Make-A-List Monday April 2018

March came in like a Lion and went out like a Lion.  

Wait, that didn't sound right.

When will this winter end?

Our back yard was under water at one point...

And then it was under a lot of SNOW.

Spring cannot come soon enough.  

For those of you who do not know, I have an ETSY shop:

 Quilty Pleasures NJ

I have 47...I mean 46 of the quilts I have made from various patterns on sale.  

It is clearly not a booming business, as I don't have any sales, but I continue to hope that I might one day sell a few of my quilts.

I received an ETSY message on March 17th.  I was so excited because I thought maybe someone wanted to buy one of my quilts.  

I took a screen-shot of the message:

I couldn't help but shake my head.  Almost every quilt for sale on Etsy is based on someone else's pattern.  I wasn't trying to sell the pattern or even multiple quilts made from the pattern.  It was a pattern I found in a magazine I purchased.  

I have removed the quilt from my shop and have donated it to a worthy cause.  There are times that you just have to - 

Oh dear, I better be sure to credit Disney for the use of their Elsa image  :)

There are definitely days I would like to just move to a little log cabin and sew by candlelight.

Or maybe a farm...

The month of March ended and April began with a beautiful Easter celebration.

JT and Kaela brought their puppy, Thira, to play with Brody.

(I'm sorry this video was taken vertically rather than horizontally.)

When these two pups played last, they were about the same size.  Thira is only 4 months old.  She will eventually triple her size.  YIKES! 

Now on to my list...

March 2018

(in review)

1.  Piece, quilt, bind and label at least one "Quilts for Kids" quilt.  Attend the QFK workshop at Pennington Quilt Works.

 This is the pile of quilts we donated in March.

A special group of "patriotic quilts" are donated each month to the needy children of our military families.

I made a red, white, blue & gold quilt for this purpose.

While I was quilting it, my needle hit a pin.  Luckily my machine was ok but the fabric on the quilt pulled and was damaged.  I will have to think of a way to fix this before I donate it in April.

2.  Bonnie Hunter's 2017 Mystery Quilt : 
On Ringo Lake 
and
  Bonnie Hunter's 2016 Mystery Quilt: 

En Provence  

No completed blocks to share.  

3.  A wedding quilt for a very special friend

Our dear friend Samantha, is getting married in a little over a month.  

The beautiful bride and some of her bridesmaids - including my daughter, Shea, as Maid of Honor.

I shared the fabrics I chose in my last Make-A-List Monday.

This is the top before it was quilted.

Then is was time to load it onto the long-arm for quilting.

I love the sound of my machine as it adds stitches of love to the quilts I make.

Now to find the perfect way to wrap this queen-sized quilt.

I went to Home Goods and I had a hard time deciding on the perfect hamper to use as my quilt container.

I was happy with my final choice.

The shower was held in Hoboken and Sammi seemed to love her quilt.

Much love and happiness to my very special friend and second daughter, Sammi Beth.

4.  A wedding quilt for a very special daughter :)

Now this endeavor might prove to be a little more daunting.  So far the only hints I've been given from the bride-to-be is that she wants a "white quilt."  This will be very challenging for me as I am all about the COLOR!

5.  Folk Stitches

Four blocks complete.


No progress on the following GREEN highlighted projects.

6.  The Children's Library - a mystery quilt by Pat Sloan

7.  The Blazing Star - the Craftsy 2017 Block of the Month

8.  Julie Herman's Toes in the Sand quilt

9.  Just Takes 2

10.  Dancing Stars

11.  The Patchwork Quilt Along by
 The Fat Quarter Shop

12.  A few blocks from Amy Gibson's
The Quilt Block Cookbook 

13.  The 182 Day Solstice Challenge 
by Pat Sloan

14.  Basketweave from Quilted Living

15.  The not so True History of America Block of the Month by Texas Quiltworks

16.  PQW 2014-15 Saturday Sampler

17.  Quilt Square Quilt Along

18.  Zippy Strippy Bags

19.  Striped Table Runner

20.  Double Twisted Wreath Fall/Christmas

21.  Christmas Wall Hanging

22.  Fall Quilt Panels

23.  Chock Full O' Charms

24.  Black Pouch

25.  Folded Placemat

26.  Kuddle Kwilts

27.  Crazy Eights

28.  Vacation Watermelon Quilt

April 2018

1.  Piece, quilt, bind and label at least one "Quilts for Kids" quilt.  Attend the QFK workshop at Pennington Quilt Works.

