Scrappy Quilt

This is a quilt that I finished several years ago. But I just found this in my draft folder. Weird. It is the first quilt that I tried something different on the quilting. So, to that end, it holds a special place in my heart. 

Here are close ups of the blocks so that you can see the quilting.  I outlined the blocks and doodled all sorts of different things inside each one. It was really fun and it turned out well. That doesn't always happen. 

I really like circles for boarders, but it doesn't fit on so many quilts and runners. I loved the way it turned out in balance to the lines here. 

And this star is my favorite part! I love the echo quilting. 

I should be brave and try new things like this more often. It takes forever, but looks way cooler. 

Here is the back. 

Here is baby Martin helping me pin it together before I quilted it. 

Sweet Mr. Baby. 

And here is a picture of Mr. Baby to remind you how goofy looking he was. 

haha. 

Look at that hair. 

He was a happy baby. 

Hello, old kitchen! I miss your cheery walls and perfect working space.  

Boys

Watching Dad cut the grass. 

James heard the lawn mower from the back of the house and came crawling as fast as he could to join the older two. 

Boys and machines! I love it. They are so easy to entertain. 

Also, when did number one son get so BIG? Look at his cool, teenage boy self. 

Tea Corner

Look. I spruced up my ugly corner counter. It is a little change, but it makes me happy 

I was inspired by friends of mine's tea shelves (hi, Ginger! Hi, Michelle!). I was also tired of moving all the teas around in the cabinet to find what I wanted. So, I pulled all the tea and set them on the counter. And then stenciled the word tea on the tiles after I washed them. 

But that fluorescent light was so ugly!!! The boys love to turn that light on when they put away the silverware. They leave it on. Boo!  So I stitched up the first fabric that I could grab (I think it looks like a surgical cap that you would wear in the operating theater, but it was literally the first thing I grabbed in my scrap pile - maybe I'll replace it someday) and used a tension curtain rod to suspend it. 

It looks a little like this. But worse. 

The brown mark on the counter came from the light bulb under the microwave. We had it on this counter when we first moved in and the boys turned the light on and I didn't realize it for a few hours. So, it burned the counter. 

Before and after. 

And now the light doesn't even look as ugly. 

These pictures do make me want to finish painting the cupboards and paint the lower ones. Ugh. And that laminate countertop... I don't even know what to do with that...

Joint Quilt

My mother-in-law have always wanted to work on a quit together. 

There was a baby shower coming up at church and so we finally did it!

She gave me this box stuffed with her middle square and all the fabrics that matched it. How fun!

I picked out the boarders. She gave me free reign with what I got to do. 

I was also working on a second quilt at the same time.  

Hopefully, that quilt will be featured next week. It is in my top five quilts ever. :) 

This is after I added the boarders. 

I gave it back to her and she quilted it. 

And then I put the binding on. 

I hope we get to team up on some more quilts in the future. 

Matchy Matchy

My boys. 

I love being their mom. 

I love having boys. 

I can't believe they are old enough to wear these. My sister gave them to me a year ago (before James was even born) and they looked huge at the time. 

We've been changing out clothing sizes today. Martin is actual a big help. And I rearranged and vacuumed behind all the furniture in their room. 

Sneeze. 

Sneeze. 

Sneeze. 

I also finished 2 prototype curtains for  their room and hung them up. They seem to work really well. So I'll make 2 more panels and then take pictures. They are made from some dark blue flannel sheets and block the light amazingly! It will be handy to have them next summer!

The rest of today is going to be spent in the yard because it is finally fall and gorgeous outside!!!!  

Pointless

Years ago, I started a quilt and I made a huge mistake.  I knew the points of all the triangles would be cut off when I sewed it together.  So, for FIVE YEARS it sat in a basket of unfinished projects in my sewing room.  It moved across town to our new house in that basket. 

And then I needed a quick baby quilt a few weeks ago. So, I finished this quilt. 

I was missing one of the blocks and I didn't like the way another looked. 

