Falling Persimmon Charms - Finish Q3

Another Finish for the Finish Along.  This is another quilt using the "Falling Charms" pattern by Missouri Star Quilt Co.  The fabric line is called Persimmon by Basic Gray.  And the back is a beautiful panel and yardage from Kate and Birdie's Autumn Woods line.  If you can believe it, I only paid $1.00 a yard for this fabric!  I should have bought the entire bolt!

Points I pondered while finishing this quilt:

1.  I had the backing yardage on hand, and was happy with how it looked with the front.  But after it had been quilted, I saw that the quilter used navy thread to match the front, and off-white thread to match the back.  You can see a lot of dots of navy on the back where the thread from the front pulled through.  I read once that it is very difficult to get the tension exactly right and so I don't blame the quilter.  I just need to remember not to use such a contrasting backing.  I already did it once on something I quilted myself.  Hopefully I don't make the same mistake 3 times!

2.  I machine bound this quilt.  I have tried this method before, and failed miserable.  And I didn't set out to machine bind -- but I accidentally sewed the first side (raw edge) of the binding to the back instead of the front.  Argh!  This meant I would have had to hand-bind to the front, and I wasn't sure if the stitching would be too obvious.  So I decided to try and machine bind.  I glue basted the binding onto the front, and went for it.  The glue basting helped, and if I ever machine bind again, I'll use that method.  But I still had a hard time keeping the binding straight and my stitch straight.  I also didn't have orange thread, so I used tan....it doesn't look horrible but you can definitely see it.  I enjoy hand binding and will continue with that method.

And in closing, say "Hello" to my very smiley preschooler.  It was his first day of school this week.  An hour before this picture he was quite worried about going to a new preschool.  While watching lunch we happen to watch Daniel Tiger on PBS -- he was going to school too.  Tanner perked up, sang Daniel Tiger's song..."First get dressed, eat breakfast, brush teeth, put on shoes and go to school!"  He went off as happy as can be.  :)  When I picked him up and asked how it was, he said "At first it was kinda weird.  But then it was fun."

I am linking up to Quilt Story's Fabric Tuesday and Quilt Infatuation's NTT.
I am also linking up to 2015 Finish-Along at On the Windy Side.

July Update

On July 4th, we usually go to the Murray Parade with Brian's sister, but their family decided not to go this year.  Instead Brian and Eric washed the car while I took Andrew and Tanner to a new Splash Park.  It was great -- not many people there, probably because it was a holiday.  

In the evening we drove into the mountains and did some hiking.  It was 20 degrees cooler (yay!), and even though it was 75 degrees we still found a pile of snow that hadn't melted.  

Tanner has to "pose" in every single picture.  It is hard to get him just smiling.  Goofy Kid.

Eventually we arrived at a small lake -- it was a good hike.  I have always been a pretty poor hiker, even when I was in shape.  So now I my endurance was pathetic.  Andrew and Eric were so thoughtful on the hike....each taking turns to stay back with me to rest, and holding my hand on the steep parts.  (Luckily I didn't fall because I would've just taken them down with me!)  If I told them to go ahead, they would say "No, that's okay Mom.  It's not very fun to hike alone."  It touched me to see them being so thoughtful.

We enjoyed lighting off some fireworks when we got home.

We also started swimming lessons this month.  It has been great!  Tanner bravely jumped off the diving board.

My sister was in Park City with some of her kids and some of my brother's kids.  We went and hung out with them -- swimming at the Condo and then going to the Olympic Ski Museum.  Here are some of the kids piled into a Bobsled at the museum (Anna, Andrew, Tanner, and Eric.)

And Uncle John came to visit one weekend.  We went to Wheeler Farm -- a Historic Farm that we used to go to quite a bit when the kids were younger.  It was fun to go back and see all the animals.

Here in Utah we have a State holiday on July 24th -- Pioneer Day.  Since Brian had the day off we headed up to my parent's cabin in Island Park.  It was great.  It was much cooler -- in the 70's mostly, but the last day we left it was in the 40's and raining!!!  I loved it.  :)  My brother and his family were also there, and my sister came up for a day too.  

The first day we went into West Yellowstone and went to the Bear and Wolf Discover Center.  We got a close-up look at the bears.  Eric took some great pictures of them playing.  

 The rest of the days we spent at the cabin.  The kids had a great time playing on the lake and riding the 4-wheeler.  It was so nice having my brother and his family there because Max and Tanner are good friends and it really occupied Tanner well.

