family, woodworking, photography, K-pop
My mother-in-law also made a delicious vegan chocolate birthday cake. It is so nice when E with his food allergies can enjoy the same tasty dessert as everyone else.
Everyone had a nice time, especially our newly-minted two-year-old.
Mimi turned two at the end of January but we just wrapped up the celebrating. We had a couple family get-togethers spread out over a few weeks. My sister and my cousin live nearby, as well as N’s parents, and since it would be hard to cram everyone in our smaller-sized house we met up at a local trampoline place.
I’m so grateful for this funny little bug. She is such a joy.
I recently finished this quilt for my friend Stephanie’s soon-to-arrive baby boy, Miles. I used the same tutorial and most of the same fabrics that I used for this quilt but I added some lighter fabrics to break things up a little.
I’ve been wanting to try a embroidery for a while so I stitched the baby’s name on the top before I had it quilted by Melissa at So Shabby Quilting who always does a nice job.
Last night I started cutting out a quilt for another friend’s baby. It’s for a girl and the fabrics are so sweet. Can’t wait to share it with you when I’m finished!
Hello?
Is it too late to post about Sundance? Things around here have been either happily-but-stressfully hectic or frustratingly dull and tiresome; both of which I’m afraid are not very conducive to faithful blog-posting. But I still wanted to share about some of the movies we saw this year at Sundance.
The eight movies we saw included documentaries, dramas, comedies, and a thriller. All of them were well-made, most of them were excellent, and a few of them were visionary but Austenland was by far the most fun.
Austenland is the story of Jane, a lonely single woman and obsessive fan of Austen’s work who in a last-ditch effort to bring some excitement and romance into her life blows her savings on a vacation at an immersive English Austen-themed resort. Hijinks ensue!
The movie has a great cast. Keri Russell is the lead; Jennifer Coolidge is hilarious as a fellow vacationer; and Bret McKenzie from Flight of the Conchords is funny (and always a treat to watch).
The movie is based on a book by Shannon Hale which I’ve read and directed by Jerusha Hess who co-wrote Napoleon Dynamite with her husband. From the moment Jerusha came out on stage and introduced the movie she had the audience in the palm of her hand. During the film there were times when I couldn’t hear some of the dialogue because the audience was laughing so loudly. It was fun to be in such an enthusiastic audience.
After the movie Jerusha Hess and Shannon Hale came out on stage and did a Q&A. Hess talked about what a riot it had been working with the actors, especially Bret McKenzie and Jennifer Coolidge who had ad-libbed most of her lines. She also mentioned that Keri Russell had been 6 months pregnant when they had filmed at which there was a collective gasp from the audience.
It has a few minor issues but Austenland is a playful romantic comedy tailor-made for the English-major set and anyone who’s ever sighed over Mr. Darcy. Check it out when it’s released in theaters!
photo via Sundance.org
The 2013 Sundance Film Festival kicked off yesterday. Every year N and I try to see at least a few films; it’s something we’ve done since we were dating. Now it’s a fun way to spend some kid-free time together and as locals we get a decent deal on ticket packages. Attending the festival is usually one of the highlights of my year.
We prefer going to showings in Salt Lake City rather than making the drive to Park City. While we miss out on star-gawking and some Q&As I think we more than make up for it in ease of parking, plentiful places to grab a bite between showings, and the extra money we’d have to pay a sitter 🙂
This year we’re going to 8 films which I’ll try to post reviews about later. We are seeing:
How about you? Are there any festivals where you live that you like to attend?
I’ve been thinking about getting some personalized labels to sew onto the quilts I make. I looked around online and found these. I like the vintage graphics but am having a hard time deciding which one is my favorite.
What about you? Do you like one better than the rest?
The baby shower for Stephanie was a success (even despite the apparent loss of the last joints of my fingers in a horrible accident). I co-hosted it with a few other friends in my neighborhood and we had a great turn out.
My MIL was the unsung hero of the whole thing. She came over the night before and helped me make a bunch of sliced sandwich wraps. They turned out really well and didn’t unravel like others I’ve seen (the secret is gluing them together with a cream cheese mixture!) Sadly I forgot to take any pictures of them but I’ll do a how-to post on them some day.
Several of my good friends are expecting babies in the next few months so I’ve been working on a few baby quilts.
The main print is from the line, Pierre’s Famous Traveling Circus, by Michael Miller. I love this print–the colors are bright and cheery and the animal illustrations are very charming. The tiger is my favorite 🙂 I made this quilt for a baby boy but I think these fabrics would work just as well for a girl.
Do you have any big plans this weekend? I’m helping host a baby shower for my friend Stephanie tomorrow so until then I’ll be running around getting things ready and mildly freaking out as I am prone to do before any social event 🙂
Happy 2013! I guess it’s part of getting older, but the years are whipping by faster and faster to me now. It makes me grateful that I keep this blog; without it I would be even more puzzled than I already am as to where the time went.
This last year I turned some pens on the lathe and made my first quilt (and my second, third, and fourth). I learned that I have no natural talent at golf but that there might be some hope for me yet at archery.
On the home front, I finished a mostly-DIY kitchen remodel (that I still need to take pictures of) and painted the kids’ bathroom. Our big willow tree blew down (lame!) and we hired some lumberjacks to trim our other trees.
We had some fun adventures as a family this last year. We took the kids to Disneyland, Legoland, the beach, and Arches National Park. We also went on some memorable outings closer to home, going to the circus, the state fair, and to the top of Squaw Peak where we saw the fall leaves and and watched paragliders take off. We also introduced E to the joys of bowling.
The kids passed some individual milestones this year. E started preschool, started to learn to read, and turned five. Mimi turned one, learned to walk, started chatting up a storm, and got her first haircut.
N and I went on some memorable dates: we saw the Beach Boys in concert and caught some outdoor theatre as well as some screenings at the Sundance Film Festival. We also discovered our local roller derby team and went to a fun bout in an abandoned Food4Less.
Our trip to New York was our biggest adventure together as a couple this year. We had a few days in the city to play tourist but then Hurricane Sandy hit and we holed up in our hotel room with deli takeout and rode out the storm. Fortunately we never lost power (or even internet access) so we spent some time catching up on episodes of Doctor Who. Getting home was a little hairy and sadly we missed Halloween with the kids but I dressed the kids up again and recreated the cuteness.
Looking back on the year I feel especially grateful for my family and the opportunities we’ve had to learn new things and visit interesting places.
I hope 2013 brings an increase of love and light and interesting things into your life!