Two New Squares

This last week I completed two new squares for Hannah's quilt. I also made a cute little backpack, I thought was going into the store. Libby kept on telling me how she needed a new ruffle Paris backpack and since it was the last of my pink Paris material she got her a new bag.

The first square I completed this past week was another Mary Poppins square. Hopefully, Hannah will not reject this one. I think this one turned out much better, than the last one with the two different sky colors.

The next square had the hills alive with The Sound of Music. I enjoyed making this one and a couple songs from the musical actually played on Pandora while I was making this square. It really put me in the mood to make this square.

New Adventure Begins

We moved Hannah into her dorm room on Friday. It was so nice. We pulled up to her building and were instructed to stay in the van while a group of students got all her things and carried them to her room. She went to open the door but her dad and I went to park the van once it was empty. By the time we got the van parked and back to the room, the student team was working on another car load and all Hannah's things were in her room. Boy was I glad, I was not looking forward to moving her refrigerator.

In just about two hours Hannah and I had her room unpacked and decorated. It comes from having two very organized people working together. She was quite pleased with her room and I think it turned out really nice.

Friday evening the school had a service where the students marched in down the oaks, opposite of the way they will march out when they graduate.

There was a service where the students were welcomed to their new school and they made a pledge to work diligently and to follow the Jesuit philosophy of education. Afterwards they took a class picture and then the families were invited to each supper with their student before we left them. I find it very encouraging that Springhill thinks it is important to include the families in the students process of moving to adulthood. In October there will be a weekend filled with activities for the families to come back to the school and join in the fun with their student.

It's amazing how much they have going on. The school has planned many activities to help the students get to know one another and keep the students from getting home sick. Every day for the next two weeks there is some activity they can attend if they choose to. Tonight Hannah's dorm pod had a cookie baking/ board game evening. Last night they had bingo for the whole campus, where some lucky student won a $200 gift card for books. Next weekend they are having a retreat for the freshmen if they want to attend.

Hannah and her dad looking at all the planned activities.

Getting Ready for College

Two weeks ago Hannah came home from her summer camp job. We were all glad to see her. The two weeks flew by in a whirl wind of activity. Having not decided the colors of her dorm room meant we had a lot of work to do.  The first decision was what type of quilt she wanted. She finally decided on A Trip Around the World pattern. Next we spent an afternoon in Dothan shopping for fabric and pricing items for her room. It turned out to be a fun girls day out. I learned how to make a pillow case. Hannah couldn't believe I'd never made one before since it is usually a beginning sewers project. Here is a picture of her quilt.

Here is a picture of Noah trying out Hannah's pillow case. I let him know I thought it looked great on him.

Next Hannah wanted me to make her a caddy for the side of her bed. There was not a pattern of what she wanted but she did find a picture of one she liked but with minor changes she wanted done on Amazon. She I had use my depleting math skills to figure out a pattern for this project. I was pleased with how it turned out. It gives her plenty of room to put her books in it, a water bottle on one side with two small pockets on the other side and two pockets across the front.

After I finished this project, Hannah wanted a caddy to go over the refrigerator to store all her plates, cups, napkins, and silverware. Unfortunately, once again there was no pattern so I had to create one again. I wasn't sure if her roommate would want to use the other side of the  refrigerator for something or if she'd like for the caddy to go on both sides. After stressing over this I finally decided if she didn't want to use it Hannah could just fold that side up on the top and went ahead and made it. Once I got it made I thought "OH, NO!!!" the plates are not going to stay. Talk about stressing at 1:00 in the morning the day we will be leaving to take her to school. I went and got plates from the kitchen and tried them out. Thankfully,  it was a great size for plates and not too wide so they wouldn't be all over the floor. Here is the finished project, hanging over my cutting table.

 The other side is the same.

While I was working on these projects, Hannah was busy making a throw rug for her dorm. She spent hours making pom poms. I made a few one evening while she was working at the theatre. Another first for me. Not sure where I was when these basic lessons were going on. The rug turned out really nice and soft, but she did not think I was funny when I suggested she make one for my room.

