As Promised

I didn’t end up having time take some pics but now that the movers have come and gone I do have a bit of time. I don’t have computer access anymore at my house but right now at my mom’s (where we will be spending a lot of time until the move) there is, so I snapped some shots. They are a bit washed out. I have been having some frustrations with my camera lately. I really need to read the manual and learn how to use it. I wish that I would have left it out instead of forgetting about it and letting it get packed, not to be seen again until late September with the bulk of our stuff. Oh well.

This is what I like to call the back. It was sort of fashioned after Denyse Scmidt’s A day at the beach only with a wider stripe. (I didn’t have enough peacock blue to make a small stripe, but I like how it turned out)

This is what I would call the front

I got the three block inspiration from here and the color inspiration from here. To piece the blocks i used this tutorial except I used different sized strips instead of only one size.

The binding was done in espresso with a corner of Amy Butler. It was quilted with the dark brown tread again. 

 I think my crafting time is over until I get to Turkey so I think I will say good-bye on this blog for the rest of the summer.   I can’t wait to see what crafty things Turkey will add to this blog.

Have a great summer and I’ll see you in September.

Time is running out

Wow, time is moving so fast. July is half over and soon I’ll be living in a new country. It’s just too weird.

Well, we had our garage sale this past weekend and I happily got ride a whole lot of unwanted stuff. Anything that wasn’t purchased was hauled off to the local thrift store. This week has already been crazy and promises only to get worse. The movers are coming at the end of the week and I am not ready. I will be ready but there’s just a ton of things to do.

I did finish the quilt I mentioned a couple of posts ago and will (time willing) take a couple of photos tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Magnus

This is a few days late but I forgot to take pics on his birthday.

Here’s our newest 7 year old with his toughest fighting face.

He had a great birthday at the park with family. Hours and hours of running and playing with cousins. Does it get better than that?

Ouch

We had a crazy morning at the car dealership. I set out to have the door looked at ended up instead rushing to the doctor to have Bron looked at. While doing the paper work the kids asked for some hot chocolate. I gave the OK and the next thing I know Bron is covered in chocolate and screaming like you never want to hear your kid scream. As is turned out Bron wanted some chocolate too and someone in the waiting room thought it was a good idea to help her get some.

Here she is about 6 hours later. I am so glad it wasn’t worse.

All wrapped up.

Its Official

We have known since April but its all official now. We are moving to Turkey. Many of you already knew this but now I feel like I can talk about it.  The unofficial plan is to board a plane in about 5 weeks. I am hoping to square away a lot of details this week so I’ll have a better time frame. For now, life is a lot of to-do lists. I just have to keep reminding myself the move is coming soon so I will stop putting things off till tomorrow or next week.

On a crafty note. I have completed the top for the second quilt. I still need to pick out backing fabric (note- add this to to-do list) but I’m thinking about doing a blue back again, well maybe curry, oh I don’t know. I’ll wait until I get to the fabric store to decide.

So, if you don’t see me around these parts much this month you’ll know why. Once they take my computer I imagine I’ll pretty much be off the air until September but we’ll see.

Libbe’s Quilt

Here are some pics of my latest quilt. The front and back are both pretty much solid with a few splashes of color. (these aren’t great pics, I don’t know how to photograph larger quilts, but you get the idea)

The front idea came for This Book. It is called Bits and Pieces. I pretty much followed the directions on piecing the front.

The back is a variation of Denyse Schmidt’s A Day at the Beach.

I really love how the dark brown quilting looks on the Bermuda Kona Cotton fabric.

The quilt was bound with more Espresso Kona Cotton with a few left over Bits and Pieces from the front mixed in. I didn’t make a final measurement but I think its about 65 x 75 inches.

Chocolate Pudding

I left Bron alone in her high chair while I did some cleaning in another room. Boy was that a mistake. I walked back and look what I saw.

 

Take notice of the chocolate splattered on the wall. Imagine a bunch of those same splatters on the carpet below her. I definitly do not recommend carpet in the dining room if children eat there.

