Regrading a small brick patio

One of hubby's first projects at this new house was to change this little landing area in the front of the house on the right.
It needed to be regraded so that the water didn't pool right there in the corner.
It bugged him.



It also didn't help that there were things growing there that shouldn't be.



So out all the brick came, pulled up the stickly things growing there, and then he added some more gravel stuff (yeah, that's my technical word for it) underneath to raise the grade and make it slope out to the walkway away from the house.

Once he did that then all the brick had to go back in.
We recruited the kids to put that puzzle back together.
Actually they had taken it out in an orderly fashion and knew right how to put it back.



They were good sports.  Although the boy teenager felt he would be most helpful by "directing" everyone else from a sitting position.  And my girls, as my sister-in-law pointed out, are wearing ballet flats to do landscape work.  Hmm...not the best footwear for this, but oh well, at least they helped.

Once they had it all back in place we added some more sand in between the grooves and we're set.
Now I get to decide what we'll do with that little space.
I'm not sure what is growing in my yard yet.
Hopefully there are some good plants and not just weeds.

Maybe I'll find a bench to place there.
Or add some potted plants.  Maybe tomatoes would grow nicely there.
Our youngest did move our dog Jasmine's memorial marker to that little rocky spot.
He wanted it front and center.



For now it can stay.



Any suggestions for what to do with this little patio space?

Despicable Me costumes

This year my girls wanted to do a group costume and this is what they came up with.

Meet Gru's girls.


Edith, Agnes, and Margo from Despicable Me

Love how it all came together.



Margo
Plaid skirt--we made this.
Thrifted jacket and white shirt
Add a graphic tee over top--she already had this
Bought dollar store wire frame readers and popped the lenses out.
Tennis shoes and socks
Hair back in a low ponytail.



Edith
We went with the Ninja version for ease of costuming
Black t-shirt and pants.
Nunchucks ($1 at the dollar store)
Pink striped stocking cap--knitted this up, winging it as we went but turned out great. Based on this pattern.
If you didn't have long blonde hair like my daughter you could easily throw a blonde wig on under the hat.



Agnes
The unicorn is what makes it.
We found ours amazingly enough at the thrift store for $3.
Short overalls also thrift store purchase.
Yellow t-shirt w/ red stripes.  Made ours by painting the stripes onto a Michael's bought tee.
Ponytail on top of your head.  Later on we sprayed her hair black, but it wasn't for this picture.

Happy Halloween everyone!

First crochet project--the striped afghan

My #2 daughter (15 yrs. old) wanted to try her hand at a knitting or crochet project to fulfill a requirement for her Young Woman personal progress.  She decided that she wanted to make an afghan for one of her value projects. My mother makes afghans: usually for baby gifts, graduations, or weddings.  At times she will use up her extra yarn and make random striped ones and then gift them to a local charity for their needs.

I think the M. must've got the idea from her.

So for Christmas last year Santa gave her all the yarn she needed to make herself a striped afghan in the colors she wanted. She and Mrs. Claus had conversed about that beforehand.  She started working on it and at first was quite frustrated with the experience.  She is a bit of an A-type person so it doesn't make her too happy when it doesn't work out perfectly right away.  Nothing like picking a large project to complete for your first EVER project.

However, she persevered and it came more natural to her as time went on.

She would go in spurts with her crocheting and finally in August she finished her project.




Here she is sometime in March and in the middle of the project.



All completed.  She designed the striping herself and is thrilled with the end result.
I am happy she stuck to it and met her goal.

Details:

• Finished dimensions 67 inches by 74 inches
• Red Heart Super Saver yarn (7 oz skein) in White, Pumpkin--which is neon orange in my book, and Shocking Pink.  We think we remember having 4 skeins of each color.  For the white we may have only needed 3--guessing, 'cause we really can't remember.
• Crochet hook size--guessing a G. 

T-shirt Quilt Preview

In the midst of this

ongoing loading of the POD

and this

gutting and redo of the master bathroom

I am also making an effort to "clean out" my sewing room.
I decided to work on my daughter's t-shirt quilt in order to get some things out of my room.

A month or so ago we went thru her pile of t-shirts and weaned them down and divided them up in categories.  This quilt will be school themed--swim team shirts, choir, orchestra, honor roll.  That way there is a color theme to them without having to think too much.  She has more shirts and she may get another t-shirt quilt down the road, but for now we are sticking with the school spirit.



