Barrett's Quilt Part 2

Here is Barrett's quilt with borders 

(I'm officially so-uncool... I quilt until midnight onFriday  nights) 

Sweet dreams. I'm off to bed 

CB 

Toddler Quote du Jour

"Barrett! Don't touch the fire ants! They'll buurrnnn you!!"

- Travis 

Toddler Quote du Jour

"Barrett! Don't touch the fire ants! They'll buurrnnn you!!"

- Travis 

Barrett's Quilt

Barrett is getting a quilt!  His process has been the most fun of all the quilts I've ever made - it's a pattern I designed after seeing a picture of a beautiful floor. 

I saw it on the Instagram page of Joanna Gaines (from Fixer Upper) then visited the floor in Waco at Magnolia Farms. 

I really love the Spanish look of it and it's so geometrical, and frankly I've never seen a quilt made in this pattern so I decided to try to figure it out. 

Much sketching later, this is what I came up with. 

As you can see, I was playing around with the idea of filling certain blocks and with Tammy's advise, I decided to keep it all consistent. 

Then came weeks of mustering over colors and the big question of "HOW do I do it?"  Geometry is exact and I didn't want to mess it up. So I waited and waited and finally on Saturday night I just started cutting. I really didn't know how it would look and if I could make it work, but step by step it started to come together. 

There are blocks that don't fit and a lot of sizing errors, but it is coming along really well!  Lots of teenie tiny little pieces blocked together...

Overall, I'm very happy. 

I can't decide yet how big to make it - I really hated wrangling with Pierces quilt but now that it's done, it's kind of great that it is so big. He can really cuddle up with it. 

Happy Monday everyone! Hope you have a great Spring Break week!!

CB 

Crinkly glory

Pierces quilt is finally done! 

Here it is in all its crinkly glory. Can't wait for him to get home and see it. 

Definitely the most complicated quilt I've ever pieced, and much larger than I realized... Which with my home machine is just too difficult to quilt without a long arm. Maybe one day!!

Now the design process begins for Barrett's - woo hoo! 

CB 

Cabin Update

Our little Rockport cabin has been going through some very nice renovations and they're almost done!  

New windows have been put in and the outside has been repainted.  We have done most of the interior touch up painting too and it's getting back to normal!  I can't tell you how nice it is to have windows that open and close and lock.  We've had the windows open and you can hear the ocean... when the boys aren't screaming over it.  Ha.  This crazy life.  

Here's the new color - it's BM Woodland Green and the trim paint is Madison Milk Paint (a custom color for some builders down here.)   The front door will be painted to match the trim - it's darkened quite a lot since we painted it a few years ago and I think it's too yellow looking now.  

Here's what it looked like a couple days ago

On the inside, it's a circus.  

Huggies boats and fancy hats.  That's how we do it down here.  

It's been a wet couple of days so I am so glad we finally got a day of dry so we could get the paint on... Jason's elbow is probably going to fall off from all the painting - he's a trooper and he is FAST.  I am slow, and meticulous - it drives him nuts.  Marriage.  Yep.  

I hope you all have a wonderful New Years Eve and enjoy the last hours of 2015!

xoxo, CB

Quilts of 2015

I finished 3 quilts this year - their owners are all small humans which makes me happy happy happy. 

Here's the first one I made - it was for my sister Sabrina's 5th baby,  Ryan. 

The backing was the cutest polka dot blue. I love that fabric. Love love love. Navy blue fabric is extremely hard to find.  

The binding fabrics was this cool weave. Close up below. 

I think I started it in February and finished it in April. 

That's how the unfinished quilt top looked... I have a thing these days for mint. And navy. You'll see more of that later :) 

Next up was baby Owen's quilt. He is My sister Tammy's 3rd baby. I don't have a finished picture of it (sorry!)

 

I was so lucky to have BARELY enough extra of blue the polka dot fabric from Ryan's quilt to use as the binding of Owen's. I think it's sweet they they both have a little of the same in each others quilts. 

I pin basted this bad boy.  

Here's a close up of some of the quilting. I tried some new things with my walking foot to add a squiggly line. 

I also used a speed trick to make a million half square triangles - thank you internet for all the tips!! I put all those HSTs together in about a day. It was extremely fast. 

Here's how it looked as I was laying out the pattern. So cool. 

I didn't follow a pattern on this quilt. Tammy had posted a picture of a quilt she liked and I studied it and thought, I can figure that out! So I started cutting and ironing and it came together pretty fast. 

This one took me about 5 weeks to make but the majority of the time spent on it was definitely from the quilting process. It even traveled with me to California and I finished the quilting there. Thanks Aunt Lynne for letting me borrow your machine!! 

Next was a quilt for one of my best girlfriends, Stephanie and her little boy Otsie... He hasn't arrived yet so hopefully one day I'll get a picture of the quilt in action with my new little buddy. 

Again, I forgot to take a finished picture - sorry!!

This was the first time I tried free motion quilting and it is AWESOME!

First time doing pinwheels and they were scrappy -  no instructions - fly by the seat of your creative pants blocks! My favorite. Following patterns kind of stresses me out.

Here's the top before I sewed it all together. 

Anyhow - 3 quilts done! 

Pierces quilt is all basted (I used spray basting this time and it is MAGICAL). Just started quilting his. That'll take a while because it's quite a bit bigger than I realized!!

Love you all - enjoy the last few days of 2015!

CB 

Quilt top done!

Here it is... Quilt top is done! I'll be on the hunt for some dark fabrics for the back and the binding. I'm so excited. This is by far the most complicated, intricate quilt I've made and it is so much fun. 

What's killing me is, I'm not even close to finishing this thing and I'm already on to the next hunt for the quilt I want to make for Barrett. And then, I worry that if Barrett's isn't as complicated, am I favoring Pierce?

