Asterisk Finished

Okay so I have been working all evening and I finished my Asterisk quilt. I really like how it has turned out! If I didn't like it so much I would give it to my friend for a baby quilt, but I like it too much and I am just not that nice!

I don't know if you can see, but it is very puffy. I was given a lot of batting and so just used that, but this was about 1 1/4" thick! (See why it would be a good baby quilt?) It was quite interesting quilting it, but I just did lines in between the blocks.

(Sorry a bad picture)

If you can see, I decided to go with the lines in between. I really liked the affect. I think it doesn't show my uneven lines as much. 

Yeah my first quilt on my wall! Now the thing is I have a whole room ready to be filled with wall quilts! 

Asterisk Progress

I need to start working on my Moda quilt but still had my Asterisk quilt going. So I made some progress on it, can't decide if I am going to continue with it some more or wait for some feed back.

I started out with a 6"square but after all the strips they went to 5 1/2" squares, then I cut them down to 5".

This is going to be a wall hanging and it will go on my wall in my room, but since I will be looking at it all the time AND since I am not that good of a quilter my seams won't match up. So I don't know if I should add a strip between each one, in black of course. Not sure. What do you think?

Happy Fathers Day!!

I just want to start out to shout out a big Happy Fathers Day to everyone!! I doubt many "fathers" read my blog, but just in case....Happy Fathers Day!

Today we had a nice easy day. Travis had a WONDERFUL day! He got to chill and not take care of any kids today! We started out with breakfast in bed..bacon, eggs and toast. Then after eating he took another nap before we headed off to church. But before we left, we got a package at the door from some ladies in the ward. It was a tie that Brandon and Nathan colored for him at church. He loved it as well as I did. I have always wanted to make Trav a tie like this and now he has one and I didn't have to make it!

I love at the top that Brandon wrote Fight on it, and then his teacher added wrestle so it didn't look bad! 

For the life of me I could not get the boys to all look at me at the same time, oh well.

We ordered Trav's fathers day gift last month. He has wanted a hat that was worn from the movie, "Zombie Land". His favorite movie. It just cracks him up and he carries it on his ipod. So he wanted this hat that is made in Brazil. It is entirely made of recycled pieces from canvas tarps that were used on the trucks. So we finally got him one. He LOVES it.

Then I made him his traditional father's day shirt. He wanted a polo shirt done so he could wear it to work. I wanted it make it as professional as possible, and I hope I accomplished it. It's done in his favorite colors....Raiders colors.

I am grateful for everything that Travis does for me and I am glad he got to spend the day relaxing. I love him and think he is a wonderful Daddy to my kids!

Been Busy

I have for the last few days been able to quilt! AHHH! Quilting is my release and my relaxation. I have been having problems with Brandon and Nathan, we are just having "issues" adjusting to summer life. We have adjusted their medications (yes for those who may be shocked that I medicate my children...I will let you have them for one day without and see what you think!! Sorry I just have had very "judging" people question my parenting) so hopefully with the adjustment we will have a smoother summer. So needles to say I have been tense!

I have been working on the Old Red Barn Quilt along quilt. I am just making a wall hanging, but it is very intense. It is called the asterisk block. Very cute and I am liking it, but I am VERY happy its just a wall hanging. I am hoping that if I have some time left from being Travis's slave (it's Fathers day) I can get the top finished. I am using fabric that my mom gave me on our last trip to Colorado.

This is what it's going to look like....well this is what they show us it should look like. (This is Karen's block....the creator of it)

Hopefully mine will look this good soon. 

Again? Really? Do I EVER learn?

Okay so I get a lot of newsletters each day/week talking about new things in shops activities and whatnot. Well I got one today from the Quiltbloggers. And they are having a quilt along in July. Well dang it all it was too pretty to pass up!!! And then they had techniques that I just don't know how to make and and this would be PERFECT to learn! I mean that is how I learned everything else right? By doing quilt alongs and following new things!! So I have decided that I will be making and following yet another quilt along!! Why does my list keep growing? Oh yes...I can't say no!!! But see how pretty this is!!!