I started with 16 inch squares and then adjusted here and there.



Backing will be this orange and white chevron flannel from Jo-Ann's.

L. knows that I am doing this and she knows which shirts are in it, but I haven't shown her how it is all put together.  I sort of want her to be surprised.  My next 2 kids down the line both love the quilt and wanted to make sure that I was planning on making each of them one down the road.  Yes, yes, I will do that.

The quilt will be shipped off to Lynn today for quilting so that I can get it back in time for L.'s graduation and party that first full weekend of June.  I'm excited for her to have it.  New chapter in all of our lives.  Kinda weird!

Class Quilts 2014

Well, this may be my last year to put together class quilts with my kids and their classmates.  I've been doing it over the years to help with the school's annual fundraiser for the Spanish speaking T.A.s.  Since we plan on moving before the beginning of the next school year this may be it for this particular project.

I tried to change it up a bit this year with a different-ish block pattern that I haven't done before with the kids. I am pleased with the results.


1st grade quilt--with the corner blocks made by my youngest two.


5th grade quilt


Doing their best to look good.


And how 5th graders really act at the end of the day....


A couple close ups of the blocks and the quilting




Back and binding of the 5th grade quilt.

Bonus for me--I thought the auction was in February and have been hustling a bit to get them completed.  But it is going to be in April this year.  Woohoo! I am ahead of the game.  And I just dropped them off at school this morning.  Forgot to measure them before doing that, but they are large enough to cover me up.

Great job kids!  Thanks for all your creativity!

Linked up to Finish It Up Friday at CrazyMomQuilts

Previous Quilts
5th Grade 2011-2012
Kindergarten Handprints 2011-2012
3rd Grade Self-Portraits 2011-2012
1st and 5th Grades 2009-2010

Starting class quilts again

This is my year again for class quilts.  I try and do them every other year, as doing them every year would probably put me over the edge. And I just don't want to do it every year either.  Plain and simple.

My youngest daughter is a 5th grader this year, last yr. of elementary school, so she was begging me to do this with her class.

I picked a little different block design than I've done in the past.  I felt the need to change it up a bit even though I am still trying to use my scraps. (I swear that they just don't end)  I really like how it worked out. Below are a couple sample designs that I made and took with me to show the kids what they might do.





Cut 3 inch squares placed in a 4 by 4 design.
White piece for their name is 5 1/2 by 3

Yesterday I went and set up the station and then had the kids rotate through.  As usual some of the boys were a little more obnoxious than others.  Typical for 10 yr. olds.  We survived, made a mess in the foyer outside their classroom, and now onto sewing the blocks together.







I had already visited my son's second grade class back in October and their blocks are complete.  I am in the process of putting those all into a quilt top.



Since I don't have to actually have these 2 quilts completed until February I am doing well.  My goal is to complete them by the time that school starts up again after Winter/Christmas break.  Because I know that I will want to be doing something else by then.

Note:
Put your kids to work.
My kids love helping do the layout part.
We spread the blocks all out on the floor and then they move and arrange them to how they think looks good.  Even the bigger kids give their 2 cents worth to the layout.

This is my daughter's note for the 2nd grade quilt once the layout was in place.
27 kids' blocks
One block for the teacher's name, class and year
2 blocks for opposing corners with all assorted squares--no name block.
5 x 6 configuration.

Wonky Log Cabin blocks from the kiddos

After sewing with the ladies, I still didn't have enough blocks for what I wanted to do for the quilt top.  The next day two of my kids wanted to make a block and so I set them up and showed them the basic concept. They got to work while I was doing other things there near them.

During their sewing the neighbor girls showed up to play with daughter #3.  She invited them in to watch her sew.  How fun for them.....Not!  Eventually I set up ANOTHER machine and got them going on a block each too.



I have to say that helping four newbie kid sewers at the same time is a bit much.  I'd recommend only 2 at a time.

But we all survived, or I should say I did...with my sanity still intact at the end.  However, I was so ready to take a shower and move on to something else.

Here are their creations which I did put into the quilt top AFTER they ran down to their house and showed their mom what they had made.


Ages 9, 11, and 10 (#3 daughter on the right)


My #1 son, age 12

Then on a different day my youngest wanted to create a block too.  I did the sewing, but he directed me as to the colors and sizes.