And I just had to throw in this last picture.  It is possibly the only picture that I have with Tanner simply looking at the camera (rather than doing a goofy pose.)  And of course, Eric had to do "bunny ears" on him.  Oh brother.

Falling Honey Charms - Finish Q3

Hooray!  Another finish for this quarter.  This pattern is from Missouri Star Quilt Company, called Falling Charms.  It is a really quick finish using Charm Packs and Jelly Roll strips.  I used a line of fabric "Bee My Honey" by Mary Jane.  I love this line of fabric.  It has bees, honeycomb, and even little honey dippers.

I have a couple of brothers who love honey so much that my parents bought honey in giant buckets.  When we would visit Seattle, while we girls were buying handmade jewelry at Pike's Place Market, my brothers would buy little straws of honey.  I think these memories are what makes me love this fabric so much!

Eventually, one of my brothers became quite interested in bees.  I remember him picking me up from work once and I asked what he'd been up to.  He told me he'd been at the library watching a documentary about bees. (This was pre-Internet...well, I think it was around, but not quite the fountain of knowledge it is today.)  He must have continued reading and studying, because eventually he decided to keep some bees of his own.  You can imagine the surprise when my parents got a call from the Post Office informing them they had a box of live bees that needed to be picked up immediately.  ha.  (I hope I'm remembering this correctly.)

This brother also has a pretty incredible garden -- so having this backing fabric for the quilt was perfect!  Not quite the right color of yellow, but given the theme, I used it anyway.  

Next I'm on to the Persimmon version of Falling Charms.  I prepped all this "persimmon" binding, and now I'm wondering if it's too stark against the navy background.  I have thought about finding a navy print for the binding instead, but since I have this prepped....it'll probably be orange.  Hope I like it!

I am linking up to Quilt Story's Fabric Tuesday and Quilt Infatuation's NTT. 

I am linking up to the 2015 Finish-Along at On the Windy Side.

May - June Update

I am sitting down to write a quick update, but I've already been interrupted twice (We have 5 places to sit in our living room, and only 3 boys sitting in there...yet, they have to sit in the same place I guess!  Argh.  At what age does one finally figure out it is easier to just give in and find a different spot?)  Anyway, we'll see how far I get!

We went to the Payson Temple Open House.  It was a lovely day and a beautiful experience.  It was very crowded though -- next time I will make sure to get there before the last day of the event!  

The week after school ended we went to Southern Utah and stayed at a condo in Brian Head (a ski resort) in Southern Utah.  The Ski Resort is high up in the mountains and the boys felt a little nervous driving up the canyon -- Tanner kept calling out "Death of Fall!" when we were drove past steep parts of the canyon.  Not sure where he got that phrase, but we all enjoyed it.  :)  It was very quiet at the condo and the kids enjoyed the pool.  

On the drive there we stopped at Cove Fort -- this is a "fort" built back in 1867 to assist those who were traveling through the mostly desolate region --  it was a sort of way station where people could spend the night, eat, send telegram messages, etc.  The fort itself is made of Lava Rock and Limestone and still stands solid today.  It was a great tour and had we come prepared with a picnic, I would have liked to stay a little longer in the shade of the trees and enjoy some lunch.  

Here you can see Tanner pretending to shoot through the holes of the fort -- they were there in case they had to defend themselves, but the missionaries told us that was never needed.

Before heading to Brian head we stopped in Cedar City for some groceries.  We also went to "Discovery Park" where the older boys played soccer and Tanner enjoyed the playset.

One day we went down to a place near Parawon where there are some dinosaur tracks.  Here Tanner has his hand on a track.  Eric is pretending the track is a horn I think.

There are a bunch of Petroglyphs just past the place where we saw the dinosaur tracks (well, really we just found 1.  I guess there are more, but we couldn't find them.) You can see some of them in the picture below on the rock just behind the boys....in person they are much more visible.

Brian has a Great Uncle who is buried in Parowan, so we stopped and aimlessly wandered around the cemetery.  We didn't find the grave, so we went to the DUP (Daughters of the Utah Pioneers) Museum and found some very resourceful ladies there.  They told us where to find the grave, plus took Brian over to see the house where his relative lived.  A couple of the ladies had even had Brian's Great Uncle for a teacher in high school.  You gotta love a small town!

We went to Bryce Canyon and enjoyed the amazing scenery there.  There was forecast in the rain, but it rained very little while we were there.  It was perfect weather for me because I really don't like the heat.  The clouds were cool too.  

