Lots of pictures and a video

I have tons of pictures I want to share but I guess I will spread them out.
First, is my mom's baby quilt. She brought it up for me to take a picture for her. It is really adorable. I hope the recipients like it.

Close up...
My hubby is such a good dad. Not ashamed to have a little girl. Here he is laying in my daughter's bed brushing Barbie's hair. I'm surprised he could get in it with all the stuffed animals there.

We went to my father in law's work picnic. He retired years ago but he still goes and they put on a great picnic. M was so excited to ride a pony. "Mommy, it's a real horse!!!" Why, yes it is. Isn't she smart? :)

Finally, we finally got the video from her dance recital in June. She is the one on the very end to the right. Totally doing her own thing. They are all so cute!

I'll stop now and save some pictures for later in the week. My life isn't that interesting. I have to spread it out.

Is This Summery Enough?

Here is my Doll Quilt for the Good Ol' Summertime Doll Quilt Swap. I am so happy to be done (almost). All I have to do is sew on the name patch and my mom is mailing one to me tomorrow. I don't have a sewing machine with embroidery so she is quite helpful.
So, this is a dresden plate enlarged to 22 inches. I used the EQ5 program to get the pattern. Then I sewed on a back to cover up the yuck and I used a dinner plate to measure the center. The "seeds" are mini yoyos. I had to make over a hundred and then sewed them together. That's what took to most time. I know I said it was going to be a sun but I had to make some changes when it looked more like a sunflower than a sun. If anyone is interested, I would be happy to make a tutorial for it. It was super simple. I thought I would go crazy until I started and it was a snap. I am waiting for the patch for the other one too and then I just have to sew on the binding.
I have one quilt block cut for the quilting bees. Slowly I will catch up. :)

What to do in the hot sun???

We have had the most amazing weather this summer. Last summer we had like two and a half weeks of run through the sprinkler sun. This year- WOW! Like two and a half weeks of cloud and rain and that is all! We folks here in Bellingham do not weather well in the heat. Most places and homes do not have air conditioning. Here is what we do to keep cool.

We all cram into the kiddie pool. Oh, yes, I got in too. What a sight. Two grown adults and a small child crammed in the kiddie pool. But it was refreshing because the water was ice cold from the hose!

M is taking swim lessons again. I have to say its quite enjoyable for me too. Her swim instructor is a young 22, tan, quite muscular man. Nice. M loves the class. She is definitely a water baby. I just sit and watch and make mini yoyos for my doll quilt. I figure I have to make at least 100 and it takes forever. I think the mini ones take longer than the big ones! Oh and that ball she is balancing on. She woke up in the middle of the night crying because it popped and she was so upset. Kids are weird.
So I did a Favorite Things swap at According to Kelly. This is what I sent. Above all pretty and wrapped. M helped with the stickers. Below:All the stuff. I went a little crazy. I sent my partner 3 crayon roll ups with pads. She has three kids. I sent her a purse first aid kit. This really is my new favorite thing. We were at a friend's house and M skinned her leg and arm and they had nothing in the first aid department. Even band aids. I also sent some smelly lotion and soap, a butter cup bag, a list taker, and candy. Who doesn't love candy.

Here is what Jenny sent me:

Her new favorite book Hunger Games. I can't wait to read it but I have to finish a few things first. Yummy hot chocolate. I do love that. I am not a coffee drinker so she was right on the money. Some smelly candles. M wandered around the house sniffing them for hours. She also made some cards for me with her circuit. They are really cute and I can't wait to use them. Hurry up someone and have a birthday, or a baby, or do something deserving of a thanks. :) Oh, and some yummy chocolate. Yummy! It was a fun little swap and I was glad to meet Jenny. She's a nice lady.

And finally, for the end of my rambling. An image of over 30 envelopes ready to head out for two different quilting bees. I was lucky and got the same month. I'm going to mail them probably Monday. Its a bit early but I like them early for two reasons; one, I can procrastinate longer without feeling guilty and two, if I hadn't done the current month I can do them at the same time and am done. I'm pretty excited. My hubby, who has faith in no one, thinks its a scam. How did he ever get through life with no faith in anyone, I do not know. I have faith so phooey on him.

Doll Quilt Swap 7

I need your opinion. Please forgive the awful quality of the photos. I'm in my office with fluorescent lighting and used my camera phone. Anyway, this is my doll quilt thus far for the Doll Quilt Swap 7. I used Anna Maria Horner fabrics and I hand embroidered the pictures. The tree design was inspired by the embroidery book, Doodle Stitching by Aimee Ray.My question is- do the pictures need more? I don't want overkill but I don't want it too simple either. Should I do another butterfly or some more bubbles? Or it being simple works out because the fabric is busy. Wow, the photos really don't give it justice. You have to check out the fabric at Anna Maria Horner's website. Its the Good Folks line. Aww man, its on sale now. Go, go fast!

So, my mom says redo the whole thing. She doesn't like the trees. The butterfly is okay. My office mates said they liked the whimsicalness of it so much they didn't care what they were. Now, I am more confused. Should I just leave it alone?

