Common Threads

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Spring 2012

It's the Blogger's Quilt Festival again (as if you haven't noticed all the wonderful quilts popping up)! Click on the button below to see some awesome quilts.

 

 

The quilt I'm entering into the festival this year is one that I just finished, yesterday.  I pushed to get it done in time and the last bit of finishing went much faster than I thought it would.

 

This is our new bed quilt.  It is done in a Quilt-As-You-Go method and made from scraps of fabric.  It's a great way to use up extra scraps!

It measures 91" x 104".  Each block is 13" square.  There are 56 blocks, 7 blocks by 8 blocks.

 

I began the quilt in Spring 2010 and it took two years to complete.  I did have some help from the girls in my Wonky Quilt Bee to finish up 10 blocks.  They really helped me "complete" the last stretch.  

I genearlly followed this tutorial from Sew, Take a Hike.  I spaced my lines about 3/8" apart and increased my stitch length to 3.5 most of the time.  Of course, each block is unique and I developed my technique over the years, so the early blocks are a bit different.   

This quilt contains bits and pieces of past projects.  I love being reminded of all the wonderful fabrics I've used over the past few years of quilting in one place.

 

This is by far the largest quilt I have made. It is also the most time-consuming.  Partly because it was large, but also because of the technique.  It's basically quilted twice.   

I quilted each square and then assembled the top to be 7 squares by 8 squares.  I then made my sandwich with the back and an additional layer of batting.  So, there are essentially two pieces of batting.  I wanted to add a little more body to the quilt as it was going on our bed.  I also wanted the back to have a bit more stability.  Other than being a pain to finish with my machine, it worked out well.  Since the quilt is so large, it was difficult to wrangle through my machine.  I kept splitting needles.  I think I went though five needles.

I quilted the sandwich by stitching in the ditch around each 13" square, each center square and around another "square" in the somewhere in the middle of each block.  I'm not normally one for stitching in the ditch, but because the quilting was already done, I didn't want to detract from it with more quilting.  The weight of the quilt preventing me from making even, straight stitches.  It's not the best quilting job, but most of it is hidden by the quilt-as-you-go lines.  

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

*** *** ***

Outdoor fun

I'm been trying to introduce Liam to a few preschool activities, especially those that involve outdoor fun.

A friend recommended a web site that has a free preschool curriculum from age two to age five.  It's called, ABC Jesus Loves Me.  I've been trying the 2 Year Curriculum with Liam.  Well, we've done two days, and not all of the activities.  I'm not sure wether or not I'll continue with it, though.  

I had grand plans, being a teacher, of doing the recommended activities throughout the day, and engaging him in learning the different elements.  The Bible story, the verse, the Bible related art project, the poem, the song, the color, number, abc activities.  It's all good stuff.  

But, I've found I don't have the time.  One, to plan it.  And, two to implement it with any consistency.  There's always something else I'd rather do.  I suppose I'd be more diligent if I knew that I could stay home full-time.  But, as it is, I go back to work in a couple weeks (only for two weeks before summer break) and I have to work in full-time next year, too.

I'm also torn.  Being a teacher, I have a strong background in direct instruction and teaching with a purpose.  What that basically means is having objectives that you want the child to learn and teaching them those objectives.  It involved a lot of instruction and a lot of repetition.  The above web site gives you ideas for that type of instruction and they're all fun activities that would engage almost any two-year-old.

However, I'm not sure it's a good use of time.  Liam is two.  I'd rather he learn about the world through exploring it and just being "in" it, rather than learning about it through school-type activities.  I'd like him to "decide" what he wants to learn and be engaged in learning, instead of just learning facts.  I want there to be a purpose to him learning something.  

For example, we've been working on colors.  Colors come up in the books we read, the markers we play with, and the playdough we create.  He needs to know his colors to tell us which "one" of something he wants.  We repeat and work on the colors throughout the day as the necessity arrises.  There's a purpose to him knowing the colors and the learning comes from all different places.  

I really like the philosophy of unschooling.  Google it and you'll get an idea of what it's all about.  We waste so much time in school and in classrooms.  Being a classroom teacher, I see and experience it all the time.  Think back to your time in K-12 education.  How much of what you learned do you use today?  You use things specific to your job, definitely.  But, general education skills?  

The one thing that I've learned how to do is "find out" what I don't know.  I know how to figure out how to do what I want to do, whether it be how to fix something at home, how to quilt, knit, how to grow vegetables, or how to use some piece of technology.  Part of that is my personality (always a learner), but it is what I want to instill in my children: the ability to learn.  I don't want them to know a lot.  I want them to know how to learn what they don't know.

Including how to clean up from a messy activity!

Work in Progress Wednesday

This week has been spent trying to quilt this behemoth.  Much wrangling has ensued.

