Pixelated Horse Quilt Project

This is one of the things I have been working on.  It was very challenging to get the pixelated picture down to just a few colors.  I still need to work on his ears.  I am hoping some half square triangles will make them look better.  I got the idea from pinterest and was using this site, but it wasn't giving me a picture I liked so I used photoshop to pixelate and then started replacing colors.  I decided to make the tan/cream background out of 5 different colors to keep the quilt looking pixelated. And I'm going to cut all the squares instead of trying to make bigger pieces because I think it will look better.  

Hawaiian Quilt

Nope, I haven't forgotten to post...we just don't have anything to post!  Except this lovely quilt made by Sherry.  It's her first quilt, what a great job! 

 I quilted around the large squares, but circles in the small squares and then outline the whirly thing that was left.  The back really shows the quilting.

I haven't been able to finish the rest of the quilt tops because we are out of large batting.  Hope to get some in January.  Also, Quilt ministry has been put on hold until at least January.  I needed some time off to work on some of my own projects.  I was able to finish a few small quilts with the small batting I have.  Hope to post a couple more of those soon.

Dwirling Attempt!

I have to warn you...I don't like this quilt!  I know it looks really nice in that picture, but when you're looking at it in person it's not so great!  I was surprised when I saw the picture, because it looks like the one I copied (except that one was square).  My husband and I decided that the brown needs to be a print and not a solid.  That might help it not look so plain.

The other thing I don't care for is the quilting.  It is my first try at dwirling.  Maybe I need to keep practicing! I love the method, just not my pattern!  It was fun to free motion somthing besides meander.  Although meander probably would have looked better for a man's quilt!

Close up shows the quilting.  I used a circle template on the foot of my longarm to keep the distance between the lines closer to 1 inch.

Blocked Fall Quilt

Another lovely quilt for the ministry made from 12 sets of 9 patches cut into quarters.  We used a black mirage fabric, which is much softer looking than solid black, to sash the quilt.  It's on the back too with some leftover fabric.

Pieced Flannel Top

This quilt was the 2nd one donated to the quilt ministry by Kathy!  She made the top from scraps of flannel and it is so soft!  We need to use more flannel in our quilts for the winter.  Love this.

Cowboy Quilt

This awesome quilt was made by Karla Sue who is a member of our Quilt Ministry at church.  Can you believe it's her first one???  Wow, and she did everything but the quilting

Blue Minnow

This quilt was made by sewing 4 strips of WOF together and cutting them into blocks.  I think they are 8 inch finished. Strips were 2.5 inches.  The black print has cute little minnows swimming around.  We used leftover fabric for the back - no surprise there!  It was quilted with a pattern called Contempo which I do not recommend for busy quilts.  I like it on the back but the front has too many straight lines.  I think a more curved pattern would have been better.

Simple Cowboy Quilt

This quilt was a quick sew for the quilt ministry.  I love the back where you can see the quilting.

Here's a close up.  The pattern is Square Spiral pantograph.  It's super easy and doesn't show mistakes like some pantographs do!

Our School Room

Week 2 is here and so is our school room!  This is still a work in progress.  I need to paint the walls (I was thinking a light teal or maybe yellow) and we need to hang up the alphabet cards that are still in the sewing room from when we changed rooms.  I love the colors of the old room, but I don't think they will work in this room.  I would also love to hang some shelves on the wall for storing pens, glue and other little things that the little ones shouldn't be able to reach!

I am schooling 5 of my 7 children right now, with number 6 very soon to start.  The 4 big ones each have their own desk and cork board.  They store all their school books in their desk or on a book case behind their desk.  (2 of them have bookcases).

I store crayons and coloring paper in this cubbie for my little one.  She will lay on the floor and color or read while we do school.  Yep, that door goes to a bathroom.  This is an extra bedroom in our house.  Okay it's not extra...I kicked the boys out to make it the craft room, then moved that down the hall and made it the school room.  Who needs a big bedroom anyway???  I guess I do! : )

My husband has his desk in this room too.  I love this because when he is home we can visit and when I'm gone he can watch the kids during school.

My 6 yr old has a table (because we ran out of desks!) right beside me so I can keep him going.  He is not yet an independant learner like my other ones are, but we're working on it!  We work towards self teaching usually starting in the 4th grade.

