Run, baby, run!

This past weekend, Jason ran in the Seattle Rock And Roll Marathon. He did the half marathon. All 13.1 miles of it! YIKES! The boys and I are so proud of him. The race was nearly two hours from our house and he had to be there around 5:30ish. The boys and I slept in and met him later at the finish line. We parked our car on this side of the water and walked onto the ferry and then walked the half mile to meet Jason. It was PACKED! We didn't get to see him actually cross the finish line (*snif snif*) but we did see him just moments after.

Below are some pictures of the boys and me while we were crossing Puget Sound to go cheer daddy on.

Lofty "To Do" list update

These blocks came in the mail yesterday. Aren't they pretty?!? I can't wait to get more and set them all out next to one another! I mentioned that I'm part of the Sunshine Quilters Group through the HGTV Boards. I had some catching up to do and below are some of the blocks I've made. There are more, but for some reason they didn't seem to follow me to blogger. I'll have to look for them and post them later.

I also wanted to give an update on my Lofty Goals for this week.

• 4 sets of the CYOC string blocks for the swap. ~ two sets done
• Finish up the 4 patches for the Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt ~finished, just need pressing
• Finish up a baby quilt for a friend
• The block for the Stash Busting Bee ~went to start this one and cut wrong. Back to the drawing board!!
• Quilt top sewn together for the Old Red Barn Quilt a Long
• Piece backing and baste "Barney's Blocks"
• Get to work on the Sunshine Charity Blocks for this month ~caught up, now need to do this month's blocks.

Happy Father's Day!

Jason left this morning, so we celebrated Father's Day a day early. I made pancakes, eggs and bacon (per his request) and the boys gave him his gifts and cards while we enjoyed a nice breakfast together. Sorry for the horrible glare in the picture, I was trying to get a shot of him leaving and he wasn't playing along. I only had time to snap one quick picture.

I showed you other day that I had completely taken over the dining table, right? So, how do we eat? Easy, I pile everything ever so delicately on top of the ironing board. Heaven help the child that knocks into it because they may just be buried alive!

And as soon as the breakfast dishes were cleared and the sticky syrup wiped up, look where all of my stuff landed once again?! It didnt' take long, that's for sure :-)

I've completed two sets for the CYOC Strings block swap. This first set is for zizzybob. She chose 2" cut center white strings with 30's repros randomly on either side.

This next set is for ssharon334. She requested 2.5" center cut white strips with 30's repros randomly on each side. I have one more set to do with the 30's fabrics and then I can put them back away. Usually I love quilts with 30's repros, but I haven't been in the mood lately and right now I'm just sick of 'em :-)

I'm also part of the Sunshine Quilters, but haven't really been that active recently. So, I have both of last month's blocks done and one block for the month prior finished. I'll finish up one more for that month and then start working on this month's (more strings!). So, I'd say I'm moving right along on my goals and its only been 24 hours! I gotta get some thread to finish up a baby quilt that I'm working on and then I gotta clear some floor space to get the rest of the stuff done! :-)

Lofty Goals

I'm setting some goals for this coming week. School is out, Jason is working a lot and I'm gonna have some time on my hands. So, I'm hoping to get the following done by next Friday: June 26th.

• 4 sets of the CYOC string blocks for the swap.
• Finish up the 4 patches for the Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt
• Finish up a baby quilt for a friend
• The block for the Stash Busting Bee
• Quilt top sewn together for the Old Red Barn Quilt a Long
• Piece backing and baste "Barney's Blocks"
• Get to work on the Sunshine Charity Blocks for this month

Its a lofty list, but I think I can do it. Just gotta stay away from the computer and the TV :-)

Because I need a few more projects....

(sorry about the cooked picture, I was in a hurry)

So, our last day of school was today and to celebrate, I've decided to fill up my schedule with all kinds of quilty committments LOL! In addition to Dana's Quilt a long (which I have finished all of my blocks for, finally), and the Stash Busting Bee (of which I'll be making the first block early next week), I've also joined into a swap over on the HGTV Quilting Board. Well, two swaps actually. YIKES! The first is a "Chose Your Own Colors" string block swap. There are 15 participants, so I will receive 56 blocks (we make 4 blocks for each person). I choose patriotic blocks with a white center string. I will assemble these blocks into a quilt to send to Alycia for her No Soldier Forgotten project. I made my own four blocks and that's what's pictured above.

