A little journal of simple living.
What to do on summer vacation when you are ten? Well, swim, read a ton of books and make a bunch of tiny food out of Sculpey clay. Nolan has been having a blast with his clay and a book we have. I'm always surprised that something I've had for months that is never used finally finds the right moment and inspiration. Nolan loves to have fun so this was right up his alley. He was also a willing model for the photo shoot. He is definitely my little ham. Maybe that's the next food he needs to make!
Since I had a week off, I promised the boys that I would de-rose their room. They had one full wall of rose wallpaper and three walls of rose border. I think whoever applied the wallpaper did so with super glue. The wall of paper came off in one day. Yes, one wall, one day. I thought the border couldn't be too much worse. I was wrong. That paper didn't want to come off for anything. I used orange remover, I used DIF, I used a Paper Tiger, I used a scrubby sponge, I used all the muscles I had and it just wouldn't come off. Finally I used the sander. It still took quite a while and a ton of muscle but I got it off! Tomorrow Mike will paint the room. I'm so glad we have complementary talents. I destroy, he restores. It is a match made in heaven.
The above picture is what I see every time I go upstairs. The downside to having a small house is that when we do these "little" projects, there isn't a whole lot of space to put all the extra stuff you have to move around. It motivates me to finish quickly.
I plan to border the white with one row of squares and then maybe another narrower white border. Time will tell. It is hot today and so I promised the boys we'd go to the pool. They are amusing themselves in the back yard with ten boxes of popping fire crackers. Tomorrow is a swim meet for Nolan so he and I will be gone most of the day. The good side of being gone all day is that when we get home, the boys room should look amazingly different. I love when that happens, when I return to an amazing transformation. It is sort of like reading blogs, I get to see all the results without having to endure all the time it takes to get there!
I finished the quilt blocks this morning. I have to say this is probably one of my most sloppy quilts. I had a lot of trouble with my fabric stretching and in getting my 1/4 inch seams accurate. I guess I should use my walking foot all the time but I find it annoying. I had to rip out an entire block this morning because I was using my presser foot as a guide and realized what I always knew: it isn't 1/4 inch like the lady at the store told me it was. I had to draw a line on my machine to sew at 1/4 inch and that doesn't work as well as I'd like. I need to really sit and figure out what to do about this. I could follow the presser foot if the blocks were all squares but it screws up the triangles. Oh me, oh my. I've been working with this for years now and you'd think I'd have it figured out.
Anyway....I got things this far. Since this is to be a picnic/pool quilt, I wasn't going to stress over it. I wanted it to be fun and somewhat fast. I don't think I'm going to add the border squares like Amanda did, even though it looks amazing. I think I'm going to try to find a coordinating fabric to add as a border. We'll see. I have a ton of yard work that should be done today so I don't think I'll be doing any more sewing. Going away for a week doesn't really help get the house and yard in order. It was worth it though.
The above picture was taken from the back porch of Mike's Aunt and Uncle's house where we were staying. Can you imagine waking up to that view every day? Fantastic.
These are just a few of the Elk or Wapiti that we saw every day.These still have some of their winter coat. Speaking of winter, the picture below was one of Nathan and Nolan's favorite things about Colorado: They have snow in June!
It was 80 degrees the day we arrived and the very next day it was cold. It snowed during our hike!
Ok, maybe the snow wasn't the boys favorite part of Colorado. I think it was the ground squirrels and chipmunks. This little guy is a ground squirrel. 
I'd share some more pictures but I'm exhausted. We flew in this morning at 5am and just got back from a swim meet. Mike and I are ready for bed.
I do hate to wait. It drives me crazy. This is a failing of mine but I just can't help it. So, I'm joining AmandaJean's 1st quilt along after it is all over and she's half way into her 2nd quilt along. 
The really great part about quilting "behind" is that I don't have to wait. All the blocks are laid out and so I can zip through them. I tend to focus in on one project at a time and let all else go to H-E-double toothpicks. 
I love doing this with books, too. Nolan and I only started reading Harry Potter right before the last book was due to be released. We spent a few months reading books 1-6 and then only had about a month to wait for book 7. 