 

I guess the chocolate was good. She is eating it off her arm.

Sneak Peek

Here’s a peek at my current WIP. This is the first of two quilts in this color scheme. What you see is Kona Cotton in Espresso and Bermuda along with a few specks of Amy Butler. This quilt is a bridal shower gift for a dear friend of mine.

Come back on Saturday for more information.

Horses at Ensign Ranch

This past weekend we camped at Ensign Ranch. After a night of campfire fun we spend most of the next day around the horses.

Magnus got a lot of practice on his ocarina. He would stand on the fence and play a particular song in hopes to call one over. He was successful to one friendly guy who wondered over to us to check us out.

After a while of admiring the horses each of the kiddies got to go on a parent led ride.

It was harder to lead the horses than I expected. Neither of the them wanted to go where I wanted. They wanted to lead the way. I found my self pulling them around a bit before they gave in and let me lead. It was pretty obvious I hadn’t spend much time around horses.

EXPO and Field Day

The school year has come to an end. We will still be doing home-school studies over the summer but it will be a lot more informal.

Both the kids participated in the end of year EXPO this year. Thisbe performed with her guitar class, playing: All Shook Up, Twist and Shout, and Under the Sea.

Magnus played a Zelda Medley on his ocarina that he put together himself.

I remember loving Field Day when I was in elementary school.The kids field day was pretty much the same. Lots of fun out side in the sun.

Here’s some of the fun they had with bubbles.

It was a bit sad to have to say good-bye to all our friends from this school. Many of whom we will never see again. Moving is always hard.

Woo Hoo

Tonight I had my last final. I still have class on Thursday but all I need to do for that class is show up and participate. Such a huge weight has been lifted from my chest. Now I can focus on some quilts that need to be made and moving our family to the other side of the world.

Memorial Day

We had a lovely weekend. It included some much needed slow-paced family bonding. Nothing very exciting but very relaxing. On Monday along Dave’s parents we spent time honoring and remembering some of our loved ones who passed before us.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend as well.

Stickers for Sale

Thisbe finally had her sticker sale. She has been collecting stickers on and off for about two years for this purpose. Her original plan was to sell them for $1.00 each. She decided in the end to sell the big ones from the dentist for .50 and the smaller ones for .10 or .15 each. She was very excited to sell a couple of stickers, even if it was just to Magnus. Thisbe has a knack of looking on the bright side. Something I need to work on sometimes.

After discussing the sale and figuring out why it wasn’t as successful as say her bake sales she decided to try again at a better location with better advertising.

Field Trip: The Space Needle and Some Rambling

May is kicking my butt. April was very manageable, it felt very balanced and I even got in a bit of crafting and extra blog time. That is all in the past. I have due date after due date for projects and tests and all the studying and research that goes along with it. Sometimes it feels like I cant even breathe. Needless to say May and early June will be slow as far as blogging goes and even slower when it comes to crafting.

So, we had our field trip to the Space Needle. It was a beautiful day but got a bit hot by the afternoon. We bused it again but this time Bronwyn wasn’t digging the ride. It might have something to do with the fact that I had her stay in the back pack instead of letting her out on the bus. Last time I took a stroller and so I had to unload in order to get on. I bet the heat didn’t help much either or the fact that we had to get up two hours early two days in a row. Maybe that had something to do with my coping skills as well.

The tour was OK, it wasn’t the most exciting place to be but it was educational and interesting to see the lay out of the land from this height. I don’t think I would do it again. The kids liked it, well Bronwyn did not but the others did. Bronwyn was sort of having a bad day, and maybe I was too. The elevator ride was a little scary. Sort of roller coaster ride scary, I think I am getting a little old, things scare me that I could totally handle ten years ago. Maybe motherhood made me a wimp.

Anyway here are a couple pics from our trip

I was doing some indoor photography the other day and changed my setting to 1600 instead of the usual 200 or 400 ISO on my camera and I didn’t realize until I got home from our field trip that I forgot to change it back. It seems I can only remember so much.

