Link Love

dancing shadows, daddy and daughter.

It's been a while since I've done a link love post, but here are some I've found worthy of passing on.

Made these  with the ladies at our first Bible Study this semester.
I love this local girl's craft room-which she made for practically nothing.

How I'm teaching my kids to ride a bike (without holding on to the back of their bikes).
If you homeschool, I recommend reading this post on homeschool blindspots.  

Wondering if I could use a free 8x10 canvas print for any Christmas gifts, (shipping is $14.95).

Have a beautiful weekend. 

WIP: the Kitchen Window

So this was a work in progress post: the Kitchen Window,
also from Elizabeth Hartman's Modern Patchwork book.

and then it was such a quick quilt, that I finished it before I could post about it.  hate when that happens.
i'm kidding.  i love when that happens.

Surprisingly, I think what took the longest was the binding.  I decided to try to machine bind it with red pepper quilts' tutorial.  The tutorial was great, and she warned it would take a while to get the hang of it.  But it also made it seem really simple-basically stitch in the ditch on the top side, with the binding a tad bit longer on the back.
But stitching in the ditch is harder than it seems and pinning perfectly is much harder than it seams.

seams, get it?  i love play on words.

I bet when I've made 100 quilts, I'm sure there will be a few things that I remember about each one.  The thing I will probably remember about this one (besides the time I spent on the binding with my seam ripper) was this yellow floral fabric by amy butler.  It's discontinued but I really wanted it for the quilt.  I wanted a stained glass window look and thought the colors were perfect.  I found a fat quarter of it on etsy for $7.  That was enough for the top.  When I tried to order 2 more yards for the bottom, the seller asked $27/yard!  So, to Joann's I went to find something else (more of the blue damask).   I know it's discontinued and beautiful, but really?  $27?

I started cutting the next one, and this one will surely take longer, so maybe next time I really have a work in progress post.  Although my quilting remains a work in progress.

What are you working on?

ps, i'm linking this WIP post to Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday party. 

Our Letterboxing Birthday Party

My Boo is 6!  Last Friday we had a letterboxing birthday party for him and his homeschool buddies.  

Being able to have weekday birthday parties that free up your weekends is reason #28 that we homeschool. You think I just generated that number, but really, this semester already, I've made a list to remind myself why we homeschool.  I'm wondering if anyone can relate.  

If you've never letterboxed, letterboxes are boxes hidden in public places, like parks.  Clues are left on websites like letterboxing.org or Atlas Quest.  The boxes contain a notebook and a rubber stamp.  Finders make an imprint of the letterbox's stamp in their personal notebook and leave an impression of their personal stamp on the letterbox's visitor's book-or logbook.  Got it? 

We started the party with each guest making their own letterbox to take home to hide somewhere.  The kids each made their own stamp from foam sheets glued to  dry sponges, and two foam stickers stacked on top of each other.

Once everyone had a personal notebook and stamp, we split the partygoers into two groups-the first grade boys and the siblings. Two letterboxes were hidden in our neighborhood park, so  one team followed clues for one  box, while the other team  found the other box.  Then, they switched clues and  found the other box.  

Then the pizza arrived, along with cupcakes!  Because what's a party without hot pink icing? 

    

And the very next day Boo told me one of his teeth hurt.  I looked at it- and it's about to fall out!  First one for him, and it seems like such a milestone!  The saying "the days are so long, the years so fast" is too true, isn't it?  How is he six?  and why am  I so tired all the time?  Sheesh.

Mini Quilt Monday: A Mini Quilt in a Week

Monday:  Find inspiration on flickr...this seriously makes me want to join a quilting bee.  Rumage through stash.

Tuesday: Cut, piece, sew, repeat.

Wednesday: Add backing and quilt.

Thursday:  Bind mindlessly while watching a movie you've already seen. (Pulp Fiction is now streaming on Netflix?  Sure, let's just watch a few minutes.)

Friday: Find a good hanging stick.

Saturday: Try it out all over our house and still never seem to find it's home...it's in the schoolroom for the now...

What are you working on this week?

ps, i'm linking this up to Fresh Lemons Quilts' Mini Quilt Monday party and TCB's Get Your Craft On.

Modern City Train Table

For years, our old yard sale train table has only boasted a bare sheet of plywood.  This summer I added it to my list of projects.

I considered a subway map-like the London Tube.  But decided it was probably a little too modern for what I was thinking. 

via

So I searched street maps.  I found one, also of London, and printed it as an 8 x 10, then took it to FedEx Office to get it copied as a transparency. 

via

Years ago for the boys' room mural,  I bought an overhead projector for $10 from a used office supply store-maybe a recycling place?- I found through eBay (refine your eBay search to local shops).   Glad to use it again, I projected the city map on the plywood (after using woodfiller and covering with Kilz). 

We taped off the roads to paint only the areas around the roads.

And those London stamps?  They now show some landmarks.

Field Trip 1: Frisco Fire Town

I imagine most everyone is back to school by now.  We started when our public schools started-about 3 weeks ago.

One goal for our school year is to take more field trips.  Dallas has a lot to offer-and I want to take advantage of it.  I also have good friends who have good organizational skills and are making most of the trips possible.

Like our trips to Frisco's Safety Fire Town and Ikea.

Frisco's Fire Town is a miniturized town to teach K-5th graders free safety classes.  We took the Basic First Aid class on Monday, and the Bicycle Safety class on Friday.  Ikea, which is 4 miles away, was Kids Eat Free, so a perfect place for lunch.

our homeschool friends-thanks, Ms. Stacey!

The classes are a power point presentation made by one of the firefighters and are about 20 minutes long.  Then they go outside to the Safety Town and ride bikes to practice safe riding skills.  Bikes and helmets are provided and they had plenty of bikes with training wheels.  And good to know: in the heat we've had, they provided water.

After riding for about 30 minutes, the display fire truck was opened up to climb on and through.  As we left, each child was given a goodie bag of a sticker, puzzles, and a class certificate. The kids thoroughly loved visiting.

Then we moved on to Ikea to learn other life lessons. Like how bussing our own tables helps keep costs low.  It's really true.

Are you taking any trips around town?

American Girl Doll Jeans Pattern

Molly's home from the American Girl Doll Hospital after both legs were amputated.  She was returned as good as new, then Brother gave her a nice haircut.  I am not sending her back though.  But a simple wardrobe update, I can do.

I found a great site for printable doll patterns-Liberty Jane.  Several are free, but I bought a denim pattern for $3.99.  It was very easy to follow with pictures for every step.

And I put the pattern in one of Belle's workboxes this week-so she cut the pattern pieces out for me. 

I hope my Belle knows she is loved after an afternoon of sewing little pants.  I don't remember if I realized the work (and love) my mom put into my dolls and their clothes, but I see it now.