. . . leap day . . .

. . . i'd like to wish

a very happy birthday

to andrew g. peters . . .

. . . he's bill's good friend

from arcadia high school . . .

. . . andy is still convinced

we named drew after him . . .

{we didn't}

. . . whoa . . .

. . . yearbook photos

from the '50s

are a little grainy . . .

. . . kidding . . .

. . . it's really from 1974 . . .

. . . andrew g. peters was born

on leap day in 1956 . . .

. . . so ~ today is technically

only his fourteenth birthday . . .

. . . and ~

{you're not going to believe this}

he has a twin . . .

. . . also born on leap day 1956 . . .

. . . here's nicki . . .

. . . nicki used to work

at the spaghetti factory . . .

. . . so did michelle . . .

. . . they got to talking

and found out

they shared

a leap day birthday . . .

. . . michelle's four years younger . . .

. . . so andy, nicki, and michelle

went out to celebrate together . . .

. . . then andy and michelle

got married! . . .

. . . and then they sent us

clever christmas cards

every year . . .

. . . like this one

that's nearly twenty years old . . .

. . . the year andy and michelle

celebrated their

"ninth" and "eighth" birthdays . . .

. . . happy birthday, leapsters . . .

. . . breaking it down . . .

. . . today was as good a day

as any . . .

. . . for a little fabric therapy . . .

. . . and just for fun . . .

. . . here's how something

that looks relatively complicated . . .

. . . comes together quite easily . . .

. . . one step at a time . . .

{disclaimer: the brown in this line of fabric is a lovely dark taupe.

the designer calls the color "mud".

there are absolutely no funky yellow dotted lines in the background.

weird photos.}

. . . all the cutting for this quilt

{consisting of three sizes of squares

and two sizes of triangles}

was complete

before i ever sat down to sew . . .

. . . then each block

includes nine patches . . .

. . . with eight of them

containing smaller pieces . . .

. . . this one . . .

. . . times four . . .

. . . and this one . . .

. . . times four . . .

. . . i tend to be a little {extremely} ocd . . .

. . . in regard to my quilting quirks,

i'd say i'm:

•a consistent/careful cutter,

•a slow/steady stitcher, and

•a persnickety/precise presser . . .

{no charge for the •amazing/accurate alliterations}

. . . and yet after cutting,

stitching,

and pressing

the very best i can,

i always need to true up my blocks ~

leaving little scraps like this . . .

. . . but they do look nice and tidy . . .

. . . post rotary cutter . . .

. . . those eight little patches

meet up

with one additional print square . . .

. . . then join into three rows . . .

. . . then the rows come together

forming one complete block . . .

. . . kind of like eating an elephant . . .

. . . one bite at a time . . .

. . . here's a peek at another print

i'm especially enjoying . . .

. . . the green colorway

is called "grass stain" . . .

. . . the corner triangle fabric's name? . . .

. . . "rose cowboy shirt" . . .

. . . how cute is that? . . .

. . . p.s. please count faster,

michigan and arizona

election officials . . .

. . . the suspense is killing me! . . .

. . . i'll have what she's having . . .

. . . some days

just kind of

feel like this . . .

. . . don't they? . . .

. . . here's hoping tomorrow

will be more of a

"primary song leader"

kind of day! . . .

. . . all gussied up . . .

. . . hope you're

having a great day . . .

. . . wearing your sunday best . . .

. . . and a cheesy grin . . .

. . . this month is such a special one . . .

. . . february is a big month

for birthdays in our family . . .

. . . seven of them to be exact . . .

. . . today we celebrated

my mom's . . .

. . . look how cute she is! . . .

. . . mom and her girls . . .

. . . and the granddaughter

with whom

she shares this birthday . . .

{remember?}

{nathel - age 76 and amelia nathel - age 26}

. . . it kind of looks like

only the girls in the family

were invited to this party . . .

. . . but i promise

we invited the boys too . . .

{you can bet your boots that either my brother, jeff,

or my brother-in-law, sean,

just said something inappropriate!}

. . . look! . . .

. . . even my husband was there

for a little while . . .

. . . representing for mitt! . . .

. . . cameron and colby

enjoyed a little tummy time . . .

. . . and there was

plenty of cousin fun . . .

{i love jack pushing elliott}

. . . pretty girls on swings . . .

. . . halleigh . . .

. . . addi . . .

