The music has stopped and our game of bedroom bingo is officially over!

The cast is off and I can sort of type again! The good news is sewing doesn't hurt much! So in honor of my fingers freedom, a quick blog post!

Remember the game of musical chairs from childhood? We have been playing that game for the last three plus years at our house and I think either we are going to move into a house that is just one huge bedroom and put two king sized beds together or finally declare a game over! Max was so excited when Ellie and Sam were finally born and each brought home from the hospital after our years of infertility struggles and adoption hurdles that he wanted all three of them to share a room or at least he and Sam could be roomies. From there for various reasons over the past three years we have worked through all the combinations from all three together to all three apart and everything in between. They have also been in all three of the rooms, including taking over a guest room and making another room for our guests.

Finally everyone is happy and in their own rooms. A few months ago this included saying good-bye to the cribs and purchasing big girl bed for Ellie, Sam inheriting Max's bunk bed's and Max getting a new larger bed. We are also starting to decorate each space and for me that includes making them each a quilt or in Sam's case a set for their beds. The boys bed's have bedding that will work for a bit, but Ellie has only random blankets, so I started with hers. For now the walls are a spring green from when we didn't now whether we would be blessed with a boy or a girl (it worked great when we found ourselves parents to one of each!) I plan to paint it a aqua blue perhaps someday soon, but made a fun quilt that will work with anything. I must say I love paper piecing a string quilt, but it does seem to take forever!

It was so fun working with all my favorite scraps and gathering a few new ones! Here is a closer look

Using Ashley's wonderful String Block tutorial found here. Also lots of fun examples of string quilts on flickr here and here.

I am almost done with the back and it will be off to Courtney at KC to be quilted. After the new year I will start on quilts for Max and Sam. Next up for me on the quilt list should really be a quilt for my mom for Christmas, but before starting that I think I am going to take on a quick one for my brother-in-law for the holidays. Along with my husband and their mom, they have had a hard few months since their dad unexpectedly passed away this summer. I thought maybe a special quilt would keep him warm and cozy. He is a big guy and needs a manly quilt. I feel in love by this awesome quilt from Cara and since she is nice enough to start a quilt along . . .

Check it out and join in the fun. I love the thought of this one and think it will come together pretty quick. At this time of year a quick check off the list is a good thing! I hope to get started a bit today!

Note to my children if they ever read this later in life . . . I love you all so much, but please stay in your beds all night. Last night dad and I ended up getting out of bed and going downstairs to the guest room when you all ended up in our bed around 2 am. Is it really that lonely in your own rooms?

kids sewing week challenge :: day three and day 1 one in action

The kids week sewing challenge has been tons of fun so far. It is great to feel a sense of accomplishment, especially as a mother of small children. Just feeding them and doing a load of laundry some days seems like a big success.

I have stayed on track and made something each day. (first two days) Today's item was started after bed-time last night and was done in just under an hour. Max had mentioned he wanted to be included in the fun and would love some lounge pants. So I took his favorite pair, made a quick pattern on freezer paper, raided my stash and a less than an hour later - a new pair of lounge pants!

day 3

Wednesday mornings are big around this house. It is the weekly dance class for Ellie and then both Ellie and Sam have gym class. The big dance performance is in about a month and Ellie is starting to get excited. The parents got to come into the class and watch today, so I managed to snap a few photos of our little tap dancing star in action!

As we were getting ready for class and I had her in her tights and leotard, she went and grabbed her new skirt. It actually was the perfect skirt for class, much more fun than any tutu! I must say it was a great feeling to see a skirt finished just this Monday in action on Wednesday am!

This sewing challenge has been just the thing to get me going each day and although it isn't much of a dent in the old stash, it has made me feel great to use fabrics that I love and feels even better to see the kids dancing around in them! Shot of Sam surrounded by all the girls at the start of the gym class portion of the class. He loves all the girls!

Lucky Me

Happy Mother's Day to all!

especially to you mom, thanks for visiting and we miss you already!

Not a day goes by that I don't realize how ridiculously lucky I am to have these three people call me mom. I often reflect back on my own childhood and realize the fun we had and the love we share. I realize how much confidence it gives you as a child to know that your family stands behind you and helps you to reach your goals. I hope my children always know how much they are loved and that in life we will always have their backs.

