A Nice Start to a New Year

Legos for Fynn and Patrick, cocoa for Liam and, some sewing for me.  The view from my sewing room all covered in snow and ice, and a cozy night of games after the kids go to bed.  Not a bad start to the new year.

Mail from Auntie Dana and a Recap of the Pumpkinfest Parade!

The boys love getting mail and the totally loved getting new shirts in the mail from their Aunt Dana!  They wore them that day to the Pumpkinfest Parade we went to in Damariscotta and showed them off to everyone they met. 

 This performer was dancing, literally dancing on those stilts.  I can't even stay upright on my own two feet half the time. 

 The boy's favorite part was when Towmater decided to come to town.  They were so excited and Liam loved showing everyone that he had Mater on his shirt, just like the truck in the road. 

The parade was a lot of fun for everyone.  I will have pictures of all the fantastic pumpkins, but I have to go and take some first.  It was so busy in town over the weekend that it was hard to get anywhere near the pumpkins. But they will be in town through Halloween so I'm sure we will get a chance to really check them out. 

Fall at the Beach

The boys and I took off and went to Popham beach today.  We had a blast running around and playing.  We saw 2 different people with RC Planes flying and a group of horseback riders.  The boys got to run around a find some shells, Fynn told me he was going to use his for science.  He has been watching a lot of Magic School Bus lately.  We lucked out and got to the beach at low tide, so were able to climb all over the island.  The boys are really becoming little mountain goats. 

100 Quilts for Kids Contribution

First, please excuse the horrific picture, it was the only one I took before my camera died and I had to wrap it up and get in the car to donate it.  The white balance is REALLY off making the quilt look majorly washed out. 
But...I did get it finished before the deadline, and I do like it.  And I did get it to Miles Memorial hospital to the Maternity ward to be given to a new baby that needs a blankie.  I have done this a few times in the past and it has always been well received. 
This quilt is the Starflower quilt by Angela Nash from the book Modern Quilts from the Blogging Universe.   I love this pattern, it is a basic star block but done in a way that the stars are actually the background making these beautiful flowers pop out as the primary design.  It is just neat how it all works out.  This quilt came out to be 60"x60" and was made of mostly blue and green scraps with a little purple thrown in with Moda's 200 thread count muslin as the white.
I am linking this post up with 100 Quilts for Kids over on Swim Bike Quilt.  You should really go over and take a look at all of the properly photographed quilts for some major inspiration. 

New project on the fly...

So I seem to be a little late to the party, but I just heard about the 100 Quilts for Kids challenge over on Swim Bike Quilt .    
And well, with only a few days left I have realized that I have a quilt top in my pile of unfinished projects that will be perfect for this.  All I need to do is find a backing, quilt and bind it by Monday and then figure out where I'm going to donate it. 
Anyone else have a quilt top lurking in the closet that could use a good home?

At the Union Fair

We spent Saturday at the Union fair and Blueberry Festival.  The boys had a great time.  Fynn wanted to me take pictures of all of the cows, especially the breed with the fuzzy ears.  Both boys rode the Carousel, and Fynn had a blast of a bunch of the other rides. 
I got to play with my exposure settings after it got dark, seriously wish I had though to bring my Gorilla with me.  We ate some sugar and watch some of the Demo Derby and had a fun "Fair" day.

Staycation: View from the Downeast Duckboat Tour

We did a little local tourism this weekend and went and took a Duckboat tour in Portland on Saturday.  It was the perfect day for it.  The weather was beautiful!  Fynn saw a Duckboat on a show he was watching with Patrick and because fascinated so we found him one to ride.  It really is nice.  Your get to ride all around Portland and learn a ton of local history and then you go into the bay and see some of the Calendar Islands.
We had a great lunch at 5 Guys and got to walk around Old Port and just do general touristy stuff for the day.  How often to you get to take a day to play tourist less than an hour from where you live?