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Last week my Mom organized a quilt class to be held at her office. She invited several people but a few had colds and so only a few of us ended up participating. At the class she taught us how to make star pillows using the strip piece technique, and after I finally caught on to how to pin the strips my pieces actually ended up matching. So far I’ve made three – one set and then one single pillow.
This is the first star that I made – I made it at home a couple of days before the class so I would know what to do. I ended up taking it out a lot (I can’t even remember how many times) and it is a little bit bumpy or something in the middle, where the points meet. However, this is the first one I made of this color, then I made the red below, then another of this purple one – and the second purple one, wow – it just about all matched up AND lays flat in the middle. I’m amazed I was able to do that because really, the pinning really threw me off. I’m not sure why it took as long to figure out or to catch on to either. This is the first time I’ve ever strip pieced though so I’m very happy.
Here’s the red (and purple I suppose) star – this one I don’t think I took out at all and it ended up with nearly every point meeting up and the middle lying flat. I have yet to add the white, but am going to get that done this week. During the quilt class Mom taught, one of my friends used this same material and also copied my pattern – so I figure I’ll finish this and give it to her so she can have a set. Mom already said I’m going to be the star quilt maker in the family since my stuff has matched up so easily and the center lies flat. 
The book that Mom has that she uses is the Radiant Star Quilt by Eleanor Burns. We used the four color and just adjusted the size for a 18″ pillow vs a blanket.
I have been SO crafty over the past few months! I’ve made baby blocks for a friends new baby, crocheted a baby blanket, did the beadwork projects for my class, sewed pillows, made ribbon pillows with my Mom, helped Mom make a table topper for my niece as a wedding gift, helped make a table runner for my sister in law for Christmas – and the list goes on! Oh and we can’t forget the Christmas ornaments I made for a handful of friends, as well as for my brothers and their families.
But for the first craft of the year – I made myself a crochet hook holder. I’ve been wanting one for quite a while and finally got around to it. We spent the night in Seattle when we dropped Chris off at the airport, and I came home and immediately cut the fabric for it. It took a few hours because I couldn’t grasp the idea of the instructions – and of course after I finished the project, the instructions are very easy to follow along with.
One mistake I made is putting the flap on the left side (as you can see) because in the instructions it says to put the flap in between the inside and outside fabric, on the top right side. Well they meant the top right side after you were finished – not the top right as it was laying on the table. So my flap ended up there. But it still worked just fine! There are 12 pockets for hooks, as well as a larger pocket on the right side for scissors. The flap makes it so the hooks don’t fall out and it closes with a cute button.
The button I got from my Mom’s stash and was a quick add. This project is from the Sew Darn Cute book – there are several things in here we are going to be making over the next month or so. My Mom already made a handful of needle books from it, and Alice is going to make headbands for a few of her girlfriends.
So that was the first craft of the new year! Actually, the first after Christmas craft as this was done a few days after Christmas. I also embellished a crochet hook (need to get a picture of that, I thought I had one but guess not!) and worked on baby moccasins that day. Living with my Mom has really opened me up to being able to sew and be even more crafty then I used to be. It helps that I went back to school and the kids are in school. Before we would have full days and while my own schooling keeps me busy, I have lots of free time when everyone in the house is gone so I can get a lot done.
Last year I picked a word, actually I picked a few words, to strive to live by for the year. There were times when I didn’t think about the words at all, but there were times when I leaned heavily on them.
Last year my words were: Just Breathe. Be Strong. Be Generous.
I didn’t try to actively do any of these things, like doing something and then realize oh I should be generous. Instead I tried to just live my life that way. I tried to be strong because living at our last duty station was horrible, I tried to be generous when we moved and were on the road for so long, and in times of anger or sadness (or anything in between) I reminded myself to just breathe.
I want to pick new words for this year. I think these went along together nicely and maybe I’ll keep one or two of them. We are facing another year of challenges – a new baby, public school woes (there is a bully who just won’t leave my daughter alone!), sports, traveling, being apart from Chris, and I’m sure I’m forgetting a few things!
We’ve been in the military for 11 years now, married for 9 of those, and the past couple of years have been the hardest so far. I didn’t think it would get easier, I didn’t think that him going from enlisted to officer would mean it would be easier either, but I certainly didn’t think it would get this much harder. Somedays I just focus on taking care of the kids and myself, and just breathe and be strong to get through the day. Being separated by over 14 hours and who knows how many miles and hardly getting to see each other – it’s a test of a relationship for sure.
So the quest to find my 2010 words is on! I have several blank notebooks that I plan on journaling in this year and am thinking I’ll devote one to my words.
