Salt Air Butterfly Effect Quilt

After 5 days in Idaho for a family reunion, then back home trying to catch up, I haven't been sewing much.  I am missing those few hours of alone time when my kids were all in school!

So I am hoping a quilt from Amy Smart's book Fabulously Fast Quilts is just that --- fast and fabulous.  I had a scrap bag of Salt Air fabric by Cosmos Cricket...mostly long strips.  So I decided to try the Butterfly Effect quilt.  I love the fabric but am still unsure if I chose the right pattern for it.  But I did enjoy using the strip piecing tips in the book and the tube method (that is probably not the technical term.)

Here is a crooked picture I took with my Kindle.  The computer is occupied so I am making do.  I am linking up to Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday and to Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation.

Grandma's Quilt

Recently my mom brought me some embroidered blocks of Grandma's -- some extras.  Grandma died more than 15 years ago, so this is a special project for me.  I've never done anything with Embroidered blocks -- there are 50 of them, 6 1/2 inches square.  I ordered some fabric from Connecting Threads, "Nana's Pantry".  The colors work well, which was a relief since I'd never seen them in person.  I was inspired by Crazy Mom Quilt's quilt here.  I would have never picked out this fabric, but seeing it in her quilt made me love it.

I'm still unsure of the design I will do -- either a block I'm not sure the name of -- it's the inside of the economy block -- kind of like the first picture below.  The blocks would be on point so the birds would not sit at a diagonal.  I've contemplated a Log Cabin too, but there are 50 blocks and more than one or two strips might just get too big.

Another thing I've been debating is whether or not I match the bird to the background color.  Does that make sense?  (Red Cardinal, Red background; Bluebird, blue background -- or do I mix it up?)  If you have an opinion, let me know.  (:

I can just picture Grandma sitting in her quiet, clean house, watching Lawrence Welk or Billy Graham, doing her embroidery.  She made a lot of embroidered quilt blocks which my mom made into wedding quilts for each of us.  Here is my oldest, Andrew, sitting in front of my wedding quilt -- it only shows one of the twelve blocks, but you get the idea.  Plus, Andrew is so cute I thought I better share!

Just a bit about Grandma - she lived across the street from us when I was growing up.  She smelled of Mentholatum and Coty's face powder.  She had the "gift of gab" -- something I didn't appreciate like I would now.  She had a great memory for details.  She knew everyone's birthday, childhood friend's full names, and war-time songs she was taught when she was growing up.  Sometimes I wish I could go back and visit with her again so I could really pay attention to all those stories, songs, and poems she told me.

Lastly, I will leave you with a cute picture of Tanner -- "peeling corn."  Whenever he sees corn on the cob he says "Oh yah!  I peeled corn with Grandpa one day!"  That was about a year ago, but he still talks about it.  Funny how clearly I remember doing the same thing with Dad when I was little.  (:

I'm linking up to GoGo Kim's Saturday Sewjo Party.

I'm linking up to My Quilt Infatuation party too!

Stars Baby Quilt

My brother and his wife are having a baby in October.  I have owned the Yoyo Mama Designs Antique Baby Quilt pattern for years, but have never made it.  So I thought it was about time.  I used all scraps from my stash.

I've decided to write something I learned from each quilt -- this is not to point out the imperfections, but merely to write it down so I'll remember those lessons next time, and maybe someone else can learn from my mistakes.  So here's what I learned when making this pattern:

1.  Use more glue!  Glue????  Yes, this quilt is done by gluing the squares to a piece of muslin; putting the quilt backing, batting, and top together; and then sewing the squares on.  It's a quick process which results in the cute raw edges.  But I found that as I ran it through my machine the little squares shifted.  Afterward I watched a video online that talked about glue basting with Washable Elmer's and then heat setting the squares.  I think I'll try that next time.

2.  Think ahead about the backing -- I bought a brown backing and then realized that I'd need to use white thread on the top...and ideally white on the bottom.  But since my sewing isn't super straight I was worried the white stitching on the back would look glaringly crooked.  I opted for tan thread on the back, white on the top...hoping it wouldn't be too obvious if my tension wasn't perfect.  So....I'm fine with how it looks but next time I want to think about the thread on the back before I buy the backing.

3.  It's fun to put a little Star Wars into the quilt.  I wasn't sure about doing this -- and hope that the little yoga faces won't scare the baby!  But I am glad I threw them in there and now the older kids can enjoy the "Star Wars blanket" like Tanner did.

So that was really wordy.  Not sure if it makes sense to any of you reading this...Allyson and Karen.  (:

I am linking up to Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts and to GoGo Kim's Sewjo Saturday.

Plus Quilt

I finished binding this quilt today. It is one from Camille Roskelley's book "Simplify".  I used a Jelly Roll by American Jane -- School Days.  Although this has pretty simple construction, all those little squares and rectangles took some time to sew together.  I started it more than a year ago, so I'm happy to have finished it!

Each quilt I make, I learn something new.  On this quilt I learned:

1.  I don't have perfect 1/4" seams -- oh, I already knew that.
2.  Pay attention to how white/cream a background is -- I picked out the backing and in the basement sewing room it looked fine.  When I brought it upstairs I saw that it was a much colder off-white (less yellow) than the front fabric.  Luckily, it's the back so not a big deal -- but it still kind of bugs me.
3.  Next time I want to take the time to "fussy cut" the cream/red binding so that the red lines go all the way around.  I thought about this but was too excited to just get it done.
4.  I love the dot-to-dot fabric in this one -- it takes me back to my younger years!

