Through the years

M. has changed so much these last 3 years. I thought it might be fun seeing how she has changed each year.

M.'s 3 year Preschool Photo. She had very long beautiful black hair that year.

M.'s 4 year old Preschool Photo. Notice the difference in hair length. The short hair wasn't something that I had planned but M. had a different idea. She decided to cut her hair and there was nothing I could do but cut it very short. She had longer hair than this on adoption day when she was 11 months old.
M's Kindergarten photo. The hair is finally getting longer. She is very lucky that her hair grows very fast. I've had assurances from her that she won't cut it again (in the past, her promises were not kept because she has cut her hair a total of 5 times so far). I did have her hair curled a little bit before she left for school, but it was so hot that day, her curls didn't last.

How many projects can one person have at the same time? For me, I guess it is many! This quilt is just one of the lastest quilts that I've finished. It's a signature quilt that I made for my second cousin's High School Graduation. First I made all the blocks and she then had all of her friends and family sign each block. She then sent them back to me and I sewed the top and did the machine quilting. My Aunt will be giving her the finished quilt for Christmas.

As to the other many projects going on, I've been very busy. I've machine quilted 2 quilts for a customer and added the binding. I have also been busy making Christmas presents before I start on 3 more projects for customers. This year, my project of choice have been purses. Yesterday, I made 3 of them and I have plans to make several more. I'm also trying to sew a Charity quilt top too (I end up working on this when I get bored with another project). After I finish these, I will then have to make a OHGW quilt and another purse/tote for a customer and then I have another quilt in the waiting to machine quilt for someone. I will be plenty busy this Christmas season. On top of all that, I still have to get the girls to all of their activities, do some shopping, maybe find time to make cookies (I'm tempted not to do this because I end up eating too many), maybe clean the house and sleep.

HAPPY FAMILY DAY!!!

3 years ago at about 4:00 pm in the Civil Affairs Building in Guangzhou, We saw E. for the very first time. She came to us not crying but wanting to check everything out. She was too busy looking at everyone around the room. She did eventually cry just a little while we were still at the Civil Affairs but not much. Once back at the room, she began to play with all the toys we brought and we had our first smile. We found out that she could crawl, go to a sitting position from laying down and sit all by herself. That evening she went to bed like a charm and slept for almost the whole night. The next day she became her very active self and her true personality was beginning to come out. We also discovered that she was able to pull herself into a standing position and cruise the furniture (no developmental delays for her and she started to walk at 10 1/2 months). She bonded to both of us pretty quickly and really didn't have a preference on who was taking care of her at the time (unlike her big sister who wouldn't let her Dad do anything for her for many weeks). Our rest of the trip in China was actually pretty pleasant because E. was such an easy going baby. 3 years have gone by quickly!! We love you E. very much and you bring such joy and excitement to our family. HAPPY FAMILY DAY!!!

E. right after Placement.

E. playing in the Hotel room a couple of hours later.

Adoption Day

E's big smile and laugh (notice the standing)

Our travel group attempting a red couch photo with 16 babies

Three years later attempting another "Red Couch" photo. We were able to have a Family Day Celebration with members of our travel group on Nov 10, 2007. It was wonderful seeing all the girls again and seeing how much they have changed in 3 years.

E. today.

Quilt Shop Hop and other quilting stuff

Last weekend, I got to spend a whole two days doing nothing but going to quilt shops and spending way too much money. For the past 5 years, I've spent my Birthday weekend doing the Ohio Amish Country Quilt shop hop with my Mom and no kids. What better way to spend my birthday but shopping for fabric (without the kids trying to destroy the quilt store while you are looking). Each shop makes a quilt out of all the other shops quilt squares by using the same theme fabric. This year's theme was "Patches 'n Petals". You have the opportunity to purchase a kit at each store with their block and choice of fabrics. By the time you have visited all 12 stores, you can have enough blocks to make a sampler quilt. On Sunday while the girls were at the Wiggles concert, I was able to sew about 6 of these blocks together. The photo above is one of them. Once I have all the blocks sewn, I will then need to come up with an idea on how to put them all together into a quilt.

I've also been busy sewing a zodiac quilt for a customer, machine quilting another quilt for a friend of mine (she saw my quilt top that I posted on this blog and wanted to buy it so I finally have it finished for her) and machine quilting a quilt for a customer.

Chinese Zodiac Quilt

Attic Window quilt for my friend

Machine quilted with little meandering hearts for customer.

The Wiggles

On Sunday, the girls got to attend their first Wiggles Concert. Up until this time, we've managed to miss all the concerts due to vacations (darn!). Neither one of the girls are as wild about the Wiggles as they were when they were younger, but none the less, they both enjoyed the show. They were both dancing and singing along! I was fortunate enough to be able to stay home and I was able to get some quilting done.

M and E before the Concert

If you look closely, you can see Jeff.

Happy Halloween

The girls had a fun time trick-or-treating with their Dad last night. It was nice to have something to do since our Schools have been closed for 3 weeks now due to a Teacher's Strike. I have been making M.'s costumes since her first Halloween here in the States. This year was no different. I do usually have a little more influence on what costume she is going to wear due to me having to sew it, so this year she went as a girl "from the 50's" (as she would say). I made her a pink poodle skirt (couldn't put a poodle on it though because I had to put a Scottie) out of felt. I appliqued the pink Scottie on the front and I also made the black belt out of elastic sequins. I think she made a very beautiful "Girl from the 50's". I do feel bad for E. though because right now she has no choice of her costume. She has to wear M.'s old costumes. I really don't want to make two costumes a year. This year the costume of choice was Dorothy, complete with the ruby slippers. E. was very happy to be Dorothy so all was well. She too looked pretty cute in her costume. Their Dad put on a banana costume to walk around with them. M. was very embarrassed of her Dad (as she said). I think the main problem was that he was getting a little more attention in his costume than she was and she didn't like it. Enjoy some photos of the girls in their costumes.