End of School Year sewing

I haven't posted much about sewing lately -- I am kind of in the middle of several things.  I need to finish something by the end of this month so I can accomplish at least some of my Quarter 2 WIP goals!  I am trying to decide on backing for this one....and working on another using the same Falling Charms pattern from Missouri Star.

 

I have spent some time sewing up gifts for my kid's teachers.  I always feel hesitant about teacher gifts -- my mom was an Elementary teacher and I can remember her coming home with her end-of-school gifts.  I know she was grateful for being thanked...but I'm not sure she used all those knick-knacks or ate all that candy.  So with that in mind, I'm always over-thinking teacher gifts.  But I am so grateful for their hard work and positive influence on my kids, and I hope they know they are appreciated!

For Andrew and Eric's teachers I made little zip pouches.  I haven't made many of these.  I followed an online tutorial, which I would site but don't even know if someone would want me to since I kind of messed them up.  :(  I didn't do the zipper tabs quite right, so the ends ended up being a little bunchy.  These aren't the ones I end up giving the teachers either -- I actually made two more because I couldn't get those tabs right!  Unfortunately these were done a couple weeks apart and by the time I made the second set I'd already forgotten what went wrong in the first place and I made the same mistake.  Ha.  But they are still functional and cute, and I hope the teachers can find something to do with them -- maybe they can fill them with those knick-knacks they receive from the kids! ;)

For Tanner's teachers I made some really cute Key Fobs.  I didn't take a picture beforehand, but they were very cute!  I want to make one for myself too.

March and April Updates

March began with an exciting events for Eric.  He graduated from his headgear!  He wore it every night for about 9 months -- to correct an underbite.  He was very faithful about wearing it and avoiding all things chewy.  I told him we'd have a party, which he'd been looking forward to for months.  The day he took got the gear off we had other things and it was getting late, so I tried to convince him to do it on a weekend.  What was I thinking????  We ended up having the "party" that night in pajamas.  Here are Eric and Tanner with some forbidden foods -- gummy fish, popcorn, and gum.  (Oh, and of course the headgear.)

Brian and I also attended a mission reunion.  He served an LDS mission in Brisbane Australia.  After 25 years, there were not a lot of people Brian remembered well, or at all.  But he did reconnect with his MTC (Mission Training Center) companion.  And his Mission President from New Zealand was there too, so that was fun.  The President spoke for a while about the growth of the Church in Australia.  I had a difficult time understanding him sometimes, given his thick accent.  :)

For Easter weekend we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house in Idaho.  We had a great time.  Here are the boys dying eggs.

And with their Easter goodies.

This was Tanner's reaction after seeing that the Easter Bunny brought him a book with Princesses in it. Silly Easter Bunny!  Who cares if there are an equal amount of "boy" characters too!

Having a fun, and quick, Easter Egg Hunt at my sister's house.

Cousin Jacob had a new pet -- a snake!  My sister is much more tolerant than I am, I think.  :)

My dad had heard about a pizza place in a nearby country town....a small town with a big 32" pizza.  It had potential, but there were a couple of parties right before us so the wait was very long.  But we enjoyed the visit with Grandma and Grandpa and the novelty of such a large pizza.

In April Eric turned 8-years-old.  It was the first year he wanted to have a friend party.  We had a sports theme party and had a great time.  Of course, I asked him what his favorite part was and he said "the presents."  (I'm rolling my eyes now.)  We did it at the park which was great -- I didn't have to clean my house, and the weather was perfect, and the boys ran around like boys do.

Eric got a new bike!  He was riding one that was way too small, so this was a great present.

We celebrated April birthday's with Brian's side of the family a few days later at the park.  The kids had so much fun playing soccer and on the playground.  I enjoy seeing them play so well together. 

And here is the big 8-year-old before he was baptized!  It was a nice day and we enjoyed having many family members there for the baptismal service and lunch afterward.  

Tanner's favorite part of the lunch were the "8" cookies on a stick.  He kept coming up to me "Mom, can I have one more?"  Then, Allyson sent us home with several too.  Happy Tanner!

