P is for PATRICK

One of my nephews turned 5 a couple of weeks ago.  He requested that I make him a "P" shirt.  So, I did :)

Made with his 2 favorite colors :)

I also made him a monster bag so he can put all of his "treasures" in it when he goes on walks.  It's just the right size for rocks, worms or whatever else he may find.

The bottom is made of window screen so dirt can fall out or little critters can breathe :)

And, this little peek~a~boo bag.

All of the handmade gifts were a hit!  I love being able to make my nephews gifts.  Especially knowing how much they enjoy them.

You may remember the first peek~a~boo bag I made for a neighbor (you can see pics here).  This one is much smaller, about 7"x 9", with the vinyl window about 3"x 4".  Great size for his Gogos. I was short on time so I used ribbon from my stash for the casing and some cording for the tie.  If you would like to make your own you can find the tutorial by Make It Perfect here.

Hope you have a marvelous Monday!

Smiles,

Beth

Linking to

PAYING IT FORWARD

Way back on June 29 I was the lucky (and very surprised!) winner of a Silhouette SD, courtesy of Mckmama (thank you!).  I was so excited that I won something (since I am typically not so fortunate).  After a few minutes of  "oh my goodness, I can't believe I won a Silhouette!!!", I thought to myself  "calm down, although it's very exciting, you already have one!".  Shortly after that I felt guilt "Why did I even leave a comment.  There are so many people that wanted one and now you have TWO!". 

So, instead of keeping it to myself, selling it on ebay or giving it away on my own blog, I (with the help of my bestie, Terra) decided that I should donate it to my boys' art teacher, Mrs. G.

We wrapped it up...

Added a couple of goodies...

And then delivered it to her (after school started back again...boy was that a long wait!).

She was so excited and appreciative.  It felt so good to "pay it forward".  I have no doubt that Mrs. G will put it to good use.  Actually, I am headed up the school at the end of the day to give her a lesson on how to use it :)

I want to thank Mckmama again for allowing me to donate this fabulous gift.

I hope everyone is having a fabulous day!

Smiles
~Beth

TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALLGAME

I hope everyone has been enjoying their weekend!  We have spent the majority of ours at Kauffman Stadium, watching the Kansas City Royals play ball.  Unfortunately they lost both games we saw to the Boston Red Box.  Good thing is that it didn't keep us from having a great time! 

Friday night we had great lower level seats and enjoyed spectacular fireworks after the game.

Those red & green blurry dots are the fireworks.  There was an emergency light behind us so I couldn't get a good pic.

We had upper deck seats today but our view was still good.

There was just enough wind to make the 91 degree day more tolerable.

Before the game we were able to take the boys into the production trailer.  Ya know, one of these big plain trailers in the parking lot (I always wondered what was in them).

Getting ready for the pre-game show.  Look at all of those little monitors!

More gadgets!!

The boys were lucky enough to wear a headset and listen to part of the pre-game show.  Sam got to push a lever (not exactly sure what it did though!).  He has now decided that he would like to be a sports producer when he grows up (after he retires from Major League Baseball, of course ;).  Thanks to Sam Abramson for showing the boys how the magic comes to life!

It was a great weekend and I hope it extends into our week!  Adjusting to back-to-school has gone pretty well for us but it has definately made the boys a little more cranky than usual. 

Here's to a great week!

Smiles
~Beth

NEW FABRIC

I received a package in the mail the other day. A yummy fat quarter bundle of Tango Dazzle by Melissa Averinos, courtesy of Cathy from CDC Quiltinggal.  Thank you!!

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CDC Quiltinggal is a great blog. If you get a minute you should stop over and tell Cathy hello. 

Smiles
~Beth

A GOAL, NOT MET {SOMETIMES THINGS DON'T GO AS PLANNED}

Last week I set a goal for myself (you can read more about it here).  Well, I didn't reach my goal, but it's OK.  Sometimes projects take on a life of their own (or everyday life just gets in the way, kiddos get sick, etc).  After getting Adam's quilt top pieced together I couldn't stop thinking that it should be bigger and it just seemed too narrow once I trimmed off the edges of the zigzags (it's about 49"x 75" now).

