Sibling Love

I just can't help but laugh every time I see this photo, and I only took it today. He had just given her this flower that he picked for her, such a sweet boy.

I think it may need to get framed!

New Pattern Anyone?

Hopefully I'll get this pattern done up nicely soon!

'The Beatles' Pillow Covers

Happy Birthday Dad!

I hope you love your gift!

After all, all you need is love :)

Log Cabin Anyone?

My new quilt project (like I need a new one....) is a scrappy log cabin, I guess that's the category it falls in. I have never done a log cabin before, and have seen tons of them online that I love love.

Honestly, I just couldn't wait anymore to finish other things before starting one, although I did quilt and bind a twin last weekend (go me!). The top was from Mrs. Millie, the same woman who has done tops for charity in the past that I have quilted.

I posted about the first block a little while back, and of course all my ideas about how this quilt will end up have changed.

I did take off and change the last strip of the block, I felt like it had too much of the pieced strips. Isn't that medium blue much better?

And, there is also a second block that has joined the party:

Needless to say, I am not sticking with the 9-patch center for these blocks. I plan to do a different center for each of the 6 blocks that will make up the quilt, I'm thinking of keeping them all traditional.

Each block will finish at 24 inches, and I'm really wanting to do some funky sashing like maybe some flying geese or 5 inch squares on point. We shall see once all the blocks are done.

There is some sketching that needs to get done, and a little playing with colors and shapes and whatnot.

I love the design process!

This one is mine, all mine! I may even spoil myself and get it long-armed.

What does my husband think of this you ask?

Well, when I asked him what he thought, his reply was "it looks a little busy." Thanks hun for the "compliment" (wink wink).

Mommy Daughter Time

It's not too often that I get to spend some quality time one-on-one with my kids, unless of course you're the nursing baby.

However, my soon to be 10 year old seems to have gotten the 'occasional wake up uber early' bug. (side note: I feel so old having a kid that will soon have double digits for their age, I know... waa waa).

What started as this:

Was quickly turned into this:

A's First Quilt Block

I am so proud of her. (insert Mommy sigh and cheesey grin)

We have spent some time together learning to sew, and I really should post about her first sewing project. Better yet, I think I could get her to 'guest post' about her first sewing project... good idea?

I only helped out on this block in 2 areas: ironing, and recommending to space light/dark fabrics instead of bunching. I did also write the notes on her design sheet. Other than that, this is all her!

It did take a little convincing to get her to stop holding her head in various forms of this so that I could get a good picture.

She wasn't believing me that it wasn't such a great photo when she did that. What do I know??

I can't wait to see the next block!

Finished King #2!

School has started, and somehow there still hasn't been much sewing time.

How is that possible??

Oh yea, I forgot I'm trying to put the house in a somewhat organized state after summer. I feel like as soon as I am finished then the kids will have a week off school and we're right back where I started.

We're planning to do a yard sale this Saturday, trying to be more proactive at getting stuff out that we don't need/use anymore. Not only that, but anything that doesn't sell gets donated. Gone and gone.

But, I did get some sewing done this summer:

See. That monster is DONE. I have re-solidified my commitment to not make anymore King sized quilts. Unless I send it out to get quilted, just saying.

It did turn out rather well though, but now my Mom doesn't want anyone to sit on her bed anymore (it's quite funny!).

Also, I did finish a super cute baby quilt that I'm hoping to get a free pattern together for. I'm thinking I need to gift it, especially since a good friend just so happens to be having a girl soon. LOVE babies!!

There are a few other projects I'm "working on" right now. I started quilting my first quilt top I ever made, just decided to do loops all over. Not sure why it was taking me forever to decide how to quilt it. I really wanted to do a cool geometric type stitch, but decided to do something I will hopefully finish soon.

I need to get myself to take some photos of the other project I'm working on. Loving it, and can't wait to share!

Wow, sorry that was kind of all over the place. I haven't blogged since summer came, so there's lots to catch up on!

Free Weekly Calender Printable

I figured out how to share my document, go me! ('bout time right??? hee hee) Still not quite how I wanted it to look in the post though... working on it.



