Friday, November 17, 2017

Finish It Friday: Bella Skill Builder Quilt

Earlier in the year, thanks to Fat Quarter Shop, I participated in the Bella Skill Builder quilt-along (all the instructions are on the blog, so you can begin any time). It was designed by Sherri McConnell of A Quilting Life, and we used Bella solids by Moda. You know how much I love my solids! Each month, we made a new block and learned a new technique.


I started out with this combination of fabrics.
I made the first set of blocks in two shades of peach.
Month 1--kaleidoscope
I soon realized it needed another color to add a little punch, and turquoise seemed to do the trick.
Month 2--orange peel

The ruler used for the pineapple block was great and I'm glad to have it in my ruler collection because I will definitely make use of it again.


Month 3--Pineapple

Month 4--Flying Geese

Although I have quilted for over 20 years, some of the rulers and techniques were new to me. For example, I had never used Triangles on a Roll. I'm glad I've tried it, although it's probably not something I would use again.

Month 5--Half Square Triangles

The log cabin trim tool is another new one to me. I have always cut my strips to length so I'm not sure that I would use the trim tool but I enjoyed trying it out.

Month 6--Courthouse Steps


Month 7--Half Square Triangles and Quarter Square Triangles

Month 8--Starbursts

Month 9--Lazy Angle
I worked a few months ahead, and quickly put the quilt top together and sent it to Darby for quilting. A couple of days ago, Mark helped me with some fun photographs. It's so handy to be married to someone who is over 6 feet tall. :)






Happy fall, y'all.

I'm linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts, TGIFF, and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Thursday, November 16, 2017

August

August--the end of summer, the start of school.
We went to see Nana and Papa.
Charlotte and I painted an old dresser with an updated ombre' effect and new hardware.
We spent some fun hours at Playland.





We celebrated Aaron's birthday with a tepanyaki dinner.


And although it seemed way too early, the kids started school. Levi is in fourth grade with two very good friends. How they have changed from this baseball picture.
Aaron asked for pictures of himself corresponding to the ages Charlotte, Levi and Gabe are at the beginning of this school year. See a resemblance?
Gabe: kindergarten, Levi: 4th grade, Charlotte: 6th grade

Donuts with grandparents--I can hardly believe Gabe and Ruby are in kindergarten already.
These four add a lot of spark to our lives.
Gabe, Amelia, Ella and Ruby

Ella will be in school next year, so we cherish the time alone with her.

Also, this was a totally random picture I found of myself, some time in high school. Weird.
We ended the month by celebrating Mark's birthday in Carmel, one of our favorite places in California.

The coast is the perfect climate for gorgeous flowers, even in August when everything in Fresno seems burned to a crisp.
We tried oysters for the first time--although they were grilled, not raw.
And although we have been to Carmel many, many times, we had never gone through the mission.


We also had not been to the Monterey Bay Aquarium in a long time.




Jellyfish--my very favorite:




Haha...

August was a good month.