Halloween:

Spider Girl

Seahawks Football Player

 Jack-O-Lantern and Tessa (A Skylander with Orange hair)

We had a fun time.  The tiny girl was a ninja at school

 and changed about 3 times before settling.  We had a great time with Cousins.

Thanks for the fun holiday! (you know who you are.)

October Primary Bee Blocks

This month is for Jammer, his Mom blogs at Quilts From My Crayon Box.  

He choose this star block in red, white and blue.

Tiny chose ninja's and stars--heavy on the red and light on the blue

Mowg chose crabs and blue--heavy on the blue light on the red.

Happy to be DONE!  He finished November's block for Tiny

this morning too, but that's for another post.

This was the most challenging block

we've made this year, but it sure looks great!

Babywan didn't want to be left out of the pictures

we let her borrow Mowg's block.

/

We also almost have November's blocks

done--It's Tiny's month and she's pretty

excited--she's waited a long time.

We're all excited to be wrapping up this

bee--we bet our bee mates are too.

Now that we have our obligations taken care of

 we'll start putting Mowg's quilt together.

Jammer your blocks are on their way.

Once in a great while we get a picture with my whole family.

You can be sure when it happens that my Mom is involved.

This summer we had the pleasure of returning to the town of my childhood.

A Fish or two were caught.

A boat was ridden

Three kids and Carrot made an appearance at the Grands

Water was seen, 

(I can never get enough of watching

 the water curl in the wake of a boat)

played in,

(chalk becomes so vibrant when used in the rain)

and ridden on.

Flowers were picked (and shredded).

Cousins met and enjoyed.

Then we came home and got down to the business

 of  getting and cutting wood for the winter.

That entailed riding in the wheelbarrow

loading, stacking,

 and sitting on the stack.

It was exhausting work.

And very satisfying.

Have you hear about the Stash Bee?  I have enjoyed the bee for the kids this last year, but I decided it would be fun to be involved in one all by myself.  So I've joined.  It's an 11 month commitment with only one block a month focusing on using your stash.
Rules Link
They're still looking for people to join.
Sign up link HERE

I'm excited about this next year!

September Bee Blocks

We sent them a day late, but I've been REALLY slow at posting.

Bow Ties!

Isn't this a  happy face?  He will be glad when we're done.

Tiny will be glad too, but she still wants to play.

We'll start October very soon.  I have some more pictures to share, but that's all for today.

They had a quilt show at our local library.  

I decided to participate and try something I'd been eyeing for some time.

This link to Purl Bee was my inspiration and I used the first part of the tutorial loosely to make this:

In-congruence 

I hand quilted it using press-n-seal to mark the quilting lines.

My binding mostly pulled to the back.

I love how both sides turned out and it was fun to do something just to try a technique.

I need to learn how to bind better, but it was a fun first try and fun to have it hanging up in a public place.

We have a double Primay Bee Block Day.  I learned through this process that it doesn't take that much more time to make two blocks and the kids were impressed that they had two blocks to show for the effort of what felt like one.

There are two blocks.  The first is a Churn Dash in Purple and Blue for Lisa's daughter at A Day in the Life of Raising Six Munchkins .  The second is a Friendship Star in Hot Pink and Bright Purple for Pippa's daughter, Ameila , at Pippa's Patch

Tiny's blocks:

The blue fabric doesn't photograph well, but it's pretty in person.

Tiny here:  I  hope   you   like    the   block.   I     like    making     the     block    

I   hope   you    love  the   block.  As   much  as    I    loved   making   the   block.    LOVE    TINY    Bye  Bye   Bye    Bye     BYE 

Babywan had to get in on the action this time.  This is her block (she helped take pins out on the last seam)

She really wanted on top of the box.  She gets honorary block head title here.

It doubles as a "Nice Hat!"

See

She's VERY pleased to one of the gang

This is just to show that there are indeed two blocks

Mowg's blocks

"Mom this is my smile"

From Mowg:  

I hope you like the block.

He's a man of few words especially when it comes to sewing and fabric.

These will be on their way today or tomorrow depending on how the day goes.

May Primary Bee Blocks!

Tiny's a block head here

Just kidding!  Peek-a-boo.

Here's Mowg so happy to be taking a picture

Happier still when he gets to do his own bunny ears.

This month is for Heather's daughter Sarah on her blog found here.  This was a fun block to do.  Both kids said, "Really? We're done already?!"  I really loved this block.   We sent them on their way this afternoon.   As always we hope she likes them!

Primary Bee Blocks

 

This month is Lisa's daughters turn and she choose the Bento Block with pink, purple and yellow as her colors.  I tried the tutorial I mentioned in my last post from Red Pepper Quilts and determined that the strip piecing method I used last month was much more effective for our sewing time.  It allowed me to section the sewing time so the kids didn't get too overwhelmed.  I did have a few adjustments to her instructions.  She tells you to cut one 2 1/2" x 6 1/2" strip before you sew the two colors together.  You actually need two.  Other than that it was pretty straight forward and I was able to stay organized this time and I think they did a pretty good job.

 

Tiny gives new meaning the term "Block Head"

 

 

Peek!

 

Here's Mowg's block

You can't see it in this picture, but the yellow has sparkly dots--not fairy frost sparkly, more subtle. 

 

We were a little late for April--but they went in the mail today.

Hope you like them!

SEWING!

  I made the girls some dresses.  No that's not right.  I made the little girl a dress, the big girl ended up with a shirt and I have no pictures of that.  I used Marilyn's Slim Fit Peasant Dress and Top Pattern--this link takes you to Fabric.com and the pattern.  I used PolyESTER from a fantastically comfortable dress that I found at a garage sale.  Tiny would wrap her arms around my legs every time I wore it and say, "I LOVE this dress."  It was a little bright for me.  So I cut it up and used some purple polyester pants that I got at that same garage sale.  (A whole bag of it for $1!)  My intent was to make a fantastic picnic quilt, but I while it's a little bulky for a ruffle it worked ok.  This clothing item I've made that wasn't pants or a skirt, so it was a little bit of a stretch for me, but it was fun. 

 

"SHOES!"

Everyone's shoes look good on this little girl. 

Even if we will never have a complete pair in our house again.

 

 

So bright and cheerful this fabric!

 



 

Babywan likes it too.

 

Sunshine is the Bee Princess this month and she requested a Bento Block in light and dark pink and purple.  Her mom, Michele, blogs at Quilts From My Crayon Box.

 

The Blocks are winging their way to Sunshine as of this morning.

 

Mowg had to wrestled away from this book in order to make his.

He couldn't quite put it down for a picture, his finger is holding his place.

 

You can sort of see that the lightest fabric here is purple

 

It looks quite orange in this picture, but Pink and Purple are the colors.

 

Tiny's pose it quite how I felt when we were done.

We used a strip piecing method for making this Bento Block found here.

It worked, but I didn't get any pictures of the process.  I found keeping two kids blocks organized challenging.  (Who am I kidding?!  I find keeping myself organized challenging.)

 

She's pretty pleased with her block.

 

Next month we get to make a Bento Block too and I'm going to try this with them for that one.  In any case--we hope you like the blocks Sunshine!

Tiny sewed her own headband

 

 

Babywan loves her babies!

 

And clothes

 

Mowg raced recently with a 2nd place finish

 

Springtime is here and we're outside more..

 

A family pic for my family.  It was last minute, but here we are in all our glory