Christmas part 2

 It's Christmas part 2- Celebrating with my mom and siblings. 

Here we are with our 'teacher faces.'   Lou is a much angrier teacher than Bee.

We're a kooky bunch.  We ended up with more 'silly' pictures than regular.

Here's my brother and his wife, my sister, mom, me, Hubby, and the kids in front.

My mom had the coolest gingerbread house made out of grahamcrackers and icing.

The kids were able to sneak inside.  They just barely fit.

So after a day or two we sent my sister off to the Bahamas.  And then were joined by my other sister. 

Most of us went to The American Girl store.  I had planned to have Bee's bitty-baby's head repainted but it was over my $20 price limit.  Pretty much way over the limit.  My youngest sister (middle) brought her boyfriend.  It was a first appearance for him.  

Bee and I spotted some trees that had been crochet bombed. Pretty sure we may do it to our trees.

There was a bit of goofiness, including Bee playing chess with a metal goose.

Lots of games.

Lots of hallway hockey.

And swimming- that's Grandma going down the waterslide at the Rec center.

My vacation bound sister introduced me to Aviary, a photo editing app.  It pretty much had me busy the whole drive home.  Indulge me while I share some of those photos. It's easier than Photoshop, which I'm still using at only a basic level.

 

Hopefully not all my photos will be weirdly foggy and rose colored from now on, but I can't promise anything.    Most of these pictures were taken at my mom's retirement community.  She's a manager and lives on site and when we visit, we stay there and own it like it's our own place.

new quilt

I don't have a lot of time for quilting right now, but I've had this idea for a quilt combining traditional and modern fabrics. 

I bought a pack of fat quarters at a yard sale about 2 years ago and they've been sitting on my self the whole time.  They were traditional florals and birds.

I've also been thinking about something with chevrons.  

Right before Christmas break we had  3 snow days and a snow weekend and the quilt was born.   I started with the fat quarters and grabbed stuff I had on hand off my shelves and got started.  I quickly realized that I'd need to get to the fabric store and buy more fabric.  I ended up with more fabrics than I wanted to work with, but I had to.

I haven't gotten to the fabrics that I think are going to be the nicest looking together, but I have several blocks done.

I think I'll have to stop at 4 blocks x 4 blocks. It won't be big enough for a bed, but will get plenty of cuddles on the couch.  I've got them all pinned on the sewing room wall just so I feel like I'm making progress.

Here's the quick directions for making these blocks. These triangles are super versatile and can be made into dozens of patterns.  

1.  I cut my fabric in 6 inch squares but you could do any size
2.  Put right sides together.  Sew around the edge a quarter inch in

3.  Cut the square from one corner to the opposite corner

4.  Then slice the opposite corners.

Now you have 4 triangles.

5.  Cut all the squares you need.  My blocks needed 4 of those 6 inch squares, which resulted in 16 triangles. (4 squares x cut in 4 triangles= 16)

6.  Iron open

7. Get all of them ironed and ready

8.  Arrange.  Pin in rows.

9.  Sew in rows.  Iron

10.  Sew the rows together.  Iron

I started to get a little nervous at first because it looked like the edges were going to out of whack.

But when you sew them in place, it all works out.

There are so many options for the triangles. 

I originally thought I'd go with a chevron, but it looked way to modern for some of he fabrics.  I also had a limited amount of each fabric so full stripes were out.

I messed around with several patterns. 

 
 Anyway, I'm going with this alternating chevron in pattern. 

The snow is gone.  I've got two days left of Christmas vacation so I'm going to sew as fast as I can and save the rest for Spring break. 

Merry Christmas 2013 part 1

Pictures for the grandparents.  Mostly.  I have started a new quilt and have pictures that may sit in the camera for awhile, but in the meanwhile, here are my lovies.

Christmas program at school-  I've never seen such a good Christmas program put on by an elementary program.  Seriously top notch.  This year, being involved from the other side, I do understand why.  We started in October and practiced a LOT. Like, one week I didn't teach reading because we practiced so much.  Shhh.

Hannah was in a dance group and danced with a few buddies from her class and my class.  I was their chorographer, but that term should be used lightly.  Mostly, I watched the DVD that came for me and we copied most of what they did.

Lou was in the choir.  It had a spy theme and they wore black glasses for some parts.  Finding black sunglasses in the winter was tricky but daddy pulled through for us with a stop at Goodwill.

Here's Bee's dance group.

Christmas Eve:   On our way to church-

Dear Hubby listed taking the official Christmas family picture as one of his least favorite parts of Christmas. Boo.  In retrospect, we should stand beside the tree and not in front.  You can't see the tree, but can see the TV. 

Hubby did agree to help me photograph the dog, so my photo session must not have been as bad this year.

We let the kids open their gifts to each other on Christmas Eve.  They usually make each other something. 

Something very special. This year was homemade ornaments and paintings.

Hubby's parents brought a few gifts... or more than a few.

Christmas gets stretched out for us over several days and we sort of like it like that.

  

 

Lou got the long-awaited ripstick.  It's going to take some patience to learn!   And kneepads.

 

 

 Next, we're off to Christmas dinner at a friends house (after lazing around all morning!) and then to my moms house for another round of fun and gifts.

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!