summer in New England | a quilt for Ella June

It's summer in New England and my cousin Carlye just had her first baby, a girl to whom she and her husband gave the adorable name Ella June. I wasn't able to get a quilt finished in time for her shower a couple months ago, but when they announced her arrival a couple days ago I got right to work! With my own due date literally three days away I knew I didn't have much time to work so I kept it super simple. 

Carlye, our other cousin Meghan (who was also pregnant at the time and has since given birth to her son Elijah - here's the quilt I made for him), and I had brunch together a while back and Carlye mentioned she bought a pink anchor (I think it was an anchor? It was definitely something nautical, I know that...) to decorate the nursery so I went with that and pulled fabrics from my stash - some pink and navy sailboats by Sarah Jane, yellow and white stripes, florals on stripes by Katarina Roccella, and a pink herringbone print by Cloud 9. I sewed them up quick and then chose a bright yellow print from Dashwood Studio for the back, full of smiling suns and perfect for a summer baby.

I quilted it with a simple wave design (probably my most used quilting design as it fits the nautical themed quilts that are so popular among my friends and family and probably everyone else who lives in Rhode Island and New England) and bound it with more of the pink herringbone.

I brought it along to the Shack at Dutch Harbor in Jamestown where we had the yummiest tacos and burritos on Thursday night. Then Matt and our friend Rachel went cliff jumping at Fort Wetherill and I was super jealous... when I'm not forty weeks pregnant I'm definitely going! Here's a video he captured with his drone of Rachel and some other people who were at the cliffs...

go fly a kite | Brenton Point, Newport

Have you ever flown a kite? I only have a few times but Matt and I want to find a great kite flying location so we can go this summer with Ezra. Brenton Point in Newport is one of my favorite picnic spots and it's always full of tons of people flying kites. There's even a kite festival there every summer... I think we'll check it out this year. We'll be the ones flying a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles kite :)

image by Paul Octavious via 20 x 200

travel: Burlington or Bust

This sudden onset of true January weather is making me long for a vacation somewhere sunny and warm. Over the summer we visited Burlington, Vermont and stayed at a house on Lake Champlain. While I realize Vermont is neither sunny nor warm now, it certainly was in August.

(image via Church Street Marketplace)

If you visit some time in the near future it will probably look more like the above photo. Here's a short list of things we did while we were in the area. Keep in mind, we are always on the lookout for freebies so many of the activities are quite touristy...

- visit Church Street and shop and eat to your heart's content

- grab a bite to eat at Three Tomatoes Trattoria. I loved the chicken and cheddar hot-pressed panini and the spinach salad.

- tour the Lake Champlain Chocolates factory... so many yummy samples! Some things I bought to enjoy later - a sea salt caramel, a wild honey & fig truffle, and a chocolate peanut butter cup. Find Lake Champlain Chocolates at your local Whole Foods. 

- shop for groceries at City Market. We shopped here almost daily and found loads of local fruit, vegetables, yogurt, cheese, and milk.

- drive to Shelburne Farms where you can milk a cow, collect eggs, spin wool, hold a chicken, and observe cheesemaking. We ate lunch there, too - most of the little food truck's offerings are from the farm!

- sample ice cream at the Ben & Jerry's factory tour

- gorge yourself on countless cubes of cheddar cheese before the tour at Cabot Cheese

Now for some gratuitous photos of Ezra...

Look, here we are proving that a mother doesn't need to have a daughter to dress her child in outfits that match hers. And this wasn't even on purpose! I wish he still fit into those pants.