We organized the swap through Flickr so that we could look through quilts and click favorite quilts that we liked. It was really helpful to be able to look through our partner’s favorite list to see what style and colors of quilts they liked. We were able to make whatever we wanted, but it was nice to have some photos for inspiration.

My partner loves nature and especially loves tree quilts. She also loves shades of teals, blues and greens. She said that she was working on a tree quilt and would love to have a quilt made with similar fabrics. She had quite a few tree quilts in her favorite list that I thought were really fun. I’ve always wanted to make an art quilt and decided that this would be the perfect opportunity, since it’d be a smaller quilt to start with!

I wasn’t able to find the fabrics in my local quilt stores and decided to go a different route. I pulled out all the teal, blue and green fabrics from my stash. I did a search for tree leaves and found three that I liked and traced them. I began to trace them and cut them out of fusible webbing.

I had a brown batik fabric and a greenish/bluish fabric that I thought would be perfect for the tree bark and grass. Here was my first sneaky peak layout.

I decided that I’d prefer the tree to have branches running up through the leaves. I found two photos for inspiration and sketched and cut out the fusible webbing for the trunk and branches.

I sewed the “Grass” to the “Sky” and fused the tree trunk and branches down on to the fabric.

I ironed the fusible webbing onto the back of fabric and started cutting out the leaves and fused them onto the tree.

I decided I wanted more leaves on the tree and cut out a bunch more. There are over 150 leaves on the tree!

To save time, I decided to applique and quilt the tree at the same time. I dubbed it “appliquilting”. I had several variegated threads that matched the quilt and decided to use them all when quilting the Tree Art Quilt and I used a stippling stitch on the leaves.

I stitched around the main tree trunk and then decided to get creative with the “Grass” part of the quilt. I used a free motion to create “Tuffs” of grass and used three different variegated threads to make it look more interesting. Once it was all quilted, I cut strips from some of the different fabrics I used in the leaves and made a scrappy binding. I was wanting to hand stitch the front of the binding but ran out of time and used a decorative stitch instead.

The finished Tree Art Quilt!!!

Closer Look

I had this really fun batik Indian Paisley fabric that I decided to use for the backing fabric. I took a square and folded it in half diagonally and stitched it into the corner when I sewed on the binding and then hand tacked the edge down. I then used a acid free fabric pen and wrote a message on the label.

To give you an idea of the size, here is a picture of me holding up the quilt. This is my “It’s late and I’m exhausted but I’m thrilled my Tree Art Quilt is finished, but I keep blinking and can’t stop laughing” smile.

It was so hard to mail this quilt off, as so much time and thought and creativity went into this quilt! My brain was working overtime as I slowly figured out what I wanted the quilt to look like and it was fun to come up with new ideas and try new techniques!

I have enough fabric to make myself a Tree Art Quilt. I plan to embroider a verse onto some fabric and sew it onto the fabric under the tree. I want it to say, “‘Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy’ – Psalm 96:12b” and on the label name it “Tree of Life”. I have the perfect spot in my hallway to hang it up! I have quite a few Christmas projects I’m going to work on this fall, but I look forward to making my own Tree Art quilt next spring! And I already have other new art quilt ideas bouncing around in my brain!

Well… a certain little girl took scissors to her hair… not just once, but TWICE! In the span of a week.

So that bumped up the haircut.

The part I was most upset about is that she cut her bangs. Thankfully, she did a nice job of layering them sideways. But you can tell on the back of her head where the hair was cut. I wasn’t willing to cut her hair that short, so I was hoping that a hair stylist would be able to work with it. A friend told me about a lady that cuts hair out of her home just down the street from us! She was able to work us in for an appointment. I took tons of pictures, of course, and Eliana was quite happy with the end result.

Here is the front of hair before the haircut. You can sort of see the cut bangs swept to the side. She was a little nervous about her haircut, and wanted to bring her special blanket and Eliana Bear with her to the appointment.

Back of her hair. You can see the cut hair up by her neck. I didn’t want it cut this short. Also, there are tuffs of hair about 1″ long on the top of her head. Yup, that’s another section that she cut.

Miss Karen and I talked about what should be done. We decided to go ahead and go for a shoulder length bob like I had originally intended and we’ll go back every few months for trims until the hair all grows out to one length, and then will let it grow out long. Eliana sat on a big cushion so that she’d be high enough for Miss Karen to cut her hair. I had her take a bath before we went to the appointment, so Miss Karen just had to wet it down. Here, she is combing it all out. And you can’t tell, but she’s holding her blanket under the pink haircut tarp.

