Hampton Beach, NH

Here are some of the pics from our trip to Hampton Beach.  We had beautiful weather...just a little too hot for me!  There was a sandsculpture contest that week.  Some of them are really cool!  Check them out!

 

 That's how we all felt by the end of the day!

April Fools

Happy first day of April!  This is always an exciting time of the year for us teachers.  We know that right after spring break next week (and the state testing that follows) it is all downhill toward summer vacation. Yippee!!  Although, the fact that I teach summer school every year kind of puts a damper on the whole summer break thing.  But, it is nice to have the beautiful weather and be able to spend so much time outside.

Well, I've decided I would like to make a strip quilt for my Hands 2 Help Quilt.  I wanted to try something more modern looking with straight line quilting at the end.  I found two great examples/tutorials here at Twin Fibers and Film in the Fridge.  Not sure if I want to add the ric-rac to the strips...but it might look cute in pink on plain white strips of fabric.  We'll see!

On another note, I have the fabric picked out for Ilona's birthday quilt.  I know she loves black, white and red.  I found a cute black and white fabric collection and bought the fat quarter bundle at The Joyful Quilter.  I also found a beautiful fabric for the back.  It has a red background with black and white flowers.  I think she is going to really like it!  I took a picture of the pattern I'm going to make.  It's hard to tell what it will look like in black and white...sometimes I start to think it would look better as a log cabin quilt with the dark/light contrast in fabric colors.

Here is a peek at the fabric:

This is my favorite dark fabric print.

And now for the lights!

This is my favorite light fabric.

Here is the fabric for the back. 

I LOVE THIS! 

I would like to make a quilted bag of this for myself!

So cute!

Sunny can hardly keep his head up and eyes open!

He is waiting so patiently for me to finish so I will play ball with him.

Skye, she doesn't care about what I'm doing.  Not when Mike is in the kitchen with food out!

We call her "Hoover" now.

Have a great first day of April! 

(and no playing tricks on Nana kids!)

Olivia's Birthday Quilt Finished!

Olivia's birthday quilt is on its way to Colorado as I type. 
AND...here it is!

This is the front of the quilt.  I used the pattern "A Piece of Cake" by Camille Roskelley of Thimble Blossoms.

Here is the back.  It's nice and purpley for Olivia!

It's hard to see the fan quilting on the back.
So here it is on the front:

I tried something new with the binding this time. I zzzzz zig-zagged the stitches. I thought it might hold up better this way.

One last look on the LazyBoy!

 Oh, and here are my two helpers doing what they do best while I'm on the computer or sewing.

SNOOZING!!!

Aren't they sweet!! XOXO

Let's Go For a Walk

Here's my Skye girl waiting patiently for me to finish ironing the fabric for the back of the quilt.

"It's way too hot in here to be ironing."

Next, I have to cut the fabric into 10" strips.

I just love my 3 1/2" ruler with the sticky sandpaper circles on the back.  It never slips when I'm cutting. I can thank my teacher at the Joyful Quilter for this piece of great advice.  Do you remember Mom when I once cut the end of my thumb off with the rotary cutter because my ruler slipped?? OMG!!!

Now I'm cutting the strips into 10" squares.  They will be the back of my fabric "sandwiches" I will start sewing this weekend.

Here are my finished squares...all 42 of them!

Skye is smiling...she is happy I am finished for today!  It has cooled down a lot now outside and the sun is still out. 

 You know what that means...TIME FOR A WALK!  Let's go Skye! Bye!