A Wee Bit o' Progress

We've been having all kinds of fun with family the past two weeks, so quilting has taken the back burner, but I did manage to squeak in a few things......

I got the quilt top done for the baby girl quilt.  I need to get this done this week.  I feel like the baby is going to be off to college by the time I mail it off.   I may be exaggerating a tiny bit, but for some reason it bothers me when I don't get the quilt sent before the baby is born.

 Here's my SBS Block #7- The Virginia Star:

And that's all folks!  I sound unhappy with my lack of progress, but really I'm completely happy to be enjoying time with my family.  That's what life is all about- mi familia - not my quilting obsession. :) 

This Week's Stats: 

New projects - 0
Completed projects - 0
Currently in progress - 5
Goal- Baby quilt done & mailed.  

Check out the other WIP at Freshly Pieced. 

 ............

I'm off to a train museum tomorrow - it's Thomas the Train month there and well, I know 2 little boys that are going to think they died and went to heaven!  Have any fun plans for the week?

It's Been a Week?

Holy Cow, this week flew right by!  I did manage to finish my Baby Niece Quilt (see yesterday's post).
Meanwhile, I thought my friend was having her baby in September, but um, she had it last week.  Oops.  That means I need to whip out a quilt STAT.  I barely started piecing the blocks together last night.   

Here's a quarter of one of the 4-piece Chain blocks:

 

This Week's Stats: 

New projects - 1
Completed projects - 1
Currently in progress - 5
Goal- I've got to get this bad boy done and in the mail this week.  Wish me luck. 

Check out the other WIP at Freshly Pieced. 

Pure Love

It's done!  I finished it a couple hours before the arrival of its new owners....well, surrogate owners until Baby Girl comes......

Baby Niece Love

This week I started a tummy-time quilt for my soon-to-arrive niece.  We're pretty excited around here - it's our very first Thompson cousin!  I put together her quilt top- the design is Pure Love by Jera Brandvig from Moda Bakeshop.  I altered the measurements to make it a little smaller than the original, but I love this "recipe." 

 (The baby's bedroom is yellow- thus the background- it's hard to tell in the picture but it's a white and yellow stripe).

 

And if that's not exciting enough, I'm completely in love with the fabric for the back of the quilt...... I know I said I wasn't going to buy anymore fabric, but when I saw this it called out to me in the store to buy it (I'm pretty sure it said my niece really wanted this to be the back of her quilt).

Besides that, this week I layered and pinned together my ladybug quilt and completed the SBS block #6 - The Bowtie.  I'm loving this block.  I think I see a full quilt with this block in the near future.

This Week's Stats: New projects - 1
Completed projects - 0
Currently in progress - 5
Goal- I wanted to complete the Pure Love quilt this week, but my husband has reminded me that it might be too lofty of a goal considering all that is going on this week.  We'll see.  Never say never (at least until the end of the week).

Check out the other WIP at Freshly Pieced.

A Peach Fest

This is what the majority of my Saturday consisted of......

Normally I'm a machine when it comes to projects like canning - I'm super focused and crank out jar after jar with great efficiency.  I had grandiose plans of doing the same yesterday, but the hubby got called into work for the morning, so I had to juggle 2 kids and canning at the same time.  It made the process feel so much more arduous and long.  (Oh wait- because was it harder and it did take so much longer).

 

I still managed to bottle 24 quart jars- not too shabby for a day's work.  Now if only my kitchen would clean itself I would be perfectly happy.

On a Need to Know Basis

Our Activity Day this week involved "Mission Possible"- each girl received these instructions in a manila envelope with express instructions to not open it up until they were completely alone:

WARNING:

TOP SECRET – DO NOT REVEAL CONTENTS OF THIS ENVELOPE *

Your mission (if you choose to accept it) is to complete at least two of these tasks BEFORE the next Activity Day (July 27, 2011). Make sure NO ONE finds out about your mission (especially brothers and sisters).*

*A parent may be included in your mission as needed.

· Pick up trash in a public area

· Do yard work for someone

· Make a treat and drop it off for a neighbor

· Clean up a mess at home that you did not make

· Write a nice note to a family member

· Clean an entire room in your home (other than your room)

· Make a card and drop it off for an elderly person

· Be very nice/helpful (with no negative comments) for a full 24 hours with your family

Once you have completed at least 2 tasks write about 1 of them in your journal. Come prepared to share your completed missions on July 27th at Activity Days. Those that are successful in completing their mission will receive a sweet reward.

We got together and cleaned/sanitized the nursery toys while talking about what secret service they each did. Here's their sweet reward....

I'm Back

After a couple of weeks without being able to sew (out of town, painting, and general summer madness), I was really starting to get the itch.  I had a little catching up to do with the Skill Builder Sampler. 
Here's the 4th block- Pin Wheels:

Here's the 5th block- Arizona:

I finally got around to piecing the back of my ladybug quilt....


Here's the inspiration for the quilt..... I painted my little girl's room a light yellow, and added these adorable ladybug decals. I got them from Graphical Interiors .  You should seriously check out their stuff - it's so cute!

This Week's Stats: New projects - 0
Completed projects - 0
Currently in progress - 4
Quilts to start - 2 (Baby Niece Quilt, Baby Girl Quilt)

Check out the other WIP at Freshly Pieced.

The Potter Ending

I went with a bunch of my family this past weekend to watch the final segment of the Harry Potter series.  We all liked the movie, but to varying degrees.  I think Joel was the happiest of all of us with the movie adaptation.  He felt like it was well done, entertaining, and a good conclusion.  My dad liked it, but was a bit lost/fuzzy with details (he hadn't read the books, so I think some of the stuff they left out would have helped him understand the ending a little bit better).
My mom and my sister had the most issues with the movie (they were also the 2 that had read the book right before watching the movie).  They both felt the "resurrection" scene at the end with Dumbledore was missing a lot of essential details. 

In the end, my dad did a dramatic reading of those 10 pages or so of Dumbledore talking to Harry.  He wanted the details and my mom and sister wanted to prove that the scene in the movie could have been better.

I personally think the movie was good, but when you have such high expectations for a movie it's hard to be completely wowed.  With everything leading up to the killing of Voldemort it's difficult to make it as dramatic as you feel it should be.  I was also slightly irritated by people in the theater clapping after each death.  It was distracting and annoying.  People were cheering when Voldemort died - as if he were a real person, and it kind of ruined the intensity of the movie for me.  I did think it was a good movie though.  It was a good finish to a fun series of movies. 

And now I'm saying "Good bye Potter and Hello Hunger Games!"  :)