Littlest guy age 7

On a side note: the fake smiles my boys are giving are just killing me.  They look like they are in pain or something.  Why do they do that?

Sewing Group Project--Quilt #2

I finally was able to put together the quilt top from our second collaborative sewing night.



It felt like it went more smoothly than last time.  Not sure if it was my planning, fabric choice, block choice, etc. or the ladies that were involved.  Either way, I felt like everyone had a good time.



Thanks to Cindy, Cassie, Ann, Tana, Sue and Marci for their help.
Great job ladies!

Details:

• Wonky Log Cabin pattern from Block Party--The Modern Quilting Bee.
• Blocks cut to 14"
• Finished 1" white sashing between blocks.  Just to calm it down a bit.
• 2 inch white border all the way around.
• Sending off to Margaret's Hope Chest for her great charity work.

Halloween Costume Ideas for couples or groups

Last weekend we attended our Church's Halloween party.

Always fun and always great to see creative costumes.

Here are some costumes that might spark your creativity.

Jenny and Patrick and their son.  

He was the firefighter that rescued them from a "house fire" in the middle of the night

Natalie with her son and his friend.

Medusa, Jason Grace and Percy Jackson


Cindy, Larry and kids
Minions from "Despicable Me."


One more minion for good measure.
Go B.!


Cutie siblings
Burglar and S.W.A.T. team members


Our cousin Nancy & hubby John
Lovely garden gnomes


Shelby, Kerry and kids plus one friend.
Eowyn and Aragon plus assorted other costumes

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Pride and Prejudice--Group Costumes

All 3 of my girls decided they wanted to dress up like the ladies from "Pride and Prejudice".  We found a good pattern and off we went doing some sewing.  We took advantage of our 3 days break earlier in October and got most of it done then.  Our Church party was over the weekend and then Halloween upcoming.  At least 2 times to wear it--that's what we like.

Details:

• Simplicity 4055 was the best choice for us.  Thanks to Jo-Ann's for their little 5 for $5 sale.
• You could also use Butterick 6630.  We just didn't like the lower cut neckline on this pattern, though the jacket/coat is gorgeous.
• Yellow twill-ish fabric 60 inches wide -- 5 1/2 yds. for $7.50.
• Peachy fabric 60 inches wide -- 4 yds. for $4.50.
• Bought drapery lining at $2/yd. for the overlay and found another piece at the thrift store for about $3
• We found our pretty braided hair ideas online, after watching the movie again...and maybe again.

Glow Bracelet Mania

One of the activities "planned" for the annual 4th of July Bash held at my Aunt Gayle's in Provo was to provide glow bracelets for the kids once it got dark.  Well, at least 3 of us cousins brought a number of packages to share with the 30 or so kids (ages 1 to 18) that were in attendance.  After all was said and done we figured out that we had 400-500 glow bracelets to distribute.


This is a portion of the family crew.

Who would have guessed that this would turn out to be the hit of the evening?

They were making all sorts of creations.




Playing ring toss like games with each other.
Even the adults were getting into it.


There might have even been a bit of hoarding going on.

So here is that group shot minus the flash with all those glow bracelets together.



This is definitely on the "keep" list for next year's party.

Thanks Tiffany for the pics.

Duct Tape baseball caps

This week has gotten away from me.
We started swim lessons.
Had 2 sports physicals for swim team.
I've been making swimsuits for all sorts of peeps, both others and for my own girls.
I forgot to take pics of 4 of the ones I did for custom orders and already sent off.
It has rained off and on all week.....blech!
However, we did get one glorious day of swimming at our friend Mary Ann's pool.  Thanks!!!

So with the wishy-washy weather here is one of the things my kids have been doing.

My youngest three, mainly my oldest son, are obsessed with duct tape.
We have this cool place called Ax-Man Surplus where you can buy large rolls for $5.
They make all sorts of things.
For awhile there it was lots, and lots, and lots of weapons.

However, just since school has been out last week, son #1 has been making hats.

He was nice enough to make his younger siblings each one too.




Complete with personalization.


And new glasses.






They sort of look like thugs, but they are all happy with their hats.
Daughter #3 even wore hers out in public the other day and got some nice comments from a cashier.

Link to video how-to is HERE

Enjoy your weekend and Happy Father's Day to all!

I hope to post swimsuit stuff next week.