3 down, and more to go

I finished my most recent Christmas gift. I just love checking things off the list don't you? I gave you a sneek peek of my progress a little bit ago and you probably could have guessed what it was supposed to be. Yep, a quilt. I haven't attempted making a real quilt since I was about 10. Sure I've made fleece blankets and stuff like that, but not a quilt with a quilt top that was pieced together.

I am very happy with how it turned out and am so excited to give it away. Too bad I have to wait two more months. Sigh... So for those of you who can't wait to see it done either here it is. Again, I am not too worried for the reciever of this gift to see it since she isn't due to arrive until the beginning of November anyway.

 

I started out with 6" squares of each color then cut those in half to make triangles. So in the end I had 24 triangles of each color. Then I played around with the pattern on my living room floor by laying them out and decided on this one. Then it was just a matter of sewing them together row by row and keeping the pattern straight as I went. I rummaged through my fabric bin and found the chocolate brown fabric with pink flowers and used that as my quilt back. I sandwiched my quilt batting between the two quilt layers, pinned, and machine quilted around the squares (starting at the center and working my way out to prevent puckering). Then I trimmed the quilt back and batting to about 1.5" larger than my quilt top and rolled it over to the front to make my binding. Finally I zigzag stitched around the quilt border and was done.

Now on to the next project...

By the way... She arrived early! I found out that she was born a few days before Halloween. 

Trip to the Patch

We finally made it to the pumpkin patch! The weather cleared up nicely today and as soon as Dan got home from the 50 miler bike ride with the boy scouts we headed over there. We got there a half an hour after it was supposed to close, but were still able to do a hayride, see the animals, and pick two pumpkins for the kids to paint on Monday for FHE. I guess it pays to be nice and to have two anxious kids with you. Hehe. We didn't get a whole lot of pictures as I had hoped since we were rushed but at least we got a few to prove we were there.

This is us on the hayride pulled by a big red tractor. Ethan thought the "voom voom" was pretty cool. Kiera was being a stinker and wouldn't smile for the pictures. There's that hunger factor again I guess. We did go to Pizza Hut for dinner afterward though. 

Ethan and his "voom voom"

 

Yeah a smile from Kiera. Now we just have to work on looking at the camera.

 

 

 Time to go. Kiera held out her hand because she wanted to make sure her brother was safe when they got to the parking lot.  Ethan was very appreciative and they held hands all the way to the car. It was pretty cute. I am so glad they are buddies.

 

Family Pictures

I finally got around to taking some family pictures. Woo hooo! I have wanted to get these done for a looooong time now and yesterday was a good opportunity to just that. We originally had planned on going to the pumpkin patch that night, however the rain said otherwise. I had already dressed the kids and myself in matching outfits that day since my original plan was to take fall pictures with the pumpkins. Oh well, you work with what you've got.

So instead, I turned one of our living room couches around and draped a blue blanket down the back and made a photo backdrop. I took the lampshades off our two table lamps to get some bright lighting (it was already getting dark outside so going into the front yard for lighting was not longer an option). I then set up the tripod and set the 10 sec timer on the camera and wha la. I was able to get at least one decent family picture and learned quite a bit from the experience.

Next time the lamps will be more in front of us instead of to the side. And the kids will have just been fed to avoid the crankiness. Also the backdrop next time will be quite a bit taller so Dan can sit up. And the settings will be checked more often. Some of the pictures turned out really grainy. I think the setting got flipped at one point. Oh well, things to learn from.

 

 

 

 

It's Christmas Time!

Well not exactly...
But it is time that I started working on my gifts. I have two down, and another one in the works. I love this time of year! This year I am going to try to do all handmade gifts. I have most of them planned and am just checking them off the list as I go. I thought I would give you a sneek peek on my work in progress and maybe it'll motivate me to get it done more quickly.

Hopefully the reciever of this gift won't peek. She hasn't quite arrived yet, so I don't think it'll be a problem. Hehe.

This will be the first time I've attemped something like this since I was probably 10 yrs old. Wish me luck. What are you doing this Christmas?

Picture taking practice

Just a one more weekend and then Halloween will be here. I really need to get busy on mine and Dan's costumes. I sort of have mine together already since I am just using an old costume. But Dan's on the other hand is going to take some work.

Today I wanted to get a couple festive pictures of the kids while the lighting outside was just right. But boy is it hard to get those two to sit still long enough to get a good shot. Oh well, I will just have to keep trying. These are the best I got so far. Hopefully I can get some better ones at the pumpkin patch on Friday.

 

 

I don't know what the two of them were looking at in this one. I never did get one of them both looking at the camera. hmmmm.