Finally, it's soccer season.  So 2 nights a week and much of Saturday is full of Soccer practices and games.  The boys have both improved significantly this year -- spending a lot of time in the yard playing ball.  Eric's played more in the Forward position this year and has made several goals.

But there is always  little time for goofing around with teammates!

Andrew has played a lot in the defensive position, his coach calling him the "Iron Fence."  But he has played some in the offensive too which is nice because he's worked so hard on kicking.

Is this a joke?

So a few weeks ago I received an email that said the following:

Amazing!

Thank you, my 5 followers.

Some small gifts

There have a been a few birthdays in our family recently.  I had a couple of mini charm packs and decided to try and make a table runner with them.  They are cute, but there is not much fabric in them!  I found a tutorial that required just a few more 2 1/2 inch squares that come in a mini charm pack.  Here is the result:

This one on the left was made using Freshly Picked and the other is by Moma....

And today I finished a couple of pillows that I made for a silent auction for the boy's school.  This is the first time I've ever done something other than gifts, or for myself.  It makes me feel quite vulnerable.  I keep telling myself to not worry about whether people will buy them....if I get to bring them home I'm happy to keep them.  My husband is a Utah fan, I am a BYU fan.  That's right...a house divided.  

I am linking up to Needle and Thread Thursday and Finish it up Friday.

Scrappy Buzzsaw - Finish Q2

This quilt was created from a pattern in Amy Smart's book "Fabulously Fast Quilts."  I actually took the color scheme from another one of Amy's quilts which is in the Scraps, Inc book.  I really loved her courthouse version, but knew I didn't have the patience to make one with so many pieces.  So I chose to do the Modern Buzz Saw Quilt in the same colors.

The background fabric is one which I bought on clearance and wish I had bought more!  You can't see it well in the pictures, but it has subtle lines throughout.  I really like it.  It's from the fabric line Collage by Carrie Bloomston.  The bright colors are from my stash.  I did not buy anything new!  Yay!

I decided to have it quilted in a spiral pattern, since it reminds me of a spinning buzzsaw.

 

The backing is some yardage I had.  It was funny because I had the backing laid out on the bed in our basement.  After that, when I went downstairs to get something I thought I'd left the light on in the room.  The reflection from the small amount of sunshine we get in that room made it look like the room was glowing.  Colors really can brighten up a space!

Points I pondered:

1.  I think all the colors in this quilt are also in the Courthouse quilt I mimicked.  But I wish I would have zeroed in on only the reds/oranges and blues/purples.  Perhaps because this pattern has larger blocks and fewer pieces, the two color-ways don't seem as obvious as the original quilt.  

2.  Initially I was going to do a purple binding, but at the last minute I changed my mind and did a scrappy binding.  I'm glad I did.  I do like it.

3.  I would love to make this quilt again -- perhaps less scrappy like the original quilt.  It was pretty quick to put together, even as large as it is.

I am linking up at Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it Up Friday and to Quilt Story's Fabric Tuesday.

Finish-Along Goals 2

I really enjoyed having a list of projects to work on for last quarter, so I'm doing it again.  Several projects are just going to move onto this list since I didn't finish them.  Here is my plan:

1.  Kaleidoscope Quilt -- made this quilt, but it's too small.  Want to add a border and hope that the quilting will distract from all the non-matching points.

2.  Ombre Pinwheel quilt -- not loving this one and not sure what to do about it.  I'll put it on this list and hope I get some inspiration to finish it!

3.  Quilt Sampler from Vintage Modern Sew Along -- I just want to straight line quilt this one, but it's so big!  I haven't sewn on the solid portion and am now wondering about making it smaller.  I'll have to see if there is a way without too much unpicking.  

4.  Solids Charm quilt not with Essex Linen -- Originally I wanted to try out the Essex Linen with these charms.  But now that the charms are sewn together I don't love the linen.  So I'm using some different fabric.  

5.  Jewel Tone Sawtooth Quilt -- I actually finished this a couple of days ago, just after of the first quarter deadline.  All I have to do now is take pictures and blog about it.

