Nov-Dec Review

November started off with a couple of fun school projects -- the ever popular native american home and our first "bottle buddy".

Not everyone is lucky enough to go swimming on Thanksgiving Day.  Especially in Idaho.  We went to my brother's for the day and had a great time.  The food was delicious, the company enjoyable, and the pool was a lot of fun!  I am always so grateful for the older nieces and nephews who play so nicely with my boys.  They played keep away with the football, jumped off the diving board, and squirt each other with squirt guns.  It was also fun to see cousin Savannah in action as she taught her college friends how to swim.  All the while we sat by the side and watched.  

The boys also went to the park and played Kickball with their older cousins and friends.  Brian and I took a walk, hoping to work off some of the meal before diving into the pool .... I mean, pie.  Haha.  On our walk we saw this cool bike/lawn mower.  I guess the neighbor really uses this to mow his lawn.  How cool is that!  The only thing better than seeing this would have been seeing the man actually using it.  

Jumping ahead to Christmas day!  We spent it at our house.  The boys patiently waited until 6:45 to wake us up -- here they are marching in place while waiting for Dad to get up.  

Santa brought games for the boys -- Fifa 16, Madden 16, and Lego Jurassic Park.  Andrew also got a pair of wireless bluetooth headphones, and I am already tired of asking him to remove them so he can listen to me. :) Last year Eric got a bunch of basketball stuff, and this year it was Football -- cards, pajamas, football.  And Tanner, of course, Ninja Turtle toys!

The boys also got a fun snowboard (for sledding) from Grandma and Grandpa.  It conveniently snowed 10 inches on Christmas, so on Monday Brian took the boys out and they all tried it out.  I don't have a picture of that, but I heard it was pretty great!

Speaking of sledding, Tanner has had a great time sledding with his twin friends.  There is a park with some good sized hills for these Kindergarteners.  I love those rosy-cheeked boys!

Sept - Oct Review

Fall started off with more soccer for Andrew (and us.)  His season included going to a Salt Lake Real soccer game.  Brian and the boys went and had a great time.

In September, Tanner turned 6 years old.  He and his buddies play Ninja Turtles almost every day, so of course we had to get some Ninja Turtle toys.  He also had fun with his new remote control truck.  The boys creatively taped a small flashlight to the roof of the truck so they could drive it at night.  

We had gone to the grocery store on Tanner's birthday, and he wanted a store-bought cake.  I usually make the birthday cake at home.  We ended up compromising and Tanner chose a cupcake for himself and his brothers.  His early September birthday is close enough to Halloween (I guess) so the store had eyeball and spider cupcakes.  Yum.

Also in September, we celebrated Brian's birthday.  The man who is impossible to buy for usually gets plenty of "work snacks."

Eric, our basketball loving boy, is now loving Football too.  So he played his first season of Flag Football.  He has a great spiral throw and is an excellent blocker.

And then came our (least) favorite holiday, Halloween.  The kids enjoy it, Mom and Dad tolerate it.  Here is Tanner's pumpkin he and I carved.  Not sure if he's trying to copy that pumpkin's grimace or what.  ;)

Costumes this year included Eric as a "nerd", Tanner as "Messi" the soccer player (and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle at the school party,) and Andrew was a boy with a black outfit and a cape.  Costumes certainly get harder the older the boys get.  Cant wait until next year!

Brown Sampler - Q4 Finish

This is #3 on my 4th quarter finish-a-long goals.  I forgot to take a picture of this quilt before I gave it away for Christmas.  Darnit.  I'm glad I at least took this one, even if it is in my messy hallway.  :)  I gifted this to my sister-in-law and her family.  I had a few finished tops that I showed my husband and asked which he thought we should give them. He chose this one.  I hope they like it -- I think it will have some appeal to the 5 men/boys in her family.    And at the least, I hope it keeps them nice and warm.  :)

The blocks from this quilt are from a BOM class I go to at a local quilt shop.  As is the case with most of my samplers, I like the quilt, but it's not one I would have made outside of a BOM class.  I got the idea for the layout from the book "Shape Workshop for Quilters," specifically the quilt "Cub Crawler Baby Quilt" by John Q. Adams.  As Christmas day was sneaking up on me, I decided that rather than quilt (and wrestle) this one on my little machine, I would have a long arm quilter do it.  It turned out nicely.  I bound it in the darkest brown fabric in the quilt.