I am hoping to make the doll quilt for the Good Ol' Summertime doll swap this weekend. I have an idea and my mom and I (really she did all the thinking) brainstormed tons of ideas to achieve what I wanted so I am all ready. My mom even made me a pattern on her EQ5. So, I am pretty excited to do that this weekend. I am really avoiding the quilt blocks for the quilting bees. I had a blow to my self esteem with them (I made a couple bad ones and the lady, I know hated them)and now I just have to get back on the horse because I know not all of my blocks turn out bad. It happens right. I know my mom who has been doing this forever still have things turn out badly.

My Mosaic Thus Far

1. Simplicity Essential Patchwork Bag, 2. Yo-yo, 3. Not Yo Mama's Craft Fair Jersey City 044, 4. Yo-Yo Tree Quilt, 5. "my favorite dress" quilt, 6. Sunny Girl Mini-Quilt, 7. Abstract no.7, 8. Wash Day Mini Quilt, 9. Owl Mini Quilt, 10. October Mini Quilt Swap, 11. continuous: for mini quilt week, 12. "Outside the Box" Mini Quilt, 13. Abstract #5 Mini Embroidered Art Quilt - detail, 14. Spiderweb Mini Quilt, 15. mini quilt from Knit One Quilt Too, 16. "Enchanted Garden" Mini Quilt no.1, 17. AQB2--April Block for Chen 2, 18. Muslin Art Quilt, 19. Quilt Detail, 20. Doll Quilt for DQS2, 21. frame quilt #3, 22. Finished Doll Quilt, 23. I (heart) pink!, 24. DQS6 Finished Quilt, 25. DQS6, 26. DQS6 Quilt Received from Karen, 27. Jazynthe's Butterflies DQS6, 28. DSQ6 received, 29. DQS6 Received!, 30. dqs6 front, 31. Doll Quilt Swap 6- recieved

I signed up for two different Doll Quilt Swaps so I have been looking for inspiration. I think I found a few ideas. I just have to see if I can pull them off. I lack confidence in my skills but you will never know if you don't try- right? I think one I am am going to do some embroidery and the other I might make a yo yo quilt. I have over 100 made so hopefully the colors will be in the bag for what I am thinking or I will have to make some more. I wonder where I put the bag.

I also received these books from Amazon. Yea!

Jean Wells' Intuitive Color and Design. Its about creating Art Quilts. I am taking a class in November from her and I am totally excited. I'm glad I signed up a month ago too since its almost full and August just arrived. I even get to take a day off of work for it!

I also got Doodle Stitching by Aimee Ray. I am going to use some of her ideas for one of my quilts. I think the Jean Wells book may take some practice and cursing. :) I have an idea of one I would like to try. (I have my quilting bee blocks to do first.)

Well, in case anyone was curious, my week with my dad and his wife went horribly wrong on Wednesday (the 105 degree day). Kitty, my dad's wife, grabbed my daughter's arm swung her around and held her by both arms and got in her face and yelled at her. I had let a lot of Kitty's behavior go (I really wanted the week to go well) but that was not one I would. I yelled at her to let go of my child. I didn't curse. I did raise my voice. I didn't say anything derogatory. I told her if M wasn't listening to her to let me know and I will make sure she does it but that would not fly. My hubby showed up 10 seconds later and I pulled him aside to tell him what happened. We decided to stay (I was really trying.) We returned to the table and my dad told me I overreacted. Excuse me? A woman I am not related to, I don't like, I see once a year, who had already pushed the boundaries of parent child discipline (she interrupted me while I was disciplining M so that she could do it. uhh? okay? that among other things) - touches my child in a way I find inappropriate and I am overreacting? Let me tell you, I have run this through my head over and over again for hours and hours while I have tried to sleep and I did not overreact. In fact, I think I under reacted. I held my cool. Needless to say, I did not hold my cool when my dad said that. It pissed me off. I'm sure a lot of that was a lot of anger issues towards him in general. But again, he said it was my fault for the relationship that I have with him, blah, blah. Everything is my fault. Whatever. So I no longer have a dad. And he can explain why neither of his children will talk to him and say its our fault. (My brother hasn't spoken to him in 6 years.) Maybe he will grow up and say sorry for not being a better dad. He was pretty much out of our lives since I was 6. Yeah, it was my fault.

But when I got home and my blood pressure went down, I had my little amazon box to open and a box of fat quarters from Anna Maria Horner. The fabric was back ordered so it was a nice surprise for me. Sometimes I want to roll around in my new fabric. I don't have a picture of the fabric but you will see it soon enough when I make my doll quilt. I'm so happy. I love inspiration. Fabric and books excite me.

M did get to swim in a pool and swim lessons really paid off. I was so impressed by my little munchkin. And you will love this image. Imagine two grown adults and a child in a child's wading pool. Quite an image, let me tell you. We live in Washington. We can't take the heat. We will do anything to cool off. A salesclerk at Sears said there was a fight over a fan. It was the last one. I put a spritzing water bottle in the fridge to spray myself with cool water. :) Worked wonders. My hubby had to tackle the dog to spray her down. She hates water. I know she is part lab but I am not seeing that from her.

Hope you are staying cool!