Some of the blocks look easy and no problem, I can see how they are made...but the center....OHHHAHHHH now that is a mystery. And it doesn't start for another 3 weeks!! PERFECT right?? So I better get moving on my other projects!

If you are tempted go ahead and head on over to this blog and check it out!

Summer Days

I am still alive and kicking but barely. Summer is officially here and school is officially out, although Summer school started yesterday. Since I got back from Colorado a few weeks ago I have been living day to day and just going along with the boys. You know how it is, something changes and you have to find the new routine!

So this summer I have seen so many quilt alongs and quilts that I would LOVE to make!! But in reality....I just don't have the time now! This is my first time experiencing summer and quilting, and I just can't do it as much with the kids home. So I bet my quilt production will soon die down. So what do I do??? I sign up for another swap!!! Some of you may have remembered when I posted before that I wasn't allowed to participate because I didn't post enough on flicker (a yahoo group chat stuff). Well I was hurt and crushed but tried to improve so I could be accepted in the next time. I just want to start collecting wall quilts/doll quilts to hang in my room!!

So to help my swap partner ( this is kept secret until the final reveal in September) I just wanted to say that I love colors and Moda fabric. I really like traditional quilts with a modern twist on it all. I am open to applique or just pieced blocks. Anything will work because I like it all! Here is a few inspiration quilts that I found that I liked.

Sprinkler Fun

On Saturday after naps the boys were hot and so Dad put the sprinkler underneath the trampoline. The boys all had a blast! 

Kimball didn't like it too much at first but got into it.

It is laundry day and I didn't have any clean shorts for Kimball and so he just wore is new underware. (We are in the process of potty training, well Kimball wanted to, but I don't think it will last)

After about 20 minutes they were done. I don't mind but they had fun. What I need to find is a good sprinkler play thing that my boys will use all summer. We don't have passes to a swim park and I don't want to get a pool, because we have no room for it and I don't want to kill the grass, so a sprinkler it is. So anyone have any suggestions?

Wordless Wednesday

Modern Siggy Swap2

I wanted to join this the first time, but I guess that is why they are doing a second one! For those of us that didn't  get in the first time.

What is a Siggy Swap? A group of us blogging quilters make blocks with our signature and state. We then send this to one person and they distribute them to all of the others in the group. In this particular swap there are 148!! But however they decided to do the blocks we are each making 101!

This is where I am a very bad person....I wanted to do this and signed up and got in, then I forgot!!! I know I am terrible but life just comes and throws all routines and plans out the window. So while I was checking my sites I realized (literally) "I want to do that, I wonder if I can get in still.....wait a minute, I am in! Oh no how much time do I have left??? Oh phew I have until July 1st!" So with that I made the blocks today!! Now tomorrow they will be off in the mail and yeah I am in and got it done in time!!! Now when I get all of my different blocks I will make a wall hanging of them of fellow quilters. I will hang it on my bedroom wall above my quilting frame....and then maybe for kicks I will add a us map (make Travis happy) and mark where all of my blocks are from!!

I used some left over fabric from the Moda line....Tweet Tweet by Keiki Very pretty fabric! 

(I wonder how Rachel from PS I quilt gets her pictures so pretty....oh I wish I could do the same....hey Jenni see where one of your 3 cameras would go to good use for me!!!)

All Stars Quilt

My second Moda Bake Shop project is done and posted!!!! This was actually my very first designed quilt, but pushed it back so that the Field of Tulips quilt could go with the spring. I used the Tweet Tweet by Keiki line and just love it!!! I love the colors and the little chickens or is it birds?? Anyway they are so cute!!! So head on over to the Moda Bake Shop and see my Tutorial....and even if you don't want to know how to make it, go there anyway and see my beautiful handiwork....*Ahem, Ahem*....Mom, Jenni and other FAMILY members!

