Oberlin Chalk Walk 2013

A couple of days ago, my sister graciously took Evander and me out to lunch to celebrate our  Mom's birthday (the other two had gone to the hardware store with Nick, so they missed out!).  We ate yummy food at The Feve, browsed in the only shop that was open on a Sunday and strolled along Tappan Square.

We had strolled the square three weeks prior with the kids and my niece during the Oberlin Chalk Walk...so, Anna knew right where she was going when she wanted to check out her favorite climbing tree.  My sis took pictures of her in said tree...and I thought, wait, I have pictures of her in this tree...oh wow, I haven't uploaded any pictures, let alone compose a blog post in a long time.

Most of this summer, I just haven't felt well.  I'm wondering if it is allergies?  A few people have suggested so, but I've never had them before in my life, so I don't know.  Our laptop also pooted out on us, and I have just been too lazy to look for my camera cord to load pics on Evander's computer...until now.

It was a very hot day.  I was a meanie and made the kids CARRY THEIR OWN water bottles in FANNY PACKS!  My shoulder hurts just thinking about having five bottles of water in my purse.

Evander drew a robot and a creeper:

Anna liked to draw rainbow things:

I'm so sad Emory's picture is blurry. :-( He was working on a rainbow waterfall:

Marin standing on my quilt block and Rainbow Dash wearing a Buxton bag!:

We had to give Lorenzo's Pizza some love.  We collaborated on a pizza with a long arrow pointing to "The Best Pizza Ever!":

More rainbow falls:

The Ninja Turtles!:

Just like last year, we found Evander's art teacher, Ms. Wolosz.  She won the Technical Excellence prize this year.  So pretty!

Hey, it's Steve!

Next year, Evander and I want to attempt this Minecraft diamond sword drawing...he doesn't think we can do it, and well, uhhhh...I'm not really a chalk artist...but hey, we can try!  Proper tools...we need proper tools to equip us...

By Chris Carlson http://www.chriscarlsonart.com/?p=241

For a look at last year's chalk drawings click here: Oberlin Chalk Walk 2012  The drawings are much more centered in the pictures since I had a better camera then. :-/

Oh, and here are some tree pics!  The Oberlin College campus has tons of cool trees.  It is said (legend has it?) that Tappan Square has a tree from each of the 50 states.

Yes, kids, that is a genuine "Nature's Classroom" fanny pack. 

Poochy Woochy Puppy Wuppy

We...got a dog.  Or, I should say *Nick* got a dog.  I didn't want a dog, but now I have a dog. Her name is Chocolate.

Nick says he's had a dream since he was eight years old to have a Chocolate Lab named, "Chocolate."  Apparently all of Nick's dreams are coming true!

I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT DOGS!!!!  If you know me, you know that I am a cat person. You know that I wore adorable cat-laden sweatshirts and sweaters in fourth grade. You know that my first Independent Study was on cats.  You know that my Young Author books had cats in the story lines.  You know that my family had ten cats at one point (not all in the house...we weren't that crazy).  I luvvvvvvvved cats!

I will say my love has waned since becoming an adult...well...I don't love them enough to want more than one---too much fuss, too much money!

Kind of my reasons for not wanting a dog...too much work, too much money...I don't want it licking me, biting, stepping on my toes, stinking up my clothes, pooping all over my yard...so let's see, I guess before this gets any more negative...here is a pic:

I will admit, she has the cute factor going on for her!  And seeing how much Marin just adores her is pretty cute, too.

She seems like a really sweet pup...but I really have nothing to compare her to!  Nick keeps saying how docile she is, which is just fine if you ask me.  She's docile because I prayed for her when I found out Nick paid for her. :-)

Do you know that it is difficult to get a picture of a puppy that is not sleeping? ;-)

I guess her eyes will turn yellow??? According to the man we got her from...

Ummmmm...this relationship isn't going well.  Puppy wants to play with Lilo.  Lilo, not interested.

Here's to puppy-dom!  Wish me luck!

Plus Quilt Surprise

Another school year has come to an end.  The double dates, the parties and the dances. Cramming for a midterm until three.  The football games, The Max and the romances...oh wait, I'm talking about first grade here...not saying goodbye to Bayside High...

We were blessed in that Evander had an AWESOME teacher this year.  She made learning fun, went the extra mile, and did all sorts of cute projects that got sent home. Not once this year did I hear, "I don't want to go to school!" I got to see her in action when I was welcomed into the classroom to make grilled cheese and apple sandwiches for apple day, to help make root beer floats for the 50th day of school, during a class party and a field trip.  And, I kind of got a clue on her style and home decor in a conversation at Cub Scouts one night.

She deserves a quilt! :-)

Isn't the school bus back drop cool?  I am friends with the transportation supervisor who pinned the quilt to the bus for me so that I could take pictures.  Get it? Bus --> school --> gift for teacher? :-D

Look at that beautiful blue sky!

Since Evander's favorite color is yellow, I wanted to find yellow backing for the quilt.  I could not find anything I liked in the quick time that I had to look at the store, so I decided to just do the binding in a yellow and found this for the backing:

And here is the back with three pluses worked in:

I really like the way the quilting looks from the back. :-)  I quilted vines with paisley-like leaves, inspired by the flower and paisleys on the fabric. When I started the quilting, I hated the way it looked...but it's all good because I like it now. I just need to remember that one little bit of quilting is not representative of a quilt-full of quilting. 

This was the first quilt that I used a design wall to help with placement.  I had to in order to keep everything organized and where it should be.  I simply tacked two 80 cent fleece throws to the wall (thanks, Mom, who snatches things at CVS for 90% off!), and the cotton fabric pieces stuck to it.  The design wall allowed me to move the pluses around to see which color I liked where.

In progress

I'm pretty sure I changed my mind after I snapped the picture above, because it doesn't match the finished product!  But, I liked being able to move the pieces around and step back and take a look, even if I had to tilt my head, and overlook the plaid pattern, and pretend that the exercise equipment wasn't there.

Having the pieces stuck on the wall also aided when it came time to sew, since I chain pieced the squares. This means that I sewed the first two blocks in the first row, then the first two blocks in the second row, then the third, etc. without cutting the thread, which created a headache...I mean a chain! I then added the number three squares, and four, and so on. It just saves a little time.  

This was actually the fastest quilt I've ever produced!  I began right after I finished the Baby Clothes Quilt May 9, pieced it together in 10 days and had it quilted and finished two weeks later.

I know Evander's teacher was happy with the gift because she told me! :-P I was so excited for Evander to surprise her with it at school this morning.

Thank you to my friend, Margaret, who allowed me to take pictures with the bus. Speaking of buses...she has headed up a drive to collect all kinds of metal to raise funds for a new school bus. She told me that since October, they have made $7,000 for a new bus. WOW!!!

She also told me that she hopes someone would be able to help her collect cans from restaurants, as she cannot take on any more collection spots herself.  A good community service project for someone who can drive?