alaska 2016 - day 1

well, i've been back for just over a week now, and while i still feel like i'm moving in slow motion, it is time to blog about alaska!  i spent my spring break up in alaska visiting amy, luke & baby barto with jenny, and it was quite the experience!  we flew out on saturday the 19th, and with a mega layover in seattle finally made it to anchorage at about midnight.  sunday was our first actual day in alaska doing things, and by doing things i mean slowly pulling our lives together about halfway through the afternoon and then going out for an adventure.
we traveled out to hatcher's pass for what we had high intentions of building a snowman, as a snow storm hit in saturday as we traveled in.  we couldn't get as high up the mountain as we had hoped, so we pulled over, checked out the views and then headed back. it was pretty amazing all around, so much snow and not a bad view in sight!
after our chilly adventure out, we headed back home for dinner and relaxing before our week of adventures really started to begin.  i've got four more days of adventures to come, so don't run too far away :)

dragons & knights on the nine patch baby quilt

oh hey look.
it's that quilt i said i would get posted forever ago!
between bridal showers & gender reveal parties (plus it rolling in to dance recital & wedding season) life is a smidge all over the place.  ANYWAYS.  here's a long overdue post!
at the end of last year, my cousin ben asked me if i would commission another quilt for one of his roommates.  of course, being the boy cousin that ben is, he was 100% helpless when it came for any inspiration.  after what felt like a thousand questions, it finally came forward that the dad of the baby boy to be was a fan of the color green as well as in to science fiction in a dragons and wizards sort of way.  pulling teeth, i tell you.
ebay searching found me this adorable alexander henry fabric, and i had the back figured out.  no clue what the plan was for the front, but at least it was a start.  i was working on aileen's science quilt at the time as well, so clearly this was not going to be a "right away" project anyways (baby wasn't due until March) so it wasn't an immediate purchase need.  after cruising through pinterest quite a bit, and then flipping through some quilt books, i came across the pattern "bugs on the nine patch" in my quilts for babies & kids book, and it was perfect.  a quick trip to joann's and i was prepared to quilt.  i ended up knocking everything out around christmas time, and then packed it all up to hand sew on the way to disneyland.  clearly, it sat around folded for awhile before being photographed, but we had some crazy up and down weather at the time (much like is going on right now).
without further delay, here's more quilt goodness!
as you can see, i kept the quilting very simple, since i didn't want to compete with the design going on in the nine patch. simple stitch in the ditch following the diagonal lines and around the second border.
the feedback i got? according to my cousin, his roommate says if he has any say in it, this will be the baby's favorite blanket.
boo yah!
now i need to get back to knocking out a few more projects so i can blog again!

my best friend's gender reveal

spoiler alert: my best friend is having a baby!
yesterday, while enduring a series of unfortunate events that will always coincide with this story, i (mostly) threw erika a gender reveal party celebrating her finding out what she and matt were having.  the days leading up to it i sharpied some chocolate bars, chalkboarded some drink jars and prepared some signs for everyone to cast their votes.  i ordered a cake that went with the "rifles or ruffles" theme from jaynee cakes that hid the gender in the filling of the cake.
the cake was perfect, with half camo and half ruffles. melissa with jaynee cakes was awesome and figuring out exactly what would fit our needs. she also did 2 dozen cupcakes to feed guests as well. loved them! plus, they were delicious!
this next one is my all time favorite, since you can see the excitement on both of their faces!
erika and matt were pumped that the baby is going to be a boy, and i couldn't be more excited for them. it has been a long journey to get to this point, and i cannot wait to see their new adventure as parents!
now, with the events of the day i'm sure you noticed that i "mostly" threw the party.
erika's mom helped with the food, but then as i arrived to set up, chaos happened on its own.
we went out to make sure the dogs were aware we were there and greet them, and then one of the dogs chomped down on my hand.  i was able to get away, got back in to the kitchen and started to run my hand under water.  while i was doing well, apparently my body decided otherwise, and i fainted... twice... my parents came and picked me up and then we drove to kaiser er (after 15 minutes with the advice nurse deciding what i should do).
got in, out, antibiotics and headed back to lincoln to make it to the reveal party right before the cake was cut and the excitement happened.  while i didn't get to fully set up, i am so excited i was able to celebrate with erika & matt and see them off on to the rest of their pregnancy adventure with their baby BOY :)
yes, i'm ok.
that wrap makes it look like my hand was ripped up, but i promise all my skin is where it should be, minus a few punctures.
i have no harsh feelings towards said dog.  crazy accidents happen, and this was a crazy thing.
she's been my best friend for 13+ years, its about time that i pass out in front of her :)

the bridal shower cross stitch collection

much like my quilting & sewing phases, my desires to cross stitch comes in waves.  though in this case, the waves are few and far between.  i don't know what gets me in the mood to do such things, but once i have an idea, i go for it.  in this case, i started off with one idea.  then two.  then i think it turned in to five or six before i finished my last one.  i wanted to add some nerdy themed/quote decor to the bridal shower in a way that could be used for home decor in the future without being to blah.  i had made aileen 2 cross stitch pieces in the past for various things, and so i decided for some reason she needed more.  i started with lord of the rings, then rolled in to star wars.  followed it up with a little binary & parks and recreation.  lastly, i topped everything off with a classic princess bride quote.  these all sat on a glass case, each in their own frame (as seen in the previous bridal shower post) with all the photos of ben & aileen surrounding them.  the positive responses were great, and absolutely made the time it took to make them all worth it.  half the patterns i found on etsy, while others just appeared on pinterest and i had to graph them out on my own.  without delay, here's the cross stitch parade!

aileen's nerdy bridal shower

the day that so much planning (and cross stitching) went in to has come and gone, and what an adventure it was.  i am SO glad i unintentionally got up earlier than planned and ran around like a crazy person on saturday, because if i waited until 1pm, NONE of this would have happened.  thinks were getting set up and written down to the wire when people were walking up to the front door of the train depot.  all last week was spent food prepping, decor shopping and paper cutting in order to prepare for the festivities.  i had great help from friends and parents wednesday through friday in order to make sure the food was good to go and nothing was lacking.  without further delay, here's a whole handful of photos!
> throughout the course of planning the food, i wanted to keep everything rather specifically nerdy.  it took some brainstorming, but i think we managed!  between star wars drinks, star trek cookies & lord of the rings elves, all potential bases of aileen likings were covered.
you'll notice she got a sewing kit... and it was NOT from anyone in the family!  i texted lisa this fact, and her response was "one of us! one of us!"  she has made pjs before, and i think a skirt.  so she's on the right track to earning her crafty carroll cousin membership card.
we didn't get to playing any of your typical bridal shower games (sorry erika) since so much went in to planning things elsewhere.  also, if you follow me on instagram, you'll have seen a few of the cross stitch pieces i did for this event. never fear, they are going to be in a post all to their very own later this week.  aileen was very spoiled by her guests who attended both physically and virtually (we were able to get lisa in on google hang outs just in time to see her gift be opened) and should be well prepared to bake her little heart out.  and apparently slow cook some things as well.  and be clean and showered.  i think we are all thankful for the last one.  just a few days shy of two months from now, and she'll be married off and out in to the world!  i'm thankful for all these people that like my sister enough to come celebrate her with us.  until the next bridal shower...
oh wait.
i only have one sister!
but now my friends have seen the madness i am capable of.  thankfully, erika & amy are both already bridal showered & done with.  that just leaves jenny...  MAAAAYBE i'll party hard again for jenny.