Family At Easter

All the kids came done for Easter this year.  It was great to see them all together and listen to them talk.  Old stories had to come out again and be retold for the benefit of Adam's girlfriend as it was the first time she was at a family gathering. (Poor Nancy)  And we had our first official kid's table.... and they wanted to sit at it!  We'll see how long that lasts. 

But before dinner we had an Easter egg hunt . . .

 All the kids managed to find enough eggs to fill their baskets.  Except Dexter.  He got sidetracked when he realized there was candy inside. 

Then it was time to move on to our arts and crafts project. 

A large piece of MDF was left over from making a shelf for the living room.  I primered it before the kids got here.  An old bag of Scott's uniform shirts that I had never gotten around to throwing out made great smocks.

 All dressed and ready to paint!

 We had crayons and markers and colored pencils but everyone chose to use paint.

 I plan to cover it with polyurethane and add legs.  It'll make a great kids table for next time they are here.

The two youngest weren't quite as entertained by painting as the older ones.  They moved on.

 "Hop on Dexter! I'm going that way!"

"Fun!"

 "You're a little slow.  I think I'll walk."

 After Lynzee and Caycee got some scrapes and some bandaids, Caycee and Cooper decided the stone deer needed some first aid and bandaids.

Gramma wanted a group picture with all her grandkids.

It was a whole lot easier sitting down in this thing than it was to get out of it.... a tight squeeze!

 Dexter showing off... he can walk on the wall and drink at the same time.

I'm Glad You're Here

Iron Craft Challenge #14:  "Wish You Were Here" . . . .  make a postcard.

Mine is "Spring"

Strips of Spring-like fabric,

embroided leaves and flowers,

pink and green ric-rac, yellow beads

and, embroidered in hot pink, the word "Spring!"

This was as much fun as an inchie.... I just didn't have to squint!

Get Your Binding Ready Karen

.... it's heading your way!

Funky Froggy Flowers

The final challenge for this season's Project Quilting was "Large".  We had to use at least a quarter yard of a large scale print.  We also had to use at least one stripe or plaid. 

I had some large scale colorful frog print squares that equalled somewhere between a quarter yard and a half yard.   I chose one subtle stripe fabric and one stipe fabric that was just a little bolder.

Though I like the frog fabric, I didn't want my piece to be all about frogs.  I really wanted to  play with textures and that helped to disguise the frogs a bit but still let the colors shine.  I made three different kinds of flowers. 

One had petals that became very textured and bumpy through the use of Texture Magic and batting.  

Another flower had petals with batting and straight line quilting.  All of these petals were appliqued to the background with a zig-zag stitch. 

The three smaller flowers are circles of fabric each gathered around a circle of very stiff stabilizer that's just a little too big.  Gathering tightly caused the stabilizer circle to bow and bend a little, adding an extra element of texture to the gathers and keeping the flowers from laying flat on the background.  Yellow buttons are in the middle of the flowers.  
Several shades of green embroidery floss were braided together for the stems of the larger flowers.

Using the subtle stiped fabric I sewed a few dozen pleats very close together.  I cut a vase shape and sewed the pleats down along the edge of the vase.  Down the center of the vase I pushed the pleats in the opposite direction and again sewed them down.  This gave another element of texture and also formed a new look to the stripes.  Sewing the pleats was much harder than I anticipated but I love the look.

The piece was quilted with slightly curvy diagonal lines and bound with the brighter stripe fabric.  I thought I'd cut the binding on the bias but after the diagonal quilting decided to go with straight stripes.

The judges have a few good suggestions on how this could have been better... I might not be finished with it.

You can see the rest of the entries at Kim's Crafty Apple and at the Project Quilting with KimsCraftyApple flickr group.

The season had ended.  It was fun to see all the different interpretations of the challenges.  I loved having the challenge to make new projects and the judge's critiques were so helpful.  They gave great tips for improving and I seldom disagreed with anything they said.  I would find myself looking at my works-in-progress in different ways.  We all help out each other on our blogs but I think we tend to only make supportive comments.  The Project Quilting judges were anonymous - that may have made it a little easier to offer constructive critism.  Thank you to all the judges for your time and advice!

And thanks, Kim, for another great season!

Sashiko Pillow

WOW Challenge #12 theme: Japan

I made a Sashiko pillow.  The hardest part was chalking the first lines.  After those were stitched I used a pencil to mark the wrong side of the fabric for the rest of the lines.  That was easier to do and it was also easier to follow with the stitching.  Next time I try this I'll do all the marking on the back as it's more precise and the pencil isn't as messy as the chalk.  My stitches aren't uniform in length but they got better as I went. This was relaxing and it really turns out pretty.

Deep In The Middle

No finishes yet - just in the middle of lots of projects.

I did most of the work on this quilt, Ramblin' Rose in February.  This weekend the ric-rac stems have been sewn down.  I'm working on the flowers, then it needs to be bound.

I have a good start on my version of Sashiko for this week's WOW challenge - the theme is Japan.

Sharon from Kentucky made this Quilt of Valor.  I always audition several thread colors before starting to quilt.  White / off-white is seldom my first choice but with the red, white and blue quilts it usually seems to be the best.

The final Project Quilting challenge of Season 2 is large scale prints.  This looks large, doesn't it?  A striped or plaid fabric still needs to be added. 

These are pieces for a Quilt of Valor that is going to a wounded hero that I know.  108 rectangles that have one bit of blue and 54 rectangles of white/blue/white will yield sets of little triangle that will make 216 HST that are 1 3/4" square.  I'm still working on what to do with them.  Several red and white blocks are already finished... no pic.