I did it with the Lord of the Rings movies. I didn't watch a single one until they were all out on DVD. Mike and I rented them all at once and spent a glorious week watching them all. We watched the extended versions as well so we took about two days to finish each DVD. It was amazing. I didn't have to wait.
I'm learning to be patient but it isn't easy. I've been enjoying our surroundings since our move. There are so many birds (I saw the momma cardinal today. Looks just like the daddy only smaller and not red.) I ADORE the squirrels and the bunnies. It slows me down to spend time watching. This is what greeted me as I walked downstairs (our stairs are directly in front of our front door).
Have a great day today. We are having a heat wave which the newspaper defined for this region as three or more days of 90+ degree heat. Stay cool. We're off to the pool.
Matilda! The choosing was not random at all. Here's what she had to say...
Two posts in one day???? It is unheard of around here. I wanted to show you my new bag. I used my Alexander Henry fabric for this one. I just love this fabric and bought all that they had at JAF so you may be seeing a lot of it. I used the pattern from one of my quilting magazines (I'm too lazy to run upstairs and see which one. If you want to know, comment and I'll check). I modified the way the bag was sewn together because I don't like turning edges under and sewing, I'd rather sew the whole bag together and then flip it outside in and top stitch. I just think it looks nicer that way.
I would make this bag a bit narrower if I was to make another one (which I just might, someday.) I don't carry around large folders or papers so the bag is a bit long.
The inside includes a zipper pocket which I just LOVE and ADORE. All that small stuff stays safe. So, you may wonder what I carry around in the new bag. Well, first you have to understand where I went today. First, to the pool with friends and then off to swim team practice. So inside the bag you'll find A book (yes, I'm reading Eldest), sun screen, goggles and nose holder (Nathan hates to get water up his nose), a Gameboy micro (my dad actually found this IN THE TRASH), several Gameboy cartridges, our pool passes and my car keys. I had a large container of strawberries and kiwi in here as well but I took it out prior to the picture. What do you keep in your bag?
By the way, I'm waiting till Saturday to pick the name for the quilt give away. For some reason I thought today was Thursday. Ahhh, summer.
Well, since I totally skipped over my 100th post, I'm celebrating 200. I'm giving away this little quilt to one lucky commenter. The quilt was inspired by a very large one made by Amanda Jean. I think the proper name for the block is the bow tie but I could be wrong (and often am). So if you want to get your hands on this little colorful quilt, tell me something, anything! I made this quilt from left over triangles from my pinwheel quilt. I still have quite a few triangles left. I'm not sure why I cut out so darned many in the first place. Amanda Jean inspired quite a few people to make quilts in this pattern. I've been seeing them all over blog land. My favorite is in this post by Jacquie of Tallgrass Prairie Studio. I love the fabrics Jacquie uses in her quilts. I'm a nut for color.
I am so happy it is summer. I thought I'd have time to post last week but I didn't. So, in case you are keeping track, this is my 199th post. Next one will include a give away. We've had lots going on here including having our old next-door-neighbors over for dinner, a retirement dinner for my mother-in-law and having four wonderful moms and crew over for luncheon yesterday. Did I mention swim team for Nolan as well? Anyway, it has been busy but fun. 
Nolan finished school last Friday so we are in summer high gear. My father-in-law gave us some bananas when we were helping clean out my mother-in-laws classroom (oh, I forgot to mention that one in the above list!). The bananas were on the brown side so we decided to whip up the boys' favorite: Chipper Banana Muffins. You may ask why Nolan is wearing his bath robe to cook. Let me just say that boy dances to the beat of a different drummer.
The boys have very different personalities and so there was quite a bit of fighting going on during the baking. I tried to stay out of the kitchen as much as possible. Here's the recipe. It is from a Weight Watcher's cookbook. We follow the directions except when it comes to adding the chocolate chips. I'll let you use your own discretion when adding yours. Here's the recipe:
This last picture is the fabric I'm using to make a seat cover for my blanket chest which is in my sewing room. I got the foam at 50% off. I bought 5 inch thick foam because I wanted this seat to be really comfortable. I had no idea how expensive that foam was! Glad I didn't need much. I think I'll make some pillows and maybe a valance out of the fabric as well. I'll let you know how it turns out.
