The Communique Layout

Popularized by Rhonda Dort, who uses the layout in her classes, the Communique Quilt Layout works for both featuring large fabric and panel pieces, as well as a basis for multiple block designs.

About Me

Welcome to Mouse in My Pocket! I'm Andrea, a web developer living in rural America with her husband and daughter. I'm excited to share my life with you as I explore some of the great things about living in the middle of nowhere.  Be sure to check out the blog below to see a few of the things that are speaking to me right now.

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On the Blog

Mildred Jane @ 20 Months

By Andrea | November 12, 2018

Mildred is growing up, a little at a time. In the last month, she’s done a lot better communicating what she wants with words instead of just crying until I figure out what she wants. I think Milli might be going thru a growth spurt, because she’s been wanting to eat constantly for the last…

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A Gift from Cracker Barrel

By Andrea | November 7, 2018

A while back, I wrote an update on Mildred for her 18-month birthday.  In that update, I mentioned that Milli had her 1st visit to Cracker Barrel and how much she liked it. One of Cracker Barrel’s toy buyers came across the post, and sent a lovely email to me and an offer to send…

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Mildred Jane @ 19 Months

By Andrea | October 11, 2018

Mildred turned 19-months-old on Wednesday.  It’s been a pretty quiet month for her, with lots of time home with mom while dad has been in the field farming.  She has gained 2 new bottom teeth in the front, and her 1st two top molars are about halfway though.  It’s made for some fussy nights over…

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Quilt Using Communique Layout Places at MQX Midwest Quilt Show

By Andrea | September 24, 2018

I was super excited to hear from the lovely Rhonda at RhondaDort.com that her Pink & Green Vintage Linens Quilt took 3rd Place at the MQX Midwest Quilt Show. Her quilt, which features pieces of vintage linens, was made using my Communique Quilt diagram in the throw size.  The finished product is lovely and reminds…

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The Monk of Mokha – A Review

By Andrea | September 12, 2018

I recently finished reading my beautiful hardback edition of The Monk of Mokha by Dave Eggers.  I first discovered Eggers when I purchased his book, A Hologram for the King, solely for it’s magnificent cover.  And I ended up quite enjoying that work of fiction which I would never have picked up otherwise. The Monk…

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Mildred Jane @ 18 Months

By Andrea | September 10, 2018

Mildred is a year-and-a-half old today.  In some ways it doesn’t feel like it’s been that long, but in others (like my lack of sleep) it feels much longer. At about 2 and a half feet tall and just over 20 lbs, Milli is still very small – at least for her age.  She’s still…

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Busy Busy Bee

By Andrea | August 1, 2018

I’ve been super busy lately, which means I’ve done a terrible job of updating the blog the way I should.  I’ve been doing lots of work for my design business.  My biggest projects include general content updates to the website I built for Randy & Roxanne Mills, who are local authors.  They’re having lots of…

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Mildred Jane at 16 Months

By Andrea | July 17, 2018

Mildred is another month older.  It’s hard to believe how fast these months go.  We’re past all the major milestones, like crawling and walking, but Mil is still finding lots of things to try and explore. Fair was last week, so she got to go out and spend some time with her dad in the…

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Mildred Jane at 15 Months

By Andrea | June 12, 2018

Milli is 1 and a quarter years old.  And she’s gained some big new skills in the last month.  She’s walking everywhere. And she’s learned to climb the stairs. That means a 2nd gate in the house.  We only had one at the top of our basement steps when she started crawling.  We obviously didn’t…

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I’ll Cry If I Want To! – 3 Tips for Child Photography

By Andrea | May 10, 2018

The weather has finally warmed up around here, the grass is green and flowers are blooming, which makes it a great time to get some outdoor photos of your favorite tiny human. Unfortunately, kids aren’t always cooperative. That’s something I was reminded of earlier this week when I tried to get some new photos of…

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Duck Troubles

By Andrea | May 4, 2018

It’s been a sad few days here on the farm.  If you follow us on facebook, you probably know that we lost one duckling less than 24 hours after the ducks’ arrival.  But what you don’t know yet, is that have lost 4 more of our ducklings in the last 3 days. I’m not even…

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Photo Challenge – Self-Portrait

By Andrea | April 25, 2018

A friend of mine and I occasionally give each other photography challenges to help each other improve our photography skills. Our most recent challenge was to create a self-portrait that we felt described something about our personality. When taking any sort of portrait style picture, it’s important to think about what lens you’re using. With…

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