My Tree Quilt

This week my kids watched a bunch of TV, ate picnics outside (because the table was covered in fabric!) and my house looks like a tornado hit it, but I made a quilt in one week!  I had planned to enter this quilt into the State Fair and realized Tuesday that the due date was this Saturday not next Saturday!  I didn't think it was possible, but I finished it and turned it in with 15 minutes to spare.  :)  

I am loving it.  I think tree quilts are my thing.  I think it is the only type of quilt I have made multiple times.  The original Tree Quilt, the Baby Tree Quilt, the Commissioned Tree Quilt and now My Tree Quilt. 

 I quilted it by writing the names of different trees across the quilt.  More closeups later.  The backing was some vintage cloth from my friend's grandmother's stash.  In fact, I didn't have to buy anything for this quilt, which was good because I didn't have time to run into town.  :)  The cut down tree was the idea of my friend Eva-Marie.  I love it!

I also turned in my circle of geese block for the Quilt Block competition.  I reduced the pattern by 75% so that it met the 9.5 inch size requirement.  I love this pattern!   Wanting to make a circle of geese block was what motivated me to learn how to paper piece last year.

Now I am going to take a deep breath, relax and clean the house.  ;)

Random Bits and a Craftsy Sale

Well, we have been busy with swimming lessons (last one today!), gardening (lots of blanching and freezing today!) and birthdays (three!) over here.  It doesn't leave much time for sewing (sad) but I played around and made this log cabin block last week.  I never get tired of log cabin blocks.  Really good classics never get old.  :)

And just so you know, Craftsy is having a Sweet Summer Sale on select classes through June 21st.  Classes start at $9.99! Not too shabby.  I hope you are having a sweet summer!

Just Because...

I feel like I have a million sewing things that I should be working on, but yesterday I took some "me" time and stitched up this star.  It seems like forever since I have made any quilt blocks and I was glad to see that I hadn't completely lost my touch.  :)

A tutorial for this block can be found at Fresh Lemon Quilts.  

The fabrics are from Sandi Henderson's Meadowsweet collection.

Pella

Well, there hasn't been any sewing happening around here, but we went on a fun "field trip" yesterday to Pella, Iowa.  It was founded in the 1850's by a group of 800 Dutch settlers looking for religious freedom.

We toured the working windmill that the town built in 2002.  Very cool.

And toured a bunch of old homes in the Historical Village.  My big question was "Why are old sofas so short and small?  Were people so much smaller?  Smaller homes?  The 1890's sofas were "modern sized."  Any one know?  

I loved the colors and patterns in this carpet.  Wouldn't it be a great inspiration piece for an applique quilt?

I love this log cabin with it's flower garden!  But I just have to get something off my chest:  Why do people insist on having crazy quilts in pre-1880's historical homes?!?  Don't they know that crazy quilts weren't made until the 1880's and that it is going to bug me to death and that I will have to tell my children that the quilts aren't right for the time period represented?  And thank goodness that no one else was in the cabin or else they would have had to hear about it too....  Anyway....  :)

 Pella is a wonderful little town with beautiful architecture and we had a great time visiting.  My children even pointed out a cute little quilt shop!  Then moaned when we went in.  Aleah gives it (or leaving it?) two thumbs up.

I hope you are all having a great summer!  And Happy 4th of July to everyone in the United States!

Field Trip #1 - Pella, IA

Yesterday we went on a field trip to Pella about an hour SE of us.  It was founded in the 1850's by 800 Dutch settlers.  It is also home to Pella windows and an annual Tulip Festival.  We ate lunch at a cafe, visited the Windmill and Historical Village and ended the day with some pastries.

Looking up at the windmill blades from the deck of the mill.  The planks on the deck were spaced about 1.5 inches apart and Kate almost lost it as we walked around the mill.  I have to admit that being able to see the ground 40 ft under my feet made feel a bit light headed.

The grinding part of the mill.  The stone spins 180 times a minute in good (20 mph) winds.  The mill was built to order in Holland and brought over in 2002.

 A faux canal in the downtown area.

 A mill in the Historical Village.  Colleen, Zoe, Aleah, Emily and Kate.

 A log cabin in the Historical Village.

And Huge tables of miniature Dutch villages upstairs in the museum.

Kate started to really fade by the end of the afternoon - she didn't even want to eat her pastries.  I thought she was just tired, but when we got home she had a fever.  Becca also had a harder time napping in the backpack carrier than she did when she was younger.  But all in all it was a great day.  I hope to do more outings with the kids while the weather is so nice and mild here.

Our Vacation Part 2 - The Surprise Family Reunion

We had talked as a family about getting together last Christmas, but it just didn't work out, but the siblings kept on talking via email and we decided to do a surprise family reunion while our family was visiting Washington in June.  Having one family who Mom knew was going to be there for sure gave us a way to make sure that things could be somewhat planned - like going to Anderson Island and Dad getting off work.

We threw around the idea of people showing up at the big slide on the Island - one of the family's favorite haunts, but decided in the end to just surprise the parents on the ferry.  This was a "dangerous" move since people could be spotted in line to get on the ferry, but we got on without anyone being spotted.  I leaned against my open window (as if enjoying the beautiful weather) to block Mom's view of the other cars waiting to board the ferry - ie all the siblings - Brian who was sitting behind Mom waved at everyone as we drove pass.

I had Mom pose for this picture as Chris drove past.