Another day of shopping, a quick trip to Mobile to drop off a van load of things at my moms (so we all can go to her induction service at Springhill), drilling holes in her flip flops and building dividers for her lap desk storage section and she is finally ready to head off to school, I hope.? I don't remember needing so much stuff when I went to college

Three More Broadway Squares Complete

Tonight I will share three more squares I have completed on Hannah's Broadway quilt. This one I completed in a few hours. It is from the musical Rent, if you couldn't guess. (HA, HA)

Hannah and I went to see this musical at Gulf Coast awhile back. She had wanted to see it and got extra credit in one of her classes for going. (Like she really needed it, an A is an A no matter how many extra points one gets.) Anyway the musical was rated for people 17 years of age and up. Hannah's classmates gave her a terrible time about just being a baby and how she couldn't go. (All in good fun) Hannah did happen to just turn 17 before the show. We really enjoyed the version put on at Gulf Coast. I know they cleaned it up some from the original Broadway version.

The next one is a play my kids are very familiar with, Oklahoma. We have watched the movie many times. John and I were able to go see it years ago when the BCF put on the play. I did at one point get extremely sick of the songs. Nathan performed in the play at the Spanish Trail Playhouse a few years ago. He was told to listen to the music every day so he would be able to sing the songs. Needless to say him being the legalist listened to it every night. He would put it on continuous play at bedtime so I got to hear the songs all night long for what seemed like weeks on end.

This block was a lot of work. I had piles of the different colors all over the place. I was so glad to finish the sky because that meant I could at least put away 6 of the colors I was using. This one was a lot of work but well worth the time.

 The final block I've recently made is from Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat.  This is a fun musical. We have watched the movie version many times. A couple years back the Broadway tour came to Panama City and Hannah and I were able to go see it with a friend of hers. It was amazing.

The first time we let Nathan watch it, he went on and on about how Abraham and his sons would not have worn cowboy boots. Ever the legalist. Now he has accepted that it is not all exactly true to the time period and really enjoys the musical.

Now I must stop the Broadway quilt for the time being, so I can make Hannah's quilt and the list of things she wants for her dorm room. Hopefully, I will be able to get back to this quilt in a few weeks. I am only about half done with all the squares Hannah wants for the quilt.

Sewing With Libby

Over the years I have tried to teach Libby different skills, so that as an adult she would have something to work at, since she has many challenges that keep her from going out into the world on her own. To my disappointment I was having no luck finding anything she would stick at and enjoyed. She might do a little work on a project and then leave it for me to finish or she'd want to do a project but it wound up being me working while she talked to me.

Needless to say I was not all the enthusiastic about making her doll a cloak when she began talking about it. When we were out at Hobby Lobby she went searching for the fabric and trim she wanted for the cloak, while I was busy looking for something else. She picked out her material and I helped her get them cut. She was very excited but I was not.

A day or two later she finally got me to what I thought was going to be "help" her make the cloak. We started out cutting the fabric. I measured and drew the cloak part and she actually cut it out. Then she took the hood pattern she'd had me print off for her and pinned it and cut it out also.

       

O.K. This was more than I thought she'd do. I was surprised when she choose to use black thread. Getting the machine ready for her, I turned the speed down to as slow as it will go. She began to sew each step I told her to do she did. Here she is sewing away with her doll Dazzle.

Well, I was surprised. Next came the hemming. I was for sure she'd stop at this point. It was a 1/4 inch hem which is not easy to iron in place, not to mention it is curved on the bottom and the hood is also curved. Once I showed her how to use the seam gage and to iron in the hem she got right to work.

When the hem was ironed in and pinned she went back to the sewing machine to finish sewing the cloak. It was now complete all except for the sequined trim she wanted to add. Since it was a thick elastic trim, I told her that it would be best for me to sew it on for her. She worked really hard on her dolls new cloak and here is the finished results.

For those of you who know Libby and her dislike of the color red, you may be wondering why she picked red for the cloak. I know I sure was surprised by her choice. Well it seems Dazzle has fire breathing dragon powers and so the red represents fire. I tell you all, I will always try to stay on Dazzle's good side.

A few days after this, I was getting ready to make a friend of hers birthday present. She announced she wanted to make it. Well I knew she'd stuck with the cloak, but I expected her to leave this project after sewing a seam or two. She stuck with the project the whole way through.