It’s amazing how busy your life can be when you have kids in public school for the first time, you live with your Mom and you go back to college. Some days I felt like whew, got through it!
I did good in my classes for the quarter – I did end up with a C in Algebra, which I was disappointed in. My teacher said if I got a C on the final, I’d end up with a B for a final grade – so after seeing the C, I figure I bombed the final. I knew I didn’t do that great, but I didn’t think I did that bad! But a C is passing and I got two A’s, so my GPA is good (not like that matters too much since I’m transferring the classes out anyway!). The next quarter starts in a couple of weeks and since the baby is going to be here shortly after that, I am taking two classes but they are art classes and will be easy to keep up with, or catch up with anyway. I’m taking the second beadwork class, with the same teacher from the first one, and then a drum making class. I’m excited about both! I am not sure what projects I want to work on for the beadwork class, but she said she lets us pick whatever we want since we know how to bead from the first class (or in my case, I’ve known since I was like 11 years old).
Chris is still gone – which is annoying but that’s how it goes I suppose – but he did get to come back for a few weeks at Christmas. He’ll actually be back in a few weeks because he gets baby leave. I just found a great ticket for him last night actually! He is going to fly into Vancouver vs Seattle – we are about 45 minutes from the Vancouver Int’l Airport, vs being two and a half hours away from Seattle. So I can just leave a little before his flight will be there to pick him up vs driving hours or having him ride the shuttle (so a small amount of savings) and then when he leaves we don’t have to stay overnight, we can just drive up, which saves on a hotel room. Oh and he doesn’t have to pay for a hotel over in Japan because of when his flight leaves. Even better, the price difference between the ticket to Seattle and to Vancouver is $130. Figuring in all the savings, it’s cheaper for him to fly there. How awesome is that!
Today we are not doing much, we all stayed up very late of course. I’ve been very crafty for the past few months and will start posting some pictures as an update. I hope your new years eve celebration was fun and all that you wanted it to be! Here’s to a fantastic 2010!
I have a secret.
It’s a good secret! It’s one that I didn’t want to share because I was scared. I was just scared out of sheer being scared. Nothing is wrong.
First – check out my kids on Halloween – Jake was a mouse and Alice was Fancy Nancy!
They got great reception from the houses we stopped at on Halloween. Jake’s class also had a party Friday afternoon and everyone loved his costume. I love that he picks outside the box costumes, remember the egg from last year?
I even dressed up for his party though I didn’t on Halloween. All I did was drive them around the neighborhood, I probably would have if I was walking.
Mom made me the M&M costume.
But it wasn’t really my costume.
It was the baby’s first Halloween costume.
See, I told you it was a good secret!
We are having a baby at the end of January. I’m feeling really good, I lost weight at first and have yet to gain it all back – but he’s growing, moving, kicking and doing back flips. I was worried at first, considering that George died that’s normal I suppose. Mom went with me to the big ultrasound, the one where the baby is checked out, measured, etc., and everything was/is fine. That was a big relief for me, though this time getting pregnant did not involve already being on birth control.
And yep, I said he. Another boy! With the babies my brothers have and my (now) two boys – we can have a football team. Amazing! Who would have thought my Mom would have that many grandkids.
We have a crazy amount of Legos. My Mom has always had legos in an under the bed box and it was a free for all play field for any kids that stopped over. I’m not sure how she managed to keep it to one box, but even all these years later she has the same box full of the same legos.
We have gone the route of buying the various legos for the kids, especially last year at Christmas. We spent so much time putting together this set or that one – Alice got the pink legos that come with a girl and a horse, and Jake got a big Sponge Bob one – then what happened: they all got mixed up together. Ah well, at least we did them once to see what they looked like!
Fast forward to living with Mom and trying to think of what to bring with us. I didn’t plan very well when it came to that! I didn’t bring all of my clothes so don’t have any sweaters or winter jackets, and did bring some toys but it seems like I left the things they really wanted in storage.
We do have legos with us though. Hence the creation of a lego parts store:
From the top you can see there is a leg section, a hair section (the brown spot above the heads), a head section and then the body section. I’m not sure why the bodies have their arms up like they were first captured by the police, before going to the store. The ones laying down on the side are the ones just made.
Next up on my list – the Lego Advent Calendar!
I wanted one last year and never bought it because I wanted to make one for us to use. Well I feel the same way this year, I want to make one but I am also going to buy this one. It looks so fun.
I figure this will be the one that’s left out for the kids and the one I make will be full of treats for the grown ups – either candy or sewing/crafting supplies!
School
Beading
Sewing
Crocheting
Soccer
Jake #22
Alice – the defender for the team
And in the midst of it all
Jake’s first lost tooth!
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