Baptism and Baby Gifts!

I've been busy sewing this week.  My niece is getting baptized this Saturday and I wanted to make something special for her.  Her mom is my twin sister and I'm sad I won't be able to make it because they live in Canada.  Anyways I saw  a pillow similar to this on Pinterest awhile ago and decided it would make the perfect gift.

Of course I'm still using my favorite fabric, Ruby.  And I'm still loving cross-hatch quilting.  Really, I love hand quilting best, but I didn't have time.. 

I stitched her name using all 6 strands of DMC floss because I really wanted it to stand out.

And of course I really wanted to use one of my new fabric labels (tutorial here) for a little extra touch.  The best thing about this project, (my husband will agree) is I actually had everything and didn't have to go to the craft store once.  Although I was super close to running out of thread.

My little 5 year old sons preschool teacher is having her first baby girl so I wanted to make some special for her.  She has three boys and is so excited to be having a girl.  I remember when they didn't think they would be able to have any children.  They adopted their first and have been able to have three since then.  Anyways she is such a sweetheart and awesome teacher. 

Last time I made burp cloths I used ric rac down the sides, it was kinda a pain so this time I just used it on the little decorative strip of fabric on the front.  It was tons easier and I like it a lot better.  On the blue one I used some lace from Riley Blake that I think turned out pretty cute.

And another label!

So that's what I've been up to.  My kids have one week of school left and I'm super sad.  Not because they will be home more, I'm just always sad to say goodbye to their wonderful teachers - and it means my kids are growing up faster than I'd like.   My oldest will be in 6th grade - the thought makes me a little sick to my stomach, why does it have to go by so fast???

I'm back ............... I think!

Lets just say a 16 hour plane ride takes a while to to recuperate from.   We are back though and we really did have a  wonderful time.   We survived, our children survived, my parents survived and life if slowly getting back to normal...........just in time for school to get out and then find a new normal :).


I thought I would share a few pictures from the trip..................we took hundreds, but I don't want to overwhelm anyone so here are just a few.

This is me and my husband at the Garden of Gethsemane in Israel.

Here is a group from our tour floating in the Dead Sea.

I surprised myself and actually put on a swim suit.  It was
 pretty cool, I don't think you could drown in the Dead Sea
 if you wanted too.

Here I am deep in thought on a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee.  

 My husband and I at a temple in Egypt.

This is me sitting with my in law's working on a little sewing

in the Holy Lands - am I dedicated or what!

Left to Right.  My brother and sister and law, me and my
husband, my mother n' law and father n' law.  In the
background you can see the Mediterranean Sea.

Here we are at the Spinx with a pyramid in the background.
 We thought the security guard that was in Egypt with us was
being nice by offering to take our picture all the time.
 Turns out he wanted money when it was all said and done. 

The Temple at Petra in Jordan

Luxor Temple in Egypt.

We went on a four day cruise down the Nile River.

Every day when we got back they had our towels folded

into something interesting.

This is my cute sister n' law Jenny showing some children how

to fold a boat out of paper.

A cute little boy in Egypt that melted my heart.

 

My husband and I standing in front of one of 

138 huge columns in a temple in Egypt.

There are a ton more pictures.............maybe I'll post them another time.  Thank you all for your well wishes for me and my husband on our big adventure.  I was pretty nervous about leaving 4 little ones for so long.  I missed them a ton, but it was a great experience.   I'll post some pictures of some projects I worked on in a couple of days!