And Baby Makes Three

A dear cousin of mine and his wife just had their first baby a few months ago. I had been invited to a baby shower for them, and I had made a baby quilt as a gift. Unfortunately the shower had to be canceled due to Covid. They do not live anywhere near me, so I was holding on to the quilt, hoping we could meet up somewhere. I wanted to give the present in person, especially once the baby girl had been born. I was dying to see them, and get my hands on that sweet baby.

But the timing just didn't work out right, and I ended up putting the quilt in the mail to them. I didn't want the baby to outgrow the quilt before they even got it - ha! They seemed to appreciate the gift, and I am hoping they will email me a picture of the baby laying on the quilt. That will have to suffice for the moment.

This is the first baby quilt I have made since we moved to Charlotte. I've used my sewing machine for other projects such as face masks, a Christmas tree skirt and a table runner, but not for the more traditional quilts. I selected flannel as the fabric, and I had never worked with it before. It wasn't too bad to handle until I got ready to quilt the top to the bottom. I do that on my sewing machine, and the fabric gave me fits. I had used large squares of the fabric from the front on the back, so maybe you just don't want to have flannel on the back as well as the front of a quilt?

It kept sliding, creating a bit of a mess on the back of the quilt. That is not something you want to have happen, particularly on a gift. I was able to somewhat work around the issue, but that may be the first and last time I use flannel in a sewing project. Or at least one that will be quilted. It turned out pretty cute anyway, I think.

quilt front and back

Under Construction

front porch

We are halfway (maybe) through a construction project at our house. I never really thought that we would do so much work on a brand new home, but I guess there are always things you wish were different. Going through a builder in a new development, we had very few options for customization.

Our screen porch off the living area had a footprint with both pros and cons. On the pro side, the porch was enclosed on three sides by the house. It was secluded and very private. However, it was not very large at all. If you had more than 4 or 5 people in the space, it felt crowded. Plus the design meant that the air did not circulate in the porch. We decided to extend the porch out to the end of our bedroom so that we would be able to accommodate more people as well as a bistro table and two chairs for dining while looking out at the lake. We also wanted to add porcelain tile over the concrete pad in the porch as well as the front porch to give those areas a more finished look.

At the same time, the contractor was to take out the two windows in the living room, replacing them with a sliding door opening to the porch. This would also allow us to see the lake from the living room while sitting on the sofa, and also let more light into the room. The screen porch was completed last Thursday, but unfortunately the sliding door has been delayed until late June. That is too bad because it would have been nice to get all the messy work done at the same time.

screen porch before and after

We are really pleased with how the front porch and the screen porch turned out. We are in the process of deciding what furniture arrangement works in the rear space, which is a little tricky since the sliding door is not in yet. We would like to keep the wicker furniture we have out there as it is Lloyd Flanders and is good quality. But we may order new cushions as the ones we have are 15 years old. Lots of decisions to make, but that's all part of the fun!

Floating Away

kayaking

Saturday ten of us from the neighborhood took our kayaks out on Mountain Island Lake for a few hours. The temperature was perfect, and there wasn't too much wind - at least when we set out. The water was high enough that we were able to go back into a little tributary off the main lake. Back in that area you can usually see a lot of different birds. We didn't see a great variety, but there were plenty of blue herons. I didn't have my big camera with me, so I wasn't able to capture them. There was one large water bird that I am still trying to identify. It was similar to a heron, but it was black and white and had a scruffier chest covering. Since I only have a cell phone photo of the bird, I am not having much success.

I call myself a piddler paddler since I like to take my time and really look for wildlife. I was happy that Saturday's group seemed to be of the same mind. It was a nice, relaxing trip on the water. When we got ready to head back in, the wind had picked up. It was a challenge to cross the main channel, especially with all the motorized boats out on the water. But we all made it back safe and sound. I love living here!

Mountain Island Lake