal of going to the pool weekly this summer.  Tote bag and cool shades...

...nice big towel, plastic zippered pouch for essentials, shades again...

...coverup (maxi dress), bling-y sandals...

...best gift of all, a lovely dinner at home surrounded by my loved ones.

Now if someone could help me figure out the changes they have made to blogger! I used to know how to use it, really I did!  But now I can't figure out how to make my banner look awesome like everyone else's....plus it takes me forever to make each post, probably why I don't post very often.  Oh well, I know it's not a big deal, but sometimes it's the little things that can be the most frustrating!

I hope that all of you had a lovely Mother's Day!