The Gebhardt Family

What better place to take family pictures than in your own back yard. My friend's husband completely designed and build their backyard and let me tell you... After taking pictures for the Gebhardt family, I longed for a beautiful backyard like theirs. It is so beautiful and serene. These were last pictures I took with my old camera before I sold it.

Kayzlie's Quilt

I recently finished a quilt for my newest niece. Actual quilting time technically took me 3-4 weeks. But really with breaks, my real timeline was from July to September. The design of this quilt (herringbone) was simpler, but also more modern. After so many colors in the last quilt I had completed, my eyes needed a little break. Thus there is a lot of white in this quilt and I absolutely love it! I used only online tutorials to help me guess at the design and then used my own measurements to get it to fit onto a toddler bed. I made the bias tape (yellow edge) by myself this time and I love how that feature turned out. 

Enough dialogue, I'll let you see the final product now.  I wish I had pressed it before these pictures, but I finished hand hemming the bias tape on the drive over to deliver it... in the passenger seat.

A Week as a Seamstress

Ever since taking my Sewing 101 class at BYU, I have had absolutely NO desire to sew clothing again. It was complicated, frustrating and annoying. Sure it was satisfying once you finished a project that was made to fit you. But when you could spend the same money to get something similar at the store, the hours at the sewing machine just did not add up for me. Not to mention my talent is nowhere near my other friends who took the same class. Just look here. My friend Amy sews all of that, and even designs patterns for others to replicate her work for their own kids. A-Mazing!

 My sister-in-law Christina was in town with her family at the beginning of August. We let our husbands watch our kiddos while we went to the outlet mall here in Boise. We ended up in Carter's and we found the perfect dress for my niece Mariel. Only one problem: It was not made in her size. :( I think it was harder for me to leave that store with out that dress for her. I NEVER go to the girls side of the clothing stores. Leaves too much room to dream, when I'm perfectly happy with my little boys, lol. But that day I wanted that dress for her.

So my brain started turning and thinking. "Hey, I took a sewing class. I bet I could recreate that for her." So three fabric stores late I found a similar fabric, sketched out a pattern on gift wrapping tissue paper and began to sew that dress for Mariel.

Nearly finished I said to Brandon, "Do you think I should even add the sleeves? I think it's cute like this." (Hoping inside he'd say no, so I could avoid the hassle of sleeves.)

He liked the sleeves. And truth be told, so did I. I added the sleeves. I was surprised that it took only a week to get it all done. The biggest pain was not having my own serger and having to zig-zag stitch all the raw edges. But I think it was worth it.

I was immensely grateful for the praise from my mom, brother Roger, his wife Jamie, and my mother-in-law while I sewed the project. It helped me get past those I hate sewing clothing memories. And honestly it wasn't nearly as bad as sewing something for myself. Kids clothing is much easier. I think it came out as a success in the end. I wish I had pictures of my models, Ryan and Mason, who helped me with sizing the dress. I do however have a few pictures of the birthday girl who was happy to have a new dress.

And sewing it was definitely worth it for that smile. Happy Birthday Mariel!

My Newest Niece

My newest niece was born on the Fourth of July! I was very fortunate to meet her 8 days later and take some newborn pictures of her. She was literally the dream baby in terms of photography. Stay asleep. Let me pose her over and over without a fuss. And didn't mind the occasional outfit change. I can't believe she is now 2 months old!

Sad to admit that this is only a small sampling of all the pictures I did take. Hope you enjoyed this precious angel as much as I do!