Zigzag tutorial by Crazy Mom Quilts, found here

I decided that it would be perfect for Adam's bed so I am now going to add 2 borders all around it.  After auditioning several different fabrics I am going with an orange coordinate from the same Riley Blake All Star line and more of the blue circles (already used in the quilt).   I'll keep you posted on how it turns out.

Happy friday everyone!

Smiles

~Beth

A GIFT FOR TEACHER

The boys started school today (post here).   We wanted to start the year off right with a little gift for their teachers.  I saw this idea on Pinterest and loved it right away!

Who knew a simple vase, some pencils (48 to be exact), vinyl, cello wrap and a little ribbon could be so cute! 

Unfortunately, the middle monster (Sam) broke his teacher's gift while waiting for the bus.  (Yeah, I couldn't believe it either).  So, I am off to the $ store to get another vase and get it up to the school before the end of the day. 

Linking up to:


Smiles
~Beth

1st DAY OF SCHOOL

HaPpY 1st DaY oF ScHooL!!!

It's that time of year again!  ALL of the boys started school today.  Yep, even my baby Adam!  I can't believe he is in Kindergarten (sniff, sniff).  I also can't believe that Nathan is in 6th grade!  (When did get old enough to have a 6th grader!)  

Sam (3rd grade), Adam (K), Nathan (6th grade)

My favorite pic of the day!

Although I am enjoying a quiet house right now I have to admit that I miss them already.  I even shed a few tears when thinking about what a big brave boy Adam was this morning (insert a very proud Mama!!).  It's also Nathan's last year at his Elementary School (he has gone there since Kindergarten).  It's going to be a school year full of firsts and lasts for us.  (Uh oh, I feel more tears coming on).

Whether your children already began their school year or they will in the upcoming weeks or they are homeschooled,  we wish you a wonderful first day!!!

Smiles
~Beth

MAKING SCHOOL SUPPLIES A LITTLE MORE FUN

With the boys starting school (tomorrow!!) I have been busy making sure they have all of their school supplies.  A few of the basics were a little too blah so we dressed them up a bit.

We couldn't find any cool boy pencil pouches so I picked up a couple of these at Wal~Mart for .79 cents (what a deal!!).

I added some vinyl cutouts (I used my Silhouette but you could use an exacto knife to create something similar) and voila, we ended up with these 'boy approved' pencil pouches...pretty cool!

We had so much fun making those that we decided to dress these up their art boxes too!  We started with this...

And with the help of some fabric, ribbon and LOTS of hot glue we ended up these...

Perfect for all of their art supplies!

We actually got this idea from my creative neighbor, Jamie.  Thanks, Jamie!!!

Do you have any fun ideas for dressing up school supplies?  I would love to hear about them!

Smiles
~Beth

WINDMILL QUILT BLOCKS

A quick post to show a little progress on my Grandma Dee's quilt.  I don't have a large enough piece of fabric to do the back in one print so I am piecing it together.  I really love the windmill blocks on the quilt top so I decided to make a few more (well, 5) to incorporate into the back.  I hope it turns out like I envision it!

Hope you have a fantastic Friday!!

Smiles
~Beth

SETTING A GOAL

I have been working on my littlest monster's {aka: Adam} quilt for over a year now.  It seems that I easily push quilts aside so I can make other things, like birthday presents and teacher appreciation gifts.  Well, it's time to get his quilt done!  And now I have the perfect motivation.  Riley Blake is having a contest {you can read all of the details here}.  It ends on August 17th so I am setting a personal goal to finish it by then {I had better get busy!}.   

Do you have anything that needs to get finished?  I challenge you to set a personal goal for yourself.  It doesn't have to be crafty, it can be anything.  Maybe you have been wanting to clean out a closet or simply hang up some pictures.  I would love to hear about it and at the end of the month we can share what we accomplished. 

