More Backlogged Pictures

Wow...nothing like thinking...I'll finish catching up tomorrow...only to log on again a couple weeks later and wonder..."Wait...How long has it been?" So here are some more updates that were supposed to have been shared already...doh.

Last posts numbers: 14 Blocks, 1 Top, 1 Quilted, and 1 Bound

June 22

100 Days. Block 47

June 23

 100 Days. Block 48

This dress was one I tried making for me...and then it didn't fit...then I tried losing weight...and my ribs were too wide. So I finally found a sweet young face it would fit. This is my best friend's cousin.

June 24

 I decided to stop fighting Kyle about naps. He was good about sleeping after the initial fight to get him in bed, but then he would struggle at bedtime. So we had several days of things going on and he passed out on the couch. This is completely unusual for him. He won't even stay in our bed long in the middle of the night because he likes his own bed.

100 Days. Block 49

June 25

 100 Days. Block 50

 I have a coloring book I take to church for me when I am having a hard time sitting still. One day I managed to find a minion while I was coloring. I finally remembered to get a picture of it to send to my mom.

June 26

 100 Days. Block 51

 My husband thinks I exaggerate how difficult the boys can be some days. (Not always sometimes they are really easy to deal with)...but I took a 5 minute shower and came out to find this curtain just barely hanging on to the wall... Yeah...not the first time one of them has hung on it enough to pull the anchors out of the wall...

June 27

 100 Days. Block 52. This is the last block I did on time...I finally just lost track of my days and gave myself the gift of sewing peace...I just piece what is in front of me...mostly just working on the RSC17 scrap colors because I can cut 1 piece into the needed sizes and I don't have a giant puzzle to figure out what I'm doing.

June 28

I had a friend make me this adorable fidget toy. I had admired one she had in a bag of odds and ends for entertaining her boys at church, so she surprised me with one a few days later. She also had things like bolts and screws, and odd shaped buttons and things.

Total post blocks: 6

More Number Checkpoints

Still Need another 166 Blue HSTs for TJLs.

Mom quote for the day "Some of these are just hideous. I love them."

Red HSTs Done

Woot. The last of the red HSTs for the TJLs are done. That means red strips can be used for spools again.

Hopefully, I'll get a good update up soon.

Crunching Numbers

I decided the other day while chatting with my mom that I wanted to work on clearing out my 1.5 inch strip drawer and my 2.5 inch strip drawer while working on Bonnie Hunter's new Leader/Ender Challenge (Rail Fence). Don't worry...it's still only 1 project. I'll use 3 1.5 inch strips and 1 2.5 inch strip to create a 5 inch finished block that will have a little more interest than a typical rail fence without going so work-intensive as Bonnie with a checkerboard.

I also realized it was a new month for the RSC17...so I decided to go ahead and see what it is...It is the most prevalent color in my scraps aside from neutral...BLUE. That means that I am going to be working on more Tiny Jacob's Ladders. I also decided that I was going to finally let myself start at least cutting or claiming I'm working on Blue Ridge Beauty. It has been on my wishlist for some time...and since the color of the month is blue anyway and I have more than enough...that has been adding to what I want to work on.

As I was beginning to cut for the rail fences out of my 1.5 inch strips...I realized I should cut the strips that were big enough for spools into those, since that is why I haven't been touching my 1.5 inch bin...and it is overflowing. Then it also hit me that the colors that I haven't finished my TJLs I should cut those into their HSTs first....so now I'm working on figuring out how many HSTs, I have in each color (since those already seemed to be going faster than the 4-patches)...and therefore, how many more to go. All because I wanted to cut 1.5 inch strips :P

Now for some random numbers for me (and those interested):
Blocks Count for Last Post: 29
Teal HSTs: Done
--Still need 1 inch and 2 inch strips cut
Red HSTs : 34 to go
--Still need 6.5 inch and 1 inch and 1.5 inch strips cut

Let's do the Time Warp again...

June 15

 I seem to have some monkeys instead of children...This is where the usually end up when I send them outside to play.

 This is what I had planned for my Optical Illusion Challenge for Guild...Nothing like finally getting going on it at the last minute. I was not thrilled with the way it looked as a banner like this. all I saw was bug heads...which is rather fitting since these are Snail's Trail Blocks I just changed the direction of the "spin".

 So this is what I decided to do anyway. I'm calling it My Rorschach. You can see here how I marked what I was going to quilt, which were the things that showed up for me. I saw several Jack Skellingtons, some bunnies, and some bunnies. I quilted white on the white, and black on the black, so that they would be indistinguishable once it was done. It was actually a lot of fun to do. And it is fully quilted now, but I don't think I have gotten a picture of that yet.