Eric and Tanner were timid to get anywhere near the edge of the canyon.  So here they are at a safe distance.  They eventually felt comfortable enough to go up to the edge when there was a fence.  

In addition to Bryce Canyon, we went to Cedar Breaks.  It was really beautiful too.  The younger boys, by then, were tired of the routine and not too excited to jump out and see more red rocks.

Finish-Along Goals Q3

I've decided to make my list of goals a little more realistic this quarter.  I only finished 2 things last quarter, but there are a few that are very close....so maybe I'll go for 5 finishes this quarter.

1.  Solids Charm Quilt -- I have finished the top, and even started machine quilting it.  After only a few straight lines I had serious puckers.....ugh!  I either stink at basting or I stink at machine quilting.  Hopefully I'll figure out how to get it finished!

2.  Falling Charms Quilt: Persimmon -- This is at the quilters so I should manage to finish it!

3.  Falling Charms Quilt: Bee My Honey -- This is also at the quilters!

4.  S'more Mountains Quilt

5.  BOM Quilt

Okay, so I guess I'm just an unrealistic goal maker -- or maybe I just want to keep my options open?  Just two more:

6.  8 Zipper Pouches for gifts.

7.  Desert Quilt

I am linking up to the 2015 Finish-Along at On the Windy Side.

Bluebird Park Quilt - Finish Q2

This is my 2nd and last finish for last quarter.  I didn't do too well on my lengthy list of goals!  But at least I finished this!  I started it sometime last year, and may not have gotten back to it if not for the Finish Along.  

This is made from a Kate & Birdie line of fabric by Moda called "Bluebird Park."  As for the pattern, it is from the book called "We Love Color."  The original quilt was done with solids, which I really loved.  I thought this gentle curves pattern would look good with the fabric....kind of like a leisurely walk in the park. 

Things I learned:

1.  I chose this pattern so I could practice curved piecing.  The improv curves weren't as difficult as I expected.  It helped that they were improvised, so I didn't have to follow an exact curved line.

2.  I bought a bundle of Bluebird Park because I really like this line of fabric.  I don't often buy bundles and actually kind of wish I had just selected my favorite prints from the line.  (I think I would have pulled the yellow out.)

3.  Speaking of that fabric -- I really love the sketchy lines in the background.  Kate & Birdie lines often (always?) have that and I really like it.

I am linking up to the Finish Along Linky Party.

Blog-Following Fun

This week I'm starting my first "Mystery Quilt."  This is run through the blog Meadow Mist Designs.  We will periodically be given a portion of instructions for the quilt -- but we don't know what the finished quilt will look like from the beginning.  This week I am picking out fabric, which is always a fun challenge.  But it's even more challenging when you don't know what you're making!  This should be interesting.  It only requires 4 fabrics or 4 groups of fabric. I am trying to use what I already have.  Here are a couple options I am wondering about:

Also, I have neglected to share that I won a few prizes recently!  These were all random drawings (a prize was offered to those who commented on their blog post.)  I can't believe how lucky I have been and want to acknowledge these generous people -- even if it is only to my 5 followers. Haha.

First of all, I won an awesome box of thread from Aurifil!  This was won in last quarters Finish-Along at On the Windy Side.  For those of you who do not sew, you may not realize that this gift is worth over $100.  Nice!  This is actually my preferred brand of thread for my machine.  How lucky!

Also, I have won a few books -- including The Paper Pieced Home, from a giveaway at Cut to Pieces.  Such cute things!  I was interested in this book because I've been wanting to do a little more paper piecing.  It has a lot of cute patterns and gift ideas -- gifts for people who garden, cook, or just like a Retro look.

I also won the book Quilting the New Classics by Michele Muska.  This book highlights particular quilt blocks and then has a classic quilt pattern and a modern quilt pattern for each block.  I like many of the quilts in this book, particularly the modern versions.  My favorite in this book is the modern Bear Paw quilt.  I think it would be awesome for some nature-loving man out there.

Lastly, I won an Ebook called Quick Change: Refresh a Room Fast with Quilted Bed Runners from a comment I posted on Blue is Bleu.  I was excited to win this because I like the idea of having some useful, smaller projects to make (ones that I am willing to quilt on my own home machine.)  And to change the look of your bedding seasonally sounds fun.

So isn't that cool?  A lot of fun things to enjoy.

Well, I must get off because my son and his friend are having an ongoing argument about what to play -- Batman or Star Wars?

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.