My kids like to have their desk face the room.  That way they can talk to each other and get into trouble!  I like it that way because I can see all of them working (or not).   I'd like to say that we use that big chalk board on the wall a lot, but we don't.   It was given to us, I painted it and put it up there.  Makes it feel like a school room!  Hope you enjoyed seeing our room!

My Sewing Space

I thought I'd show you my sewing space since Moda Bake Shop is hosting a linky party!  I love looking at other peoples sewing spaces, you can always find great ideas.  My sewing room used to be the school room (which is why we have the bright colors and the alphabet up over the window).  When I got my quilting machine we switched rooms and I haven't painted yet.  The room is used for sewing, quilting, scrapbooking and doing craft projects.  Clockwise around the room:

I store my fabric in these bins I got at walmart.  They are the perfect size to store 2 rows.  The larger bins hold my pieces that are bigger than 2 yards and my multi-colored fabric.

I store my solids and mirage fabrics on this shelf with upcoming projects.

This is the kids area of the room.  We store misc stuff in the white drawers.  The little ones grab books from the green tote and read on the couch while I sew.

 My cutting area.  I lead our church's quilt minsitry and store everything in my sewing room.  I keep all the kits that are cut in boxes under my table so they are ready to go!

Scrapbooking supplies are stored behind the bar and on the built in bookcase.

My youngest loves fabric!!!  (oh how that blesses me!)  She has her very own storage for her fabric and her dolls.  I give her any scrap that is too small for me to use and no longer want.  She loves to sit here and lay out her own quilts while I sew.

I store quilt for the ministry  in the closet on hangers.  It keeps the out of the way and little hands off of them until it's time to be given away!

I hope you have enjoyed seeing my room.  Check here to see more sewing spaces!  Thanks for stopping by!

It's All About Reading...A Homeschooling Post

We're a crazy bunch here...all 9 of us!  I have been working on my curriculum page for you all to see!  I have all 12 years listed there.  We haven't done yr 12 yet, but I have listed what we will be doing.  We are just starting the History Revealed, Bible Quest, and Bible Discovery curriculum this month.  Others we haven't tried yet are marked.  I have searched and searched for (and tried) history and bible curriculum that fits our family.  I think these will meet our needs.

We homeschool year round with breaks for kids camp, holidays, and days when Mom just needs a break! The most important thing I think for homeschooling is reading!  If you can get your children to read good clean books, you will be teaching them all sorts of things at the same time. Once we get a struggling student to read more, improvement is almost immediate.  We use a hodge podge of curriculum each year and we read after school.  Here is our library of books by grade level.  Our favorite books at the moment come from Lamplighter Publishing.   

So hop to the top of my blog to find the Curriculum page and our Reading List.  Enjoy the rest of the Not Back-to-school Blog Hop by clicking the box below.

White Spinner

After making the floral spinner quilt, I realized I could make this pattern with only 4 prints!  I didn't have enough fabric to make a matching border.  All that I had left I put on the back of the quilt.  Turned out cute though!  

Do you take your pictures before or after you wash your quilts?

Floral Spinner

Cute floral quilt that was donated to the ministry.

Sorry about the wrinkles and the crookedness. That's what happens when you don't fold your quilts when they come out of the dryer!  I never seem to see that until I get upstairs on the computer!

Baby Rail Fence

This pattern was quick and easy!  Can't believe I haven't tried it before.  There are cute little bunnies on the blue fabric.  The green and yellow are polka dots prints.  This quilt is for a baby dedication at church.

On the Go Quilt

Super cute with cars and trucks,

 and a road on the back too!  

Yet Another Storytime Quilt!

Did I mention that we like this pattern?!!!  I would like to say this is the last one, but also there is one more after this!  But this one is at least quilted differently.  I saw a quilt somewhere that had different size circles on it and thought that might look nice with the truck fabric in this quilt.  

No one in my large family likes the quilting!  My husband even went so far to say that it reminded him of a cheap Wal-Mart quilt!!!  ACK!!!  My daughter suggested adding more circles.  

 Hmmmm...is it really that bad?  I really like the colors for a little boy, but did I ruin it with the quilting?