Alumni Choir Reunion

This past weekend Dan and I had the opportunity to attend BYU-Idaho's Alumni Choir Reunion. Dan and I were both members of the Men's and Women's choirs there, and were excited for the chance to be part of them again. Being in the choirs at BYU-I was one of our favorite memories of going to school.

We drove to Boise first and dropped the kids off at my mom's for the weekend, picked up my brother (who had recently gotten home from his mission in Florida 3 weeks earlier), and then drove the rest of the way to good ol' Rexburg. I didn't realize till we drove up at how much I really missed this place. It felt like home again.

We stayed at Dan's cousin's new house. It was a lot of fun to see Linda again and we loved spending some time with her. We played a game called Wackee Six. It was really fun! Especially since we were so tired and loopy. We laughed so hard. That night was also one of the best nights of sleep! It felt sooo good to lay down. Driving for 12 hours is NOT something I recommend to anyone. 

On Saturday we spent the day at choir practice. And then later at 2:00 in the afternoon we sang in the Alumni concert. It was soo fun to be in the choir again, even if it was just for one night. Then we were spoiled with an Alumni banquet in the newly remodeled Manwaring Center. We couldn't believe how much it had changed in the 3 years we've been gone. This is a picture of the sunset I took as we were leaving the Banquet.

Man I miss this place!

That night after the banquet and visiting with old friends, Dan and I were able to attend the Rexburg Temple. It was sooo beautiful. The Rexburg Temple was still the the process of being built when we graduated, so it was exciting to have the chance to finally see it finished. I took some pictures from the outside while we were there and love how this one turned out! I think I might try painting it one of these days.

Isn't it gorgeous!

We had a very nice trip and are very glad we went. I am sure we'll do it again when they have the next reunion in 5-10 years down the road.

Thanks Mom for watching the kids for us! I know they had a lot of fun too.

Lunch Sack Puppets

Last night was Family Home Evening in the Glenn house. Every Monday night we try to do something together as a family whether it be an outing, game, family discussion, or making cookies together. It is one of our favorite days of the week. This week we had made plans to go to the pumpkin patch and pick out pumpkins to carve jack-o-lanterns, and to go on their hayride. Sadly though, it was getting dark too quickly and we decided to move our patch trip to this Friday when we will have some more daylight to spend.

So last night we decided to do a family craft. I had bought brown paper sacks a couple weeks ago to use for puppet making and thought this was a good night to do it. I cut out the pieces for the puppets to make 4 separate kits and then the four of us sat down and put them together. I had two glue sticks so Dan and I helped the kids glue while they slapped them down on the paper sacks. Ethan was more interested in tearing the pieces back off after gluing than he was putting them together. Kiera, on the other hand loved it! She and Dad took turns on who put the glue on and who put the pieces together.

It turned out to be a success and I plan on doing this activity again for Thanksgiving and Christmas time. Here are some pictures of our activity.

Burlap Pillow

Tonight I did another fun and easy craft for Halloween. I saw this idea on another blog and decided to give it a try. Thanks U Create for the cute idea! It was soooo easy and it turned out way cute!

All I did was take some burlap material and cut two rectangles the same size. I printed out the word "BOO" on my vinyl machine and used the vinyl as a stencil. I stuck the vinyl to one of the burlap rectangles and put some paper behind so when I painted it with my black craft paint it wouldn't bleed through. After I painted the letters I let it dry and then pulled the vinyl off. I then, took the other piece of burlap and sewed the two together (wrong sides together), leaving a 1.5" seam and an opening for the stuffing. Pretty easy so far right?
I stuffed it, sewed up the hole, and then pulled out all the strings from the 1.5" ceam so it got that frayed look. And wha la! I love it!

I also plan on making another one for Thanksgiving with the word "Thankful" or "Give Thanks" What do you think? If any of you make one I'd love to see it too.

And there was light!

I finally got around to taking a picture of our finished Halloween scene with the lights on. Now let me tell you that this thing is huge! We originally planned on setting it up on one of our plant shelves in our living room thinking that it would look cool with the vaulted ceilings. However, we made it too tall...grrr. So we now have it sitting on top of our upright piano. Now mind you, it is almost exactly as wide as the piano AND as tall. Next time we make something like this we'll be sure to measure the planned display location first. It is quite the thing.
I am still not satisfied with how the picture turned out. It looks soo much better in person! I don't really know the best way or setting to use when taking a picture of something that has lights on it in the dark. If any of you photographers out there have any suggestions, please share. Anyways, I did promise a picture so here it is.

Now its time to go and try some burlap throw pillows.  I've seen a bunch of those in the blog zone lately and think they are adorable. I have to make some of my own now. I'll let you know how they turn out.

