Family Picnic Quilt Progress

So most know of my different I Spy Swaps that I have hosted, well with those and other swaps that I have participate in, I decided that I needed to make an I Spy quilt. So I came up with a 9-patch block idea.

I took my 4" squares and sorted them by color and then sewed them into a 4 block set. Then took them and made a 9-patch with 2 of the different colored 4 block set.

When I asked Trav if he could see the pattern in the blocks, he said no,but then I pointed them out and then he got it.

Some blocks are more noticeable, but I am hoping that it will be fine.

 

Each block measures 21"x21"

Here is a stack of 30 blocks! I am planning on only using 25 blocks for the quilt, and I decided to use it as a picnic quilt! Something we can take with us all over to parks, camping, etc. 

So after the quilt is all put together, it should be approximately 103"x103". I think that will be big enough for a family of 5! 

With the left over blocks I am going to make either a twin or full size quilt with them. My Mom and Sister in Law are doing craft shows this year and has asked me if I want to sell any quilts there, so I am in the process of making some quilts. So I will be making another quilt like this for the craft show! Now the tricky thing, what do you sell quilts for? After you calculate what it cost for the materials, how much do you charge for the labor and then just in general? Any suggestions?

Worst Mother of the Year Award...

and it goes to.....ME!

So yesterday we were getting home from church and I am shutting the van sliding door behind the kids, I start shutting it to only slam the door on Nathan's poor hand! At first we just thought it was smashed a little but then after looking at it again, we noticed it bleeding....

So off runs Travis with Nate to the ER. Come to find out, Nathan chipped his bone, lost his finger nail, got 2 stitches and has a plastic thing between his skin and nail bed to allow his new nail to grow! Poor kid! He was screaming as they went to the ER, and I guess he was VERY brave when they gave him a shot to numb his finger, but when they were removing the nail he started to freak out again. The doctor was very nice and paticent with Nathan.

Two hours later, Trav gets Nathan a Happy Meal and he is much happier! He was happy for the rest of the day with only a little pain. The best part of it all is that he is 1)no longer in much pain and can EASILY handle the 6 hours between medicine and 2)he still loves his Mommy to death!

We have no pictures of him in the ER, Trav didn't think of it until later, but I think it is for the best, it was gross and bloody! But I do have a picture of his little cast finger.

 Front

 Back

 My brave little guy!

Are you Redneck?

I will admit, I often get annoyed at people who say that they are "redneck" when they actually have NO IDEA what redneck is. But I came to the conclusion that everyone has their "own level of redneck" and unfortunately most people's redneck level is not MY redneck level. My level includes a LOT of duck tape and "jimmy rigging". So I ask, what is your level of redneck? Here is my example of redneck....

 Where our computer/craft area is, we have roll chairs (from the thrift store) and unfortunately one is dying. It has ripped a big whole in our carpet where Trav sits (I am dreading when we move out and have to fix some of the stuff we have ruined). We had put a rug down over it, but it keeps moving so I got my duck tape and got my redneck on. Now I wonder how well it will be to vacuum around it.

 Then since there is a metal piece that sticks out the end of the chair, I put another patch on the bottom to hopefully stop it from coming out (I am not 100% this will work).....

 Then duck taped around where it was sliding on the main part of the chair. I have no idea how well this will hold but I sure put enough duck tape on it!

So here is an example of my redneck.....duck tape fixes everything! From fixing carpet holes to keeping chairs together! What is your level? (Also I must add the extra redneck geek level....only us would have 5 different old PC's that Trav collects for spare parts around the house)

My Artist

Nathan's school had an inspiration art competition this month. They were to create something in 9 different categories (can't remember them all) and were separated into age groups. Nathan ended up in K-2 and his project ended up in the 3D art section. Here is his project:

 The theme was "My favorite things" and of course we did something with dinosaurs! We took an old cutting mat (I have lots of those) and he took scrap fabric from my stash (I have lots of those too) and then hot glued it onto the mat. I did give him the idea of using the fabric and the mat, but he came up with the design all on his own! He actually did most of it all by himself too. I just helped a little with filling in all the spaces with fabric (he chose all the fabric) and I helped with the yarn.