Here's the link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0Aipb9ukxfD2FdDZyWXdLRE54THN5MlpHbDAzSWk4RlE&single=true&gid=0&range=A1%3AE8&output=html

So feel free to print it out and use it to help you stay sane. It only helps though, no guarantees. *wink wink*

AHHH, It's Summer

Lets just say we've been pretty busy around here.

In the last month we've had:
- 1 graduation
- 2 birthdays
- ump-teen T-ball games
- I started a new business venture (Thirty One bags are AWESOME)
- School had ended
- Physicals and sick visits each week

And, I know I'm forgetting something....

I haven't even unloaded any pictures off my camera in at least 3 weeks, otherwise I'd have a cute chubby face to share with you.

With all this going on I decided to make up a chart for our weeks this summer. I printed it up on card stock and am going to laminate it so I can use dry erase markers on it. I'm hoping that the whole family can work together each Sunday to plan the week ahead. Hoping.

I did manage to make this block one day:

I wanted to use the 9 patch that's in the middle, and all the rest are scraps or leftover bits from a previous quilt.

I love it. It is about 24 inches square, and I'm planning to make a quilt that will be 3 blocks by 3 blocks. I just don't have any more 9 patches, the one I used was given to me. I'm also not sure if I want all the centers to be 9 patches, I know I want them all to be a small traditional block though.

Either way it feels quite exciting not knowing just what it will turn out looking like!

Mother's Day Pillow

What better gift could I have given my Mom on Mother's Day besides her king-sized quilt that I ran out of thread for while quilting it? (more is on the way)

Well, a pillow to match of course!

I started making the hexagons for these once the quilt top was complete. I wanted to be sure that the scraps were really scraps and not needed for the quilt. I sewed them together by hand, then machine quilted them onto a 17inch square.

It was hard to give this to her, I wanted to keep it for my house! The back may be my favorite part oddly enough. It's just strips left over that I made into an envelope back. Oh I love it.

A Parade & A Blessing

This past weekend was Dover Days, and every year that includes a parade on Saturday. Personally, I love parades!

There is nothing quite like seeing fellow citizens who have served or are preparing to serve our country marching with the sounds of either our nations anthem or other patriotic music being played. Brings a tear to my eye every time, or maybe a few more. I wasn't able to get a picture of any of them, but here's the fire engine from the Air Force Base. My father in law tells me this is the one they send in to take care of plane fires.

And, who could forget the awesomeness of the Weiner Mobile.

On Sunday we blessed our little Mr. J. This was the only good photo I got of him in his blessing gown, all the others had serious double and triple chins.

On a side note, if you have ever wondered why I usually don't post any pictures of my husband and I this is why:

This Week

I know I usually do my 'This Week' posts over the weekend to kind of sum up the week before, but this weekend we were a little busy (imagine that with a family of 7).

This week:

My little man turned one month old, still can't believe it's been a whole month.

I pinned this little cutie quilt, hoping to get it quilted up quick and make a little tutorial for it (it was super easy, and used some precuts).

My Mom's Pink and Green King got some love, I got about 60 blocks quilted in just 2 days. I'm hoping to finish it up this week! By the way, I think my husband and I will have to buy a new bed because I'm not sure if I ever want to make another king sized quilt again, unless of course I'm getting it long-armed or a big new sewing room with more space.

We started T-ball season with the boys first game on the 21st. It was so nice to see them playing.

Tomatoes were also planted as well as some brussel sprouts (those are a first for us, and they were a hybrid for slightly warmer temps). The kids helped do the weeding and watering, it's so nice to have helpers.

Helping Hands Mystery Quilt - Part 1

I actually finished the first part for this quilt the week before Mr. J was born, but haven't really had blogging on the front burner since then. Can you tell?

Either way, here are my blocks for the first part of the Mystery Quilt:

There's 18 total of the altered 9 patch blocks, 10 of the 4 patch blocks, and 12 of the long rectangular ones, for a whopping total of 40 blocks so far.

I think the blocks without the main fabric (the pink print) look kinda mint chocolate chip-y, don't you? It didn't even come into mind when I was picking the fabrics, but now that it reminds me of ice cream I think I like it even more (though I'm not really fond of that flavor unless it's the Thin Mint one).