6.  Bluebird Park Quilt -- started this a while back, set it aside having only sewn one column together. Still haven't touched this one!

7.  2 quilts from Persimmon Charm packs.  I have finished one top, and have a plan for another.  

 

8.  Improv Star Quilt.  Here are the fabrics, but since it'll be improv there is no pattern.

9.  Desert Quilt -- no picture of this one, but I have a kit that I have and hope to make sometime too.

I am linking up to the Finish-Along Link up at On the Windy Side.  

Grandma's Quilt - Q1 Finish

It has been almost a year since I wrote about Grandma's Quilt -- and now it's finally finished.  Yay!  This is a quilt on which 3 generations have sewn.  My grandmother did the embroidered blocks, my Mom did the hand quilting, and I did the piecing.  

When planning this quilt I waffled between using solids and using prints.  Solids, for more of a simple, modern look.  Prints to try and match the style and because they reminded me of what Grandma would like.  I went with prints -- "Nana's Pantry" from Connecting Threads.  This was a difficult decision, and I still wonder if I should have gone with solids.  I am not a cute, flowery kind of girl.  But, I do love Grandma!

Points I pondered:

1.  Grandma loved birds and flowers.  It was fun to look at the birds that represent various states.  Do you know what your state bird is?   

2.  I still wonder if I should have gone with solids, or maybe just a fewer colors.  This is not something I really thought about when I ordered the fabric.  I just ordered several colors included in the bird blocks and included them all.  I am still not very good at envisioning the end from the beginning. 

3.  Most of all I love that my mom hand quilted this.  My grandmother died almost 20 years ago, and to think that my mom and I both worked on the same squares that she made so long ago is a neat feeling.

And here she is!

Cute polka dot binding.

My home state's bird is the Mountain Bluebird.

And Utah's is the California Gull -- kinda funny, but there are plenty of them here so it's appropriate.

January and February Update

I'm back again with a slew of pictures to record what the family has been up to these last couple of months.  It's so hard to choose just a few pictures!  

In January Brian took the older boys to a UofU Alumni dinner and Basketball Game.  They had a great time.  You will see that as they walked out they found the entrance to "Tanner Dance" and had to strike a pose to show their little brother.  

Eric played his first season of Jr. Jazz.  He did great.  He's got a good sense of how to handle the ball, despite the relatively little basketball he's played.  You can see his nice form in the shot below!  SCORE!

 

On President's Day we went down to Temple Square and saw the movie "Meet the Mormons." Andrew and I had already seen it, but Brian and the other boys had not.  It was a little long for Tanner who had to take a few breaks to run in the hall, but other than that we all enjoyed it.  

We followed the movie with quick walk around City Creek -- the newly (well, not so new anymore) renovated shopping area in downtown Salt Lake City.  We had never been -- a house full of boys isn't too interested in malls.  :)  It was a very nice Mall, but once all the fountains had been seen and dipped into, we were outta there.

After a quick lunch at Jimmy John's, we went on a tour of the Conference Center.  The boys enjoyed seeing the large auditorium that we've seen on TV when we watch General Conference.  They also seemed to enjoy the numerous paintings throughout the Conference Center.  Our Tour Guide was very efficient, which allowed for little dawdling.  Luckily, he did wait around for us when we had to stop for a potty break.  :)  The roof of the Conference Center is covered with gardens (mostly dormant in February) and has a great view of the city.  There is also this really neat mural etched in marble.  

It is Andrew's birthday in February too.  His wish list consisted of all things Soccer and Nike.  No video games were on his list!  Mom's not complaining!  And yes, those are green Vampire Teeth you see on Tanner.  That kid and his costumes!

We celebrated with cousins one Sunday evening.  Here he is with his cousin who also has a birthday in February.  And of course Tanner has to be in all pictures, particularly if candles are about to be lit.

Rather than having a birthday party with friends, Andrew opted to invite two friends to Airborne (a trampoline jumping place.)  Unfortunately, his closest friend got sick that day.  Luckily we were able to have his cousin join us at the last minute.