Slowdown Sunday - Green Edition

I was on such a roll with green blocks today that I couldn't help finishing off the last one.  There are still triangles of course, but the green center blocks are done!  I've just got a bit of handwork saved up for the end.  Two applique blocks and one which will be an attempt at hand piecing curves -- wish me luck on that one, curves are not my strong suit.

So here is the wall again -- isn't it getting full?  The closer it gets to being filled in the more I really want to just finish it all off.  I'm not really thrilled with the distribution of green shades, there are two olives right next two each other offset by two limes on the other side.  Maybe I'll fix it later but it might not look the same in the actual blocks.

Anna went to a fair last night and won some stuffed animals.  I'm not sure why, but she wanted to decorate dad this morning.  We are just back from Ryan's football game, it is the start of a new season already and he is on a different team.  Dad was lucky enough to get volunteered to be the coach this time.  The good thing about being the coach is that he can coordinate the practice times so that they are at the same time as Anna's lacrosse.  Maybe there will be less driving that way.  Hopefully.  

Sunday Slowdown

I've been stitching away steadily on the small blue Dear Jane.  Each block gets its own little treatment as the mood strikes me.  I'm well over halfway now, and starting to think that finishing might be a real possibility.

My hand quilting still isn't perfect, but it is a nice relaxing way to spend an evening while the family is watching a movie together in the evening.  Kathy is hosting a link up for slow stitching Sunday, head over to her blog to see what others are up to.

The girls both got up this morning and decided to start sewing.  We got a new sewing machine for Anna a couple of weeks ago.  There was an add in the paper that was advertising a clearance sale on school overstock machines still new in the box.  Kurt was able to drive down on his lunch break and get her all set up.  Now Sydney has taken over Anna's old machine which used to be mine, and they are both happy as clams.

Yesterday was crazy busy.  Ryan had his first football of the new season and Anna wanted to go to a Lacrosse clinic.

Not wanting to go alone, she recruited her friend Allie.  They were definitely the youngest girls there, but they stuck together and had a good time.  She seems to have talked Allie into signing up with her for the recreational lacrosse league that starts next month.   Somehow poor Sydney's Girl Scout meeting got lost in the shuffle of all that.  

By the end of the day, Anna was done though and snoozed right through the second movie in our Lord of the Rings marathon.  

I'm hoping Sunday will be a little more relaxing.  The boys are going to play Dungeons and Dragons and the girls want me to take them shopping for new outfits to wear for science fair.  

Messy Day

 After taking inventory this morning and catching up on ironing, I realized that all of the Broken Dishes units were done for Jamestown Landing.  That lead me to start in on the string blocks which had fallen a bit behind. I was working my way through the second season on Downton Abbey while sewing.  It wasn't on Netflix, so I signed up for a free trial of Hulu+.  I am much more appreciative of Netflix now after spending most of the afternoon buffering or restarting. 

 As I was making a mess in the sewing room, Anna was working on a mess in the kitchen.  She had decided to make a birthday cake for her friend Sierra and somehow managed to scatter cake, frosting and fondant all over the kitchen. 

 She was quite happy with the finished cake though, and cleaned up most of the mess. 

After lego practice Ryan had his first football game of the season.  He is in a different league this year so that he could be on a team with his friend Troy.   

Set In Sunday

Does anybody actually enjoy set in seams? I know you are supposed to do them by hand, but I never feel that my hand stitching is sturdy enough and so I use my machine anyway. I had one little mishap and sewed the long sides together instead of the short sides, but I got those back apart and put together block 32 without further mishaps. It didn't want to lie flat when it was done. But the iron and I worked together to convince it that it was the right thing to do. OK, so it may not be the flatest, squarest block I've ever done. But I guess that's why they invented the saying, "finished is better than perfect."
Ryan had his first football game of the new season today. Here is Kurt doing his coaches thing during the huddle. Isn't he cute? After that was an OM practice. This morning I took the girls to see Legends of the Guardians. It's the one in 3-D with the owls. You know it is a tried and tested premise when an 11 year old thinks the plot is predictable. In between the fun stuff it was just laundry and cleaning of the house. Sunday is pizza night and then the girls and I worked on a puzzle. Just a regular old weekend around here.

Lonely Logs

Today was our "out" day. Swim team, free movie, fabric store, lunch, silly bandz shopping and the hardware store. After that I folded a bunch of laundry and matched up socks. Not quite as fun as my grout scrubbing of yesterday, but it was a close second. I did get a bit of sewing done on the fill in the blank blocks after the kids were in bed. There is certainly lots of empty space in there for some quilting practice.
Tomorrow is my trip north for handiquilting classes! There is one from 9 to 12 and another from 2 to 5. I've got my camera packed, so hopefully I'll get a couple of pictures to share. I should still get back in time to do some sewing for the Friday Night Quilt Along.
Kurt took Ryan to his football awards ceremony tonight. Did I mention that they won the championship series? The coach had special shirts made up for them to celebrate.