4th of July, Quilts, and a Five Mile Hike

We've had a great, fun filled, and productive week.
One of my summer bucket list items was to make four quilts for my Angel Baby Project. I was able to make four quilt tops this past week. Yay! Now I just need to get them put together.

I bought this quilt kit a couple of months ago. I added in the green polka dot fabric from my scraps because I had to cut off a chunk of material around the edges. It is actually a YW value quilt, so I needed to cut off all the values and pictures that were on the material. It normally sold for $50, but it was on sale for $11.99 (no tax!). It was just so cute and such a good price that I couldn't pass it up. I happen to have left over batting that fits it too :) Pictured, as well, is the material for the backing.

 

  

 I've found some patterns on the internet that I like for quilts, but you have to buy them. These three quilts I  had to just look at the pictures that I found and figure out measurements on my own. I love how they turned out though. I'm trying to use up the material and scraps that I have. And I am giggling at this point because I am catching all my mistakes as I look at the pictures. Oh well, there is a little piece of me in those quilts: Not perfect but a lot of love.

 

 

 

 
Meg wanted to sit on my lap while I sewed.

While I was in the sewing mood I made two matching skirts. This was on my summer bucket list too. Two Christmas presents done!

This was Myles's month for an outing with Chris. They both went to Red Robin for their free birthday burgers. They also went to the scout shop to get Myles's new scout shirt and badges. A big "Thank You" to Oma and Opa for that! Then they went down to the Columbia River. One of Myles's favorite spots.

 
 This is what Chris created down at the river. We are amazed that he got all those rocks to balance.

 

 The girls talked Chris into taking them to Powell's Bookstore in Portand on Monday night. It is huge and several stories. They had a blast and found the Moomin books they were looking for.

On Monday and Tuesday Chris had a side job for a fellow in our stake ( my chiropractor ). He has been welding some contraptions for his new office.

We enjoyed watching some awesome fireworks on the 4th of July.

 

 

 

 

Rhaevyn has been working on applying for jobs. She has been knitting an Icelandic sweater and painting more rocks. These are two of her most recent ones:


A scene from Howl's Moving Castle and a Moomin:

  Chris got to use his mug that Rhaevyn made for him:

 On Friday Myles was over at his favorite hang out, Sister Lee's. He was playing hide and seek with one of their daughter's dogs, Sadie, who is a yellow lab. Then he brought me home roses from her garden.

On Saturday, at 5am, Chris and Myles got up to go on a five mile hike with the scouts. They hiked Eagle Creek, which is in Hood River County, Oregon. Myles had worked on his walking stick during the week to get it all ready for the hike. He had a great time!

 

We've got some great things happening this week:

Tomorrow is Myles's 11th birthday. I can't believe he is 11. One more year and he'll be 12!!!! These kids just keep growing up. It is so exciting and neat and bittersweet.
Elsa will be attending her first Activity Day Camp this week. I am dropping off two of my quilts to be put together, and the girls will be heading up, with Chris, to see Ben and Stacey.
Until the next blog post, may you all have a radiant week!

Ahhhh Summer!

 This week we've just been hanging around home, purging, getting various areas of the house organized, and marking stuff off of our summer bucket list. We've enjoyed bike rides every evening with playtime at the school playground.

Aeva has been looking for ways to earn money, and I think she finally found a great idea. She  has spent this past week making notebooks using Japanese binding.  These two were here practice run:

 
She went and bought some cute scrapbooking paper and cardstock to make 12 notebooks. She already sold ten of them for $3 each. She was so thrilled!!

 These will be the covers of her next round of notebooks.

 

 Rhaevyn and I each made a cute card for free, yesterday, at a local craft store. It was so fun!

Molly got her first haircut since my friend, her last groomer, moved to Utah.
She behaved fairly well and came back looking so pretty and patriotic.

The girls sneaked into Myles's room this last week and took a picture of him sleeping, and I took one of Chris. We got a few giggles taking these pictures.
 

Aeva and I got our hair cut. I went a bit shorter for the summer, and I really like it. 

 Rhaevyn had an outing at Ikea with her fellow friend, Will, who I call Cello Will.
They spent about three hours roaming Ikea, had lunch, and tried out all the sofas. She had a great time.
I can't believe we are to July already. I feel like summer is slipping by so quickly!