End of Summer and some Economy Blocks

Summer doesn't officially end till September,
but for us School starts tomorrow, so it is the end of our summer vacation.

We spent our last week of summer at the beach.

We only had two good days of sun.
The rest of the week was rainy.
But that didn't stop us from going to the beach.
We went every day of the week.

Rain or shine.

We had a great send off to summer even with rain.

One of my favorite places to go is to Huntington Beach State Park and walk all the way to the jetties. It rained on us a little on our walk that day but after that the clouds decided to let us enjoy the beach without having to squint through the rain.  Even though it was cloudy it was still warm.  That is the good thing about summer rain.  You can play in it and not get cold.

Huntington Beach state park also has access to the marsh.  They have some nice boardwalks to walk on where you can check out the local wildlife.

You can't tell in this photo, but the sun actually came out for a good 30 minutes while we walked the boardwalk.

I think I dread summer ending as much as the kids.
I really enjoy having them at home.
I will be sad to send them off to school in the morning.
I may just cry.

I have plenty of things to keep me busy though.
The are house chores of course, but I also need to finish up my Christmas advent calendar that I started for the Ho Ho Ho blog hop.

This is what the finished quilt will look like.  Last week I had all but the border done.  Some people told me it looked good just the way it was but I really want to add the small border. I did the design and coloring in EQ7.  I got the program for my birthday in May, but it isn't as user friendly as other software so it took me a little while to get the hang of it. I still feel like I am trying to understand it and that is not like me, I usually pick up software pretty easily.   The company is nice though, I emailed them a question when I just couldn't find the answer anywhere, and they were friendly and polite and answered my question pretty quickly. 

  The outer border needs 52 three inch Economy blocks.  With blocks this small I prefer to paper piece.  It gives me nice sharp points every time.   I sewed two sample blocks to make sure I had the right size fabric triangles. Then I printed out 50 more papers and the rest of the fabric I need to finish the rest of the blocks, which I will chain piece. 

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Halloween Costumes

Wow! What a busy month I have had.  I didn't realize I hadn't sat down at my sewing machine since my last post on October 5th.  I have been busy getting the house ready for guests, doing my schoolwork (I started back to college), playing at the State Fair, and trying to come up with ideas for Halloween costumes. I ended up making two out of the four this year, but very little was done with the sewing machine.

First I made this viking costume for my youngest.  It was made mostly with my crochet hook.  Something I haven't picked up in quite a long time.  I made the beard first - It is a free download from Ravelry. Then I made the hat to go with it.

My son specifically requested I helmet with a broken horn. Luckily I found a perfect one on Ravelry as well.
The pattern had a few errors in it, but if you are good at deciphering those out it is a nice helmet to make.
Finally I draped him in fake fur and he was ready to go.

Every Halloween my husband's work puts on a Halloween party for the kids. It is usually a week before Halloween. This year they did it a little early and I had to have all the costumes done by the 19th.  My second youngest was still undecided as to what he wanted to be the Monday before the event.  Finally I convinced him to be something that I could make really quick:  A Catcus

I found him some green sweat pants and shirt. I really wanted a hoodie, but wasn't able to find one, so I bought an extra shirt, cut it up, and made him a hat to match

Then I sewed on over 200 white pipe cleaners.
I folded them in half and zig zagged them onto the sweat shirt.
Then I added two yellow cactus flowers to finish it up.

I bought my daughter her flapper outfit, and her friend came over to join us for the party.

We always have the kids pose in front of the door before we head into the party.

It was a great night. The kids had a good time playing games and eating party food.

And to top the night off, the viking was one of the costume contest winners!

He got himself a $10 giftcard to Wal-Mart.

Yee Haw!!

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Back to a Schedule and Mondo Bags

Well, Summer is finally over.  We spent the last week of summer in the mountains of NC camping, tubing down Deep Creek, and visiting with family.  We camped from Sunday to Thursday. There were a total of 32 family and friends at the campsite.  A few went to spend the night in a nearby cabin but they hung out with us during the day.  It was a blast!

 We came home Sunday just in time to start school the next day.

 It was early morning and only two of us were awake when I took this photo.

There were two more tents that you can't see. 

We had a great camp site right next to the creek.

We tubed three days in a row. What a great way to end the summer!

When my family left on Thursday we headed to Asheville to visit my husband's brother.  We had a good time driving around the mountainside in his Mule, looking for deer, and enjoying nature.

There was an awesome view from the top of one of hills.  It was cloudy when I took the picture, but usually you can see all the humps of the mountains on the skyline.

I haven't done much of any sewing since I got back, but I did do some before I left. My mom watched my dogs for me while we were gone and when I dropped them off I also wanted to drop off a Mondo bag for her and my sister, who came with us. I finished them up the day before we all left for NC.

I even personalized them on the inside handles.

I used Batik Strips from Connecting threads to make these two bags.  I bought two different color ways and still have enough squares to make another bag.

I have made three bags total. Here they are all together.  The Mondo bag on the right is the one I made for myself a couple weeks ago. 

Now it is time for me to get back into my regular school year schedule.

I sure will miss the lazy, fun days of summer.

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AYOS - Leap Year and Vacation

I finished up my Leap Year just in time.  Last week I was on vacation at the beach but I stayed at my Mom's house and since she has a sewing machine, I took my Schinibble project with me so I could finish it up in time for the parade.

