Good Fortune

Fabric: Good Fortune by Kate Spain of Moda Fabrics

Burp clothes

Still making baby gifts. I wanted some quick but cute burp clothes. I had these leftover number labels from a label crew project. Add some cute fabric and ric rac. Presto...cuteness.

Charming Bibs

I spent my Sunday afternoon working on these Charming Bibs. Extra large bibs for toddlers. I love that they are over sized. This was a pattern by Thimble Blossoms. I used my Lucy's Crab Shack charm pack and my labels from the label crew. Cute, right? I really love the orange buttons and how they have flowers imprinted on them like the fabric prints.

Easy bricks quilt hometown edition

Summer is flying by isn't it? I have been busy working on a quilt for my son. Mind you, he picked out the pattern a year ago and I purchased the fabric about the same time. Sigh. Anyway, this is a super easy layer cake quilt from the website Moda Bake Shop. I increased the size a bit to fit this queen. 7 rows with 20 bricks each. If I had a box spring under the mattress, I would have increased it another 4 bricks at least. I used 2 layer cakes of Hometown by Sweetwater. I still need to press it. Off it goes to the long arm quilter....stay tuned! I will try to get a nice outdoor shot when I get it back.

Summer Reading List for Boys

We've been spending a lot of time reading at our house. I know from both my house and my job sometimes it is hard to find books that boys love to read...therefore, I thought I might share my list. This is by no means, an expert list, just books I often see boys reading. I think these are fun books boys will love.  My little man tends to like books that feature mischievous boy characters, so many on this early elementary list fall into that category. Most of these are chapter books, but if you find your little buddy isn't quite ready to fly solo, then family read alongs are always fun.  My son reads a lot of the books in the 3-4 grades category as well, so don't count out a book that might be in an older grade.  It just depends on your reader's motivation and abilities.  Most of these are also series.

K-2
Flat Stanley  Jeff Brown
Nate the Great  Marjorie Weinman Shermat
George Brown, Class Clown  Nancy Krul
Ready Freddy   Abby Klein
Stink  Megan McDonald
Freddie Fernortner Fearless First Grader  Johnathan Rand
Rotten School Series  R.L. Stine
Captain Underpants  Dav Pilkey
The Magic Tree House Series  Mary Pope Osborne

3-4
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing  Beverly Cleary
How to Eat Fried Worms  Thomas Rockwell
Boy:  Tales of Childhood  Roald Dahl
James and the Giant Peach  Roald Dahl
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory  Roald Dahl
BFG Roald Dahl
Big Nate on a Roll  Lincoln Pierce
Diary of a Wimpy Kid  Jeff Kinney

5-6
Lawn Boy  Gary Paulsen
The Hatchet  Gary Paulsen
Touching Spirit Bear Ben Mikaelsen
Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo  Obert Skue
The Diamond Brothers Series- Anthony Horowitz
Harry Potter Series- J.K. Rowling
Skeleton Creek Series- Patrick Carman
Trackers- Patrick Carman

7 and up- a special note:  these titles come straight from student surveys, and my students would tell you that at the beginning of the year, many of them were "reluctant" readers, but one of these books lit the reading fire in them. 
The Lightning Thief Rick Riordan
The Kane Chronicles Rick Riordan
The Lost Hero Series Rick Riordan
The Fire Thief Terry Deary
Guts  Gary Paulsen
My Life in Dog Years  Gary Paulsen
Liar, Liar  Gary Paulsen
The Alex Rider Series- Anthony Horowitz
Memory Boy Will Weaver
Monster  Walter Dean Myers
Dark Eden Patrick Carman
Theodore Boone Kid Lawyer  John Grisham
The Maze Runner
Eleventh Plague  Jeff Hirsch
The Last Thing I Remember  Andrew Klaven
Lockdown  Alexander G. Smith
Tangerine  Edward Bloor
The Revolver  Marcus Sedwick
Virals  Kathy Reichs
Soldier Boys  Dean Hughes
Search and Destroy Dean Hughes
Sports Fiction Authors:  Mike Lupika, Tim Green, John Feinstein
The Hunger Games  Suzanne Collins
Legend  Marie Lu
The Boy Who Dared  Susan Campbell Barroletti
Pendragon-  D.J. MacHale
Knucklehead Jon Schieska


And if this isn't enough to get you started, here is a guys read website you will probably love. 
Loads of good reading suggestions to be found there, as well as some pretty convincing data about the importance of pointing our young men towards some good books.

Hometown

I am working on a brick quilt for Bud's bed made out of Hometown by Sweetwater. This is a lot of work as there is a total of 140 bricks...his bed is a queen. What are you working on?

Fat quarter winner

The winner of the FQ bundle is Charlotte who said: I am looking forward to more sewing time, since I won't have to pick up my grandson from school.

Charlotte, email me your address, so I can mail that off to you.

I want to thank everyone who entered. We agree with many of your fun ideas. Here are a few we look forward to the most:
Sleeping in
Picnics at the playground
Going to the beach
No homework
Ice cream just because
Staying up late to read good books
Doing fun things with friends
A slower pace
Sewing whenever you have the itch
Camping

What a sweet quilt

I am finally getting around to showing off the beautifully hand appliquéd and hand quilted my dear friend Judy made me for a present. Don't you love it? I originally sped this pattern at a quilt show and loved it. I love that she made it out of Amy Butler. It also looks great in my sewing room.

Nicey Jane strikes again

Well I forgot that I hadn't shared the quilt I made my partner, Heather. Although, I see from your wonderful comments that many of you spied it at Heather's blog. I was very pleased with it. I made it out of some Nicey Jane by Heather Bailey, that I have been hoarding for some time. I loved how it turned and I love the pieced back. I also sent her a mouse I made a couple of posts back. that was a Fig Tree pattern (several of you inquired). There is still time to enter the giveaway (1 post back) as summer vacation isn't official yet.

Closing up the SWAP

Well, this brings another swap to an end. I have heard shipping confirmations from all but 1 swapper. I think she is nearly there though. This little beauty is the very cool quilt sent by my partner, Heather. It is already hanging in my sewing room...my favorite space in the whole house. It is so cool to have some minis hanging in there now. I love the modern fabrics and grey, pink, purple, and teal are all my favorites right now. The pieced back is so fun. The entire quilt is just a perfect fit more me right now. Heather also sent me this cute Alaska tin with some hexes already made....love that idea. Thanks for the goodies, Heather.