Another project to check off my list

Today I was able to check something off my to do list. I have been dreading it for awhile and am sooo glad I am done. Making it wasn't what I dreaded, but the time I had to do it was getting less and less. I hate being rushed so I finally got my act together and did it. My daughter set her heart upon being a pumpkin for Halloween ever since she found out it was coming up. All I had to do was put it together.

At the beginning of this week I was doing my usual errands and happened to be at Wal-Mart when I remembered the task at hand. I stopped by their fabric department to see what they had and got lucky. I got the pattern (for WAY more than I would have liked to have spent on it. I am a fan of JoAnne's .99 cent sales), and some "construction flagger orange" fleece. I am not worried about loosing this child in the dark. BELIEVE ME. 

I spent an afternoon cutting pattern pieces til my back ached, and then sewed the pumpkin body together. The next morning was spent putting the hat together. It was probably the quickest outfit sewing job I've done and it turned out great. The best part is that I didn't have to undo a single stitch!!! WOOOHOOO!

Kiera adores it and I am sure she'll be wearing an orange pumpkin costume up until the big night, and maybe even longer. Now it is on to other projects. There is sooo much to be done before the year is over!

Here are a couple pictures of the finished product. I couldn't leave Ethan out, so he is modeling his bumblebee outfit that was too big for him last year but fits great now.

Baby Shower FUN

Tonight not only am I attending another baby shower for one of my friends, but I get to be a partial host. It isn't at my house but I am in the planning circle. I was put in charge of making the cake and doing a fun activity. I love making cakes. Some of you have probably seen postings of some of the other cakes I've done. Yesterday I finished decorating the cake for baby Mason. I love how it turned out! I chose to match the theme of his room which is orange and white stripes with blue whales, light houses, and sail boats. I made it pretty simple, but I think it turned out pretty cute. What do you think?

I also made mommy a nursing cover in the same color scheme. Can't wait til tonight for her to see it! The picture didn't turn out so well. I had something funky on the lens.

The fun activity I am doing I got from U Create. I love her blog! You should check it out some time. We are making a "Baby's First ABC Book" Each guest will take a paper that has a letter of the alphabet on it and draw something that starts with that letter. They'll sign there name and the mom can have it bound together for baby. It should be pretty fun! I love baby showers!

A Bit Rusty.

Just wanted to show and Tell a Little something I've been working on...I took a break from the kids when Dan got home today and escaped to my craft room. I haven't gotten my charcoals out for awhile and decided to give it a go. You can tell it has been awhile....well at least I can! I am a bit rusty. Dan came in to tell me he was on his way to gym, saw my picture, and said he looked like president Obama in my drawing. That definitely was not my intent. Grrr. I guess I will have to do two or three more before I am warmed up again. I'd love to have one of our engagement photos done in charcoal hanging up somewhere. Better keep at it.

Do you have any talents that you've been neglecting lately? Might be a good time to practice again.

"No One Likes A Frowny Face"

A couple weeks ago we had a fun family night with the kids. I am always trying to come up with something that will keep a 3 year old and a 20 month old entertained. This particular night I decided it would be fun to do a craft (imagine that!) I went to Walmart the previous weekend and bought some craft popsicle sticks, feathers, googly eyes, and pom poms. Kiera helped me pick out the feathers and kept referring to the pom poms as eyeballs. She had to tell everyone else in the store about the treasures we were buying too. You could tell she was excited too.  It was so cute and it made me even more excited about our upcoming FHE (family home evening).
That Monday the cousins came over and spent the day with us and stayed well into the evening so we got to have them participate with us. We centered the night around being happy and the song "Smiles" from the LDS Children's Songbook.
I cut out some ovals out of cardstock and hotglued a popsicle stick to the back. Then I set out the feathers and pom poms with some glue and q-tips and let the kids have at it. They all drew smiley faces on their puppets with crayon and then covered them in the assorted doodads. It was really fun for them and was simple and easy to do. Since that night Kiera and Ethan take their smiling friends with them wherever they go; even in the car. 
What do you do for fun with your family?

Halloween Project in progress

On top of trying to refinish my recliner, can salsa, and all the other bazillion things on my to do list. Dan and I have been working on a project specifically for Halloween. We got the idea from a restaurant in Portland during our anniversary and it sort of morphed into a Halloween Scene/Decoration thing. I can't remember the name of the restaurant right now but if I think of it I will post it. Anyways, it has been a long process and every time we work on it, we think of something to improve our design. Please note that this entire project came from our heads and there was no pattern or directon to it but we are very excited and pleased with how it is turning out. I thought I'd give you a peek at what we have so far. OH I JUST CAN"T WAIT!

We went from this...

To This...

And NOW THIS!

We're still not finished, but it is going to be sooooo cool when it is all done. Can't wait to show you!  Stay tuned. Now to work on our costumes...hmmmm.