 I wish I had gotten a picture of the final project. It was a cloth bag with a large outside pocket, a little button pocket and pencil holder on the left side and a place to hold a drawing pad on the right. It turned out really nice. Maybe Libby is finally showing an interest in sewing. I've tried many times in the past to get her sewing only to have her walk away, but maybe she's ready this time. We shall see.

Chocolate Bomb in the Kitchen

This weekend Hannah came home from camp. She mainly came home so she could work at the local theatre and go to a friends birthday party. No matter what the reason we were all glad to see her. Nathan even made her a cake on Saturday afternoon, so when she got home that evening from the theatre she would have something to eat.

Nathan has become quite the cook. He made this chocolate cake from scratch. First, he made the cake itself (three layers). Next he made two different kinds of frosting. One was cream cheese to go in between the layers and a thin layer on top. Finally, after letting it chill for awhile he frosted the whole cake with chocolate frosting. It was really great.

When making the second frosting, he ran into some difficulties as you can see.

The cocoa went everywhere. Nathan didn't let this stop his progress. He continued to work right along just standing in the chocolate explosion.

By the time he was done he had cocoa powder all over the floor and not just the kitchen he had a question and came looking for me. So we had chocolate foot prints all over the house. He was worried about having ruined my throw rugs with his chocolate footprints.

He did have a friend who tried to help him clean it up. Hannah's dog Truffles loves chocolate. She has torn up bags, broke class containers, and even raided the pantry one night for chocolate. This clean up job was her idea of heaven.

Needless to say she was not happy with me when I put her outside until the mess was cleaned up with a broom and mop.

Sorry I did not get a picture of the cake. After adding the last layer of frosting, Nathan topped it with chocolate chips. Needless to say the cake was delicious and Hannah was happy when she got home to eat her piece.

Next time I'll be sure to remind Nathan that even though it is called the Chocolate Bomb Cake, he does not need to have a chocolate explosion in the kitchen for it to turn out wonderful.

"It's a Jolly Holiday With Mary"?

This week's quilting square has been thoroughly frustrating. I chose to make a Mary Poppins square next for the Broadway Quilt. One reason I chose this is at camp Hannah has been nick named Mary Poppins. The child has an unusual accent that has prompted questions about where she's lived her whole life. She has only ever lived in Mobile, Al and then just three hours away in Northwest Florida, so her accent is not geographical linked. She has been raised by a father from the New Orleans area and a mother from Alabama so she did not pick it up from us either. Many people think she has a British accent, she was even asked to drop the accent when auditioning for her acting final with a Shakespeare Sonnet. After the final, her instructor told the guest graders that she/ had always talked that way as long as he had known her (one year).

I started the square on Monday, since I decided to nap on Sunday afternoon. I was really pleased with how it was turning out. I even was humming some of the songs as I went along. Then I got almost done when I realized that I was not going to have enough of the blue for the sky. Boy was I sick. Oh well, I thought I've got to go to Dothan tomorrow I'll just pick up some more of the fabric while I'm out. No problem. I went to Hobby Lobby only to discover they didn't have anymore of that fabric in stock. Fine, it may take a little longer but I'll just order it online. When I got home I went about looking for it online. Needless to say it was no longer for sale online at any of the fabric dealers in that color. I could get other colors but in the sky/baby blue. Now I had a real problem.

Looking through all my blue fabric from the small remnant scraps to one or more yards of fabric, I found nothing coming even remotely close. Then I found a solid blue that matched the darker blue in the original blue. I thought well maybe it could be her shadow falling over the city as she flies off. Nathan informed me it was too contrasting, but it was the best I had and short of starting completely over I had no other choice. After having to remove  a few of the other blue pieces which required taking out some of the other pieces to get to them, I began to replace and add the new blue to the project. I was NO LONGER singing "It's a Jolly Holiday With Mary". Nathan kept telling me it was weird but I told him we'd let Hannah decide. I have to admit I was no longer happy with this square. Here it is.

The final project is ready for Hannah's choice of use it or scrap it. Anyone else opinion is welcome on whether to keep it or get rid of it. Libby says use it.