Next field trip - The Seattle Underground Tour.  

The Ocarina of Time

It all started about a year ago, maybe two, when the video game Zelda was introduced into our home. Magnus instantly took to it and was obsessed with the story line. What can be better than being an elf with a fairy as a friend and companion on a quest to save Princess Zelda? Well, in this particular Zelda game Link (the elf) has an ocarina. By playing the instrument, he can summon his horse, change the weather, or even travel through time.

With Magnus’ love of music he started desiring an ocarina of his own. He first spotted one at Pike Place Market about a year ago and started coveting one right away. With the steep price of $50 I wasn’t even going to consider the purchase of it. When he was still dreaming of it a Christmas time and announces that an ocarina was what he wanted from Santa, we started thinking about it. I wasn’t convinced that it was worth it to get the one from Pike Place so we opted for a cheapy plastic one. Magnus loved it, the only problem was that it didn’t have a good sound and had too many holes for his finger to play. The ocarina was then set aside only to come out for pretend play, but still often on his mind.

On our field trip to the museum I consented to going over to the ocarina booth to look at ocarinas again. This time we stopped, listened, and asked lots of questions. These not only had a wonderful sound they were surprisingly easy to play. With only 4 holes in stead of the 8 his toy ocarina had, he could easily play a tune. I was convinced and Magnus had enough money saved from birthdays and allowance that he could even pay for it himself.

On our next trip to Seattle it was purchased and hasn’t left his side since. He begs to carry it in his pocket every where we go and never misses an opportunity to play it. He has successful stopped the rain and summoned the wind. We are still waiting, however, for the horse to arrive.

Here he is playing a song of protection over the grave of a rodent we found in our yard. (Apparently you have to close your eyes so it will work properly)  

 

Happy Girl

Bronwyn is thrilled to be invited to eat at the table finally. She has been feeling left out in the corner in her high chair.

This is a pic from her first dinner at the table. (last Sunday)

Today when I set the table she noticed that there was a place for her and she kept saying ” Me? Me? Me?” as if to say “is this for me, do I really get to eat at the table now.”  For now she only eats dinner at the table. She needs to be sitting next to myself or my husband in order to make sure she’s doesn’t decide to stand on the table or start dancing in her chair and we don’t always eat breakfast and lunch at the same time. It has been fun to see her happily eating with at the table.

In the Mail

Thank you for all your warm birthday wishes. I enjoyed my birthday and appriciate your part in that. We had nice family dinner; pizza and ice cream cake.  I have come to realize over the last few years that the on my birthday I want an ice cream cake from Baskin Robins. I guess its just one of those things I’ve come to desire. One of those things that can make or break a birthday. I know its silly and I’m a bit embarrassed to admit it but its a fact.

Today, Thisbe and I got to work organizing all the birthday gifts. I ended up making 24 and had 24 people who participated. I am so glad no one got left out.  We typed up addresses, wrapped gifts, made tags and stuffed envelopes. I enjoyed the process.

All but 5 went out in the mail today. One that needs to be hand delivered, and four more that are waiting for addresses.

Thanks again for all those who participated in my give-away. It had a great time making these items and am glad to have made a few new blogland friends in the process.

32

I have had a great month and have actually been looking forward today. Well, not for all the studying I have to do tonight in order to prepare for two (yes I said two) midterms tomorrow, but the birthday part.

At 12:00pm PST my Birthday give-away will be closed. Thank you all who participated this month. It made a huge difference in my birthday attitude and I feel like I’ve even made some new friends.

So, I’ll leave you today with a pic Thisbe took of me on the ferry this month. I usually avoid photos but for some reason I didn’t this day. Since it was taken, I decided to share it with you. I know you’ve all been dying to know what I look like. (so kidding) Anyway it’s my birthday so why not have a post with a picture of me.

Happy Birthday To Me

How about coasters?

Here are the last of the gifts in my Birthday Give-Away.

A set of four mini quilts/coasters. 4.5″ x 4.5″ approximately.