The organizer of this mystery was nice enough to email me the second part because I missed March's guild meeting (I was still in the hospital with the baby). I have yet to get started on it, maybe I'll blame my slacking on just having a baby because it's a TON of small blocks with diagonals and HSTs (by a ton, I mean around 50 or so if I remember reading it correctly). Yikes.

I did really want to keep on top of this one so I didn't ruin the surprise of the mystery. I could just keep the last part in an envelope until I finish all the other parts. We'll see.

And, here's a cute baby picture for good measure:

Packages, Who Doesn't Love Getting Mail?

As I mentioned in my last post, there was another delivery that I received the week our youngest was born. That sounds kind of funny, like it was forever ago when in reality it was only a week and a half ago. Oh he's so cute, more pictures soon of him.

This was what I found in my mailbox on the 22nd:

Well, it was actually in an envelope, but I'm sure you assumed that. It's my loot from the Rainbow Swap I did. I was sooo excited to get it! And, I will definitely be doing this one again next spring.

There are tons of ideas flowing about what to use it for. Here's a little collage of what I've been goggly-eyed over:

1. I Think I Love You, 2. tutti frutti lieblingsdecke krabbeldecke quilt frankfurt, 3. Nine Patch Quilt Along Progress, 4. full view, 5. 3x6 block, 6. For Sew Chaos Kristin 4th qtr beehive 12, 7. petals mini quilt, 8. demo mdp top for class, 9. values quilt top, 10. Fat Quarterly Quilt Along!, 11. Not available, 12. Not available, 13. Not available, 14. Glamour shot, 15. 3x6 Bee 3rd Quarter Beehive 8 rsislandcrafts

Credit for:
#11: http://bolohead.blogspot.com/2012/03/packages-are-in-mail-and-on-their-way.html
#12: http://gemini-stitches.blogspot.com/2011/12/fresh-sewing-day.html
#13: http://www.fromthebluechair.com/2012/02/color-quilt-top.html

I know that most of these projects aren't really do-able with 4 1/2 inch squares, but they're so pretty.

I'm really leaning towards doing a sampler and using most of these to get inspiration for my blocks. Clearly I'm not fully committed yet, but thankfully I'm not planning on making this for a gift - it will be all for me! Ok, maybe I'll share with the kids... if I have to.

Introducing Boy #3

This past week there have been a few deliveries that I/my family have received.

Some of them are quite life-changing, where others were just plain awesome.

The biggest (and most amazing) delivery of the week was this little guy:

He came in a whirlwind, that aside from a few key moments, was mostly a blur to me. Lets just say that I am so so so thankful that it is over, and only took about 3 hours.

This boy was a whopping 9 pounds 2 ounces, a pound and a half bigger than my biggest thus far.

We are so happy that all went 'well' and that the baby & I are healthy.

I didn't take any photos in the hospital (except the few when the kids came to visit), I was way too sleepy and was in vacation aka brain dead mode. Can you blame me? I only had one little person to take care of! Just about every moment he slept so did I.

Welcoming Warmer Weather

Ahh, this wonderful weather has been pulling everyone outside, and away from their bogs.

We have been weeding and preparing our gardens for planting. My youngest daughter (who is 2 1/2) just loves to help in the dirt, and I am ever thankful for it. I'm hoping to get some peas, beets, and sugar snap peas planted tomorrow. The tomatoes need to get started inside this week too.

My brother came to visit three weeks ago and we planted some herb seeds while he was here. They are sprouting up quite nicely! I haven't had an herb 'garden' before (we planted about 3 or 4 together in one large pot) and am very excited to have my very own fresh herbs on hand! I had been thinking about making a cute shelf to hold mason jars with herbs in them, but had been pushing to project off. When I told my brother this he said something like - just put one together now, if you haven't done the other one yet you're not going to. Thanks for the push bro.

In other news, I'm a ripe 38 weeks pregnant. As of today it's only 10 days till my due date. I am getting so impatient. My first 2 kids were born at 36 weeks and because of that I think sometimes that the last month of pregnancy should be optional... I am happy to be healthily pregnant though!

A wonderful package also came this week, which has been making it much much easier to wait for this little baby. A wonderful package with the word Amazon on the side of box (I love those ones... and the ones with fabric.com on the side).

I've wanted an iPad forever, but just couldn't spend that much money on something just for me. A new sewing machine sure, but a 'toy', not so much. I absolutely LOVE my Kindle Fire.