 We went to his school today (after school) and looked at all the different art projects entered and.....

 found out that we won first place in his category and age group! We won a medal and a certificate telling him that he won!

Now we go onto Regional (not 100% sure of the date) where he will compete with a few other schools in the same category and age group. I am so proud of my little artist! He was also very excited and happy as well! Congratulations Nathan aka Nate!

Surprised

I have been a little bummed lately, it seems that I have the touch of death to my sewing machines! I have a total of 4 in my home and they are all broke in some way! I swear I am very gentle on them, I just USE them A LOT! Well the other day I decided to take out my Juki to play with and see if I can't get it to work. (It has some bottom bobbin problems, a screw comes loose or something is rubbing....not sure) well much to my surprise it started to work again! So I started working....

 I started to work on my sister in laws quilt...I made this block a little over a year ago, and just have kinda left it. You know how it is when you have a LOT of tedious cutting and sewing, you just kinda avoid it.

 Well....now I have 48 large pinwheels (9") and 156 small pinwheels (5"). I use all of these to make my different blocks. I ended up with extra large pinwheel blocks, but I had to make 10 more little pinwheels.

It always amazing me how much my little scrap (throw away) pile grows! This quilt is done all in different purple hues (April's favorite color) although I have two prints, one ended up looking more pink and one more brown.
All I need to do now is sew all of my blocks together to make the quilt top (42 blocks) and then make my backing for the quilt and get to work on it. I'm so excited to be ALMOST done!

Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair!

So I have another Christmas present that I made, but since I wasn't going to see the receivers until after Christmas, I didn't make them until after Christmas.

I have a new hobby and it's called Pinterest. I LOVE That site. I get so many cool ideas! So I found this, and knew my nieces would love it!

 So I made them!

I think they liked them! You can take the braid out and it will still hang and be a little longer. They both have been putting a sheet on their head to make "hair" so I thought they would like this.

It took about a skein of yarn for each wig, and the best part....washable!

New Years

Can it be? Am I almost caught up with all past events? Almost!!

For New Years we went to Trav's brothers house to spend the evening. We got there around 2 and the boys men went shooting.

 We watched tv, ate, played games, ate, chilled and ate.

 Of course Daddy/Uncle Trav had to play with the kids. They all had fun playing with him. He is so good with kids.

 James had a lot of fun with the other kids as well.

 In the kitchen they would jump from rug to rug, pretending that the floor was "lava".

 We had some yummy dips and pizza and of course some more junk food.

 Since Brandon's birthday was a few days away we decided to do a little celebration for him.

 Afterwards we let the kids lay down in the living room at watch movies while us adults went into the family room to play games. Everyone fell asleep but Brandon and Nathan.

 So when it was 10 mins to midnight we let Brandon and Nathan get up to ring in the new year with us.

 I got some pictures of me! I was so tired, you can tell by my eyes....

We all had a good time. We left shortly after the New Year to go home. We had church early the next morning. But of course when the morning came around, I was too sick and tired to get up! (I couldn't get to sleep until 5am!)

Wordless Wednesday

(You can't tell where I like to relax can you?)

Christmas Day

Surprsingly enough I barely got any pictures on Christmas. I gave Trav the camera that morning and told him to take pictures of the kids while they open them up, and this is what I got...

 Wonderful eh? Thankfully I took a few pictures the night before.....

 Then can you believe it, I forgot to bring my camera to Grandma Walker's house for dinner! I took a few snaps with my phone....

We ate crackers and cheese and played games while the boys had fun in the living room. We played "Logo" and "7 Wonders". Both games were a lot of fun.

That morning we chilled (okay so I napped!) and then went to church and then went to Cindy's. James spent the afternoon with his Dad and Grandma.