Smiles

~Beth

FUN IN INDY

Warning: Picture heavy post {and there is nothing crafty}

Our visit to Indy was short but alot of fun.  The drive was long, about 8.5 hours (including stops) and there wasn't much to see along the way.  Really, it was just alot of this...

We were able to make up for it though with lots of this...

I don't know why they act so surprised that they got wet...they stood under it for several minutes.

Cool guys

Even Connor got wet!

I miss spending quality time with this little guy...just look at those cheeks!

I am not sure if he looks cute or mean in this one...I'll just go with cute ;)

Backyard football...the Dodd's against the Bregitzer's

S'mores...yummy!!!!

We also went to the Indianapolis Children's Museum (did you know it's free between 4~8 on the 1st Thursday of every month?) but I forgot my camera...ugh!  I am sure my wonderful sister will send me pics of the ones I snapped with her camera though (no rush, sis).

We already miss everyone and look forward to seeing them when they visit in October! 

We got home late Friday night.  I was going to try to sew over the weekend but I didn't get time between football practice, a birthday party and 3 baseball tryouts.  We also squeezed some quality family time in there since we all missed Jason (the hubs/Daddy) while we were gone. 

Hope everyone had a fun weekend!

Smiles

~Beth

SUNKISSED QUILT TOP

We are still in Indy (having a blast!).  Will be back on Friday.

With my Grandma Dee's birthday coming up in just a couple short weeks I have been busy turning all of my blocks from the Bloggers' Block~a~palooza into this this quilt top.  (I don't want her to have to wait 6 months to get her birthday quilt like my Grandma Carol has had to for her quilt!).

Thanks again to my gracious neighbor, Jamie, for letting me use her shady spot.
Oh, and to my biggest monster, Nathan, for using his strong muscles to hold this up for me :)

Fabric is Sunkissed by Sweetwater for Moda.  You can view close ups of the individual blocks here, here, here and here.

Now I just need to piece the back and decide on a binding.  So far I am thinking about one of these fabrics for the binding.

I really love those tiny stripes but those dainty little flowers make me smile.  I would love to know what you think :)

Smiles
~Beth

AQUA & BROWN QUILT~IT'S FINISHED {FINALLY}

It feels so good to have FINALLY finished my Grandmother's birthday quilt!  Remember when I first blogged about it here and here.

A big thanks to my neighbor, Jamie, for letting us use her shade for this pic!

I ended up quilting it myself with simple straight lines (using a 1/4" seam on each side of the printed squares).  I went with brown thread because cream stood out WAY too much on the back.  It turned out better than I originally thought.  I love it when that happens!

Most of the fabric is from the Spa line by Rosemarie Lavin for Windham Fabrics.  The solid is Kona cotton by Robert Kaufman in bone.  The back is brown flannel by Robert Kaufman.   I like the way the back really shows off the simple quilting (I am not such a big fan of how much it shows lint though!).

I used Spa Bamboo in Aqua for the binding. 

It took me almost 6 months (awful, I know!) to get it finished.  And, bless my Grandma's sweet little heart, she hasn't even asked me where it is.  Of course, she may have forgotten about it by now!  I should really make her a matching pillow to reward her for her outstanding patience.  I promise it won't take me 6 months to make!

I am headed to Indy tomorrow morning to visit my sister and her family.  The hubs has to work so I am driving the 8 hours on my own with the boys (I just might be crazy by the time we get there!).  It's been over a decade since it's been this long (just over 3 weeks) without seeing my big sis.  I know, that doesn't seem very long but we only lived about a mile away from eachother before they moved.  The boys miss their cousins terribly as well.  They are used to seeing eachother at least once a week.  Needless to say, we are all very excited to see them!

I am getting a post ready for when we are gone.  I was able to get the quilt top completed for my other Grandma...yay!  It's made up of these blocks.

Hope everyone had a marvelous Monday!

Smiles
~Beth