Chalk Walk 2014

We just love the annual Chalk Walk!

I love drooling over all of the colors.  The kids love finding their favorite characters across town. This year, there were TONS of Pikachus, and Pokemon drawings and lots of Minecraft. Only a few ponies. ;-)

Of course, we had to stop and play in our favorite trees:

Emory got a little "stuck" and beckoned for the brother to help. Evander used his head. :-P

Wondering why Emory's hands are all black?

Not five minutes into our chalking did Emory find a puddle of water and discover how cool his hands look with wet, black chalk all over them. :-P

Watson Hardware has a store cat named Athena!  She was well-loved all day.

Thank God!

The boys with their art teacher. :-)

An art teacher's supplies :-)

Like spidey

Enjoy the collection of pics!

Minecraft Diamond Quilt

Ever since we became Minecraft obsessed in this house, I knew I wanted to do a pixel quilt of something Minecrafty. The possibilities for Minecraft quilts are endless, really, but I chose a diamond since it's well...prettier than a cow or pig or chicken? :-P

I used Kona Cotton Solids for the whole thing!  It was a wonderful joy working with a project entirely of Kona. These solids are really so good, and so nice to look at (they almost shimmer!). I was particularly impressed with Kona Capri and Kona Caribbean---so pretty!  Other Konas used were White, Sky, Baby Blue, Bahama Blue, Glacier and Evergreen.

It measures 33 1/2" x 31 1/2".

I glue-basted the seams using this awesome tutorial: Glue Basting Basics This is the second project that I've used glue, and I absolutely am in love with the technique. Makes for some very awesome matching points. :-)

I did a spiral for the quilting, and it was so much fun!  A lot easier to do than I thought it would be. I am looking forward to spiraling on a larger quilt.

This will go on the wall in the boys' room! :-D

Selfie!

Quilt and me, BFFs :-P

 

And since I couldn't decide which kid and dog with quilt picture was the cutest---here's another one!

She likes to play follow the leader with Chocolate. She carries around the dog's squeaky toy and what do you know? Chocolate follows! :-)

My sister says I am turning into a dog person because I talk about Chocolate a lot. I am not so sure. I do sometimes like my dog, though. :-P

Charm Pack Cherry Quilt

I'm excited to share with you my latest quilt finish--It's a super secret surprise for one super person our family has been blessed to interact with this past year. :-)

The pattern is called "Charm Pack Cherry," since it uses charm packs (packaged pre-cut squares) to save time, and can be found at here.

The print fabric is Kate Spain's "Daydream" and the solid fabric is Moda Bella Solid "Zen Gray."

 

The quilt pieced together quickly, as promised, in about five hours...but, the quilting. The quilting!  I actually stopped timing it because it was taking so long. I used a bright magenta thread, because I wanted it to stand out against the gray fabric...and stand out it did. :-P

I had the brilliant idea to stitch in the ditch with my free-motion foot, which ended up being not...so...brilliant. Eh well. It's just different looking at a whole finished quilt than it is looking at your quilting while you are in the process of quilting it. Whereas, you might think it looks awful as you are doing it...it really doesn't look that bad once it's done. Hmmmm...metaphor for life, too?

This quilt shrunk in the wash more than any other quilt I've ever made. It's perplexing since I used name brand fabric (Kate Spain and Moda) which isn't supposed to shrink as much, but apparently it does. I tried out a new batting (80% cotton and 20% polyester) which also made me think that it wouldn't shrink as much...but.... I guess quilting, like life, is a little unpredictable.

Anyhoo...it ended up measuring 48" x 47", and it sort of covers me, so hopefully it will sort of cover the recipient, too. ;-)

So sorry for the cell phone pics!  Looking a little washed out. I can remember to put shoes on, but apparently I can't remember to bring my real camera along when I am going out specifically to photograph a quilt.

For the binding, I went with some large pink polka dots. I love polka dots on the binding. I was a bit concerned with how it might look with the pink backing I selected, but it all turned out well. :-)

Chocolate after being told, "No." Lol.

Being a good doggie staying off of the quilt:

Some quilty beauty for your eyes...oh, and sweet kids playing with their daddy: :-)

I'm excited for this one to leave the house!  I love gifting quilts. I am however, looking forward to a Supernova Friendship Quilt Along I will be working on once a month through October---that one I think I will keep. :-)

Easter Eggs 2014

I love eggs. From my head down to my legs.

Actually...I am not a big egg-eating fan. But painting and decorating---I love eggs!!!

Each year I paint an egg for each child, so far based on what the kids are digging at the time. (I have to say up front here, that we are all very much still into last year's theme---My Little Pony. Whew! Just had to make sure you all knew. ;-) )

This year I debated between Pokemon and Minecraft---and Pokemon won! I kind of thought Minecraft would be visually unappealing (go figure) and require too much detail (lots of little tiny pixels) for this to remain enjoyable.

Evander chose Victini:

"Victini is the Pokemon that brings victory, and it's said that the trainer with Victini always wins. It generates an endless supply of energy to share." (taken from the Pokemon Essential Handbook that Evander bought with his own money, and waited so patiently for five days for it to arrive via Amazon's two-day shipping!).

Victini is a psychic and fire type Pokemon, so I painted him half purple for psychic and red for fire.  I had no idea until the kids and I watched a Pokemon movie together a few days ago, that this was Evander's favorite!

Emory chose Skitty:

"Skitty will run in circles chasing its own tail. It will look for any excuse to chase moving objects---or Pokemon."

Skitty is a normal-type Pokemon, so I painted he/she/it? a corresponding gray.

Emory loves cats! If you know him, you might be hearing him in your head saying, "Ummmmmmm Gihhhteee!" His classmates know that he loves cats because he is always drawing them. I love that he is known for that.

Marin chose Pikachu:

"This forest-dwelling Pokemon stores electricity in the pouches of its cheeks. From time to time, it will use an electric-type move to charge up a fellow Pikachu that is injured or weak."

Pikachu is an electric-type Pokemon, so I painted it yellow. I really tried to fight painting a Pikachu, because I wasn't thrilled with the idea of painting yellow on yellow. But, it's what Marin wanted, and I think it turned out fine using a light yellow as the base.

On the bottom of each egg, I painted the symbol for each Pokemon's type. Skitty is a normal type, Pikachu an electric type, and Victini is both a psychic and fire type, so he got a half symbol of each.

This morning we still had snow on the ground, but by afternoon it was sunny and the green grass asked me to come back out and photograph eggs. It really did.

For previous year's eggs, click on the links below:
Easter Eggs 2013
Easter Eggs 2012
Easter Eggs 2011 & 2010