New project time!

It's a busy time here at our house. Summer is winding down. Last week we took our family vacation, and next week I'm going to be doing my first-ever half-marathon(!) and school starts up for Big Bear (Kindergarten!). Then Little Bear starts preschool the following week. I'm excited, but it is definitely going to take a little bit of time to adjust to the new schedule.

We're attending a wedding in mid-September, and I really (really!) want to make a quilt for the happy couple. I actually purchased fabric for it last month, but haven't been able to get going on it until now. Nothing like a little last-minute crafting to get one's juices flowing! Frankly, at this point, it is much more likely they will be receiving a quilt I.O.U. than a finished quilt-- but I'm gonna give it a go. :)

Inspired by a fabric from my stash (purchased many, many years ago), I've decided to create a quilt based on designs in the book, 9-Patch Pizzazz: Fast, Fun & Finished in a Day by Judy Sisneros.

The book features smaller projects, wall and lap-sized designs. Since I know I want to make a bedsize quilt, I have created a plan based on the designs in the book.

The inspiration/main fabric is pictured below on the left, with the coordinating fabrics that I purchased last month on the right.

I may or may not use all of them, I'm just gonna have to see how it goes.

Yesterday, I did all my cutting. Hopefully today I can start sewing!

Hammer Bot!

After painting the tanker cars with the Bears, I was in a painting kind of mood. So I broke out our copy of RoboRally. RoboRally is a fun board game-- a capture-the-flag, action-packed racing puzzle adventure. Woo! (And yes, it is totally as fun as it sounds!) Up to 8 people can play, and each player chooses a robot to control as their playing piece. The robots that came with the game were unpainted metal figurines. Many years ago, I started painting all of the playing pieces in the game. Because when your robot has a little but of personality, it adds to the fun! There are 8 robots total. I managed to paint 7 of them before Big Bear was born.

That last unpainted figure (the "Hammer Bot") has been taunting me since 2006.

Before (primed):

After:

It feels good to get him done! Anyone want to play? :)

Train painting fun!

Last week, my husband picked up some unpainted wooden train toys. We all worked together to get them ready for playtime.

Big Bear decided he wanted an apple-grape juice car, so he started by painting his tanker dark purple.

Little Bear is a chocoholic, so we decided to make his into a chocolate syrup car and he painted his tanker a light brown.

Then Mama and Papa took over and did some detail work. He finished up the apple-grape juice tanker, and I completed the chocolate syrup tanker.

And now there are some very unique tankers being shunted about on the train table as well as a pair of very happy boys.