Quilts for Kids

I received my quilt kit last week from Quilts for Kids. The pattern this time was pinwheel blocks. I learned that you MUST follow the directions!  I only missed one part of the directions and found myself lacking in border fabric and very tight on backing fabric as well. OOPS ! I goofed. 

I missed the part where it said to square the blocks up to 5 1/4 inches. I left them the full size, after stitching the squares and cutting into half square triangles.    I had enough of the inner border fabric to make the outer borders work even if I had to leave the small selvedge show at the bottom of the borders. Since the quilt just used two colors, I felt it would not look right with another color mixed in,  I did use a coordinating blue for the binding since there was not enough of it either.

I don't think it turned out too bad but I will read ALL the directions next tine! I knew there was something wrong because with the other kit there was plenty of fabric with a little left over. 

Just need to wash it now and get it sent back, along with one of my donation quilts. I names my first two Faith's Light and Faith's Light One.  This pinwheel will be called Faith's Monkey Business.

This is such a great organization helping sick kids and for parents something to hold onto if the kids don't make it. They send out kits with a quilt all cut out and ready for you to put together, along with the backing. You supply the batting, the labor and the postage to send it and one of your own back to them.  To learn more check out this link:


http://www.quiltsforkids.org/about/

Yardwork. . .

Looks like we had a large gopher in our yard! Front and back.
 

  

 And there he is now. . .

 With his helper!

We had issues with our sprinker system and since we had no drawing showing where the controls were, my HD had to dig up the yard and follow the wiring until he found them.

Of course, little Daisy was always helping by attacking his tools and carrying off weeds and sticks!

He found the troublemaker for the front system and with a $13 part, repaired it. Now he will need to readjust the sprinkler heads since the pressure is so much greater. Yeah!! We can water the yard fully again.

Next project will be to replace the sprinkler heads in the back yard.

We have mapped the front and back yard so we know where controls are. Looking at the layout of the pipes, we have decided that whoever put this system in had a bit much to drink, and it wasn't water!!

Still need to find all valves in the back yard but as long as they are working, we are good for now.

Burgers, Family and Air Show

This is a view from the back yard of my HD's Dad's and brother's place. We enjoyed a great time with a cookout, visiting and watching and air show yesterday. Everyone had a good time, especially the kiddos!












My brother-in-law (the cook).




My father-in-law.

 
My sister-in-law, who makes great homemade ice cream!

My HD and sister-in-law.

Cooler Mornings

we, think.  When it  is nice and cool outside in the mornings, it feels like the heater is on in the house.

 We have worked the last two days putting in an attic ventilator fan to pull the cool morning air through the windows and think it will also save on the air conditioning bill some.

We can't run it at night due to inconsiderate neighbors dogs barking - but they bark during the day too. Maybe this will drowned them out.  :o) Actually it doesn't make a lot of noise because of the way it is mounted.


It has a thermostat on it but we will use a switch to turn it off and on when we want it.

We put it pretty well in the center of the house - the entry hallway so it would pull air from all locations.

We can already tell that it is helping!

There is a place to put something to close it off when we are running the air conditioner or heater.

Scribbles and UH-OH

These are the appropriate names for our first two attempts on the longarm quilting machine.

http://quiltsunlimited.blogspot.com/2011_02_01_archive.html

Scribbles was done first when we were just figuring out the machine. It's sad! Reminds me of a child's first writing! Our dog, Daisy will get this one.

 HD's handiwork

UH-OH (named by my HD) is better.  We practiced with different designs in free motion. It is getting easier but we are still in the practice mode. HD has a better control than I do right now - could be from his daya of using a plasma cutter. I seem to keep going downhill with the rows. :o( Practice, practice, practice. . .