Tumbler Blocks

I have been enjoying the Baby Go! cutter for doing tumbler blocks.

First, I made this table-runner for Mom.

 Up close.

 I like the wavy look of not squaring up the blocks.

 For quilting, though, it was simpler to leave the back a rectangle, and also gave it stability while sewing.

 The binding was a little tricky, but I did similar to how I do scallops.

I got these fabrics to go together, intending to maybe do a baby quilt.

 Cut out lots of tumblers.

 I added some pinks in too, since they gave it more variety.  I was also starting to think this would be perfect for Breanna's bed...

 I put them in order on the back of a vinyl tablecloth; it's flannel so the pieces stick when you need to move it.

 Decided it needed even more blocks, so now used the rotary to get as many as possible from every piece.  I used the others as patterns, but I really don't know why they didn't make the template more like this picture.  It would save fabric!

All sewn together, 500 blocks!!

 Breanna holding it up for a photo.

 More little helpers.

 Originally had purchased the big dots to use for backing on the baby quilt.

Now it's going to be a border.

She really likes it, and wanted me to take a picture to prove it. ;)

 Used some of the leftovers for a coordinating pillow.

 For quilting on the blocks, I had to use my regular sewing machine to follow the seams with straight lines.  What a chore!  Was very glad that most of the time I can just put it on the quilting machine.

 The back.

Wavy lines in the center kindof look like water, with "rocks" around the edges.

 Binding finished this morning, it's all done!

 I fussy-cut some horses for a few blocks.

 Went over to the park to take photos.....

 But the wind was not cooperating.

 Hmmm...

 On the bed, I think she'll be excited when she comes home from school today!

 She told me this looked sortof like a little cowgirl to her. ;)

 Sweet little boots she used to wear.

 I used polyester batting on this one; mostly to make it warmer, but the puffy look is fun.

 Last week I painted her dresser pink, but the new nobs aren't done yet, so you'll have to excuse the peach ones.  It's such an improvement from before!

A picture I found from when I was working on it, of a sweet little helper.

Now I'm thinking of making something with bigger tumbler blocks; but need to do them with the rotary cutter, since I don't have the big cutter or large tumbler die.

But for now, housework!

Twister Hotpads, and a fun Saturday drive.

I just finished up this set of twister hot-pads for Sue C.
The pictures don't show very good color- the green looks almost grey here.

 They are super-thick because of using both batting and Insul-Bright.

 Hmmm.... may need to make some more, I like these!

On Saturday morning last weekend, Tyler drove down the canyon with the kids.  I asked him if he'd mind taking along the camera, since I was staying home to clean the house.... sure glad he did!

 Oh... my stomach would have been doing flip-flops if I was there!

Larry's flag.

 Even Charlie got to ride along.

All for now; I just have the binding left to do on Breanna's horse quilt (don't think I've even shown any of it before), but maybe tonight I'll get if finished to show you.

Have a great evening!

P.S. Almost forgot, I posted a bunch of those little button pouches on etsy.  Have a few more, but pictures aren't cooperating.

Second day...

Whew, my determination was tested this morning!  I felt so good all day yesterday after walking, that I was looking forward to going again.  After a night of hardly any sleep, though, and waking up sick and with sick kids; it was hard to get out there.  The boys and I all have sore throats, headaches, and are congested.  We went anyway, and unfortunately- one tire went flat again on the double jogging stroller.  Tyler just pumped it up, so I'm assuming that means we need a new tube and/or tire.  We did make it, only about 15 minutes; but at least it's something!
This morning one lady who saw us said she remembers those days so well, but now her kids are in school.  Mine will be too, so we're going to try and establish some good habits before then.  And have fun doing it!  There are two playgrounds along the way, so some days that will be a good incentive to keep them going. ;)

First Day Walking

This morning was the first day of my walking goal this year.  The boys and I made it 1 1/2 miles; Levi on his bike, Andy in the stroller, and me- walking/jogging.  The neighbor is really helping to motivate me, I saw her going to walk yesterday when the wind was sustained 40MPH with higher gusts!  I was wowed that she was going out on a day like that, but she told me "If I don't go today because of the wind, it will be easier to not go tomorrow".  So, I set off this morning also- with much less windy conditions, luckily.  It was quite cold, but it's so nice to have a huge park right across the street; that has a nice walking trail!  So no excuses, it's going to happen.  And what a way to start the day!  :)  My long-term goal is to not only get in better shape, but also loose the excess 50 pounds I've somehow acquired.  Have a wonderful day!

The new room.

Oh boy, excitement in the house!  The carpet guys came on Tuesday, and now it's all in.  They showed up at 5pm, and didn't finish till after 8:30, so it was a very anxious 3 1/2 hours for me!  I didn't realize it would take that long, and had been dreaming about it for so long that I went around trying to think of things to occupy the time.  Once I finally picked up an old project to work on, it was magically finished; guess I should have tried that earlier!  I was tired enough by then, though (I've been getting up earlier in the mornings), that I went to bed to get energy to work on it Wednesday.  Wednesday, however, I woke up with a pinched nerve in my back; and spent a fair bit of the day sitting and using a heating-pad to try and get to walking upright again.  The luck!  Anyway, you don't want to listen to my rambling, so here's with some pictures.  It's not finished, but I've started moving things in, and it just makes the house feel huge.  Mostly, I think, because it frees up other space that was crowded.  Tyler put in some of the outlets last night, and this weekend it will be trimming the cabinets and putting the doors and new hinges on.  The cabinets were definitely made for a garage- and kindof hodge-podged together, but we decided to fix them up as well as we could- since the cost of building new ones was out of the question.  So here goes, and by the way- this is life in the raw.  Maybe if I pinned these on Pinterest, they'd be called "reality".  ;)

 The kids love rolling around and running on the new carpet.

 Levi has a corner table for puzzles... he's thinking "this is the life!"

 A spot for the ironing board to stay setup all the time.... I never imagined...

 We moved the chest freezer into the "sewing room", it seemed crowded and I'd rather sew in the big area where the kids play.  As you can see, I'm not quite finished cleaning and organizing....

I've decided to try another of the quilts from this book (actually, my own variation), so that is my goal as soon as I finish Breanna's horse quilt.  Organizing and moving things will wait to another day.

Anyone is welcome to come over and sew with me, there's plenty of room!  =)

All in a Day's Work...

Yesteray, I saw quilt somewhere on Pinterest (and I can't find it now to show you), but it got me thinking.  Usually I don't use a lot of grey, but I found a cute piece with dots awhile back, and bought a yard.  I'd also cut some blocks and strips to make a quilt at the retreat last fall, and decided I didn't like what I'd planned.  However, the colors in the quilt on Pinterest reminded me of those pieces, and they were put with grey and looked beautiful!

So, I got out the pieces, and went to work.  Originally, I'd planned the green squares for blocks, the blue strips for sashing, and the white squares for joining sashing.

 I cut the squares in half, the strips 1/2-inch shorter, make some 3 x 5 1/2 blocks from the grey polka-dot, and the white squares will be saved for another project.

 All the "waste" there was from changing plans, not too bad!

 The blocks, all in order.

Sewn together.

 I think this combination works well.

 The completed quilt.

 I used polyester batting for the "puffy" look, and "stitch-in-the-ditch" for the quilting.  Levi was laughing at the term "Stitch-in-the-ditch", I'm assuming he was thinking of my sewing machine sitting out in the ditch?

I took the completed photos today, but actually finished the entire quilt yesterday!

 I love the puffy feel that the batting gives, it's really "cushy" and very snuggly.

If only all my projects went that smoothly!