So then I wonder, why did I make this one for Pierce and not Barrett - and I go back to pure early childhood brainwashing :) Pierce has been all about whatever "bank-ie" is around him and I want to get in on this action and put an official blankie in his possession early enough that it becomes "THE" bank-ie!  

And now, I've got to move fast so in can imprint on Barrett's blankie preference too!  

Here's a close up of one of the blocks...

And the little blocks from where they came...

I'm sure NOONE out there cares as much as I do, but for some reason, the creation of something that can warm someone up, from random yards of fabric, is so extremely amazing to me. It's like a little baby coming out of nowhere... But obviously not as amazing as a baby. 

It's late. I'm rambling.

Okay... Merry Christmas everyone - I hope you had an amazing time with your families and friends :)

-CB

VIKTOR FRANKL

Words to live by from an Auschwitz survivor...

Not sure why this stuck with me but I thought it worthy of sharing:

"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing:

The last of human freedoms - 

To choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, 

To choose one's own way."

- VIKTOR FRANKL 

I love it. 

Surround yourself with the choice of positivity - creativity - love. 

Don't let the negativity in. 

Merry Christmas Eve - xoxo

Progress

Here's the latest on the quilting front 

In other news, Travis has strep - and I'm fairly certain I'm following in his tracks. Hoping all the sickness passes quickly so we can enjoy our time off. 

Sweet dreams, CB

I'm quilting again

I'm quilting again - I've been away from it too long and my creative need finally came to bubble up and I started- with a terrible set of directions and a hope that this one will be for Pierce... So I really want to fill it with love. 

So far, I am loving it. 

Want a preview? 

I'm so excited! 

 

Two posts in one day. Man... Yes!

xoxo CB

Travis is growing up

My first baby will be 4 in a couple of weeks. 

That is mind boggling to me.  I think the next time I look up he'll be graduating from high school. 

We had a big life moment yesterday... Travis got glasses. 

He loves them - luckily his cousin and a boy in his preschool class has glasses, and he thinks glasses are cool. 

I think it may help that he can actually see now! Poor baby needed a pretty strong prescription. 

Here he is. My handsome big boy. 

He looks so old.

Crazy. 

Well, there's a chance I could get back into this blogging thing... I downloaded an app to my phone and I can post now without having to get on the old rusty laptop!! 21st century technology. 

Okay, we're off to a birthday party. Have a great weekend long lost friends ;)

xoxo, CB

...and one more

It's happening again...

Travis' Lumberjack Birthday Party

For Travis' 3rd birthday, we went with a "Lumberjack" theme.  Honestly, the idea was derived out of the simplest way for me to keep up my Christmas decorations while trying to keep it from feeling "Christmas-y" and it worked great.

It was a "Rugged & Manley" birthday celebration and a very hearty Lumberjack Meal! 

On the menu:

The most amazing lumberjack cookies I've ever seen - thank you Ashley.  You are so talented!

Sorta-Smores - they were, eh-hem..."deconstructed"

...my fancy way of saying, I put out marshmallows, graham crackers and hershey's chocolate for people to make their own.  

Unfortunately we didn't have a fire going to melt the smores (correction, that was not unfortunate - a 3 year old party really doesn't need open flames... but is it really smore if it's not melted?)

I made 16lbs of roast with roasted red potatoes and baby carrots.  

There wasn't a lick left.  It was either a big hit or people were hungry or I didn't make enough... 

I labeled it "Meat & Potatoes" to help it feel as MANLY as possible.

We had "wood logs" 

long pretzel sticks

...A cookie cake - because that's T's favorite

There were lumberjack beard signs placed around the house... hehe... I can't help myself. 

"Wild Bears" aka Teddy Grahams

I also tried to make Homemade Hot Chocolate - that was a disaster.  I'll be doing the powdered stuff next time.

We got crafty and painted the kids hands and made ornaments.  

Thanks to all our family and friends that made it!  We had a great time!

xoxo, Cyndy

Hello Friends...

I have been a bad, bad girl.  Not true.  I have been stupidly busy and have not made time to write on this beautiful blog.  I totally regret it too, because looking back there have been so many milestones that I know I will forget because I haven't documented them along the way.  And, a heartfelt sorry to all my far far away family that hasn't been able to see what's happening in our little life because I've been absent.  I'm here - don't know for how long, but I'm here tonight... for the next 20 minutes.

So what's new?

I got a new camera - OH MY GOODNESS, she's a beauty.  And, I got a new lens.  Only weirdos like me get giddy over that kind of stuff, but it makes documenting life so much prettier.

We moved.  To San Antonio - back to the SA.  Yep - enjoying it lots.

I got a new job.  Same company, just back working with restaurants.  Ridiculously blessed to get paid to do something I genuinely love.

We bought a new house.  In 1 day.  Fun story.

We sold the old house.

Jason went to Japan and China without me (for work.)

Travis turned 3 today - so I can no longer claim that I have three kids under three.  That was fun while it lasted, but I'm happy to see it go.

My sister came to visit from Australia this October.  That was amazing.

Lots and lots has happened.  The boys are nearly 9 months old now.

We are settling in, though the house still needs a strong dose of love and paint... but I do love it.

Okay - ready for pictures?  Me too.

This was today at MawMaw's.  It seems to be turning into somewhat of a tradition to spend the day with MawMaw on Travis' birthday.  Couldn't be happier.

Isn't she a beauty? 

Tammy & Keri

Melissa, Jason & Kyle

Travis, Lane & Wesley

(no nap = grumpy faced T)

Welcome to the technology age...

Bubba & Susan

Dalton & Pierce

That's all for now, but I'll work on getting more of the good stuff up here.  

Until next time, 

xoxo. CB