The Roaming Quilt Bee: Round 1

Ba-ba-ba-da! (trumpet sounds) The first round for the Roaming Quilt Bee has begun! As I sent The Scrappy Rambler along on its merry way, I received Jaime's quilt, aptly named the Modern Wanderer.  Here are the pieces she made for her starter blocks.

I love Jaime's fabric choices.  I first met her at a sewing night at Mama Said Sew.  She was working on the Gypsy Wife Quilt.  I instantly liked her because 1, The Gypsy Wife is an amazing quilt, so anyone making it is super cool in my book. And 2, I love her fabric choices.  So colorful, fun, and eclectic.

I knew it would be so fun to work on her quilt. The first thing I did was make a big buffalo hunter star.  When Michael and I left Gillette one of the ladies who taught me to quilt gave me some fabric and a pattern to make this star as a going away present.  I always refer back to that same little piece of paper with the star pattern on it.  It seemed the perfect addition for this happy quilt.

 I also included some blocks that Jaime herself had made.  Here's a confession: I am a scrappy scrounger.  When people leave fabric scraps behind, I usually take them. Jaime had left these two little blocks in the scrap bin (at least I think it was Jaime). I think they were from her Gypsy Wife Quilt, and for whatever reason they didn't work for that project.  I love orphan quilt blocks! I've found that sometimes when a block is made for a specific quilt it just doesn't work the way it should.  However, those blocks are perfect for working into other scrappy projects.  Many of my favorite pieces in my quilts are rejected quilt blocks from other projects. Here are Jaime's two, super fun blocks (see why I had to have them?)

 
The next thing I did was add this strip of funky fruit to another of her blocks.

I like how well it works with her strawberry fabric. 

So there you have it.  It will be so fun to watch the travels of this Modern Wanderer.

Table Runner

When my parents came for a visit in April, my mom and I had a fun time working on crafty projects.  She went digging through my scrap bin and made this super cute table runner. 

Usually when my mom comes to visit she helps me do the hand sewing on my quilt bindings.  When I was at their house I found the table runner she had made and all that was left to do was the binding.  I hadn't brought any projects with me and I was having a bit of crafty withdrawl so I was happy to sew down the edges.  It was also nice to be able to return the binding favor to my mom for once.

The runner looks so fun in her dining room.  Yay!

Little Blondies

I am still at my at my parents' house.  There are so many old pictures everywhere. I've been having fun looking through them.  It makes me realize how strong the genes run through my mom's side of the family.  Take a look at this fun.

Here is my mom as a baby. 

Here is super fat me, rocking the cuteness (in a dress my mom made).

Now check out this bit of fun.  Here is my Aunt Robin. 

Here is me. 

Here is my daughter. 

Whoa! I think we are all definitely related.

Grandma's Birthday Fun

I'm currently in Missouri visiting my family for a few weeks. What a fun treat that I was able to celebrate my Grandma Lois' birthday with her in person. My mom and I sneakily made a birthday banner to hang above the fireplace.

I used some brown paper bags, some of my dad's packing material, a wall paper sample, and various ribbons to create some birthday fun.

I also found some paper stars that I had made for my mom a while ago so I hung those in the kitchen.

No birthday would be complete without the wooden birthday cake. My great-grandma gave it to me when I turned two and my mom has put it out for every birthday since then. It wouldn't be a birthday without it.

It's a tradition in my family to kick off a birthday with birthday breakfast.  I made Cream of Wheat and cinnamon sugar toast. My grandma was doubly impressed because she knows I rarely do any cooking. (I know it's a stretch to call Cream of Wheat and toast cooking, but you get the idea.)

It was so fun to have a birthday breakfast with my family. Happy Birthday Grandma. I love you lots!

The Scrappy Rambler

I recently joined the Fort Collins Modern Quilt Guild. It is so fun to get together once a month with inspiring gals who love to quilt as much as I do.  One of the things we're about to start is a roaming quilt bee. Everyone begins with a starter block that is passed around to all the participating members.  Each person adds to the quilt and then it is passed on again. It is similar to a "round robin" except that the additions to each quilt are not limited to borders.

I was so excited, I couldn't wait to sew my block.