I sewed a little in the mornings before we headed out for our activities, then spent Saturday morning finishing it up.

My mom and I took all the kids to Brookgreen Gardens on Tuesday. We got to see the butterfly exhibit and all the animals before our feet started hurting and our tummies rumbled.  We will have to go back one day to get pictures of all the flower gardens and statues on the other side.  It was a fun day. All the kids had cameras and were taking just as many pictures as my mom and I.  

We spent almost every evening/night on the beach or pier.

The beach at dusk is one of my favorite times to go.

Friday we did the super touristy stuff and rode the SkyWheel.
It has some awesome views.

I am only an hour and twenty minutes from Myrtle Beach so I get to go often.

But sometimes I wish I still lived there.

Sitting on the beach after a day of school or work is the best way to end the day.

I need to find a way to move back there.

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Suessical Jr.

Whoops, how did yesterday get away from me? I had planned on posting about my guild challenge. Instead I spent the day getting things ready for the kids opening night of Suessical Jr.  The play is being put on by our community theater.  I spent the day making sure everything was ready for opening night and the after party.  The kids sure did a great job at the show. I wasn't allowed to take photos during the play, but here are a few I took during practice.

My son is in the white shirt, he plays JoJo, and my other Son, in the top hat, plays Mr. Mayor.
They are singing about how tiny Whoville is.

My daughter is the 5th girl from the left. All the girls in pink are "Bird Girls"

Here they are again singing around Horton the Elephant.

It is so fun to be a part of a production like this.  The kids have spent three months practicing and learning all their lines.  They have two more shows this weekend.  I will be sad when it is over.  It is fun to have them sing around the house and bring the joy of the play home with them.
I can't wait till they do another one just with kids!

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Mr. Mayor

This week I was working on a costume for my oldest son.
He is playing Mr. Mayor in the play Suessical Jr.
   The play is being put on by the Lake City Community Theater.

Dress rehearsals were this after noon and I finished up the last stitch on his bow tie this morning.

My youngest is also in the play.
He plays JoJo.  I didn't have to do much for his costume.
I found some white pants and white shoes and we died them yellow.
The LCCT provided his bow tie.

My daughter is also in it.  She is a Bird Girl.  Her dress was provided too. All I had to do was alter it to fit.  It was a little too big and kept falling off the shoulder.  We also added some extra boas to the back for some "feathers".  I snapped this shot as we headed out the door to play practice.

I stayed to watch the whole show at practice today.  That was my first time seeing the play from beginning to end. All the actors looked great in their costumes.  They have dress rehearsals all week, and tomorrow characters get fitted for microphones.  The play starts Friday June 8th and has a show on Saturday and Sunday.   Both Mr. Mayor and JoJo have a couple solos.  I am very excited. 

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Mini Vacation

Not much sewing went on this weekend.
We went down to the beach to celebrate my son's 12th birthday. 

 We spent the night in one of the hotels on the beach and enjoyed all their pools-both indoor and out. The weather was pretty nice for January, it was in the low 60's but the outdoor pool water was freezing!  That didn't stop my kids from jumping in though. Their cousin came to swim with us too and they all took turns jumping into the freezing water and then hopping in the hot tub.
They said they want to join the polar bear club.

I only caught toes as my youngest went under but I really like this photo.

We were on the 11th floor and we had a great view of the the 10th floor outdoor pool.

Here all the kids lined up and planned to jump in all at the same time, but three chickened out. They eventually all jumped in one at a time and the then immediately hit the hot tub.

View from our balcony.

 

Later on we took a walk down the board walk.  I am definitely not a professional photographer, but I wanted to try some trick photography.  My son is "holding" his siblings in this photo, but I either ended up having him blurry or them blurry, I couldn't seem to get them both in focus at the same time.  But it was fun to try and it was something I didn't have to beg the kids to pose for. 

It was as super short vacation, but it sure was fun! Definitely a great birthday present enjoyed by all.

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The Beach in December

Even though I have a few more projects I want to finish up before the end of the year, there was no quilting done today. With temps in the 60's, it was a perfect evening in to play at the beach. I drove down with the kids to pick up my dogs and decided to stay longer and check out the surf before heading home.  The water was cold, and I needed a jacket, but the kids had no trouble playing around on the shore.    

Merry Christmas



I made a couple other goodies this year for others.  The first I want to show off are these cute little candy sleighs.  I made some for my nieces and nephews and school teachers.  I saw these on the blog Ellyn's Place and just had to make some of my own.  They have a great tutorial there.  You can see it here.

Next I put together a circle Table Topper for my friend in TN. 



I had fun making this one.  It was my first ever circle quilt.  It is small 26 inches wide.  I used the the free pattern from Phillips Fiber Art.  It also came on the back of my mini ten degree ruler I bought last month.  You can get the pattern here.

 I gave my sister and her hubby a basket of goodies that came with all the tools needed to make cake pops.  I also made her this spiffy apron to go with it so she could make them in festive style.  The apron pattern is a McCalls Pattern.  Working on the top neckline reminded me why I prefer making quilts instead of clothes, but I persevered and it turned out great.

Merry Christmas to you all!!

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