Josh enjoying the moments of peace before the storm.  :)

 The plan was to hurry Mom, Dad, Eric and my kids up to the top of the ferry, for everyone else to congregate and then come up together.

 Lots of hugs were given...

 And up they came singing "Oh, we're from Nairobi"...  Mom was at the top of the stairs...

And screamed when she saw everyone.  More hugs....

Anna and Dad

 Then Dad heard the commotion and came out of the cabin.  He was more happily bemused than anything.

Eric didn't know what was going down and he was shocked.

At the Slide at the Old School

After we got off the ferry we went to our traditional picture taking places.

Then went to "the swimming hole."  While this has been the traditional swimming place for quite a few  years, I had never been.  It has a great kid swimming area, a slide out on a dock and a high jump off another dock.  It was cold enough that I didn't go in, but all of the kids and most of the younger adults did.

I didn't get pictures of everyone, but Brian and I and our girls were there, my sister Erica, her husband Bill and their children (Eleanor, Matthew, Jerome and Margaret), Josh, Chris and his son Andy, Neil, Anna and her husband Scott, Blake, Eric, Aunt Becky, Krissy and Mom and Dad.  (Total: 25)

Highlights included:  sand castle building, getting promised candy bars for going of the slide for the first time, rides in the blow-up boat, quiet talks, walks, yummy bleu cheese pecan dip, huge chocolate cake, daisy chains, Mom rescuing Andy, bees on blue towels, baby in backpack, Josh texting pictures of himself and the baby and lots of catching up.

L to R:  Erica and Bill, Matthew and Jerome, Anna and Scott and Blake

We headed back in the evening, the young adult car stopped for Little Caesar's pizza, we ate and then set up camp at the parents' place.  Quite literally.  We were all surprised at how much more camping stuff Mom and Dad had than we expected.  We had worked out who would sleep where via email earlier, but were able to spread out even more than planned.

 Erica and Bill, Matthew and Jerome, Anna and Scott and Blake slept in tents in the back yard, Becky slept in her minivan, Krissy slept at her grandparents and on the couch, Neil slept on the hammock and on the couch/living room, my kids slept in the guest room, Brian, Margaret and I slept in the pit, Chris and Andy slept in the storage/laundry room, Josh slept in Eric's room and Eleanor and Emily slept in the tree house, under the dining room table and in the living room depending on the night.

And thus ended Day 3

Our Vacation to WA and ID, Part 1

Day 1 - We left Des Moines (Wednesday, May 29)

Brian we were running a bit behind getting to the airport, so Brian dropped us off at ticketing and went to park the car.  I got all the girls settled on a bench with our carry-on's and a granola bar (breakfast) and stood in line with all of the car seats to check in.  Just as I reached the front of the line Brian got there - perfect! - and we checked in together.  After the guy checked my ID, I asked if I could leave and go feed the baby and sit with the kids.  He said, "sure" and Brian stayed and got our boarding passes.  I fed Becca and we went up to security.  Thankfully, there was a short line, but we found out that the guy had only printed three of the boarding passes!  So Brian went down and got the other ones.  Then he came back up, but my boarding pass still wasn't printed!!!(Even though I had given him my ID!!!) @#$%#$  So I ran down and got my boarding pass.  I was not pleased.

But...the silver lining was that we were the last ones to board, and as I was hurrying to get everyone seated, I just looked at the top boarding pass.  It said row 8 and I quickly got everyone sat down in the empty seats there.  Only after we had taken off did I realize that we were all in business class and that our real tickets had us seated in 6 different rows!  I am soooo glad that the business class ticket was on top!

Aleah threw up on that flight but caught it pretty well and took some medicine.  But nothing else extraordinary happened.  My mom picked us up in our rented minivan and we hung out at home the rest of the afternoon at her house.

Day 2 - Seattle (Thursday)

The next day Brian had a presentation at the Gates Foundation in Seattle, so he and I decided to do a Seattle date - we knew this would be our last day "alone" before the siblings would arrive.  :)

We drove up, parked at the Gates Foundation near the Seattle Center and took the Monorail to Downtown.  We walked around Pike's Place Market, had a great french sandwich and pastry, bought some flowers, fish and a baguette and hurried back for Brian's presentation.

They had an amazing taco bar and presentations on using/paying for marker research organized by Brian Love (aka Dr. Love).  Becca was well behaved but we left when the formal presentation ended and they started a question/answer/discussion group.

We stopped by Costco on the way home to pick up some stuff (plates, food, drinks) for the weekend.  As we were leaving it rained cats and dogs.  I love that phrase.  :)

When we got home we found that the girls had had a fun day at the park and were enamored of Josh, my Navy brother who was there visiting.  Kate thought he was the greatest thing ever and Colleen called him Jericho (like Joshua fought the battle of...).  She kept saying, "I didn't know you had a brother named Jericho!"  Yeah, I don't.  :)

My brother Eric shared how he was feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the people there.  "It was bad enough with just you here Josh, but all these people..."  Brian, Josh and I exchanged knowing looks.  Little did he know the masses that were about to descend on his quiet organized home and life.

That night my dad said that he might not be able to take Friday off to go to Anderson Island with us as planned.  All of the rest of my siblings were going to show up on the ferry to the island and he needed to be there too!  Brian pulled him aside and asked him if he could keep a secret.  My dad went off on a Stonewall Jackson story, chuckled and walked away.  Later that night I told him that he had to go tomorrow and was about to tell him why it was so important, when he told me he had just gotten an email from someone and the problem was solved and he could go.  Yea!