Fresh Squeezed Summer

I don't know about you, but I love fall. It was here for about a week, but then we went back to the warmer weather. It did allow me to take the kids to the green belt close to my home with my newly finished quilt and spend a lazy afternoon. And they needed to get out of the house and burn off some energy.

 Truth be told I really would not have finished this quilt if I did not have the birthday that I really wanted to get quilted. This one sat on the frame forever it seemed like! But it is done and that makes me happy!

 This is a huge quilt, and presented a few problems when I was trying to fit it onto the frame to quilt. I had to leave about a foot and a half off the frame and quilt it later because it just did not fit. It did cause a little rippling on the back, but thank goodness after washing it is barely noticeable.

 Isn't this just perfect for a lazy summer afternoon - or almost fall afternoon?

 And here I am with my glorious boot - which I just got back from the Dr. and I am in the clear to start running again. I am supposed to ease into it, which will be hard for me.

 I quilted it in a simple all over pattern, because it was already pretty busy with these bright colors.

 I love the teal blue on the back - it is seriously one of my favorite colors right now.

I hope that you have the opportunity to get out and enjoy those last few days of summer weather- or however long depending on where you live. But I am excited for fall!

Sneak Peak

 Just so you all know, I am alive and well, I just don't have much time for blogging lately. Conan's schedule has changed, which mean change for everyone, so we are still trying to get into a groove.

But I have been sewing like crazy! Thing #5 had a birthday this week and so I was trying to get this project done before that special day. I did, but I have not taken all the photos to post on here, so you get just a sneak peak of it.

This is a top of the quilt I am making. I have a lot of quilts but I wanted something special for my kids when it is their birthday. I saw the pattern for this quilt (it used christmas fabric - but I did not need another christmas quilt) I instantly thought that this would be super cute as a birthday quilt. I got the fabric a couple of months ago and have been working on it here and there.

When the kids went back to school I suddenly had the desire to get this quilt done. I tried to stick to bright cheery fabrics and not a lot of flowers - since boys make up the majority of our house here, but there was a few I just could not resist!

I also decided that a birthday banner would be in store for some of the scraps from the quilt - so we are all matchy-matchy! ;)

I really busted this out earlier this week, and now it has not left Thing #5's bed - which I love. And I love how the other kids cannot wait until their birthday so that they can sleep with it. I kind of made a few rules for the quilt. They are:
-you can sleep with the quilt the night before your birthday
-you get to open presents on the quilt, and everyone else has to stay off - I don't know about you, but everyone seems to want to help the little ones open their presents.
-you can sleep with it a couple days after your birthday - I did this because I figured I would let them use it until I am ready to wash, and then just put it away for the next birthday.

I love to celebrate birthdays at my house. Do you have any fun birthday celebrations or traditions that you do for your family?

Butterfly Quilt Pattern

I don't know what is up, it seems lately that I have no time to do everything that I want to. The kids are back in school, I should have a little bit more free time, but for some reason I do not. I have been crafting and sewing - wait until you see my next quilt, I love it! But I have no time to blog about any of it. But today I have a free pattern for all of you! Yippee!!

 Do you remember about a month ago I finished up this beautiful butterfly quilt? Well I am finally getting around to posting the pattern for it! I do not know how to make a PDF pattern, so this is what you get, sorry. (If someone knows and wants to share with me how to do this I would love it! )

BUTTERFLY QUILT approx. 60 X 70

3 yds white fabric for background
2 charm packs of 42 charms each
5 yds backing
3/4 yds binding


Cut your white fabric into 10 - 10 inch strips. Sub cut those strips into 42 - 10 inch squares.

Draw a line from corner to corner on wrong side of each charm pack square.

Take one charm and one white square. Place charm on corner, wrong sides together and sew on the line you drew.

Repeat with alternating corner.

Repeat with all white squares.

Trim excess fabric and press the corners open.

Lay quilt out so that colored triangles touch corners - making your butterflies. Arrange it so that no two fabrics are next to each other. You will do 6 squares across and 7 squares down.

Sew together row by row and then sew the rows together - pressing as you go.

Piece backing so that it covers entire quilt.

Quilt as desired.

