Update: Weekend Projects, Easter, Sharp Hubby, Spring beauty and WOW, 36 weeks!

Sand Box Transplant:

Last summer Justin made this awesome sandbox for the kids! However, we just happened to put it in the wrong place, totally my doing... i think too hard about these things.

The problem is that the box doesn't get any sun, which is why we put it there in the first place. (strange sounding, I know, but I didn't want the kids getting sun burned, but I put sun block on them every day anyway, so i don't know what i was thinking. eeh.)

Anyway, because it was in the shade I was worried that could lead to mold and other gross stuff like cold and wet sand; which then leads to having the kids not even wanting to be in the sandbox...AND digging in other places in the yard like my flower beds and garden like they've been doing. Not cool!

So, we decided to move it here...in the corner of the yard. (Where the concrete pad originally was and where the garden was last year.) This was a smart move because it gets used every day... (unless it's snowing or raining.) I also like this spot better because I can see the kids from the patio! Good stuff.

Now, if they will only stop dumping sand on the driveway...

I thought I'd throw in a picture of the concrete pad, just so you can see what this used to be. I still can't believe that Justin removed all this! But because he did we were able to finish the fence to keep our little ones safe... That was a hot day to remove 6 inch deep concrete!

Old location of sandbox:

(and future location for play house!! Daddy's summer project 2009!)

Grass Transplant:

Nice job Hun-A!

My very own Secret Garden:

This first picture was taken last year. The problem here and inspiration behind the garden was that this little area of grass was such a hassle to mow... The lawn mower didn't fit through this little gate, and poor Justin was getting attacked by the rose bushes. So, we removed the grass and the rubber tire stuff and turned this area into a flower garden...

Before:

Here is a picture of the removed grass and tire stuff. It was a wet day on Saturday...but that didn't stop Justin and Caitlin!

In fact, Caitlin was in her princess dress... in the dirt. This was me telling her she needed to come in the house and change... She was trying to convince me that she could pull her dress up and tuck it in between her legs and 'not get dirty'... (Yeah, right! Since when does a 4 year old not get dirty?)

Rain boots, bucket and watering can, this girl is on a mission: Worms!

Justin hard a work and Caitlin hunting for worms. (Will calls them "snakes!" and runs away. HA.)
Here are a few of the plants we got at the nursery... we are still waiting for the arrival of their annuals... so the garden is not completely done. We'll also add bulbs in the fall.

PS. look at Pepper in her cute sweater! Aww! Here is Justin fixing the PetSafty wire for Pepper.

Finished Garden (well, almost...)

Can't wait for it to grow and be beautiful!!

After:

Spring Beauty:

So here I am (again) taking pictures of my neighbor's flowers... (is their grass actually greener than mine?) haha.

These pictures were taken through the fence! I'm in love with this plant/flower. Does anyone know what it's called? Lauren? I must have some of it on my side of the fence! My absolute favorite flower color with the green... it's just beautiful!

That is one good looken' man...

New Suite!! What a stud! Easter Lovers:
Will and Caitlin:

Let the battle for the candy-filled-eggs begin...

Will's Easter Vest:

I should have taken pictures before dinner... Will manages to drool or get food on everything he wears! Here's his Easter vest! Still... a handsome little guy.

Caitlin's Easter Dress:

What a cutie!

Caitlin, sharing her Easter findings with Nana Great!

Belly Pic:

And...Happy 36 Weeks today! To celebrate, I thought I'd share a self portrait... sorry, quality is not very good, reflection and all... but there it is: the belly!

I'm totally sucking in, can you tell? Ha! No, I don't think that's even possible at this point!

AND...

As if my weekend wasn't already perfect... to top it off Justin took me to see WICKED! We had a great time and this musical remains one of our favorites... and Salt Lake totally delivered... it was just as good when we saw it in New York! See it if you can... sell your cat... or old clothes or something... have a bake sale! It's totally worth it!

Love it!

Projects of old long time ago...

Cupcake Steve:
I made this back in early February for my niece Ada, she was turning 1 and I wanted to do something special for her. I used the "Three Faces of Steve" pattern from the Denyse Schmidt, 30 colorful quilt and patchwork projects book. I was so excited when I found this cute cupcake fabric... I ran home and whipped up this little guy almost faster than you can make actual cupcakes!

Because I made this for a one year old, I decided to stay away from the button eyes... I used felt (I think it's called, or flannel?... you get it at craft stores in 8x10 sheets... anyway, it worked really well) and I was really pleased with how the face turned out...

