Tuesday, August 28, 2012

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. :)

9-Patch Pizzazz
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.
planned layout for wedding quilt

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


Monday, August 13, 2012

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):

Hammer Bot, primed

After:

Hammer Bot, painted, front view

Hammer Bot, painted, back view

Hammer Bot, painted, side 1 view

Hammer Bot, painted, side 2 view

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

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

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 painting a tanker car

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

Little Bear painting a tanker car

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

Completed tanker cars

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.

Boys and their tankers

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