My Chance to be Santa's Helper

Well over a month ago I received a text from Nicolas with instructions as to what he wanted me to purchased for Ashelyn for Christmas. I was extremely impressed that Nicolas knew what to buy, where to buy it, and how much the item would cost (he even transferred money into my account to pay for it).

It was my idea to enlist the help of the Jolly Ole Man himself at the family Christmas party.  Santa appeared with a bag full of toys for the children, a camouflaged gift from Kuwait for Ashelyn, and as an encore, he even presented the adults with a gift. 

Hop onto Ashelyn's blog to see what was in the box.

My Son Rocks!

As I look at this photograph of my son receiving a 

promotion to Specialist Nicolas Downs in 

the United States Army, I am proud!

I vividly remember in the not so distant past, the 

adventures of a little boy playing make believe soldiers in the 

backyard and now to see this same grown man, in real Army garb

representing our country overseas....Nicolas, your 

Mother is so stinking proud of you today

Christmas Joy

I absolutely love the look on Ashelyn's face as she holds my grandaughter Addalyn. What the photo does not say is Ashelyn was at my house just a few hours earlier as I continually woke the baby up to play with her.....why did Ashelyn let me get away with that? Ashelyn was on the kitchen creating one of her famous cookie creations, by the time the two of them left my house smelt wonderful and both girls were at their wits end.
The girls ran home, Ashelyn bundled up the baby and the two of them headed to the Christmas tree lot to pick out the perfect tree for the Braun home. How is she (Ashelyn) still smiling after so much commotion, I will never know.

Home Cooking

My Mom brought her recipe book (iPad) with plenty of Rachel Ray recipes to keep me well fed for the next month. Tonight she is making artichoke and bacon pasta, and french bread.

Addalyn's Diamonds

In preparation for the arrival of Addalyn in early November I decided to make a baby quilt to welcome her to the family. I tried to consider the family she would be born into and picked colors and fabrics reminiscent of her Mother's love of France and vintage yellow, beige, and creme.  I also considered that her Father would want to build a blanket fort with the quilt so it had to be larger than 'baby sized' and would definitely need to cover her legs as she grew.

 I considered that Addalyn would become the center of attention for many of the family, and in turn the family would become the center of attention for Addalyn so I picked a pattern called Square in a Square. The above quilt shows technically correct but rather bland design.

After walking past the quilt for about two weeks I realized the setting was entire all wrong, the perfect quilt for Addalyn is not a Square in a Square, so I repositioned the quilt blocks then cut off the extra fabric on all four sides to reveal a quilt set on point.

I call this new quilt design Diamond in a Diamond. As you can see, Addelyn is in the center of each block in a variety of colors: pink, blue, green, yellow, tan, beige, and black. Encircling the center block is a row of smaller blocks in various colors and patterns, these represent the numerous relatives she will share her life with. The third row repeats the center block and represents Addalyn encircling her family. Finally, blocks representing the family then connect each one of Addalyn's blocks.

Corner detail of striped stop border, outside border and binding.