Snuggly Snowmen

On the first day of fall, I am happy to present a quilt with which you can get downright snuggly!

The quilt is made of flannels with some chenille thrown in for good measure. I bought this kit at Road to California Quilt Show. My friend, Linda, and I couldn't quit gushing over how fun this quilt was. The pieces of black simply make the quilt striking! (That is my sweet hubby holding the quilt for me, sporting his head full of curls and no shoes.)


It is, by far, the easiest quilt I have pieced together. What could be easier than piecing square blocks together???? The only issue was in the quilting. It was nearly impossible to quilt over the chenille due to its bulkiness. I simply quilted around those blocks and then just used an old school tack with embroidery floss. Problem solved!

For the back, I used a flannel that I bought on clearance at the Quilter's Cottage. (I got it for a steal!)


The kids love this one! It has been getting much use and I see that it will continue to be a favorite.

San Diego County, Unplugged

What a crazy afternoon/evening yesterday!

After walking my students to the front of the school yesterday afternoon, I returned to my classroom to find that there was no power. The kids and I waited a few minutes to see if it was a quick interrupt of power or something larger. Well, I think that we know the answer to that, now. Apparently, all of San Diego County and parts of surrounding counties were affected by an unprecedented power outage.

Regardless of our perceived plight, my family had one of the best nights! Around dusk, we took a long drive on one of our favorite roads. (Sleeping Indian from Oceanside to Fallbrook is this amazingly circuitous road that Rene loves to ride on his road cycle, but it is also fun to drive. Sidenote: He actually hit 52 mph on one of the downhills. I don't even like going down the hill going 50 in my Odyssey.)

We laughed and played games by candlelight and it was pretty fabulous!
There was a spirited game of charades. We made shadow puppets by flashlight. It was nice to be able to enjoy each other without other distractions.

After the youngest kiddos had gone to bed, Jake and I sat on the front porch and read by candlelight and Rene enjoyed a little nappy.

Close to nine o'clock, the whir of power startled us all. It was almost as if it had broken the magical spell of quiet.

We did, however, get an unexpected surprise. During the outage, all San Diego County public schools had canceled schools on Friday.

Hello, 3-day weekend brought to you by SDG&E! :)

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Go Rebs!

Love this!

Game day in Oxford Mississippi from scottburtonphotography on Vimeo.

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Rain falls in real time....

Except when it simply threatens to fall and it doesn't. Today was such an odd day, but absolutely beautiful. The cloud cover and breeze were such a fun change of pace.
Things have been so hectic, recently. Between our last minute summer "daycations," Vegas, my sister coming to visit, and getting ready for school to start, I feel like we have been whirling dervishes. Of course, I wouldn't want it any other way, but it can get a bit chaotic. Heck, just getting the four kids out of the house might be considered a feat of strength. :)

So, without further delay, here is the next quilt I have to share. I titled this quilt "Bloom Where You are Planted." This quilt is the result of a block exchange with my Cabin Fever Friendship Group.

When we were on our last retreat to Idyllwild, Marian suggested that we each complete a raw-edge appliqué flower block to exchange with our members. The fun thing about raw-edge is that the edges will "rag" up when the quilt is washed. (Marian completed her blocks for everyone before we left that weekend!) Since I have never attempted raw-edge appliqué, my interest was piqued.

I decided to use poppies as my flowers in a little galvanized steel water can.


(Sorry that the picture is such crap.)
When I received the other blocks, I realized that I was going to have a pretty big void. I thought that I might do an embroidery block with a quote, but struggled to find a quote that was apropos.

Instead, I chose to create another block (oversized) to fill the space.



(I love the way that this picket fence turned out.)

I wanted to add sashing between all of the blocks and then bordered them with a green floral that I used on a previous quilt.


I finished using a meandering stipple pattern to quilt. J'adore.
My friendship group is so unbelievably talented. I am fortunate beyond measure to be amidst such fabulous women!
:)