Since this is a quilting blog, I will talk quilts. Though I am today more in the mood to talk kids. To start with I have finished quilting the top of one of the 2 strip quilts I made. I am a member of the Salt Lake Modern Quilt Guild and I have been struggling with this whole modern thing. I keep going to our guild meetings and I never have any thing modern to show off. So I have been trying to fix that this strip quilt above is an attempt to fill that void. I love it, but my straight line quilting seems to be lacking this week. As you can see in the picture above, the lines are pulling at a angle. I tried to change the way I quilt across the quilt on this one, to see if I could improve the quilting and get less puckers. As you can see I failed and caused many.
This next quilt is one of those spur of the moment quilt designs (well, standing in the quilt shop) and buying the fabric to match a crazy idea in your head. I first mentioned this quilt idea on this post, but after starting to make the quilt (the first row was the bottom left corner of the quilt) when half way sewing this together, I realized that I was a tad short (13 2 1/2 inch strips of fabric short, so a little more then a tad). The fabric for this quilt is really interesting it is Natural Instincts by McKenna Ryan a Hoffman Fabrics Line. So last weekend I made a second trip to the fabric store and bought 2 times what I did the first time (9 colorways by 1/4 yard the first time and 9 colorways by 1/2 yard the 2nd time). So I still have roughly 3/8 of a yard of each.
Now for the important part of this post. My kids are more important to me then all of the quilts in the world (OK, maybe that depends on the days, some days I would trade them for quilts). Today I want to show off the joy of Julia and her believing that she is a big girl. Somehow to Julia, being big means I can now open drawers, empty everything out of them and then climb inside. My office has a set of drawers the shot above is my set of drawers one on the right (the picture above) and one on the left (shot below) the bottom 3 of the 4 drawers are Julia height. She daily comes into the office and takes every item out of the drawer and tosses them on the floor. The first time she did this she tossed almost 300 business cards onto the floor (one at a time mind you) before she was noticed. She was mad that I tried to put them back in.
Weeks ago we gave up on keeping our items in the drawer, so now they just hold items that she regularly pulls out of the drawer and tosses on the floor and when we clean up we just toss them back in for the next day. She now thinks that once the drawers are empty they must be filled. From the 2 pictures you can see that she fills them with herself.
Then fun sadly has not stopped with our office. Down in the sewing room we have this wonderful cabinet which until recently, had all the things in it that Julia could not play with (the serger, Rebecca's machine). Sadly it took me some time to find the camera, but she climbed in the left side, closed the door and climbed out the right side. That angry look on her face is that I was trying to take the item out of her hand and she was just not willing to give it up to me.
Jared also has continued to grow and be cute. Saturday we went to Scout-O-Rama which is a yearly scouting event held at the South Towne Expo Center (where HMQS will be next week). I took a few pictures of him, but was most pleased with his attempt to climb the wall. He did not make it to the top, but he had a great time.
Last note of my kids, Rebecca my older daughter has been taking a sewing class this year in high school and she has learned many things. One of which is to sew dresses, these 2 shots are her 2nd attempt to sew a dress for herself. It is not perfect, but it is pretty cute and modest so I am so proud of her. She started and completed the dress Saturday and will wear it today to church.
Last, but not least our son James, he has no picture in this post. He has been too busy to get a picture taken. He is going to graduate high school this year and has a "Real" job or so he thinks, working at the local amusement park, Lagoon as a ride operator. It is so neat and exciting each day he works, he comes home and for 45 minutes or so gives me a blow by blow of his exciting day at work (and as a good dad I try to look interested I really am proud of him. Any way I don't always talk about my kids, but had such a fun day today I had to share what they are up too.
9 comments:
Enjoy this time b/c they grow up fast!
Enjoy this time b/c they grow up fast!
I worked at Lagoon for five summers, starting the summer after I turned 16. I was a ride operator too :), for two summers, then for the next two summers (and winters in between) I worked in the Rides Office as an Office Super. And my last summer, I was back out on the park as a Ride Super. I loved working there. It was the best job I've ever had, my first taste of freedom, and a place where I was actually one of the cool kids.
Confidentially speaking, we're getting ready to move north. Mr. Bug works in Salt Lake (out near the airport) and his commute stinks. If we land close enough to Lagoon, I'm going to see about getting a job there again. I'm too old to do rides, I think (unless they want to let me engineer the train again), so perhaps I'll see what I can find in the grounds/landscaping department. Three or four hours in the early morning, gardening at Lagoon? Sounds like the perfect job to me.
Julia is so cute. When my kids were little, they liked to climb into boxes and cupboards. I was just look through pictures of Grasshopper trying to find one of him "mowing" the lawn with Mr. Bug when he was little (couldn't find it) and smiled at pictures of him driving his little matchbox cars in all the craziest places (the fridge, etc.) I love the pictures I took of them in funny places or doing cute things in funny places.
Three cheers for Rebecca & her sewing class! Nicely done on the dress! Dresses were always my favorite to sew. I made lots of prom & homecoming dressing (never for myself) and it was a great way to earn some money.
I also enjoyed hearing about Jared and his Scout-o-Rama.
My favorite blogs to read are by the people who keep it real, and not the ones that read like magazines. It is fun to hear about your quilting adventures, but it is also fun to hear about your family adventures.
xo -E
I have trouble quilting straight lines as well. A walking foot is supposed to help.
My kids used to play in one of the cupboards. it was one of those corner cupboards. Both would get in there with a flash light. they loved it.
Ha ha.. I had a niece who would open drawers and use them as stairs to climb to the top of a chest of drawers, or to the top of a desk -etc. My sister finally resorted to having all the drawers in the house tied shut. (this was before it was so easy to get baby-proofing supplies.
I can imagine you are a proud papa. I especially like Rebecca's dress and the pattern she choose.
I like the modern quilt you made you did very very good for a first try.
Very nice to catch up on the latest pics, but tell James to stop for *one* minute so you can get a shot of him for us. =) I was just talking to my friend about your family this morning. She was sewing on my machine and I was cutting brown strips for someone. Who was that now? =)
Way to go, all four kids. You may need to invest in some safety latches for Julia, if only to keep her safe from the machines. Maybe an empty box will substitute, instead.
Richard,
Keep your head up. We are learning as we go. I think the same way you do. I love some modern quilts and want to make one, but I end up making things that look a little more traditional. I don't think you have to classify yourself one way or the other. Just do what you enjoy.
Toye
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