. . . and angela . . .

{remember when she got baptized last saturday?}

. . . we sang the entire

three song birthday medley . . .

{hello beautiful/delicious molly's chocolate cake}

. . . and then mom

fanned the candles out . . .

. . . that's right . . .

. . . fanned . . .

. . . not blew . . .

. . . no germs on the cake, please . . .

. . . writing wishes

from one birthday girl

to the other . . .

. . . which we affixed to balloons . . .

. . . please notice tagg . . .

. . . playing with

nasty charcoal ashes . . .

. . . ewwwwww . . .

. . . here's me being bossy . . .

. . . handing out balloons . . .

. . . we sang again . . .

. . . love this shot

with cute courtlyn

in the background. . .

. . . and mom hiding

behind a blue ribbon . . .

. . . then the launch . . .

. . . bye bye balloons . . .

. . . bye bye wishes . . .

. . . my biggest wish is

for another happy year,

my wonderful mother . . .

. . . love you! . . .

{special thanks to my photographer daughter, amanda.

sorry you aren't in even one picture. :( }

. . . patting myself on the back . . .

. . . the pit of despair

comes in second on the list

of all-time most-viewed posts

on this here blog . . .

{everyone loves a train wreck, apparently!}

{it really was a train wreck}

. . . and, in case

you were wondering . . .

{were you wondering?}

. . . one year + thirteen days later

the makeover is still in force . . .

. . . and honestly,

every time i go in there

i'm proud of myself

for keeping it that way . . .

. . . most-commented on section? . . .

~ cardiganville ~

{and ry g biv ~ no o}

it's alive and well . . .

. . . bbq chicken salad {again} . . .

. . . since i've been asked

more than once today . . .

. . . i'm here to

reshare a recipe . . .

{just click on that yellow link}

{and yes, i do realize this is the second day in a row i've used this photo}

. . . the original post {dated 19 july 2009}

is {by far} the all-time most-visited page

on my blog . . .

{did you know there are stats for that?}

. . . i wholeheartedly endorse this salad . . .

. . . go ahead

and make it for dinner

sometime very soon . . .

. . . i'd love to hear what you think! . . .

. . . my idea of a great day . . .

. . . seriously . . .

. . . hanging out

with these fun gals . . .

. . . including a couple

of new friends . . .

. . . so glad gina and nedra

could join us . . .

. . . they might as well be

quilting royalty! . . .

. . . we sewed . . .

. . . we chatted . . .

. . . we had lunch . . .

. . . we learned a thing or two . . .

{such as: the three occasions when it is appropriate to swear}

. . . i'm loving the way

these blocks are turning out . . .

. . . three down . . .

. . . seventeen to go . . .

. . . this nice article was published

in the arizona republic today . . .

{one edit: world war II - not I}

. . . then . . .

. . . then . . .

. . . THEN . . .

. . . these blurry images

came in a text message . . .

. . . so excited for this little dolly

to make her debut in august . . .

. . . congratulations,

drew and jessalyn . . .

. . . let the pink sewing begin!! . . .

{a great debate for mitt would be the icing on today's cake}

{next morning edit: the debate was awesome

AND here's even more proof we had a fun quilty day}

. . . bullet points . . .

• insomnia
• no walking
• laundry
• campaign fundraiser
• grocery shopping
• meet blog friend in real life
• water yard
• hang tv on wall
• vacuum sawdust
• lemon bars
• move furniture
• marinate chicken
• lame blog post
• sleep {hopefully}
• no photos

{i hope your day

was just as fun~filled

as mine was!}

. . . i lied . . .

. . . not sure what

i was thinking . . .

. . . because i was

nowhere near finished . . .

. . . but, after cutting

about a billion HSTs . . .

{that's quiltspeak for half-square triangle}

. . . i kid ~ there's really

only about seven hundred . . .

. . . NOW i'm done . . .

. . . and ready to sew . . .

. . . sunday brunch . . .

. . . i wasn't quick enough

with the camera . . .

. . . but you should have seen

the little red-tailed hawk

who was just here . . .

. . . definitely enjoying

what must have been

a tender little dove . . .

. . . leaving only feathers . . .

. . . which either

aren't very tasty . . .

. . . or maybe it's that

they get stuck

in one's throat . . .

. . . wishing you

a sunday dinner

that goes down

nice and easy . . .