100 Days. Block 40

June 16

100 Days. Block 41

June 17

100 Days. Block 42

June 18

 100 Days. Block 43

June 19

 Love when the neighbors have yard sales. It's the only time I really check yard sales because I don't want to have to get the boys out...or I'm on my way somewhere. I got the boombox in the morning...and actually passed on the lamp at first because it had a big and ugly (ok not really, just awkward for where I wanted it) lampshade...so I went and got a lampshade for this lamp and love that it gives off soooo much more light than the little one that is still sitting behind it because I haven't had time to finish clearing off the nightstand yet...But now I can read scriptures, with soft background music, without having to worry about getting back out of bed to turn off the light right before bed. I also ordered a breakfast tray to give me a small desk in my bed for my scripture study. I love it. It makes it easier to mark quotes I want to remember and copy down quotes I want to try to etch into my brain.

 100 Days. Block 44

June 20

 Someone really loves when Mommy makes the bed. He curled up with his own blanket on Daddy's side and YouTube Kids on the family phone, and kept laying his head back like this (picture below). I believe he got up too early that morning...but it helped give him some quiet time. Meanwhile I was at the foot of the bed folding laundry.

 100 Days. Block 45.

 Kyle kept sneaking into Nate's room to be able to sit at his desk, so I brought the desk up that has been sitting just outside my sewing room for waaaaayyy too long, and had actually been Nate's homework desk for part of the school year because I was tired of being stuck upstairs during the homework fight every day. I moved the crayons, and construction paper, and coloring books into Kyle's room, and he is absolutely thrilled. He gets to be creative and in his own space, and I think he really loves it. Since then we've also set up an old laptop with ABCMouse for him to try since he wanted to use Nate's computer homework that is paid for by the state.

I discovered I had missed some of the Flying Geese from the week before on Long Time Gone, and then I had to also make the 60 degree triangles. I think these turned out pretty fun. The next block for this was the pineapple blocks...and that's where I fell off of the LTG wagon. I didn't even get them done during Amnesty Week when we could post anything that didn't get posted in the right week....so it has become something I can work on when I feel like it...I'm nearly done, so I did kick myself a little bit about this one, but I also know how much stress and everything else that has been going on...so I'm going to count it as a win that I made it this long.

June 21

 Finished this fun kids book and had to send a picture to my brother because there had been a shipping mix-up where he had ended up with this entire series which he hadn't ordered. I helped him to find who it came from and arrange with the Mom and Pop book store to send it back. But when given the challenge card at the library to read a book from a different world, this fit the bill. It was actually a really good book....and actually has crept into my dreams in a really weird way.

 I also had my best friend come to visit for a little bit so we could try to repair a baby quilt for her cousin who was visiting. At one point, they had to step out, and I ended up with all 4 kids (Nate is oldest at 5). It actually wasn't too bad...ok so the baby may have tried some of the rat food (thanks Kyle for leaving it out and open)...but they all survived.

 Then I got to go to Bunny Town Block of the Month with the lovely Machelle Preston. She has been really great about letting me join her classes and do the quilts in my own fabric instead of buying her fabric packets. I snapped this picture for the quilt behind her. She changes the quilts hanging in her house for every class. I now have that pattern and a plan...so much for not starting new things.

100 Days. Block 46

Well that's all the catch-up for tonight...time to get ready for bed. Night all.

20 Days?????

Block Count: Who Knows

Well...Apparently I'm suffering some Rip Van Winkle like time changes. I've hardly even been getting down to my sewing room before my computer shuts off...Many of my daily blocks are started at 10 when it shuts off...so my blog has been in the furthest points in my brain waves. Let's see what we find on my phone in the last 20???? days.


Time to Time Warp: June 8. Tried getting both boys to sit and write at the same time.

 Nate fought me...and Kyle loved it...Nate wrote "I will" in an hour and half...

 This was Kyle's sheet...which is pretty awesome for a first attempt.

I also basted the wedding quilt. I also ran out of batting by about 2 inches on about 20 inches of a corner...good thing I keep my batting scraps. I just butted another little piece in under that edge.

Kyle also declared that I have to make him a shark quilt, cuz he loved this grey color.

100 Blocks. Block 33

June 9

 The Wedding Quilt all basted...I'm still working on the quilting (ok...I just am not getting to it...darn kids).

 100 Days. Block 34

June 10

 We got to spend a couple hours at the dr (on a Saturday) because someone had short shallow breaths even while sleeping. Thankfully his body responded to nebulizing. We still have no idea what set it off, but he got to be a dragon for a few days. He wasn't thrilled with it in the beginning...He started to warm up to it, then decided he was done with it. He didn't like that he smoked. He had me hold him almost every time. He was a very cute dragon though.