The center piece is a label from a pair of pajama pants I acquired in either high school or college.  I still have the pants, and the little bag (I use it as a tiny pillowcase).  I saved the label because I loved the fun, retro look of it.  Sometimes (often) I will save things for years until I find the perfect use for them (my husband loves this, no he does not).

I framed it in a churn dash because I like to mix in old quilt block patterns that have been around for ages with fun, modern fabric.

Now, I figured my starter block was finished so I just let it be until it could begin its travels.

However, I kept thinking about how much I liked the little label because it reminded me of how women of yesteryear would sew with old flour sacks.  How thrifty! How fun!  Flour generally does not come in flour sacks anymore, but there is a Colorado brand that I saw on the shelves whenever I was grocery shopping with Michael. (He does the grocery shopping because he is full of awesomeness.)  I would always hint that we should buy that flour because I was coveting the bag.  He likes to bake with whole wheat flour so we never really needed that much white flour.  When my friend, Anna, had a cookie party last Christmas, imagine my happiness when Michael suggested we buy the Blue Bird flour to bake the cookies.  Yay!

I've been hanging on to that blue bird of happiness, waiting for the ideal project.  It seemed like the perfect fit to match with my old pants label.

I also included a block that I'd picked up at a fabric swap a long time ago that was made by Tara, another member of the Modern Quilt Guild.  Now my starter block is ready to begin its journey.  I've named the quilt "The Scrappy Rambler" and I'm very excited to see how it will grow.  I'll keep you posted on the progress.

Mr. Paws says, "Are you finished? You sure have a lot to say."

Angelman Walk

I've worked an eclectic collection of jobs before I became a full-time mama.  One of my favorite jobs was taking care of Patrick, a happy, smiley, kid who has Angelman Syndrome.

Every year Patrick's family and friends participate in the Angelman Walk, to raise awareness and funds to help kids with Angelman Syndrome.  Patrick's team was made up of his parents, another of his caregivers and her family, and me and the baby.

The Ham Family

Team pHAMily

I was preggers at last year's walk. So it was really fun to have the little lady join us this year.

Before the walk begins, each of the kids with Angelman's is introduced to the crowd and given a balloon.  I think this is by far Patrick's favorite part of the event.  He loves pomp and circumstance, and balloons.

The walk began and we wound our way around a beautiful little lake.

As we neared the finish line, the two little girls were holding hands as we pushed their strollers.  It was the cutest thing ever!

It was a fun walk for a great cause.

If you'd like more information about Angelman Syndrome please check out their website at http://www.angelman.org/.

Confetti

Sometimes I feel the need to make something impractical simply because the materials exist and I think it is fun to do.  An example of this is a paper chain made of Starburst wrappers.  Michael bought a bag of Starburst in the fall and I've been slowly working on this chain.  People keep asking me, "What are you going to do with that chain?"  Who knows?  Who cares?  It is just fun to make so I am making it. 

Along these same lines, I've had a dream for a long time of making confetti.  Whenever I make something with paper, there's always a pile of scraps that seem too pretty to just throw away (and by throw away I obviously mean put in the recycle bin).  But who really needs a bunch of confetti?  I finally decided that I don't care.  It would be fun to make, right?  So I'm making some. I dug out my cool paper punches and went to town on a pile of paper scraps.

And guess what, it is fun! It is so SUPER fun to make confetti.  I love it.  I even dug around in my craft room and found some old foil confetti that I had collected somewhere and added that to the mix.  Then I subbed for the church secretary one morning and I went around to all the hole punchers in the office and collected the dots.  That was fun, too.  It makes me so happy to look in my pail of confetti and see all the pretty colors.  I can't wait to add more to it.

Maybe someday someone will say to me, "Karen, I'm starting a pinata business, and I'd like you to be my confetti supplier."  That would be awesome, but highly unlikely.  Maybe I'll finally open an Esty shop and make loads of money (like a dollar or two) selling confetti. That would be awesome, too.  Although if neither of those things happen, I will still be giddy with happiness punching paper and sprinkling rainbow fun.

P.S. Who invited these two to this party?  This is not a plate of tuna.