2.  Bonnie Hunter's 2017 Mystery Quilt : 
On Ringo Lake 
and
  Bonnie Hunter's 2016 Mystery Quilt: 

En Provence  

3.  A wedding quilt for a very special daughter :)

4.  Folk Stitches

5.  The Children's Library - a mystery quilt by Pat Sloan

6.  The Blazing Star - the Craftsy 2017 Block of the Month

7.  Julie Herman's Toes in the Sand quilt

8.  Just Takes 2

9.  Dancing Stars

10.  The Patchwork Quilt Along by
 The Fat Quarter Shop

11.  A few blocks from Amy Gibson's
The Quilt Block Cookbook 

12.  The 182 Day Solstice Challenge 
by Pat Sloan

13.  Basketweave from Quilted Living

14.  The not so True History of America Block of the Month by Texas Quiltworks

15.  PQW 2014-15 Saturday Sampler

16.  Quilt Square Quilt Along

17.  Zippy Strippy Bags

18.  Striped Table Runner

19.  Double Twisted Wreath Fall/Christmas

20.  Christmas Wall Hanging

21.  Fall Quilt Panels

22.  Chock Full O' Charms

23.  Black Pouch

24.  Folded Placemat

25.  Kuddle Kwilts

26.  Crazy Eights

Until Next Time.....Happy Stitching!!!

Sharyn

Awesome Adventures with Ryder, Logan & Jace February 2018

Awesome Adventures with Ryder, Logan & Jace 
  February 2018

If I had my children to raise over again:

I do not have my children to raise again - I actually think I did a pretty good job the first time.  

(If I do say so myself :)

Nor, would I have the energy to raise children again. There is a reason why we have children when we are young.

But I am using a lot of the above thoughts as I am so fortunate to be able to spend so much time with my three wonderful grandsons.

Now on to the Awesome Adventures of those precious grandsons!

Ryder was chosen to display his Lego collection at our local library.

He had a little helper setting up his display.

SO PROUD!

We stopped in a few times throughout the month to make some minor adjustments.  

Perfect!

Ryder practicing the piano...

Happy little boys :)

The boys traveled to Philadelphia to visit their Uncle JT ...

and to meet his new Great Dane puppy, Thira.

JT brought Thira to our house to meet Brody.  They had so much fun playing together.

Our little Logan has embraced his new preschool.  He is having wonderful, creative, hands-on experiences and he is developing some great friendships with his classmates.

It's not easy to get a good picture with all three boys.  Someone is always looking away, squinting, or having a meltdown.  But we continue to try to get that perfect threesome picture...

Birthday Parties & Preschool Proms - The stuff that childhood is made of...

Our sweet little Jace celebrated his first birthday on February 16th.

Happy Birthday Sweet Jace!

We attempted to make slime...

What a mess!  But we had fun anyway.

We attended science class at our local library.

Just some random pictures of our fun escapades...

We had a few days of beautiful weather in February so we definitely got outside to play...

And then it SNOWED!!!

 But it didn't stop us from getting outside and playing in the snow

And on the ice.

Snow Sliding

Logan, Be Careful With That STICK!

How can you say "No" when you get a request for a play date like this?

More random adventures...

 Build-a-Bear

 May I have some please?

 Aunt (Dr.) Kaela would be so proud.

Not quite big enough to dunk.

 Library time with Ms. Julie

 Walking to the library near Mimi and Granddad's house.

Get that ball, Jace!

Crazy Hair day at Ryder's School.

It was an adventurous, fun-filled month.  These three precious boys bring so much to my life.  Their innocence and love is abundant...as is their energy!

There are days I struggle to keep up with them, but it is all worth it.  Reaching 10,000 steps on the days I spend with them is never a problem!!

Until Next Time.....Happy Stitching!!!

Sharyn