Making the first cut!

Tapering the bangs.

Adding some layers.

It’s all cut! Time to blow dry Eliana’s hair!

It’s all done! Eliana’s first photo of her finished hair cut!

Eliana admiring herself in the mirror after her 1st haircut!

Eliana’s hair after the 1st haircut!

She really likes it!

And so does her mommy! I think it really makes her look more grown up! She’s becoming such a cute little girl!

Miss Karen picked up the longer chunks of hair and gave them to me for her scrap book. I’m going to miss her baby blond locks, as her hair is turning brown like her mommy and daddy. But her hair looks and feels healthier, and I love her new grown up look!

I made two items. The first was a Limestone rock Welcome sign. Jake really likes it, which is nice! I have it by our front door right now. But once I pull weeds in our flower bed, I’ll put it there.

I also made a Range Originals Art Display board. I plan to hang it up in the hallway so that we can display Eliana and David’s art work.

I really enjoyed meeting the other women in the group and had a lot of fun crafting and eating yummy desserts. I look forward to future meetings and making other fun craft items for our home or for gifts!!

The first thing we did was go to a fun VBS program at a local church. The theme was Camp E.D.G.E. which stood for “Experience and Discover God Everywhere”. Since it was a camping theme, there were lots of trees (real, fake and paper) up all over the place. I was a teacher’s assistant for a three-year old classroom and I had a lot of fun helping decorate our room! I brought in my tents, camping chairs, sleeping bags, lanterns and water jugs, and borrowed some bear themed blankets from my mom.

We had 20 three-year olds in our classroom and 16 of them were boys! It was a lot of work keeping those boys on task, but it sure was a fun week! After the first day, one of the boy’s mom’s asked him what he learned that day. He said, “I learned about God but I didn’t want to learn about God. I wanted to learn about garbage trucks!” We all had a great laugh!

Eliana was in a different classroom, but it was so nice to know what lessons, verses and songs she was learning. We got a CD with all the songs on it and we have had a lot of fun listening to it every day.

Since there was a camping theme, she got to see the tents and really wanted to sleep in one. So I went ahead and set up my three-man tent in the living room. Both kids had a blast playing in the tent! Eliana took her afternoon naps in the tent and slept in it several times at night.

We came home each afternoon and crashed and took three hour naps. It was an exhausting week, but it was also extremely rewarding!

Here are a few pictures from our week.

Eliana posing in front of the tent in her VBS classroom.

Jen handing out playdough. Meghan (center) was the teacher of the class and Monica (right) was another teacher’s assistant.

The playdough was extra sticky and ended up being a messy craft project. The kids still had fun though!

Pond in our classroom where we went “fishing”

Sandbox where the kids got to play in it and find hearts to remind them of God’s love and also how He created all the animals, including all the creepy crawly bugs. This was a huge hit for the boys. LOL!

The kids really enjoyed the worship time and had fun learning the motions to the songs. We’d play the CD in our room afterwards and the four girls really liked having a dance time and doing the motions to the song. Even some of the boys joined in! It was especially fun to come home and hear Eliana singing the songs and trying to do the motions. We’ve now incorporated some of the songs into our family devotion time. This past weekend, even David joined in and tried to do some of the hand motions!

Waterfall in the church lobby.

The tent set up in our living room.

Eliana sleeping in the tent at nap time.

So I decided to be super sneaky. During nap time I pretended to fall asleep on the floor next to the crib. David was lying down, but crawled over and watched me for a few minutes.

When he decided I must really be asleep, then he actually tried to climb out! I snagged a few quick pictures as proof.

Busted!!!

“Uh Oh. Mom caught me. I bet I’m in BIG trouble.” *pout*

“Ok. Fine. I’ll just lie down and take my nap.”

Tonight hubby went ahead and put the crib down on the lowest setting to prevent any escaping babies. But I’m sure it’ll only be a matter of time before he’s climbing out of the crib again! This boy LOVES climbing stuff.

One day in particular, the poor guy was wearing a pink diaper, had a purple mouth, and had a sticker on his back that he couldn’t reach and take off by himself. He was not a happy camper.

So he took things into his own hands so he could prove to his mommy, sister, the world, and more importantly, to himself that he is a strong handsome little man.

Here is his journey.

Step One – Acknowledge how unhappy you are.