I'd like to say I'm almost done, but, alas, no.  It will take many more nap times.

Ironing Board Cover

My ironing board was in sore need of a new cover. It was ripped in quite a few places and my iron kept getting hung up on the holes.

I'd planned on making an elaborate cover with either elastic or ribbon to cinch down the edges.  But, when I turned my ironing board over to use it as a template to cut the fabric, I realized that the original cover was simply stapled down.  I figured, "why not?".  It seemed easier, and it was.  This is really a low-sew method.  

I simply cut about a three-inch perimeter of fabric around the board and stapled it in place, folding and using a few mroe staples at the curves.  I did sew two pieces of fabric together, to make a more interesting cover, but other than that, not much sewing took place. 

What's for dinner? - Recipe Blog Hop

We've been earnestly trying to plan meals in order to save money.

If I'm able to plan what we have for dinner, I can substantially cut our grocery bill and we don't end up eating out because we're too tired to make dinner.  Plus, with a toddler, I'm starting to think it's easier to eat at home!

But I've run into a problem.  I'm getting bored with our normal selection of meals.  I have a list of dinner ideas that I draw from.  Occasionally, I'll consult one of our cookbooks to get some new ideas - tried two this week. Sometimes they get added to the list, sometimes they don't.

The question is: What do you eat for dinner?

Is anyone interested in doing a Recipe Blog Hop?

Here's how it will work:

Once a week, one of you will feature a recipe on your blog, with photos and directions on how to cook it.  I'll keep a list of all the participants here (which you can duplicate on your blog).  Then, we can get a plethora of recipes to try out ourselves. (Don't you love the word plethora. It got way overused in high school as one of those SAT words you had to know. And, then, I don't even remember it being on the SAT!).

The rules (subject to change as people ask questions!):

1. The recipe must be a main meal (lunch or dinner).  It doesn't have to include the sides, or you can feature a couple recipes to make a full meal.
2. The recipe must be family friendly (i.e.: no obscure ingredients that you can't find at a local grocery store).  I'd say it has to be kid friendly, but kids are all picky eaters!

If you don't have a blog, you can still participate.  You can email me the recipe with photos and I'll post it here during your week. We'll determine how many weeks the Recipe Blog Hop will be depending on how many people participate; the more people the more weeks!

So, are you interested? 

If so, leave a comment.  You don't have to include the recipe or week, yet.

Just for good measure, a button:

<a href="http://commonthreads.typepad.com/common_threads/2012/05/whats-for-dinner-recipe-blog-hop.html" _mce_href="http://commonthreads.typepad.com/common_threads/2012/05/whats-for-dinner-recipe-blog-hop.html " target="Common Threads: Recipe Blog Hop"><img width="262" alt="commonthreads" src=" http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7060/6996993618_74e25d8065.jpg" _mce_src=" http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7060/6996993618_74e25d8065.jpg" /></a><br />

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

*** *** ***

The mind of a two-year-old

This afternoon Liam and I were reading books that had large pictures of animals.  The animals themselves weren't necessarily large, but the picture filled the page and most of the time, the animal's mouth was open.  

Liam would stick his finger "in" the animal's mouth, pull it out quickly, and say "ouch" while shaking his hand.  It was really cute.  He started it with a picture of a flying dinosaur and continued it with other animals, especially the ones that had teeth.

I wonder where he gets it from.

And, just because the post needs a picture:

Backyard Playground Building

A couple years ago, Jordan's parents bought and remodeled a house with a huge yard.  Well, huge by California standards.  They worked on the house first and have been focusing on the landscaping and yard for the past year or so.  Last year, they bought a playground from Costco and recently began the work to install it.

Liam helped out a bit, moving debris, but mainly he does what any two-year-old does, played and explored.  Of course, the adults had to take some breaks to play with him.

They laid stones around the perimeter and began construction on the playground a couple weeks ago.  The goal was to finish the playground before Oliver's welcome party, which was last weekend.  Liam tried out the swings shortly before the party and the playground was a big hit amoung the eight toddlers and preschoolers who attended the party.

Wonky Quilt for Oliver

I've neglected the blog for quite a while.  Let's just say that when I do find a free moment here and there, blogging hasn't been a priority (read: dishes, laundry, sleep).  I do have a few things to blog about, though.

The first is a gift for Oliver that I totally wasn't expecting. For the past year or so, I've been part of the Wonky Quilt Bee on Flickr.  We're in our second round of wonkiness.  The girls from the first round got together and made a quilt for Oliver.

I love the navy blue and green together and all the scrapy blocks add so much color.  Of course, I only have a photo of this side with a sleeping baby.  The other side has additional wonky blocks and more green than blue. 

Thank you, girls, for your hard work on this quilt!  It was a complete surprise receiving it in the mail.  We love it!  It's a great quilt to take along to allow the baby some time on the floor.