This is probably the reason I have so many middles and no finishes ;)   It's almost finished.  Tonight?  Tomorrow?  Then I plan to have a week full of finishes.  

Feeling Lucky?!

Enter the giveaway for FOUR tickets to Legoland Discovery Center.  But hurry, tomorrow is the last day.  If you've never heard of the Legoland Discovery Center you can learn all about it at the giveaway. 
It's in Schaumburg Illinois, so I guess if you live in another part of the country it won't do you much good.  Unless you want to plan a vacation.  Legos are enough to plan a vacation around, aren't they?

That's all Legos... isn't it cool?!

Legos were a favorite at our house when the kids were little...

I loved playing with them! 

(I let the boys play, too)

IC#11 and Lessons Learned

Iron Craft #1:  something green

I made a mini green pincushion.  And I learned a few things. 

1.  Hot glue is HOT!  'nuf said.

2.  Cotton balls are the not the best option for stuffing a pincushion. 

Detour:  I have a whole bag of cotton balls for my Brown Paper Bag, of which I only used two.  I have another large bag for medicinal purposes.  Did you know that about a gazillion brands of alcohol wipes (the kind you use to prep the skin for an injection) were recalled about two months ago and they still didn't have more on the shelves when I looked last week. So we use cotton balls and a bottle of alcohol (no, not that kind - that comes after the shot).  Okay, back on track...

So I wish cotton balls worked well for stuffing pincushions.  But they don't.

3.  Bigger is not always better.

In the case of mini stuff I think a smaller glue gun would be better.

4.  I learned, again, that I like mini stuff!

I really do!



Mini Bunting

WOW Challenge #11 theme:  Birthday!

I made itty-bitty birthday bunting.  Red felt squares have fusible web appliqued purple fabric letters.  The squares were zigzag stitched to a piece of white yarn.  Enough yarn was left at each end to make hanging easy. 

It's just the right size for hanging on the refrigerator or maybe on a mirror.

Hang it on the wall,
or even down the hall.
Hang it on a door,
let me think some more...
maybe on a hook,
in a cranny or a nook.

Mini Quilt Exchange - Practice Piece

Jennifer of All Things Belle (and the force behind Make It WOW) has started a flickr group for a mini-quilt exchange.   It sounds like fun!  Of course I joined.  And of course I'm impatient to get started, so I made a practice mini quilt.

I had one lonely flower made from a log cabin block.  It was one of my cast-offs from last season's Project Quilting.  All that was needed was a stem, with a leaf.  Fusible applique held the pieces in place while they were stitched down with an applique stitch.  No binding this time, just the front and back RST with the batting behind the front, stitch and turn inside out.  Echo quilting was done in one of my new favorite thread colors - antique.  A length of embroidery floss stitched to each side of the top for hanging completes the mini quilt. 

It's just 3" x 5" which is the smallest size in the mini quilt exchange.  The largest size is 15" x 15".  I might just make a practice 15" mini quilt tomorrow.

Want to join the fun? Just one project per month.  That's doable.  Come on.  Join in.  You know you want to. 

MS Awareness Month - I'm So Done With It

A few days ago Facebook statuses started popping up with "Tomorrow starts Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Month. Copy and repost this if someone you know/love is affected by MS....."  I'm paraphasing but you get the point.  Not being satisified with just copying and reposting I thought I'd make up a few (31 really) little snippets about MS that involved the letters M and S and post one each day of the month of March.  Just to bring a little more awareness and maybe a bit of humor at the same time.  Here's a few examples...

MS makes Minestrone Sipping difficult.
MS causes Missteps and Stumbling.
MS causes Mishaps and Staggering.
MS is a Merry-go-round of Symptoms.
MS can Minimize your Self confidence.
MS got My Sweetheart

As you can see the humor was sadly lacking.  Just two days of posting quick thoughts on FB and I'm rethinking that idea.

Before you think I'm whining, please know that I know that we have been so incredibly blessed that we had so many, many years when MS was just lurking in the background and was not a large, everyday part of our lives.  With the first mention of it as a possibility nearly 35 years ago, things could have been so different if it manifested itself more quickly and more powerfully.  Being able to raise his kids was always Scott's prayer and it was answered.  And so much more.   Listing tidbits about this Maddening Scourge of a disease makes Me Sad and gets me nowhere and doesn't really make anyone more aware of what this disease is or does.  It's like so many other diseases or disabilities - you 'get' the two-line-basics of what it is.  But each disease or disability has its own heartaches and challenges.  You don't really understand - or need to understand (who has that kind of time or strength) - the implications and nuances until you or someone close to you is affected.  

With MS, when you do really understand, one of the hardest things is hearing about someone young who is newly diagnosed.  It's heartbreaking. The best you can do is pray that MS takes its sweet time to manifest itself fully, that they have time to live a full, active life (and truly appreciate it) with just occasional inconvenient attacks before it all goes downhill. 

So. Be aware. MS exists.

And now I'm done.  Time to focus once more on the positive.

And the sun is shining again today.

He Leads Me

The theme for Make it WOW #9 was spiritual.

I made a mini-quilt.  Just 6" square quilted with ribbon paths and "bound" with couched ribbon.

and titled it "He Leads Me"

There are so many paths to take in life, so many choices to make.  I'm not always sure of His reasons, but I do believe our Lord leads me.  He puts up roadblocks to the paths I should avoid, and I try my darnedest to get around them sometimes.  He guides me down the path I should take.  I don't always go along willingly, with a smile and glad heart. Sometimes I go kicking and screaming.  But when my tantrum is over and I calm down I realize I have taken the best path, that He has chosen well.