I also got some new books, because of course you need new books when you get a Kindle right??

I've had my eye on these 3 books for quite some time now. I entered just about every website/blog giveaway to try to win the two quilting books when they were 'blog-touring'. Looking forward to making stuff from all these books!

What are you doing with the warmer weather lately?

Helping Hands Mystery Quilt - The Start

The Helping Hands guild is doing a free mystery quilt this spring, and I decided to sign myself up.

What was I thinking, right?

New baby any day now, 4 kids and a husband to take care of on top of that alone is a lot.

Apparently I need a little excitement in my life, hahaha.

Monday of last week they gave out the instructions for the first part. We were instructed to pick out 3 fabrics: main (3 1/2 yds), accent (2 1/2 yds), and background (3 yds). The main fabric was to be the focal and medium, the accent fabric was to be dark, and the background to be light with high contrast to the other two.

I had just the fabric in mind (which is partly why I decided to sign up, trying to use up the stash pieces that I've had forever that were 'meant to be used together for something great'). All I needed to get was the background color, and I knew exactly what I wanted to get. It was almost too good to be true, meant to be I tell ya.

Here they are:

The main fabric is a Marie Osmond print from Quilting Treasures 2007, I can't find the name of it anywhere. The accent fabric is a chocolate with cream dots by Faye Burgos for Marcus Fabrics . The background fabric is Kona Celery. I think I'm officially in love with Kona solids! The main and accent fabric I got from Sauder's in Lancaster in September 2010, 5 yards of both for only $1 per yard - SCORE! And of course I used my JoAnn's coupon for the Kona, it's miraculous that they carry it!

On Friday night, I was determined to cut all the pieces for the first part, and I succeeded! I even got all the strips sewn and pressed, ironing just may be a way to induce labor if done for long periods of time....

In bits and pieces I've cut up all the strips to the sections for each block. I have six of the twenty-eight 6 1/2 inch blocks done, but none of the twelve 3 1/2 inch by 12 1/2 inch rectangles done. All in all I'd say I'm about 2/3 the way through the whole first part. Since all the sections of each block are done, it really won't take long to finish them up and press them. Hopefully I can get the rest done in the next few days, I would like to be done by this weekend so I can make a new diaper bag and so I can have some time to take some decent pictures of my progress and a few other projects I've got in the works!

Bread Anyone?

Today is grey and rainy. I love these days.

I feel like rainy days are some of the best! The kids and I usually stay home, pushing any errands to another day, and do things like: have a dance party, make tons of cookies, play some videos games and playdough, or just hang around in jammies and read tons and tons of books.

Today was a little different than our usual rainy day though, I had an doctor's appointment I needed to go to. Mema came over this morning so I could go to my 36 week check up. I'm doing good, may not 'make it' to my next appointment which is fine by me (my oldest 2 were born at 36 weeks). And, of course, she had some fun prizes for the kids - new coloring books and jumbo crayons- she's pretty awesome like that.

We folded a few loads of laundry, had a dance party, and had lunch with Daddy after I got back.

During all of this I decided it was a perfect day to make some of this:

Oh how I love homemade bread! I'm thinking this is going to become a weekly event, my house just smells SO good.

I'm not quite sure where I'm getting all this energy all the sudden, especially since the past 2 weeks it seems like the minute my kids eyes are closed so are mine (hence the lack of blogging).

I'm also not quite sure how I got to the conclusion that doing a fabric swap online AND a mystery quilt with my guild are wonderful ideas when I'm having a baby in March (which starts tomorrow...). But, I did get all my fabric cut for the swap, and it's already arrived at the hostesses house! I also got the first part of the mystery quilt Monday evening at the guild meeting, and started cutting this afternoon between stages of bread-making. Go me.

I'm not sure how many more days I will have this burst of energy, but I sure am taking advantage of it!!

Oh Monday

How is it that you manage to come EVERY week and still feel the same??

Eh, either way I'm looking forward to this week.

The items on my 'to-do' list are slowly dwindling getting ready for the baby, there are only 3 scheduled 'events' on my calendar for this week (joy) 2 are doctor's appointments, and my que on Ravelry is calling me since I've been so good at finishing projects lately! Though I'm still not sure how I only have 12 things in my que.

