It's the start of "swimming pool" season

Silly faces. Happy faces. Just playing.

Same week-end, different grandkids, same amount of fun. :o)

Yesterday was a day to play in the front yard

DS#2 and family showed up with the 3 girls and I finally remembered to take photos. They were all having a lovely time. Gracie is wanting to sit up so badly.


Chloe was having a great time on the little slide,

while Lilliana was riding the bike.

Grandkids are so cute!

make an easy quilt

I am making a quick little baby quilt and I thought I'd make it with you. I wanted to do sashing, without cornerstones and I remembered the first time someone showed me how to do it. I was so excited to have all my blocks line up right without the cornerstones. Why do more work than you *have* to? :o)
So...I started out with 9" blocks (with the seam allowance still showing, it measures out at 9.5"), and just for easy math and because the print was a little larger, I decided to cut 2" sashing.

I had 16 blocks, so I cut:
16 - 9.5"x2" strips and sewed them to the right side of each block.
Now, press the seams to the sashing.

Next, cut:
23 - 11"x2" strips
You get the 11" measurement by sewing the block and sashing together and then measure it.

Sew 16 of these to the bottom of the blocks and once again, press the seams to the sashing. Yes, you will have 7 leftover.






Now, lay the blocks out so that they look good. See that left side? That's where some more of your 11" strips are going to go. Sew them to the first block in each row and press toward the sashing.



You can use any 9" block or even a plain ole' 9.5" square of fabric. My blocks are 30's and WOW, so I used a 30's print for the sashing. I'm not sure if I actually like it, but I already had it and since it still sticks with the theme, it will do.

Lay out the quilt blocks again and you'll see that your top row needs something.





Here's a close-up of the top row.








Notice that there are 3
blocks that have only two sides sashed, but the 4th block, the one in the top left corner, has sashing on the bottom and both sides. It's going to need a little longer sash.
Take the last 3 - 11" strips and sew one across the top of the last 3 blocks in the top row.










The very last block, you know, the one in the top left corner, because it has the block and 2 sashes, if you measure them, you'll find that it needs:
1 - 12.5"x2" strip.











Got all the sashing sewn to the tops of the blocks?
Like this?

Now, sew the blocks for the top row together.

Sew the next row together.


Sew Row #1 to Row #2.




Keep going.....




As soon as all 4 rows are sewn together, you can do the "Snoopy-Happy Dance" because your top is now done. :o) Yay!!!



It should measure about 44" square. You might want to split a piece of yardage that you're going to use for a backing and add in an accent strip. Just a 6" strip of fabric added in will make the back large enough for this top.

show

I went to the quilt show and took pictures for you all to attend a virtual quilt show.




2009 MVQG #1
2009 MVQG #2
2009 MVQG #3

I went to retreat

The bests part of going on a retreat is meeting up with friends and making new ones. Last month, I flew to Winslow, Arkansas, just so that I could hang out with 15 of my on-line quilty friends. If you like to see pictures, check out my Webshots album.

Digital photos are fun!

I took many pictures of quilts that I still need to upload, but these were fun pictures that I wanted to share, first. I took some of my students outside and let them use my camera. They love to take pictures and the assignment of the day was to look for flowers or animals. There aren't usually too many animals around the school, at least slow enough animals that we can capture in pictures, but this little bug was quite obliging. We caught it and it showd the students how it rolls itself up into a little pill shape. Then, we learned how to pick it up by touching it and letting it grab hold with its little feet. It was one of our more interesting lessons. :o)
Looking for flowers, all 3 students found these dandelion fluffs and had a blast blowing the seeds off. They thought it was absolutely hilarious when the seeds would land in my hair and I would pretend to be grossed out. *Yep, it was a silly photo shoot, but they learned and had fun! Don't you wish all your classes were like that?

Life is almost back to normal

I've been off work, but starting Monday, I get to start again. I know that all the students miss me, I just hope I can remember everyone's names after being gone for almost 2 months. :o)
I zipped down to Arizona while I was off work and got to visit many family members. It was a quick trip, but it was nice to get some visits in. I still think Arizona looks almost like another planet.

I also had fun at the quilting retreat I went to. It's not that I need to go somewhere to quilt, but it sure is nice to get to visit with my quilty friends. Hi Retreat Friends! I loved getting to visit with you all.
And now, it's the week-end and I have to be ready for work on Monday, so it's time for:
changing the sheets
washing the laundry
folding the laundry
cleaning the sewing room some more
making homemade bread and potato soup
airing out the house, just because it's a beautiful day
and getting in some quilting time
Hope everyone had a wonderful week-end.