Running

I have always wanted to be a runner... but I am so very much not a runner.

Every year a town a little over from ours has a 10k race in the summer and this year I have decided I am going to do it!
My sister in law is quite the runner so I contacted her and she gave me this plan to start. I'm only on week 3 now, and still really not a fan of running, but I have seen huge improvement in my ability.
So... what do you say? Run with me and we'll do this crazy notion of a 10k in 8 months together?

Musical Monday: Phillip Phillips - Home

I heard this song awhile back and loved it. Then forgot about it. Then heard it again, loved it again then forgot about it again. Then heard it again and had to share it before I forgot again!
Happy Monday!

Bits 'n' Pieces

Not too much to report this week. It's been rainy and dark out but a nice week none the less. We put the boys bunk beds together a bit earlier then we expected which meant I was able to give them their quilts. They were a huge hit! I love how special it makes the boys feel when I make them something, and I love how much they appreciate the work that goes into making something like that for them. Zac has not stopped thanking us since we finished putting the bed together and gave him his quilt. He actually got a little choked up and teary eyed when he was thanking us the first time. Such a sweet little man he is. I have started running again... boo to pregnancy weight! So much easier putting it on then taking it off! The boys planted apple seeds and we finally got a decent shot of Miss C smiling.
Hope you had a great week!

Panel Rag Quilt

The very first quilt I ever made was a rag quilt. I cut many pieces of fabric into squares, did the same with quilting batting, made little batting sandwiches with fabric on either side and sewed each square together with the seams exposed. I was so excited about it during the snipping phase (snipping slits into the exposed seams), and while it washed and then oh so dissapointed once it finished and I realized that the instructions I had been following had you cut the batting the same size as the fabric pieces... this meant that the finished product had bits of batting sticking out between all the ruffly goodness of the different fabric squares.

I do still love rag quilts though, they just seem so worn and comfy. When I saw the idea of making the quilt in strips instead of squares I was sold. Reading over the instructions I found here I was in complete awe, using flannel instead of quilting batting? Brilliant! I whipped this sucker up in about 2 days. I really think you could do it in a night if you had the time to dedicate to it. It's super simple and lovely and warm.

You can find tutorials all over the internet for quilts like this so I didn't do one up, but this one is a good one.

Eli's Quilt

It finally happened.
I finished Eli's superhero quilt.


The boys will be moving into bunk beds at some point over the next few weeks, so nothing like having a deadline to motivate me to sew that dreaded binding on!
When I started the quilt I had troubles deciding which patterns to go with, Thomas the Train, Superheros, squares, triangles, big shapes, little shapes. I decided to stick with superheros, like Zac's, so it may grow with him a little longer then Thomas might have. That said, I had Thomas fabric so I did the backing with that fabric so he could have a little bit of both. I opted to do large, squares for the pattern, because I was being lazy and it seemed like less work!

I'm really pleased with how it turned out, it's warm and cozy and boyish, everything I hoped it would be, and I know he will love it.

I had hoped to save the quilts for the new house but since our move has been put on hold for a bit I'm going to gift these with their bunk beds. I'm hoping it will make the transition to sharing a room (and move to a big boy bed for Eli) a little more exciting... fingers crossed at least! 

I can't wait to give it to him!

Musical Monday: 10 000 Reasons - Matt Redman

I love this song. It's one of those songs that you will be singing along with by the end of it and will be singing for the rest of the day. 

A real beauty! Only catch is you need to click here to hear it. Sometimes YouTube doesn't let me share the songs I want to right here... sheesh... 

Simplifying

Stuff... we have SOOO much of it.

We are currently going through a (very slow) purge of our entire house and it already feels so good.
Could we live the minimalist lifestyle? No, I don't think we could, but we could totally live a lifestyle with so much less "stuff".
With Christmas coming up (less then 2 months away now!) we know we are about to get a load more toys, clothes and what nots, to just pile that on top of what we currently have seems... extreme.
I'll keep you in the loop of our progress, we want to reduce our stuff in at least half by Christmas (eek!). Sounds like a lofty goal, but that's how I like them.

**what does the soup picture have to do with simplifying our lives and reducing our stuff? Nothing. But it was good soup, and it was super simple... what? maybe there was something behind that picture! ... no, there wasn't... I'm not that deep (soup recipe can be found here).