e.v.e.r.y.d.a.y

not complaining - just lacking in inspiration - already - just a month into the school year

What am I up to??

Well.....it appears that I have the attention span of a gnat - maybe even less than that. So, as I was reading Vicki's blog Field Trips in Fiber and decided to click on the link on Block of the Month.............which led me to Two Creative Studios and their block of the month program. It looked so easy to do and I have been wanting to make some quilts (even though I have never made one and have no clue how to really do these). I went to my local quilt shop and bought some fabric for this block.

I fell in love with these - here they are all folded up.
Aren't they just gorgeous. All but the checkered one are "fat quaters" and the checkered one is half a yard. I like the purple/green marbled one at the bottom of the stack the best.

Here are the instructions. They are very clear and straight forward and I started right away!

Since these were the two fabrics I liked the best, I started with them.

A close up - I love the combination of the purple and the green and then the added orange in the checkered one just makes my day.

These are the coordinating colors I chose.

Here is the middle strip all put together. Notice that my blocks are not all the same size. The directions say to carefully measure the pattern because when it is printed it can come out a different size than it is supposed to be. I erroneously thought that even though the squares where slightly smaller than required, all the pattern pieces would have been shrunk by the same amount. No so.....

I plugged along anyway and this is my finished block. I am so happy that I actually made it. It is a little wonky - some of the corners do not match up right and I think that the purple/green marble triangles should be a different color - something with more contrast. They seem to disappear into the other blocks. I need to figure out a way to make all the pattern pieces the right size and then make a new block. The pattern was totally great!!! I can't believe it turned out somewhat recognizable!! On to the next one.....

Baby blankets

I am very much liking making baby blankets. The sewn variety :o) They don't take very long and fulfill the instant gratification requirement that I seem to need right now.

One of my husband's co-workers had twins at the end of July.

So....I thought it would be nice to make them each a blanket.

Both blankets have this soft pink fleece on the back

But, the fronts are different from each other. This is the same fabric I used to make the baby blanket for my friend's baby. I just love this fabric.

I liked hand embroidering the names of the girls on their own blankets along with their birthdate and also our name as the giver.

This stitch is done all around each blanket. The top one for Lilia is done in green. I can see more of these being made as they are so easy and we have quite a few friends who are expecting now.

She's 14

My first born turned 14 years old the middle of August. I can hardly believe that 14 years have passed since I brought her home in her little carseat, so tiny that I needed two of those baby headrests just to keep her head straight in it. Now she rides her bike to school - a freshman at high school. YIKES!

This is the cake she wanted. It is the family's favorite chocolate cake recipe. She did not want any type of frosting, just fudge topping poured all over it. Her wish was my command!

My nephew (her cousin) who is 9 months old. The festivities were wearing him out and he was getting a little fussy. My sister was tending to her 3yo so my daughter said she would take care of him.

She's a baby whisperer.

Lizard Ridge update

Some progress has been made on the Lizard Ridge Afghan. I am finding that I don't mind short rows so much anymore. I have FINALLY figured out how to pick up the wraps so that they don't show on the right side and I am very happy with how it looks now. I would still like to learn how to knit backward - I think I'll try to learn that next week as it is getting a bit cumbersome to keep turning it back and forth and I expect it will only get worse as the blanket gets bigger and bigger. The only thing that bugs me is that in every single skein of this yarn so far, I have found a knot near the end of the skein. It ends, for example with a yellow strand knotted to a blue strand. The colors are completely different and I need to cut the yarn and start with a new one. This has happened with every ball - so in effect, I will have twice as many ends to weave in (although I am weaving them in as I go) and the color changes sometimes look a little wierd - like the yellow stripe right through the red "bumps" in the picture below.

All in all, I very much like this pattern and the blanket that is emerging. When finished, it is supposed to be blocked flat - I'm not sure I will do that. I kind of like the little "bumps". They look almost like little pillows to me.

The above pictures represent 6 pattern repeats (each pattern repeat is 12 rows). The whole blanket will be 24 repeats so I am about 25% done. Right now it measures 15 3/4" long (I didn't measure the width because I didn't want to take it off the needles-lazy, I know) - so by the time it is done, it will be a little longer than 60" - a respectably sized blanket.

Banagrams

Banangrams......that is the name of our new favorite game. The only one who has trouble playing is the 4yo as he cannot read/spell yet. He "helps" me or dad. We now play this game ALL the time. The 9yo boy's friends come over and ask to play - the more players, the more fun had by all.


This is the 11yo and her friend playing. They were having a blast. We had friends over last weekend for brunch and they would up staying all afternoon because......"just one more hand", ok "just one more".....it was great. The next day my friend emailed me. The title was, "It's all your fault...." Apparently she had gone out and bought the game and now nothing is getting done at their place except the playing of this game!!

Look at how much fun these two are having :o) We went up to my in-laws for dinner last night and we brought our game. My father-in-law is totally hooked. This game should come with the warning that it will be addictive!!!! It's a fabulous game. I can't wait to play another round.....