“I’m wearing a pink diaper and now my mouth is purple, I have a sticker on my back that I can’t get off, and I DON’T like it.”

Step Two – Realize that you can take your future into your own hands and change.

“Huh. You mean I don’t just have to sit here and cry about it? I can actually DO something about it?”

Step Three – Make a written plan with small goals.

“I found some paper. But now I can’t find my pen. WAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

Step Four – Begin to express masculinity.

“I am David! I found my pen! Now hear me ROAR!!!

Hmmm…. I still have a pink diaper and a purple mouth. I think I need a little more testosterone.”

“Ok, second try. I am David!! I found my pen! And now I’m going to read my Diego book! Hear me ROAR!!

Hmmmm…. well, that was better. But I’m still wearing a pink diaper and have a purple mouth. What can I do about that? MOMMMMM!”

Step Five – Dress to express your inner attitude and masculinity.

“All right! Pink diaper is GONE! I think this brown diaper reflects my inner Tarzan SO much better! My mouth is still purple, but it’s fading and should be all gone soon. Let me adjust my blue hat a little bit more before I sit down and have a drink while and reading my Diego book.

Wait a second!!! This sippy cup is PINK! Yeah, yeah, yeah, I see it has an orange lid. But the cup is PINK!! This won’t do AT ALL! Time for some drastic changes.”

Step Six – Bask in all your glory and enjoy the new person you have become.

“Awwww Yeah! I ditched the hat and figured out how to take off my diaper. I’m holding not just one, but TWO sticks, and I’m free and nekid as can be. I’m showing off my goods and I’m proud of it! It’s feels GREAT to be a man and show how strong and masculine I am!!”

“Now how do I unlock the door? I want to get outside and show the world what a manly man I am!!”

I love my handsome little man! Even if he occasionally wears a pink diaper and has a purple mouth.

Tonight, Eliana just came and woke me up and said she had something to tell me. I was still bleary eyed and asked her what it was.

She leaned over to whisper in my ear, “Do you hear that?” I tried to wake up enough to listen and then realized I could hear thunder, so I told her yes.

She then whispered, “I know what is making that sound. God is moving beds and tables and REAWWY heavy things in heaven. When I die and go to heaven, then I’m going to help Him move things ALL around heaven. I’m a good helper.”

She crawled in bed with me and fell fast asleep. But now I’m wide awake.

As much as I can’t wait for Jesus to take me home, I want as much time on earth as I can with my sweet little girl!

I made Eliana a skort and David a pair of shorts out of two different Patriotic fabrics. Then I realized that I didn’t have any white or red shirts for them to wear with them. I dashed to Target and found two white shirts on clearance. So I used the same fabrics to applique stars on the front of the white shirts. I didn’t have a ton of time, so I just did a straight stitch around the inside of each star. I can go back and do a satin stitch if needed, but I thought that this way it might make the edges of the stars fray a bit and give it a fun look.

Eliana’s outfit

David’s outfit – There had been a pocket on his shirt, so I took it off. But I made two small holes as a result. So I just added extra stars. And it was a 2T, so there will be lots of room to grow.

Playing outside the stone pavilion at the 4th of July Family Reunion

The kids got lots of compliments in their outfits and I was a proud mama showing them off!

Then she said, “Mom… I accidentawy put my hand in the potty and it got allll wet and I dried it on the towel but I need help washing my hand.”

Oh the things we do for our kids, LOL!

I had forgotten to put shorts over his diaper. David had taken off his diaper and tossed it out of the crib. Poop clumps were all over the floor. It was all over most of the crib bars. Poop was on several of his toys I have snapped onto the rail. And he had poop smeared on his arms, feet and hands. It was even under his fingernails and toenails!

I scooped him up and immediately tossed him into the tub. Hubby got right to work taking off the toys. Here’s a shout-out for Incredible Crib Sheets, because it kept it off the main sheet, although hubby went ahead and took that off too, just to be sure. David cried through his whole bath. I tried to get him to play so he could soak as long as possible to get all the poop off him. I scrubbed him down real well, with an extra scrubbing on his fingers and toes to try to get it out from under the nails.

After his bath, he cried the whole time I dried him off and got him dressed. He finally stopped crying when hubby scooped him up and snuggled him and brought him outside to distract him while DH checked out our roof.

As I was scrubbing down his crib, I realized I missed a great blackmail photo opportunity. That’s ok. He’ll thank me when he’s dating. Although it’ll still be a fun story to tease him about.