Here's a few recent FOs & my first try with a cookies press:

Piper's Hat, yes I need to weave in that one thread.

Martha's Reversible Purse I made for me. LOVE it.

Kit's Winter Hat, tutorial coming soon.

Hearts Hat, this is what you get with a click and shoot camera after getting a nice one.

Light Pink Diaper Cover & Earflap Hat

I'm also quite excited to send out my squares for my first ever fabric swap. Did I mention I'm excited?!

I even took a photo of my squares, haha. I chose to do royal blue, but mostly by default simply because it was the first color on the list that I found 10 FQs worth of fabric for. There are 200 squares there, all 4 inches. I can't wait to get back all the colors after the 'swapping'.

I'm also thinking of sending along a little gift for the woman hosting this swap, I mean I'm not sure I would enjoy doing 3 rounds of sorting thousands of 4 inch squares to make sure everyone gets one of each fabric. Maybe if I had a day without all my kids around....

Wow, I feel like this post is just a hodge podge of everything. Sorry. My brain is kind of all over the place lately.

Hopefully your week is looking good too!

My First Swap

I have to admit, I have never done a swap before.

Shocking, I know.

The thing is, I'm pretty nervous about some things, some things like criticism. There, I said it. I would be crushed if I spent time making something for someone just to find out they hated it.

So, why am I signing up for a swap? Well, because it's a fabric swap, a rainbow fabric swap. Yum. It's being hosted over at Bolo Heads, and she's actually doing 3 different rounds of the swap so go sign up.

Next question: Why am I signing up for a swap when I'm due almost any day now?

Simple, because I'm crazy... see:

Ha ha ha. I think my belly looks even bigger because a six-year-old took my picture... bad angle!

No really, I figure I can cut out about oh 200 squares in the next week and have them shipped out. The way I see it, it'll be my little present to myself that I can play with after having the baby (or dream about playing with). And, it will only cost me shipping since I'm pulling it all from my stash. Even better.

ROYGBIV Ripple Finished

Since this blanket was finally gifted I can blog about it, I only finished it about 2 weeks ago so I didn't have to wait too long.

I absolutely LOVE this blanket! I love the colors, I love how wonderful it was to work on, and I love how soft it came out. I'm thinking I need one of my own!

Stats:
- Tutorial: Neat Ripple @ Attic 24
- Finished size: about 46 inches by 52 inches.
- Cast on: 227 (has 16 ripples)
- 118 rows
- Hook size: G
- Started: Nov. 16, 2011
- Finished: Jan. 27, 2012
- Ravelry: ROYGBIV Ripple

Posted about it here, here, and here.

Handmade Christmas Gifts Part 3 - Stockings

My brother and his boys really like Charlie Brown, so what else do they need besides some Charlie Brown Christmas stockings??

I used the template from this stocking pattern for the shape of my stockings. I felt like it took me forever to find a template that I liked, and I didn't want to try again to draw one I liked (I've only drawn about 4 in years passed). And, the stockings that my kids have are Whoville stockings from the Grinch that Stole Christmas, so using them as a template seemed kind of silly.

With these stockings I simply free-motion quilted around the pattern on the fabric. The back of all three is the same blue and white stripe.

I'm Hooked

I mentioned in my last post something about tons of crochet this month.

Big Brother Little Brother Hats

Maybe it just feels like a lot to me because I've made or finished 6 crochet projects this month, and one more will be done today. That's huge for me since crochet has been a little on the back burner for sometime. It always seems that my crochet projects end up being the ones that travel with me and get done during 'waiting times', and for some reason I'm always making a blanket (and I finished one of those this month too).

My ROYGBIV Ripple is DONE!!! More on that later...

I found a really cute pattern on Ravelry, Earflaps Hat for Kids, and I LOVE it. Of course, I only made 2 that were by the pattern, but made 3 others that were bigger just by adjusting the pattern.

Brother & Sister Hats

There you have it, I made 5 hats this month and am finishing one for me (yes me) today. It's just like the little pink one pictured above, funny cause I think pink is my least favorite color but I love how this one looks! I rarely ever make something for myself, and this month this is the second thing I've made for me. I feel like I'm spoiling myself.