A little bit of sewing…

I was sick, now 2 of my 3 kids are sick (the third probably will wake up with a fever tomorrow), so I have not had the time to do much sewing the past few nights during my down time after (or if) the kids go to sleep.  Anyone else get cranky if you don’t get your “me” time?  So in between kids waking up and crying every few hours the past few nights, I’ve managed to get a few things crossed off my list.

These super modern wonky crosses are in the mail to Beky.  I loved making these blocks.  They were easy to do and pack a visual punch.  Can’t wait to see the wedding quilt she makes!

This is not my first x & + block I’ve made for a bee.  It’s a popular block and relatively easy to make, too.  I could just imagine making several versions of this quilt in different colors and fabrics if I had the time…

This star may be the death of me.  And the reason I might not sign up for another bee.  It literally took about 7 hours, which is a huge chunk of my weekly sewing time.  And it’s not perfect, kind of irritating after I spent all that time on it.  I realize some people adore paper piecing, but I now know I am not one of those people.  This is the second time I’ve had to make this exact block for a bee, so it was late going out in the mail because I basically procrastinated until the very. last. second. and then couldn’t get it finished by the end of the month.  But it was mailed on Monday and should be to its new owner by now.

 

This block I made recently but never shared on my blog.  It’s an Anna Maria Horner tutorial which I’m sure you’ve seen if you look at quilts online.  I found it to be pretty easy to make, but my block finished up a little shy of the measurements, so Jen kindly let me add a strip to the top and middle to even it out.

Here’s another x & + block in pretty blues and yellows.  I think this block is hypnotic with the relaxing colors and that Tula Pink wavy line fabric.  Look away, look away!

And then this is another bee block that’s rectangular and made from diamonds.  Loved it!  Probably because it was a challenge I was up to and purple is my favorite color.

This block is called a Bento Box I think.  It was fun picking aquas and oranges from my stash to include.  That orange/aqua strip is one of my favorite fabrics ever.  It’s Anna Maria Horner (I think LouLouThi).  It comes in other colors, but I really like the color combo in this version.

And this is one more block—I Spy Mittens—for Laura. 

We have been having many insect visitors this year.  My kids raised two batches of American Beauty caterpillars into butterflies and one group of ladybug larvae into ladybugs.  Then we collected every single tent caterpillar within a 1/2 mile radius of our house and had to feed these beasts twice a day with fresh leaves from a specific tree for almost 2 and a half weeks before they all finally made cocoons.  Now they are hatching into brown moths my kids love to hold, carry around, accidentally release into the kitchen where they scatter to the ceiling and I can’t get them down without a ladder.  But most notable are the cicadas.  This is the 17 year brood and it’s pretty darn crazy how many fly by every day.  They are not the most graceful flyers, and I laugh every time I see their romantic pursuits, unless it ends of course with one or both of them getting annihilated by the front end of my minivan going 60 mph on the highway.  Yes, they are everywhere, flying in front of traffic non-stop.  Climbing up and dying on my front porch by droves.  Luckily it’s almost over because the noise is unbearable some mornings.  Can’t even have my tea out on the front porch.

Here you can kind of tell they have bright red eyes.  Their legs are strong for clinging to your hands and clothes, but they don’t bite so my kids aren’t afraid in the least.  I was going to include a couple photos of all the holes they dug in my yard, but suffice it to say there about a million tiny holes the size of a pencil eraser in every conceivable spot in my yard.  Not a big deal though—their tunnels help aerate the soil so I don’t mind.

And here’s of those little brown moths that came from the tent caterpillars.  About 40 of those have hatched so far, and we might still have twice that many left to go.  I’m not kidding when I said my kids picked up every single one of the caterpillars.  For some reason, like clockwork the past three years there has always been a super HOT day after the caterpillars first emerge and if they spend too long on the blacktop road in our neighborhood, well they just dry out and get crunchy.  So my kids take it upon themselves to save them all.  So we did.   I will be happy when I can finally put the mesh butterfly habitats back away in the garage!

My caterpillar loving child, Bea!  This caterpillar is named Zig for the one bold zig zag on his back.  I thought we should send the photo off to Denyse Schmidt so she could use that idea for her next line of fabric.

Got a few other personal things going on right now.  The big dance recital is in two weeks and there are extra practices, plus I am a room mom for one of Bea’s classes (she does ballet, tap, & hip hop).  Esther is in tap & jazz, and little Ronnie just does the  minis.

And a few days ago we acquired a new pet.  Esther finally got her cockatiel.  Her name is Rosie.  Esther is ecstatic and so far has done an outstanding job taking care of her new charge.  She loves to read all about cockatiels and read to Rosie, too.  She even colors some pictures of cockatiels to decorate the wall next to the cage to welcome Rosie.  So we are now full up when it comes to pets.  “No vacancy.”

So between a new pet, everyone being sick, and the big dance recital coming up, I don’t think I”ll be getting a lot of sewing done.  I’m just going to concentrate on a new quilt I started. 

I’m going to call this quilt “taxi!” (imagine Carrie Bradshaw hailing a cab) I picked this yellow/black combo for my block for the Make It Modern bee, so hopefully with those 12 blocks and others I have been working on, I will have enough for decent sized quilt.

Enjoy your weekend!!!!!!!  Thanks for visiting!!!!!!!!