I also wanted to show off this pillow that I made -- we have these amazing neighbors.  They are a young couple, and my son and his twin buddies go over to their house all the time.  This kind couple has taken them sledding, on errands, made and delivered cookies with them, and really are amazing. Tanner told me they are BYU fans, so I made them this pillow.  

I am linking up to the 2016 Finish-A-Long Q4 party at A Quilter's Table.

Quilt for Cousin - Q4 Finish

This is #6 on my 4th quarter finish-a-long goals.  I have a cousin who I don't see very often, but I have thought of her many times in the past few months.  She has been going through some tough times.  So when my sister, Karen, suggested that I make a quilt for her.  She even offered to help pay for the materials.  So I thought that was a fine idea.  And here it is, a quilt for my cousin:

I got the idea for this quilt when I saw this V and Co. one.  (I almost don't want you to click over there, because the original is much cuter!  ;))  I already had all the solids for this quilt on hand, so all I had to purchase was the backing and more white fabric.

I have been quilting many of my own quilts lately, but with Christmas fast approaching, I decided to send it out to be done.  I asked the quilter to do it with zig-zag lines following the diagonals of the blocks, similar to the original quilt.

The backing is some white and gray herringbone fabric.  I didn't have to piece the backing this time, so that helped me get it finished too.  I hope to mail this to my dear cousin soon.  I hope she will love it.  And more importantly, I hope she will know how much we love her!

I am linking up at Crazy Mom Quilt's Finish it Up Friday.

I am linking up to the 2016 Finish-A-Long Q4 party at A Quilter's Table.

Boy Charity Quilt

I attend a monthly Block of the Month club at a local quilt shop, Quilts Etc.  Each year in December they do a quilt drive.  I had plans to make a cute girl quilt -- in fact, I even finished the top.  But then I got the details of the quilt drive -- they are for Primary Children's hospital and they really needed boy quilts.  They said that even some of the boys have to choose from quilts with flowers!  :)  Being the mother of 3 very boyish boys, I decided I'd better make a boy quilt to donate.  

I had some strips of fabric left over from this quilt I made for my brother.  I knew I needed a pattern that had plenty of background fabric because I didn't have a whole lot of the scraps.  I added in a few other fabrics, cut them into 6-inch squares, and used the Falling Charms pattern from Missouri Star Quilt company.  It is the 3rd time I've used this pattern.  It is a quick one!

I am still working on improving my stitch length when I free motion quilt.  So I stuck to my familiar loopy quilting.

I actually really like the bright green back.  It is all from my stash.  I enjoyed making this quilt all from fabric I already had.  I also remembered that for past quilt drives, boy quilts were particularly needed.  I think I will try and plan on it for next time.  Perhaps Boy Quilts will become my specialty.

Christmas Snowflakes - Q4 Finish

Well, I tried to get a nice snowy shot of this Christmas quilt.  It came out very hazy.  Did I mention our camera is old?  If we have time, we'll get one before Christmas.  I couldn't decide which fuzzy photo to share, so I'm sharing both.  ;)  This is #5 on my 4th quarter finish-a-long goals.

I made this quilt last year following a Snowflake Quilt-Along on Bernina's website.  The pattern and tutorial are by Faith Jones of Fresh Lemon Quilts. 

I quilted it with straight lines -- 2-inch crosshatches.  I think I would have liked it better if the lines were closer together, but I didn't have the patience to do that.  Oh, and AFTER I finished quilting it, I found a very large tuck on the back.  I am not going to unpick all that quilting.    I assume there is nothing you can do to fix the problem, so I guess I'll just ignore it.  It is finished off with a scrappy binding.  

I am linking up to the 2016 Finish-A-Long Q4 party at A Quilter's Table.

His Team Quilt - Q4 Finish

This is #4 on my 4th quarter finish-a-long goals.  When my husband and I first started dating, he may have been disappointed to discover that I was a BYU fan.  BYU and Utah are pretty serious rivals.  I specifically remember having to calm him down a bit during one conversation about the rivalry.  (Those who know Brian may have a hard time imagining me calming him down.)  

So I've had it on my mind to make him a quilt, and when I saw this pattern in the book Improvising Tradition by Alexandra Ledgerwood, I thought I'd better just do it, even if it did mean I'd have to buy UofU fabric.  ;)  I seriously thought about making the gray rows BYU blue rows.  It would have been cute.  But I am not so sure my husband would sit under it if I did that.  :)  I am giving the quilt to him for Christmas.  Even though I bound it there on the couch with him by my side, it will still be a surprise.  He didn't ask to see it and the back was facing up most of the time.  So obviously he isn't too interested in quilts, but I am pretty sure he'll like this one.  :)

I like this pattern because it isn't a loud "I am a college sport quilt!" quilt.  The improvisational piecing was fun too.  I quilted the light gray in some large wavy lines, and the dark gray in loops.  