These were made to try the Amy Butler fabric I got at Pike Place the other day with Espresso Kona Cotton in the background. I need to make a couple of large quilts over the next few months and I wanted to make sure these colors worked together. What do you think? I personally love it. I want to shift from the white/cream I am most comfortable using as background fabric.

 

**Birthday Give-Away Update**

I’ve decided to close the contest at 12:00 pm tomorrow PST so I will have time to draw names and send out e-mail before my birthday is over. So, if you want to participate in the Birthday Give-Away you have until then to leave a comment on any of my posts in the month of April.

Field Trip: Zoo

On Friday we hit the buses again, this time headed to the Woodland Park Zoo. Since we had to make transfers on this trip we worked it out so we were transferring downtown so we could head back over to Pike Place Market to buy Magnus’ coveted ocarina. (more about this later) After purchasing it we got on another bus this time headed over to the Zoo.

This wasn’t a normal zoo trip for Thisbe and Magnus. You know, go there to see the animals. They each had other agendas to accomplish. Magnus took any chance he could to get out his ocarina to play,

 

and Thisbe spend the whole time finding items for the Nature Exchange the zoo has.

The Nature Exchange is Thisbe’s favorite part of the zoo. If you live in the area you should really check it out. The basics are: you learn about or bring in items found in nature, learn more, than earn points to be used to buy items others have brought in or something from the stock shelves. Thisbe traded these in, learned what they were, and purchased a shell with the points she earned.

 

Bronwyn however loved the animals so she and I had a great time watching them. This was her favorite spot.

 

She was so excited to see one of the giraffes eat. She kept signing hungry while smacking her lips again and again.

After a while the kids just wanted to run around a play.

 

When it was time we headed for the bus again and went home. I am no longer afraid of the bus. It went so smoothly. Next field trip: The Space Needle.

New Header Image

I did end up getting a couple of my beloved red tulips this year. I thought they were going to be pink but I was wrong. I just love the painted inside. Today this one was wide open taking in the sun. The very center of the flower is so bright it almost hurts my eyes to look at it. I find myself squinting as if I were looking at the sun.

Mini Quilt

So what do you do with them? I was thinking you could hang them or maybe frame them first then hang. Or maybe a pot holder? No that doesn’t seem right. I made this one for a quick quilting fix. With time being so precious right now I haven’t been able to do much of it. This quilt was amazingly quick. One hour from start to finish. I just grabbed some scraps and went for it.

approximately 8 x 8 inches

While I think it turned out well, I’m not sure what do with it. Would anyone be interested in me adding it to my birthday give-away? I think I might be hooked on making them. What a great way to try out some quilt ideas that have been floating in my head. I’m just not convinced of their use yet.

Why am I plagued by the need to justify my crafting time?Why does everything have to have a purpose? Can’t I just explore for the sake of exploring?

A little clarification and some note cards.

If you refer back to this post you will see some revisions. Apparently I cant keep track of my own age. I really stopped caring or paying much attention to that in my late 20’s. I can also blame it on the whole not liking birthday thing.

moving on

These cards were made using scraps from paper used to make the Japanese Style Journals this month.  I love the simplicity of them.

Each measures 4.25 in x 5.5 in, are blank inside and come with an envelope. I ended up making 12 sets of 4 for my Birthday Give-Away. My hope is that everyone who participates this month will be able to win something.

Yummy

Today we made some yummy caramel/chocolate pops. First we unwrapped some caramel candies placed them on a plate so they were not touching and nuked them for about 20 seconds. Then we rolled them into balls and shoved a stick in them. Some we squished into small cookie cutters.

While the caramel was hardening up I chopped up a 5oz chocolate candy bar and heated it in the microwave just until it started to melt. I stirred and stirred until it all melted. Then the kiddies dipped the caramels into the chocolate. It ended up not being enough to do all the caramels. Next time I’ll get two bars.

Yummy

Nothing left but the stick and some chocolate on his cheeks.