Cut binding into 2 1/2 inch strips and sew together. Bind edges of quilt as desired, machine or hand.

Add buttons to the center of the butterflies.

Wash and dry and enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: This is the first time I have ever written up a quilt pattern, so I apologize if there are any errors - because I am sure there are. I am not that good at following patterns I just seem to take the base of it and go from there. Please email me with any questions or anything about this.

I really hope you enjoy your quilt!

Pardon my absence

I have been a bit busy this week and have not been on here.

This is what I have been up to however.

I have been trying to figure out what is wrong with my foot for about 2 weeks now. After an x-ray, MRI and a visit to the podiatrist, this is what fancy shoe I will be sporting for the next 6 weeks.

Turns out I have 2 stress fractures in my foot. No running or high impact activities - just weights. I now have a couple of extra free hours in the day, maybe I can get some crafting done!

The magic of kids

Okay, I don't know about all of you but I am having a hard time getting back into the swing of things here. I am loving having the kids back in school, but I cannot seem to craft. I have two projects just waiting for me to finish them, and they will continue to wait because I just don't want to work on them.

It is a sad day around here.

I am getting together with some friends this week, I hope that it sparks something into me!

On an up side I am really enjoying my kitchen staying clean for longer than 5 minutes. Here it is in all of it's glory.

But when my dearly loved children come through the door it quickly transforms into something more like this:

I am amazed at how fast this happens. To be fair though, some of the stuff on the counter is from me - but just some, not the majority. ;)

I hope that all of you are having a fabulous day, and that you are able to get something done. I am going to try and sew something and see what I feel.

Antiqued Bed

Do you ever have those projects that seem to never get done. Or I guess that just take forever to get that last step completed? I sure do. And this bed is a great example of that. (sorry for the washed out look - the sun was super bright through the window!)

I had it all done about 3 months ago, and then it just sat in Thing #2's room. Waiting to be put together.

This weekend it finally happened and she could not be happier. She is now off her mattress on the floor and on a real bed.

If you remember the bed started out just wood color with a slight varnish. I sanded it and then painted it. I really do not have space to do this, so I was at the mercy of one of my friends. After a few weeks I got it done and brought it home.

By this time it was summer and so I had it on the back patio and there I sanded it and applied a light varnish to give it that 'old' look as my kids like to call it.

I really love how it turned out. When we put it together we decided to flip the headboard and foot board so that she would have lots of space underneath to store things. Now to find some cute little boxes to use under there.

One end of the bed I painted with chalkboard paint and she loves that she can draw on it whenever. I think I am going to get one of those little tin pails for her to keep chalk and eraser in. Then I can just hang it on the corner.

And here it is all made - probably the only time it will look this nice unless I make her bed for her! But she was so excited that she finally got her bed together and can sleep on it!

And for those of you who care this project only cost me $15! Not too shabby right?
bed $5
paint $5
extra wood for support $5
Other supplies borrowed from friends, or had on hand.

End of Summer

I cannot believe that summer is quickly drawing to a close. I have no crafts or sewing projects to share with you, so I am sharing a little insight into my life and what I have been doing this summer instead of crafting. I have had so much fun this summer. But now it is just about over and we are getting everything ready for school. We have tried to do a lot of different things - but of course the pool was by far the favorite activity of the summer. Not that I expected anything else.

Look at how much fun these kids were having. They were all nice enough to stand there for me to take a picture - and no one tired to push anyone in for this shot! No all of these are not my kids, these were a lot of the same people that we hung out with this summer.

By far my favorite activity this summer was going on hikes with my kids. We only did this a couple of times, but I would have loved to do it every week. Even Thing #5 hiked almost every one - which was great, even if it was a little bit slow! :)

I just had to share this picture. Thing #5 is so tan - you cannot really tell by this picture, but he is darker than all of my kids, and he is the one I am most diligent with the sunscreen on! You can even see a vague sandal tan. You can really see the Hispanic side coming out.

To me this picture says everything about summer, bare foot tan feet, out in the grass. Not a care in the world. And that is what my summer has pretty much been all about, relaxing and enjoying each and every minute with my kids.

What was your favorite thing you did for summer break? And are you ready to get back into school ?