The back is some flannel that I got on a great sale at Connecting Threads.  I wish I would have bought more.  It feels soft and thick, so I think it will wear well.  

On a side note, I have been very anxious today...not over anything horrible, just a few small things.  I had a couple hours of sewing time and I just feel so much better.  Quilting does that for me -- it calms me.  It distracts me.  It makes me happy.  :)

I am linking up to Quilt Story's Fabric Tuesday

and to Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

I am also linking up to the 2016 Finish-A-Long Q4 party at A Quilter's Table.

Baby Girl Quilt - Q4 Finish

This is #7 on my 4th quarter finish-a-long goals.  A while back I bought a "7-inch Stacker" by Riley Blake.  It is the only time I've seen that size.  I had a hard time knowing what to make, but decided on this star pattern.  The fabric line is called "Unforgettable" by My Minds Eye.

I made this as a donation quilt for Primary Children's hospital.  A local quilt shop is collecting quilts to donate to Primary Children's hospital, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to make a little girl quilt.  Of course, I found out more information a few days ago and they really need BOY quilts and their size specifications were larger.  So I'm not sure I will be donating it this time. 

The quilting is simple, but I like it.  The back is a really soft flannel and I think the quilt will be a very cozy one for a baby girl somewhere!

I am linking up to the 2016 Finish-A-Long Q4 party at A Quilter's Table.

Finish Along Goals - Q4

Here are some goals for this quarter.

1. Summer Sampler - this one has been on my list before!  I have decided to reconfigure the blocks into a different setting.  Shouldn't take too much unpicking, but I hope the Shot Cotton doesn't fray too much!

2. Mystery Quilt.

3.  Persimmon 4 Patch OR Brown Sampler (not pictured) - I hope to finish one for of these for a gift, but haven't decided which one.  Tops are finished.

  

4.  Husband's quilt - didn't finish it for his birthday.  Guess I better finish it for Christmas.  I quilted half of it, then ran out of thread....need to get back to it.

5.  Christmas Quilt - Snowflake Mystery quilt.  The top is finished, backing is ready.  Need to baste and quilt.  One day I will get a picture of it.

6.  Cousin Quilt - Started this recently.  I like it!

7.  A baby girl quilt -- I've had this precut for a while now.  Our local quilt store is doing a quilt drive for Primary Children's hospital.  Thought it would be fun to make a HST quilt.  

I am linking up to the 2016 Finish-A-Long Q4 party at A Quilter's Table.

BOM Sample Quilt - Q3 Finish

Here is my 2016 Block of the Month quilt that I did with a local quilt shop, Quilts Etc.  I am really happy with how it turned out.  This BOM club is a little different than others I've seen.  They only give you the patterns for the blocks, not for the setting.  So each person comes on the last day with different layouts.  It is so fun to see all the different settings. 

I came up with my setting after seeing a similar one in the Sister Samplers book.  I modified it to look like one of the blocks in this Frivols quilt.  

I also tried a "Quilt as you Go" technique, also modified a bit.  A common QAYG technique is to quilt the individual blocks, then add sashing to piece them together. What I did was quilt each quadrant, then added the big white sashing strips to join them.  It worked out well and was so much easier to quilt than wrestling the entire quilt through the machine.

Here is the back -- pieced together with a Table Runner Kit and some extra fabric from the Good Neighbors line by Amanda Jean Nyberg.  I got them all for a very nice price at Connecting Threads.  My layout is a little wonky, but it matches.  :)

And here is a close up of the quilting -- once again, all straight line.  The QAYG technique made it easy to do each quadrant at a diagonal, then the sashing at a horizontal/vertical line, all without having to pivot to change directions.

On the above photo you can see that I used the wrong white in the border.  It looks so obvious in the daylight -- not obvious at all in my basement sewing room.  :)  When I first started adding the sashing I noticed the difference.  I went out and bought some of the correct white and made the middle portion match.  But I didn't want to remake the triangles on the outside.   

And here is my cute boy who wanted to pose with my quilt.  We were glad his socks matched the quilt so well.  :) 

And here's a bonus picture of some blocks I made this month for the charity bee do. good stitches. 

I am linking up to the 2016 Finish-A-Long at A Quilter's Table.