Field Trip to Seattle

Yesterday we took a field trip to Seattle, meeting our homeschool group at SAM (Seattle Art Museum). I decided to brave it and take the three kiddies into the city by bus. I was relieved when a friend decided to bus it with me but as it ended up we caught different buses and so I did it on my own after all. So I got off the bus, with Bron on my back and the two older kiddies under strict rules of obedience and headed down the streets of downtown Seattle in search of SAM. I found it with out a hitch and started to relax. We were going to have a great day, and we did.

Here is the Hammering Man outside SAM

At SAM we had a great time. The Kiddies got to go to an art workshop. Here they are working on their mosaics. I love that Bronwyn wanted to make one too. I was surprises to see how well she handled the glue.

After the workshop we got to have a guided tour of the Roman Art from the Louvre. That was amazing. I had to remind myself again and again that these statues were the real thing. And the mosaic’s were just beautiful. I wish I could have photographed some of it but there were security guards everywhere and photography was not allowed.

When we finished up at SAM we headed down to Pike Place Market. This time I wasn’t alone and had a great time wondering through it with a friend. We went to a tiny but awesome fabric shop, ate pizza, searched out ocarinas for Magnus, and simply enjoyed the freedom and empowerment of being out on our own handling all our kids in the middle of downtown Seattle.

Here are some of the pics from the market.

When it was time to go I was all pumped up and ready to head downtown again. There is just so much to see and do. Now that I know how easy it is to bus it, I plan on making another trip again soon.

Tulips

The tulips are finally out. These are my favorite spring flower and I’m glad mine are finally here. While living in Ohio someone told me that if you want to protect your tulips from the squirrels than you should plant some daffodils along with them. I did this and it seems that the squirrels here in Washington prefer the daffodils over the tulips. It seems I have all my tulips plus more and only my one daffodil. 

Do Tulips change color? This is my third season of tulips. The first season there was only one pink and a lot of yellow and a beautiful red one. I don’t remember what colors I had last year, but this year with the exception of a couple of yellows they are all pink. Some are darker pink than others but pink none the less. I can’t explain it.

Little Girls

These little girls are less than 2 weeks apart in age and were so fun to watch. Bronwyn would go one way and her cousin would be about 10 paces behind. One would dig in the rocks and the other would be about 4 feet away doing the same things. It was so cute; to the tree, over to the the water, in the gravel, on the steps, around and around they went. One following the other but neither talking or playing with the other. I think this is what is meant by parallel play.

We got them to sit next to each other for a few pics and at first Bron was stiff as a board while her cousin was giving us cheesy smiles. After a bit she loosened up and it was so cute to see the girls laughing together. One would make a funny noise or laugh then the other would mimic it. Back and forth again. It was so cute.

I just love little girls. 

More Books

I finished sewing up these this past weekend. The greenish one is a multisection book just like the brown and blue one. These both have simple paperback covers. The brown one with the orange patterned square is the four hole stab binding.

 

I think these are the end of book making for a little while. Outside of school and family, my time is very limited. I want to make some note cards for my birthday give away but I think that will be about it as far as crafty stuff goes. At least for a little while.

Piano Recital and a Ferry Ride to Vashon

We had a very busy Saturday this past weekend. First the Thisbe and Magnus had a piano recital.

Here they are nervously awaiting their turn

and at the piano.

After we finished there, we did some errands and the got on a ferry to visit family on Vashon Island. Thisbe and Magnus are accustom to the ride but Bronwyn was probably too young to remember her last ferry ride. We headed upstairs to walk around the ferry and I encouraged the kids to go outside to enjoy the view. Magnus was excited but Thisbe protested. Bronwyn was excited until she got out there. It was too windy, high up, and scary for her. She and Thisbe headed back inside contented to view the sights from indoors.

Thisbe protests her picture being taken. (nothing new)

Bron causiously watches from indoor.

Magnus however, would have none of that and perferred being outside.

Weed and Tree

Just a couple of pics today.

Bron reseeding the weeds in the backyard.

Magnus climbing up in a tree. (his new favorite backyard activity)