The second swap I've joined is scrappy 4 patches. Because have you seen the new Quiltmaker Magazine? Well, have you?!?! Bonnie Hunter is doing another mystery and I wanna play! I've never done one of her mysteries because they usually move just a little too fast for me. But this one gives you three months in between steps. I think I can handle that. I think. :)

And, its the time of year to start thinking about Christmas gifts. Every year I have grand plans to give all homemade, and every year I don't leave myself enough time. So I'm startin' early this time! We'll see how it goes! :)

Cheers!

My first finish

Its sad. So, so, so very sad. This is my first finished quilt of 2009. And its a panel. *hanging my head in shame* BUT, I have a good reason for being so far behind, right? I was without a machine for months!! RIGHT?! RIGHT?! And the little guy that this is going to was born almost two months early. How dare he! So, I bought a panel and added some borders and a quilt was born!
But there will be more finishes this year. Many, many more. Hold me to that. Please?

So Groooovy

I have been wanting a house coat for quite a while now, but I didn't particularly like any of the ones I've seen in the stores and I definately didn't like the prices that came with them. Then I was thrifting with Ben the other day while Carter was at preschool and I found this gem for $2.99. I fell in love.

I also just discovered that our Value Village has a "vintage clothing" section. How did I not know this before?!?! AND they were having a half off deal the other day, so check out this groovy orangy red jacket I found. I'm thinking a white tee and some cute jeans. What do you think? Check out this collar and the super cool stitching!! Price? $5.

This coat is a little darker than it looks in the picture. Its HEAVY. Wool and gorgeous. Price? $5.

And then, my first find of my super cool groovy vintage clothing. This 100% double knit polyester jacket. I didn't find it on the half off day, so I paid a whopping $6.99 for this one. But I fell in love. Its just sssooo, sssoooo.....vintage? Either way, I love it. We just finally got summer here, but I'm already looking forward to fall!

Oh, it feels good to be back!

I think that creative slump might be over. What do you think? I have totally taken over the dining room table. Who needs to eat? Mama's gotta sew! I have all of my strips cut for Dana's Quilt a Long. That quilt folded up in the front of the pic has about 10 more inches of binding to be sewn down, but I ran out of thread. The solids are out for my first Stash Busting Bee block.

And do you remember my challenge with my friend Kristin? As all diets go, our stash diet came to an end and I went on a binge. But only a small one. I bought a few yards to even out my stash a bit. See that Farmer's Market print up front ~ the green one? It was on the remenants table. 33" for $4.99. Considering how much I love that print and the fact that I just sliced up the last of it for the quilt a long, did you think I could pass that up?!?! HA! Right. I'll be headed to this place on Sunday. Its the closest thing we have to a mill end store around here and I've never been there. We'll be in the neighborhood, so I'm gonna stop by. Then starting on Monday we're back on our stash diets until August 1. Wish me luck! I'll leave you with some eye candy. My strips for the quilt a long quilt. That purple sheet will be the backing.

Am I the only one....

...who's heart is all aflutter right now? I was preparing dinner the other night and looked out my kitchen window and saw this (pic taken through the screen, excuse the fuzziness, please). I love this man.

Busy Busy Bees

We've been very busy around here and now both of my kids are sick. I guess it was God's way of telling me to slow down. Just wish he had inflicted this yuckiness on me and not the boys. They are so pitiful (and cranky) when they are sick! My punishment, maybe?! LOL!

I mentioned here that I joined a virtual quilting bee. I'm having so much fun getting to know the other gals in the bee. I got the first fabric the other day and I'm STUMPED. I had a fantastic idea, but I don't have enough of that fabric. Our rules state that we can only send a scrap of fabric and we have to use ALL stash when making the blocks. Its going to be a challenge, but its going to be a blast!

I also completed my first 5K race (official) last weekend. I know, I know, it hasn't been 8 weeks and that means I didn't actually complete the program. But I finished a 5K. I walked some, I ran some and I did it! It was hard, but it was amazing and I'm already making plans for my next one on June 14th! In addition to the 5K that I ran, there was also a 1 mile race and Jason ran that with the boys. They had so much fun and looking foward to running more of the shorter distance races throughout the summer. I'm excited to have running become a fun, family activity that we all share (Jason's a runner and currently training for a BIG ONE) :-)

The boys got their summer haircuts this week. Notice that Jason has the same one! All of my boys are now bald, but with this heat wave we've been having, they are glad to have some relief up there. Now I just gotta remember to apply sunscreen to the top of their heads, too!