For those of you that would like to purchase a kit for this quilt head on over to Piece N Quilt and get one there!! 

Idle Hands

I have an issue with nothing to do, I don't like it! I always need to keep my hands busy. So while in Colorado I started some crocheting projects. 

Here is a fabric rug that I crocheted. Just did it, no pattern. I took some of my Mom's UGLY fabric and folded it length wise (hmm I don't know but it was the LONG way and I just snipped the top and then I could rip it down that thread line...make sense??)

Then I crocheted a bag! I used the same LARGE needle hook and I like the effects!

The only bad thing is that it stretches quite a bit when you use it! Oh well. I am making another bag but with a smaller hook. This bag has two different threads, so it is double thick and has a large stitch size.

Help! What do I do??

While at my mothers something tragic happened! To begin, my Sister who lives with my Mom got a new dog recently, but since her child had such bad allergies they had to get rid of it. But while she was there (the new dog) she chewed on blankets, so my Mom's dog, Bubba now chews on blankets.....can you see where I am going with this?

One afternoon Brandon's unattended blanket became victim to Bubba's new bad habit. Brandon is upset about it and I want to do something. It is a rag top quilt with raw edges, so I think if I did some sort of scraps or patches to cover it, it will work.

For the batting I used an old fleece blanket of mine, and it a very heavy and think quilt (I love it! You should try using fleece sometime). So since it is so heavy I can't use it as a middle for another quilt.

As you can see the edges were affected as well.

What would you do? Should I try to repair this first quilt I made for Brandon or should I send it to quilt heaven? Any suggestions on how to fix it? Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. 

Finished Pinwheel Sampler Quilt

I have had my pinwheel quilt done for a while now but this is the first time that I had a chance to get it out and take pictures of it. 

I quilted it on my long arm and I barely had enough room. And of course for my first large quilt I had to do tiny stitches!! I have always wanted to try this quilting design and thought since I have the long arm this is perfect.

For the back I got a king size sheet from Walmart. I tried to find something colorful enough and found some pretty strips.

I now have matching sheets and pillow cases to go with it!

Dance Festival

The last week of school I think is the busiest time. Why do we plan so many activities all in that week? Maybe it felt so busy because I was trying to pack for Colorado and finish my Moda quilt. But Brandon had a dance festival where the whole school did some dancing. The theme was dancing through the ages. Brandon's class had the 70's. They danced to the song, "Lean on Me". If you ask Brandon to do the dance he will say no, but he was very pleased with himself.

This first picture I blew up the picture and pointed Brandon out, so that hopefully you can pick him out on the video! If you end up losing Brandon, just look for the kid in red and Brandon is on his left.

Weight Watchers 5k Challenge

10 weeks I started Weight Watchers. So far I have lost 13.2lbs! So a little over a pound a week. It's a slow progress but weight loss is weight lost. This summer they had a 5k challenge. So today for our area we had our 5k at a river trail. It was hot, but the trail was next to a river and there were a lot of shady spots, but we still got a good sweat in.

The boys were so excited for the walk and they did WONDERFUL! We got them their own little fans for the walk and I think that helped them a bunch.

Travis was such a good sport! He has always supported me with anything that I wanted to do, with Weight Watchers and my quilting fetish. When I told him that there was a 5k and that we were going to do it as a family, he didn't complain one bit even though he knew it could be hard with the boys and it would be hot! I love you honey!

We would have a chase game with Brandon and Kimball. Nathan was tired so he stayed in the stroller. But Kimball thought it was so fun to chase me. So we got a little jogging in too!

As we passed the river Travis saw fish! At first we thought it was trout but later we found out that they sucker fish. There were so many and they were huge!

Here is my certificate of achievement. I will also get a little charm. This is my second 5k race that I finished. The first one I did do it with my family and we were DEAD LAST! This time we were not last! We did have a lot of stop and goes because of the boys and we did start out as the last people because right before they started Brandon decided that it was time to go potty. We finished the race in 1 hour. Very good for a family of 5!