Birthdays

October is birthday month at our house.  We celebrated mine a couple of weeks ago and now Jack is up next.  In between the two - were two other birthdays for which I made the Jeni Baker drawstring bag.  I love this pattern.  I've made at least 10 of them now.  This time,  I didn't box the corners.

This one went to my friend, Missy.  The fabric is the DSQuilts collection and was a gift from my dear friend in Idaho, Sheri, for my birthday.  

This next bag was for Jack's Language Arts/Social Studies teacher - her favorite color is green. 

It was dark this morning so hard to get good photos of this one.  Duke was being shy!  

We filled this one with her favorite cookies - Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip.

Jack is so excited for his 12th birthday.  It's tomorrow.  He opened one present early and wore them today.  They are from my Mom, who Jack says is "beastmode"!  Jack loves to wear crazy socks.  These have dinosaurs all over them.  He was thrilled!

As I looked through photos today, I found a bunch of my sweet Duke enjoying a day at the beach last month.  Here's Duke......!

I love it when he runs to me at lightening speed!  He loves me!

Kris

Finished Skateboard Quilt

I used my skateboard block again and made a custom quilt for a boy. It has since been picked up and tucked away for Christmas. I really enjoyed the process and found myself feeling "attached" to the quilt! It is just like Jack's quilt but I added prints to both ends making it 72 inches long, a nice throw size. The quilt measured 50x72. The boards and wheels are machine appliquéd to the top. I used Pelion cotton batting and backed it with solid black. The binding was a combination of the prints in the quilt. I quilted around each board to give it added stability and also stitched in the ditch in random places, at least one box per block. It puckered up so nicely after washing. I gave my sewing bee the tutorial back in August and have received lots of these blocks in girl colors. I can't wait to make a girl version!

Kris <3

Linking up to Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts

Dream Circle Bee Block

The Dream Circle of Do.Good.Stitches October block is a herringbone block made with fabrics containing geometrical shapes and at least one orange fabric. I pulled what I had from my stash and came up with these two blocks. I can definitely see myself making a quilt of these blocks in my future. I can't wait to see this charity quilt finished with blocks from various stashes. I think it will be wild and fun!

The patchwork zipper pouch was a gift from my friend Krista. I just love it! I am carrying my felt circles in it as a sew on the go project.

Jack and his friend, Samuel, bombed some hills on longboards today. I would follow behind in the car and then taxi them back up to the top. They loved it! Watching them fly down the hills standing (and butt boarding catamaran style) was scary for me at first, but then I became numb to the terror of it and just took in their joy. Neither one fell once and they were padded up.

I finished the second skateboard quilt a few weeks ago. It was a custom order and is now put away for a little fellow for his Christmas present. Jack and I both loved it and it was sad to see it go. I think I will give it it's own post here with more pics.

Next up is a girl version of the skateboard quilt. For me!

Kris

You Are Here Swap

I signed up for the #URHereSwap hosted by Sukie a few weeks ago and boy, was it fun! In a nutshell, you fill out a form, get assigned a secret partner and a third person gets you. You send your partner a "You are here " Starbucks mug from the city where you live and you will receive one from somewhere else. If you/your partner provide other ideas on the form of small things you like, you can choose to send other little goodies. I had never even heard of these mugs but now I'm hooked...I want more! Mary Ann in Austin received my information and sent me a fabulous Austin mug and all kinds of other fun stuff! She went cra-cra!!

I sent my box to Lauren in Virginia. She said she liked ribbon and chocolate. I sent her Almond Roca which is made here locally, in Tacoma. I made some coasters, included various ribbons and sent Halloween baking cups and Thanksgiving stickers for her kids.

This was my first official swap to be in and I really enjoyed it. I've signed up for a mini quilt swap next, hosted by my friend Kristi at Schnitzel and Boo. I have been assigned my partner and she says she likes blue and green. I started working up something yesterday.

We are having great weather in the PNW. Yay for a break from the rain! Jack and I even made it to the skatepark today.

Kris <3

Fall sewing

I'd let things go so much that I couldn't find any fabrics and I just didn't feel creative...so I emptied out our dining room book shelves and moved them to my sewing area. I reorganized everything!

The kitchen table has eclectic chairs of different colors around it so when I found the turquoise bench at Goodwill, I thought, perfect! It was the last month of our Stitch that Stash sewing bee and Kristi requested Halloween blocks. I made 4 blocks total for her but these two pumpkins were my favorite. Next up are two herring bone blocks for the Do.Good.Stitches Dream Circle.

We have soggy, flag football today. Go Jack!

Kris