They wanted to pose by it like they made it. 

Also, sometime Martin smiles like that for pictures and it reminds me of kid pictures of me. That is weird. 

(Here is a photo I found on facebook of the blocks that I made in 2012). 

I didn't actually sew them into blocks until 2015. 

Another project finished out of the to-do basket. :) 

I just finished a quilt jointly with my mother-in-law. I will post pictures of that next.  And I am almost finished another one (that is turning out to be one of my favorite quilts ever! I can't wait to post pictures). 

P.S. The title is sort of a joke.  I told Jared that if I were to sell this as a pattern, I would call it "Pointless" because all the points get cut off.  ha ha ha. 

One of our favorite Toddler/Baby Books (and two more).

Red Truck is maybe the single most read book in the house especially when my kids are ages 1-2. It definitely makes the top ten. 

I discovered there were two more in the series (not quite as good, but still cute) and we bought them for the boys when James was born. But Red Truck remains the favorite. 

Today has been super grey and rainy. Normally those are my favorite types of days, but they seem longer and harder when kids are sick. I had broken up several fights and decided it was time to read books together. That usually calms everyone down. We pulled these favorites off the shelf and read them to the baby and everyone was much happier.  And mom rejoiced greatly!!! It is amazing the power of books. 

So, splishity splashity wet hooray, our hero for a rainy day is ... Red Truck!! (And yellow copter and blue boat!)

I hope you all are doing some reading on this rainy day! 

Philippians

Well, we finished Psalm 91 (finally) in the morning on the chalkboard wall. 

Next up:

They are starting to preach from Phillipians at church. Usually they only cover 2-3 verses each week. So, I figured I could keep up with that and it will hold me accountable (maybe) or at least sort of on target. I am going to see if the boys can repeat after me. 

It is a little less daunting because I used to have chapter one and part of two memorized. But in a different translation, so this ESV is throwing me off. Oh well. I was talking to a friend of mine about memorization and different translations. And she said she finally gave up on being word perfect in a certain translation and just enjoyed learning the meaning of the text. As long as she was close enough she was happy. So, that is what I am going for. And if I lapse into KJV or NIV, oh well. 

(It is hard to write neatly and fast - I opt for fast). 

We caught another cold. Today marks three whole weeks of being ill. It is supposed to be 86°F today. Ugh. I don't like it that hot when I am well, it is even worse when I am sick. 

But look at this sky!!

Then sings my soul, my savior God to thee. 

How great thou art! 

How great thou art!

P. S. I have three quilts scheduled to post the next couple Fridays! And I'm almost finished another one. 

Reading: Exalting Jesus is Matthew by David Platt

Three chapters in and it is excellent! If you want a solid Bible exposition, this one is great. 

Living room color

As promised, before and afters. 

Love that floor!

Love those shelves in the schoolroom!

Isn't the color so much more calming?

It is Cosmic Rays by Olympic. 

The light blue in the hallway is Magical. And boy are they both magical. They have brightened up (and calmed at the same time) the whole downstairs. 

You can see a sneak peak of the blue in the schoolroom and the blue in the hallway. 

Sigh. So much better.

Reminder, the color was the same as the ceiling. 

Ugh.  

Why anyone would paint their entire house (ceiling, trim, and walls) the same tan as their switch plate covers, is beyond me. I am glad the downstairs is almost free of tan!

Books! Books! Books!

Guess where we went today? 

I promised them once they got well we would go to the library and watch construction on Main Street. But guess what, they weren't working on Main Street. We walked one block over and three blocks down and no one was doing anything. So we looked at all the exposed pipes and machines that were there. Not quite as exciting, but still okay. 

But then we found his happening on a side street on the way home.  And the boys made me park the car for 30 minutes to watch them dig and measure a hole. 

Fifth day hair. 

I've finally learned to love my hair. 

And then we got home and the baby had a fever (I am guessing from his shots last week). Poor kid. 

But between new books and the old farm (mine as a child) and digging another hole outside, the boys have been well occupied.