Back From The Beach And Here I Go

We are just settling in from a wonderful vacation at Edisto Beach! My whole family gets a house together every year for a whole WEEK! This year we had 18 people! It's always a crowd anytime my family does anything, but that's the fun of it (most of the time) :o) 

This was Josiah's permanent look the whole week. He wasn't a big fan of the wind :o)
He was a really good sport though, and did start having (more) fun the last day or so.

I love how Samuel does his best to get into every picture possible.

This was about the fourth day and Josiah would play just as far as he could reach :o)

This is a very typical first-thing-in-the-morning picture of Caleb going potty :o)

Dad and Pasha working on one of the puzzles that were completed that week.

and Samuel having some iPhone time.

The only sewing project I made any progress on was reading half of The Idiot's Guide To Sewing. I've had it for about a year but never really spent much time going through the whole thing. It is a very informative book, and I would say it's definitely worth the time it takes reading it!
Everyone had a great time relaxing and just being together without having anything to do but just that.

So now vacation is over and I know I HAVE to start seriously working on the boys' quilts or they will never be ready in time. I tried a few different ways to applique the pieces on, but settled for a machine zig-zag stitch to get the job done in the shortest amount of time. I really like the look of hand-stitching the pieces in place, but after 5 pieces and about 2 hours I decided to try another way. I still like the look of doing it by hand better, but I'm happy with the zig-zag (and it will save me so much time!) So far I have 3 tractors

 and 3 taxi's finished,

 and it took me 3 days, so I'm feeling better about my time. And I have some ideas for everyone else's Christmas presents that are fun but should be pretty quick projects. So 3 1/2 months and counting... that's just CRAZY!!!!  Its going to come sooo fast and right after Christmas Caleb turns 1. I was just telling a friend that I'm going to go ahead and start crying about that now because it's going by way too fast!!!  I love seeing my boys grow and do new things, but I wish they would stay little just a little bit longer :o(

P.S. Caleb said momma this week :o) Some things about them getting bigger are good!