Love, Hope Valley, and big dreams.

I've been feeling a little blue. Under the weather, really. These allergies have been a pain—literally. And upgrading my operating system and installing and formatting a new external drive  hasn't been as smooth as I'd hoped. By 8 o'clock this morning, I wasn't sure that the weekend was going to be very productive.

Shortly after I started letting the blues sink in, I received a phone call from my mom asking if I might be interested in spending some time with my cousin (who happens to be my godson as well and who also happens to turn four in a couple days). An hour later, Nathan was at my door and I was ready for a good day.

Chris took over the entertaining duties while I finished getting ready. My heart skipped a beat when I walked downstairs to this cutie-patootie picture. Sorry for the blurry snapshots. I was trying to be all stealth with my photography . . . I didn't want to disrupt the adorableness of Chris and Nathan playing Mariocart together. Well, Nathan doesn't quite play yet. He likes to sit on Chris' lap or stand in front of him with Chris' arms around him and push a button every once in a while. He thinks he's playing . . . and for now, that's totally fine. Soon enough, he'll be swinging that Wii remote with the rest of us. For the time being, though, I'll cherish these moments of watching them relax together—Nathan's tongue swinging from left to right with each of Chris' movements. It's really quite sweet. Chris and I are waiting patiently for the day when we'll have our own little ones to chase around. In the meantime, I can't help but treasure these little glimpses into what our future might be like . . . Dream big, right?

Speaking of little ones and big dreams, our very close friends will be welcoming their own little one in a couple of week—that is . . . if he decides to wait a couple of weeks. We're so excited for our friends. This will be the first baby in our group of friends. It's pretty special.

JESS: IF YOU'RE READING, STOP HERE! :)

I've been dragging my feet on starting a project for the little one. The momma went to school for fashion design and is pretty precise in her own sewing and I am hesitant to give her something I've sewn for the sheer fact that I know I'm not the most skilled at quilting even if I do love it. However, I think I'm on my way to figuring out what I want to make for the baby. I just have to get over the fact that the quality might not be as good as something she might create for her own little one. I'm just a little less about precision and more about expression. For now, anyway. I'm still learning.

Here are some of the designs I'm considering. A few weeks back I picked up some Hope Valley in the greens, blues, and greys. I instantly thought I wanted to do a square-within-a-square design but I'm not sure if I'm totally sold on it. Here are some roughs of what I might do. Not sure where to go with this now . . . Maybe I should consider a zig zag with some solids thrown in like this one instead. Or, maybe I should scrap the quilt idea altogether and work on a scrappy snuggler like this one by Lotta Jansdotter. I keep going back to the quilt idea because it can be used for years rather than a few months.

So, can you tell I'm stuck. Again. Yep, that's me. Always dreaming, never quite committing.