100 Days. Block 35

June 11

I cut out my daily block and then it got lost on the chain on my machine because I was only half awake. I found it on the chain the next morning and kicked myself. I think I took a nap and struggled with being cognizant of anything going on most of the day...

June 12

 100 Days. Block 36

100 Days. Block 37

June 13

 This was a Long Time Gone Check in Day. I got these 2 of the Flying Geese blocks done. It's a good thing I only needed to check in with 1 because as I was looking through the hashtag (when I was supposed to be going to sleep of course) I wondered why everyone was doing just half of the first block. It was because there were 3 blocks for the week...ooops. I mean 64 divided by 8 is 6 sets right. 😉

100 Days. Block 38


June 14

 This was a Halloweenies Block of the Month night. I added the witch and the owl blocks that night. And yes these have names, too. Delilah - witch, Donald - Cat, Brett and Carl - Bats, Bert - Owl. I actually was looking through my browns in hopes of finding a good set for Bert, but he decided he wanted to be orange instead. But the browns did yield those absolutely adorable glasses on one of the browns. So I had to fussy cut a pair that looks perfect on him.

100 Days. Block 39

I will try to remember to get on tomorrow and add more...but alas, my computer is about to boot me off, so I want to make sure these at least get up to entertain you.

Big Decisions

Block Count: 9

 So because I was talking with my mom while trying to implement the writing for punishments thing for Nate, she said I had to write something 100 times. A few hours later, neither of us could remember what exactly it was supposed to be, but figured the gist was "I will obey my mom." So to be funny, I went ahead and wrote that 100 times so I could send her a picture of it. I did it while waiting for my kids to finish meals because they take forever because they are easily distracted. Now I'm going to try to utilize this method of cementing things in my brain as I do my scripture study. I'm going to write down the ones I want to try to remember, or I really think I need, and then during those times of waiting at the table, I will work on writing them a few extra times to really lodge them in my brain. Yeah, it probably is mostly busy work, but sometimes I get the feeling that I just want to write something and I don't know what to write, and I like the feel of the pen gliding over the paper. It also helped today to get Nate going on his writing that Mommy was doing it at the same time.

 100 Days. Block 31

 I made these 2 blocks last night for the Black and White 365 Challenge. They also led to some realizations and a pretty big decision. First off, that big block was supposed to be a 4 patch of matching bordered blocks using miters. Since the miters do not show up real well when using the same solid on both sides of the seam, I recalculated for straight uncomplicated seams. I also realized I'm getting really tired of the crazy number of seams in this quilt, especially since I have 2 quilts using the same pattern. So I told myself I could count the number of blocks I have and redesign the quilt based on that. It is a very rare thing for me to allow myself to make a quilt smaller than originally designed...and never this much smaller.

 100 Days. Block 31.

 This 6 inch block was another that I redesigned because I was tired of miters and that bottom right block is the block that was the final decision point. After this I counted 3 6 inch blocks and 72 3 inch blocks. And went to town drawing a layout during lunch.

 After lunch, I gave myself permission to go to Joann and use some coupons. First, (at the suggestion of my mom), to get a wide backing for the Wedding Quilt and I think this was a perfect grey for it. I have never bought wide backing fabric for a quilt. I usually piece my back, but I was really dreading it this time because I didn't think my fabrics really matched the front very well. I also got blue thread for quilting in the blue part of the quilt (which the top is actually done, I just haven't pressed or gotten a good picture of it yet), though I really am unsure how I will be quilting it. Then for the Black and White Quilt, I also decided it needed some bright pops of colors for sashing/borders. My inclinations were towards yellow or hot pink, and my mom suggested lime green, but the yellow won out because then I could give this as a gender neutral baby quilt at some point since it will be about 44 square.

This is the basic layout for the Black and White Quilt. I wanted each of the blocks to be able to stand on it's own since some of them had a lot of little pieces and with only 2 colors many of them would kind of blend in to each other.

I also got the boys and I signed up for the Summer Reading Program at the library which is a time based system. Their push is for 1,000,000 minutes read during the summer, so the boys are supposed to read 20 minutes a day (can be family reading) and they get a prize for every 100 minutes, and the adults get a prize/drawing entry and a special task on a scratch card for every 250 minutes read. I got one to start off with and it was to read a book with an ugly cover. That was really hard for me, but thankfully the librarian said it could just be kind of a beat up book, too, since ugly is in the eye of the beholder. So I have started the first Hardy Boys book, because it has been well used. I think this will be a good way to get me more motivated to read. I like timers, so I will be able to mark off a circle on my sheet for every 25 minutes :) .

Then tomorrow, I have to kick my butt in gear and clean my living room, so I can get my quilt frame set up. Then I can get the Wedding Quilt on and Basted. Hopefully, by the time I'm done with that I will have a good idea of how to quilt it.