Max at 7 and three-quarters

Ellie at 3

Sam, soon to be 3

Crafty little Sunday

Ellie and Sam have been starting to love doing all things creative. They have started to spend hours playing with playdough, coloring and painting. It has been really fun to watch them grow and see the joy they have when they are flexing their creativity! Of course a added benefit, is while they are creating . . . I am able to have a little fun myself! Today while they colored and had fun with playdough, I quilted a pillow and a holiday stocking. What fun!

Love these photos and these kids!

A few months ago my sister told me that Clare was planning a trip to the East Coast from Seattle and would be spending some time in Upstate NY and was available for photo sessions.  I jumped at the chance to have her photograph the kids.  Here is a sneak peak, aren't they fantastic!  BTW Ellie is pictured in a Weekend Sewing Dress in the Far Far Away Unicorn print.  Fabulous isn't it!

First Swim of 2009

We have had the pool open for about a week, added the salt, got the chlorine generator going and just passed the water test - so all systems go.  The weather has been AWESOME and the water has heated up to the mid-60's.  Our plan was to turn on the heater, get the temp into the 70's and we would be swimming when the sun came out later this afternoon (forecast in the 70's).  Max however took the plan to mean, get your bathing suit on before breakfast and jump right in.  We tried and tried to reason with him as we turned on the heater this am, but he just couldn't wait.  

About 45 minutes into the swim, he started to look cold.  He of course wouldn't give up until he turned blue and his lips were shaking.  He is snuggled under a down comforter now trying to warm up, so he can swim later with the rest of the family.

Sam hates being left out of the fun.  He and I put our feet in and soon he was swimming in the PJ's with Max for a few moments.  Ellie stuck her feet in, splashed a bit and declared "cold" and then went back to chasing the frogs we rescued from the skimmers.

Good Folks and Weekend Sewing

Whooo hooo, I made a dress from start to finish for Ellie on my own!  My sewing skills are starting to get better.  I love this dress and have been wanting to make it since I saw the tutorial here and then further motivated by Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross.  

It makes it even better that Ellie wanted to help me sew and then as soon as I put it on her, she ran to show Daddy her pretty sew.  (which I think means pretty dress mommy made for me!)

Love this fabric and I think it is my new favorite - Anna Marie Horner, Good Folks line.  KC Custom Fabric in Saratoga Springs has a lot from the line.  I really have been trying to use other fabric, but I just can't seem to get enough of this print.  It was in the quilt I just finished, a tote bag I am working on and this.  Fabulous, don't you think?

  

The shirring is done with elastic thread in the bobbin.  So easy and so fun!  

Ellie also gave it the play test.  She was up and down the playset, climbing the rock wall, sliding and swinging.  I think I will make the next dress a little longer, but for playing this is a great length!

This last shot is of her running away from me when I wanted to change her back into her play clothes, since it was a little chilly today for a sundress!

Vacation Over - Yeah for School!

Ellie is finally starting to fight back with the boys.  Sam and Max both would sit on her and she would just laugh - now she has figure out how to sit on them!  They both had a lot of fun this weekend coloring.  Really the first time it held their interest for more than a couple minutes.  We have a lovely poster with scribbles now on display!

The highlight of the weekend is Max's new smile.  He finally lost one of the top middle teeth.  His smile has quite a few gaps now and it is so CUTE!

I have officially thrown in the towel and decided I have made everything I can for the showers for my sister.  I will now be packaging it up and sending it out on Tuesday.  I will post pictures of the main gift - the quilt in the next day or so.  It is almost done and I LOVE IT!  I can't wait to get back to some projects that I want to do for me.  Isn't the little bunny peaking out cute?  So fun and so easy to make.  I will take more photos with details of how fun and easy this was.

How did I not know how to sew when my three were infants?  These bibs are so easy and fun to make.  They will for sure go with any baby gift I give from now on.  They maybe took 10 minutes total to make and now that I know how to do snaps I could probably do them faster!  For sure I will make at least a dozen each time I make them and just have some on hand.