I added cupcake paws

cupcake belly

I branded him with a cupcake patch on the bum... (Look I even remembered the tail! Inside joke: I forgot to put a tail on Green Steve, for my Bro. who later said, "I like that you forgot the tail, it reminds me of you..." not sure really want that means... but I thought it was cute. )

Cupcake Steve has a spunky personality that just makes everyone want to hang out with him! Here's Caitlin enjoying a little Steve time...

Will shared his cheese crackers at snack time...

And here's the Birthday Girl, Ada cruzen' with Steve in her little car!

Bag for Heather:

My Cuz Heather sent me this fabric and I made her this bag. Many of you have asked what patter I've used....Amy Butler's The Swing Bag... it's a good bag for beginners. I am IN LOVE with the fabric combo she picked out... Nice!

Bag for Anna:

My sisters friend Anna stalks me... haha, no, no I'm just kidding. She just knows a good blog when she sees one (and I'm flattered) Anyway, She also sent me this fabric in the mail (all the way from PA!) and I really enjoyed making this one too! Cute, Cute, Cute colors together.

reverse side...

MAkiNg Of A QuIlT, from start to finish...

Whooo-Hooo! I finished making my first queen-sized quilt! It's actually a wedding gift for my younger Bro Brandon and his new bride (of 4 months!), Shelly! I just hope they like it!

So, The quilt took me a little longer than planned... 5 months, give or take a day or a week... it really only would have taken 3 or 4 months without the pregnancy sickness and migraines... but nevertheless... it's done and it's perfect!

I will now be pleased to show you the steps it took to create this fun quilt.

Hope you like green... because you'll be seeing a lot of it! :)

Step 1:

Pick your fabric. This was fun. Shelly's favorite color is green (or was, haha, which is totally cool, because so is mine!). So, I just picked what I liked-hoping that she likes it too-oh, and that Brandon likes it too, of course.

Step 2:

Select a pattern, cut pieces, make sure you label everything to keep you organized. The pattern I went with is called Hop, Skip and a Jump by Denyse Schmidt and can be found in THIS book (it's actually a crib size blanket, but I was able to convert the pattern for a queen size).

I highly recommend any of her patterns, and most definitely her book... she takes you step by step and WOW, I've learned SO much just by reading and applying it all to my projects, it's like taking private lessons directly from her.

Good stuff. Moving on...

Oh yeah, FYI: there were 240 strips used in this quilt.

Step 3:

Sew strips together to make 'blocks.' (another FYI: 240 strips= 30 blocks!)

Step 4:

Iron blocks.

Step 5:

Square blocks with rotary cutter. This was fun!

Step 6:

NOW, once you have your blocks all squared you can lay them out, turn them every which way, and find a groove that works for your quilt top...

Just make sure you keep all pets and kids out of the way... or it could get a little crazy...

Step 7:

SEW BLOCKS from left to right to make rows! This is where it gets exciting because you can finally see everything coming together!! :)

Step 8:

Sew rows from top to bottom! Caitlin was my little helper!

Step 9:

Add border (if you want). The pattern in the book actually didn't say to do this, but I needed more inches to make a queen size quilt, and thought this gave it a nice uniform look. (I also thought it needed a little more green! don't you think?)

Step 10:

Prepare Quilt back

Step 11:

Square quilt top and quilt back. (Important: If you are having your quilt 'sandwiched' and professionally machine quilted, make sure your back fabric is at least 4 inches longer and wider than your top quilt, or call and talk to them and see what they prefer.)

Step 12:

Put quilt together!! :) I debated back and forth for like 2 weeks whether to (1) take my quilt and have it professionally machine quilted-easy, and looks AMAZING!-or (2) tie the quilt myself, or (3) even try to HAND QUILT it myself. I decided that hand quilting a queen size quilt would be crazy... and my brother would NEVER get his quilt. I've spent SO much time on the quilt already, I wanted to really finished it right. So, Justin's Aunt Kathy recommended a lady to me, WENDY... who was FAST (one week turn around! Awesome!), very good, and super affordable! I was really happy with her and will use her in the future!

This is what the quilt looked like when I opened the bag:

the quilt fresh out of the bag, folded in half...

Step 13:

Trim batting, square quilt, again.

Step 14:

While my quilt was at the quilters, I prepared my binding. Here is a picture of me finishing the last 3 inches, Ahh a proud moment in quilting history!