So here it is!  Yay!  I am linking up to Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Small Scraps

All the sewing I had time for this weekend were putting together a couple of bookmarks.  It was my Sister-in-laws birthday, so I snuck down to sew a couple bookmarks to add to her gift.  This is a good little project for teeny little scraps.  I am linking up to Sewjo Saturday.

Spring Break Review

For Spring Break this year we headed down to the Phoenix, Arizona area.  I haven't been there since a quick trip for a wedding back in 1995 (or 96?)  And Brian went for a quick trip to watch his team (the Utes) in the Fiesta Bowl in 2005.  The weather was even hotter than I expected, since it's only April!  90's most days, topping out at 100 on Easter Sunday.  Perfect for swimming, but it's good we didn't go in the Summertime -- I wouldn't have left the hotel room.

On the way down to Phoenix we went to the Grand Canyon.  I have never been, and it was awesome.  It really is incredible to see it in person -- the vastness and the colors are breathtaking.  The boys liked it too.  Andrew enjoyed taking several pictures of the canyon on his 3DS.  Eric did much of a "Junior Ranger" activity booklet.  And Tanner enjoyed running around and jumping off rocks.  We took a .4 mile hike into the canyon, which was fun to do, even if it was pretty short!  Tanner still randomly cracks up and shouts "Donkey Poop!" a couple times a day.  (We saw some from the Mules that go down the trail.)

The boys wanted to swim every day.  The place had a great pool, and also had a splash pad and a kiddie pool which Tanner loved.

As mentioned in my last post, we went to an outdoor barbeque featuring some amateur bull riding.  I had high hopes, but was a little disappointed -- lots of waiting for a few seconds of bull riding.  But the boys enjoyed the show most of the time.  

One morning we went to the Railroad Park.  It had a miniature train that went around the park, a carousel, and a few playgrounds.  Also, a train museum where you walked through a train car.  It was interesting and the boys enjoyed the playgrounds.  The train car is a "Pullman" -- so even though it's spelled differently, I had to take a picture of my Poelman standing beside it.

We also spent an hour or so in Old Scottsdale -- it is much like other tourist towns like Park City, Jackson, etc -- with stores and restaurants and art.  Probably better suited for those who like to shop (rather than little boys who just want to buy candy.)  But here they are in front of a giant head statue.

One favorite part of the vacation was visiting some old friends.  Brian has a friend, Phillip, who he has been friends with since Jr. High.  I've always been impressed because Phillip calls Brian on his birthday every year.  Who is that thoughtful after 20 years of not living in the same town?  Not many.  Anyway, it was nice to meet him, his wife and their 3 girls.

After that we went over to my friends' house -- Amy was my roommate in college.  It was her wedding I went to in Mesa back in 1996.  And now, NINE children later -- Amy and Matt are as cute as ever.  The boys had a great time -- despite the fact that the youngest 7 kids are girls. :)  And here is a picture of Amy and her daughter.  Such a great family.

On Easter we found a chapel near the Mesa Temple to attend church.  Afterward we went over to the Mesa Temple to enjoy the beautiful flowers and watch some fun family films in the Visitors Center.  It was a good way to focus more on the Savior and the hope his Resurrection can bring to all of us.

So that's it!  We survived a long one-day drive home and are back in school and routine.  Hope you all had a great Spring Break too -- and Happy Easter!

A quick hello

Just a quick post -- we are on vacation, heading home tomorrow.  But since I intentionally brought a little project along with me so I could link to "Sewjo Saturday," I thought I'd better do it!  It's not an actual quilt, but a cross stitch project of a quilt block.  I have been watching this stitch along and think it's so cute.  So I pulled out my old stuff....it's been a long time!  It was perfect for our long drive.  It sure reminded me how long cross stitching takes!  I only managed to almost finish one block.  It didn't help that I messed up near the beginning and need to do some unpicking.  Argh.

 

And just for fun, here's a picture of the boys at a bull riding show we went to.  Tanner fell asleep on the way so he's a little dazed.  :)  More on the vacation later.  Oh, and Happy Easter!  It's been kind of mellow here without family!  Hope you all had a great day.

 

 

 

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A Successful Saturday

It's been a busy weekend here.  We started out Saturday morning with a soccer game and a Pinewood Derby.  Eric had his 2nd soccer game of the season.  He has the same coach as last year (yay!) and he's doing great.  They won 4-1.

Last year was our first derby, at which we lost horribly (slowest car, I'm sure....our Scout left holding back the tears.)  So this year we consulted my brother who helped us cut a more aerodynamic car, and then we piled on the weights.  We went to the race yesterday just crossing our fingers for success -- that success being that we wouldn't be dead last in the running and that Andrew wouldn't leave in tears.  

But we were surprised when Andrew's car won first place!  To say Andrew was beyond happy.  Hooray!

We also did a little birthday celebration for Eric yesterday (a little early because we'll be out of town.)  He chose Arby's for lunch and donuts for dessert.  He told me "I don't really care what presents I get.  I just want the love of my family."  It's sweet, but it kind of cracks me up -- I'm pretty sure he hears things like that in church.  And trust me, he was VERY excited about the presents.  He got a lego set, a couple of DS games, and a Pogo stick.  They played happily all afternoon.

 

And now for my sewing update for SEWJo Saturday -- I am working on a quilt using "Modern Meadows" fabric by Joel Dewberry.  I've had this fabric for a while now but have struggled with what to make. I finally settled an a herringbone design.  Here are the initial strips:

I also finished and hung my dresden plate quilt underneath our entry window, in the stairway landing.  A sunny little view before you head down to the dark basement.  :)

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