Caitlin and Will loved hanging out under the quilt while I worked on it... I thought this picture was so cute...

Voila... The finished product.

OH YEAH! Check out that stellar quilting job....

Oooooooo! Ahhhhhh!

Funky and modern with an old fashioned 'swirllie' flare...

Back of quilt, Sweet huh?

I couldn't help it... I had to see what it looked like on a bed.

What fun!

The finishing touch: I've got to leave my mark...

"love, Panda Head"

I actually think it looks like a cross-eyed Teddy Ruxpin but oh well... I'll have to practice more.

Now it's time to say good bye and box it up and send to PA...

Happy wedding gift, Brandon and Shelly!! I Love you two! Enjoy!

A Quilting History...

Quilting has been a fun passion of mine over the years and it's fun to see how far I have progressed in my abilities. I thought it would be fun to post "A" history before the unveiling

(Thursday!YIPPY Thursday!)

of the latest quilt I've made. It's currently in transit to PA... and I don't want to post before B and Shelly see it in person.

The first quilt:

I made it when I was about 12 years old! My Mom helped me make this for a 'New Beginnings' program at church... We also painted and decorated my room to match the quilt. It was a real fun project to do together.

When I was visiting in January, I found my quilt in the basement and asked if I could take it home. Caitlin LOVES it and sort-of adopted it as her own. She can be found snuggled underneath it every night. (Will also has taken a liking to it... I thought this was so cute of him to jump right on the quilt when I was taking a picture of it!)
"Cheese!"

Second Quilt:

This was a quilt I had been wanting to make the minute I graduated High School. I'd saved all the t-shirts from the plays and musicals I was in (that offered them, I was also in Little Women... and for some reason they were being cheap and didn't print shirts for that play...gur.)

ANyWay!
SO, (in late 2004 or) 2005 sometime, Lindsey (my cute sister-in-law) and I got together to use Mama T's sewing machine... and we made t-shirt quilts!

Lindsey used the shirts and sweatshirts from her cheerleading days!! It turned out SO cute! (Go Red and White, East High!)

I was really glad we were able to do this project together... Fun memories, Linds!

(Note to self: I still need to tie this quilt! It's still being held together by safety pins. Humm. maybe I should get on that...)

I'm sure that as soon as I do, Will is going to want to put it on his bed! :)

FOR THE RECORD: I resist all temptation to take the binding out and re-do the whole quilt because of what I know now... BUT I keep reminding myself... there is nothing like seeing this quilt and all the quirky kinks and remembering all the fun memories that went into making it. Love it forever!

Third set of quilts:

When I was pregnant with Will (Dec. 2005), I had been saving my money for my own sewing machine. My mom was visiting from PA and we went shopping and found one. THEN she taught me how to use it! Little did I know this would be the beginning to a fun and addicting, not to mention expensive, hobby.

I started small with some unused fabric I had laying around the house: old sheets actually. Our stake was doing a huge humanitarian project and was asking people to make baby quilts. I thought this would be a lot of fun to test out my unsurfaced skills... (haha. on other people. In all seriousness, by serving others I always strive to do better... and I feel that I'm a better seamstress because I took time to do this and other sewing services.)

I'm laughing because I remember that Caitlin was only 9 or 10 months at this point... I remember how she would cry every time I'd use the sewing machine. I guess the sound scared her... So, I had to work on projects when she was napping. haha.

Pretty simple quilts. I LOVED the orange/yellow fabric/sheet ... it was hard to part with, but I knew it would make some baby out there happy with it's bright colors! They later 'tied' the quilts at a super Saturday thingy...


Fourth Quilt:

Also another service project. The boy scouts last year had a goal to tie 100 quilts and they needed people to donate what they had. I had these left over fabrics (sheets mostly) and jumped at the opportunity to make a full size quilt for them to tie! I was thrilled it only took me 5 days to make this baby... and that is when i think the REAL obsession started...



Fifth Quilt:
Wall-e!
Will would not stop screaming "WALL-E" at the quilt store till he had these fabrics cut and in his possession... I thought, sure what the heck, I'll make him a quilt for his bed.


That's a happy boy!
Quilt... What number am I on? Oi...
Sixth Quilt :
I made this for my new little neighbor Jacob!! A lot of squares equals a lot of fun. I'd love to make a queen-sized quilt like this with millions of 2 inch squares... perhaps, I'll save that one for when the kids move out... cause I'm sure it will take me forever.

AND...

Quilt Seven... tune in tomorrow!