Friday, December 30, 2011

Zig Zag Quilt

A while back, I was looking on pinterest and saw that my friend Lorie had pinned this quilt.

I was instantly smitten and wanted to make one for myself.  I loved the colors and the simple, yet bold pattern.  I had been wanting to make a throw for my living room for a long time.  I followed the pin to a blog called Empty Bobbin Sewing and read up on how this quilt was made.  I then sat down and did some math so I could make it the size I wanted.  Here's the pattern that I came up with.  I think my quilt will be about 57" x 70" when finished

Fabric:
  • 1/2 yard of five fabrics for zig zags
  • 3 yards of a solid for zig zags and background
  • 4 yards for the back
  • 1/2 yard for binding


Cut:
  • six 8" blocks of each of the five fabrics
  • twelve 8" inch blocks of the solid fabric


I followed this video for making my half square triangles.  Each row of my quilt has twelve half square triangles. The half square triangles measure 5.25" and when the twelve are sewn together, they make 58".  


And here is my layout after making all my half square triangles.  Only the half squares were sewn together.  I used the back side of a vinyl tablecloth to layout my pieces like a flannel graph board.


The fabrics I used were:

  • Kona Cotton in slate for my main solid
  • Kona Cotton in navy (?) for my dark zig zag
  • Denise Schmidt Diamond Dandy (green print)
  • Modern Muddle by Karen Comos (orange print)
  • Robert Kaufman Metro living in gray (gray circles)
  • Robert Kaufman Carolina Chambray in Jungle (?) (green at bottom)
I bought all my fabrics at Cool Cottons when we were in Portland.  If you are in Portland, I would highly recommend that you stop by.  The lady that owns it was super nice and she had a really great selection of fabrics.  

After I sew together the zig zag panel, I will use my remaining solid to make a large panel and a narrow panel at either end of the zig zag panel to look like my inspiration photo.  I'm having so much fun sewing again!  If only Christmas vacation were longer so I could work on more projects.  I'll keep you posted on my progress.  

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!  We've had a great Christmas Eve and Christmas.  Here are the highlights from the last night.  

Last night, we quickly snapped a photo on our way out the door to church for the Christmas Eve service.    This little stop caused me to leave my phone and video camera on the kitchen table, and only remember my purse and camera.  I guess the good news is at least I got pictures, but the bad news is, I didn't get Jack's antics on video.  


 This was the first year Ryan finally participated and seemed happy to be on stage.  He also made a bee line to the nearest microphone, which is probably why he is really smiling.  He is Phil's son after all.

Jack on the other hand, did not want to leave me and since I was making him go on stage, he took his blanket.  He was a little upset that he wasn't near a mic.

These three cuties were a delight to watch in the show.  They are singing about the "Good News" in this shot.

Ryan was actually singing here!  I was so happy.  He never sings along.

Jack at this point, decided to split from the group and travel down the stage to a lone mic.   I think he was channeling Steven Tyler and was using his blanket like a scarf.

Here's when he really let loose when he was supposed to "baaaa" like a sheep in the song.  He's my little rock star.

After the service, we went to my grandma's for our annual Christmas Eve celebration.  The little boys got foam swords in their stockings.  A sword fight quickly ensued.  They loved it!  We enjoyed watching them.

Here's Ryan opening his first present of the evening.  They boys were wild and a handful, but they also brought a lot of laughs and entertainment.  We had a great time list night.

Monday, November 28, 2011

The Drive Home

And a few pictures from the drive up.  I had these pictures of the snow in Yreka on my regular camera and couldn't blog them till we got home.  Our boys had never seen snow before so this was very exciting.  As soon as we arrived at our hotel in Yreka, the snow started falling.  The ground was too warm for it to stick, but the boys got to run around and let it fall on them.  

The next morning, we could still see some snow on the top of our car, so we took a picture.  I think you can see it a little bit.  



As we drove through Grants Pass, there was quite a bit of snow.  We really couldn't find a safe place to pull over so the boys could play, so that was a little disappointing, but it was really beautiful.


We hoped there would still be snow on our way back home, but it had all melted when we passed back through.  We drove as far as Red Bluff the first day of our return trip and everyone did well.  The next day, we made a stop in Sacramento.  The boys were really fidgety and wanted out of the car.  Who could blame them?  We needed some fun so we stopped at the train museum.  The boys LOVED it.  


The coolest part was that all of Old Town had been decorated for the holidays, including the museum.  All the trains looked like the Polar express.


Here's Jack yelling, "CHEESE," by a train car he desperately wanted to go inside.  They had decorated the inside of the passenger car for Christmas, including a tree.  Alas, all he could do was look in the window.


The boys with Daddy and a freight car.  

This train car was really cool.  It was a passenger/sleeper car from the 1940's (I think?  The boys were keeping me too busy to listen to the guide).  When we walked through it, it moved and swayed just like we were really moving down the tracks.


I loved the look of this steam locomotive so we asked a tour guide to take a picture of us with it.  I can't believe all four of us were looking the right direction for this one.


Phil took some cool pictures of a mail car 


Our last stop at the museum was the Thomas the train play area.  The museum had four large tables with Thomas the train toys.  The boys couldn't contain themselves.

They played here for quite some time, until we had to break their hearts and continue on the road.  We grabbed a bite to eat, and jumped in the car for the remainder of our trip.

We hit some major traffic on the way home that set us back quite a bit.  We were wondering if we would ever make it home.  As soon as we saw the Kern County sign, we cheered (which I never thought I would). After that many hours in a car, our home felt grand.  When Ryan got into his bed after sharing a bed with Jack for nine days, he just giggled.  We had a wonderful vacation, but it's so good to be home.

Friday, November 25, 2011

Portland Thanksgiving '11

This Thanksgiving, we decided to travel to Portland to visit Doug, Vanessa, and to meet baby Carolina for the first time. Normally, we have flown with our flier miles. This time, due to lack of miles, kids being too old to go on laps, and Thanksgiving prices, we had to drive. We geared up with toys, iPod games, movies on the iPad, and a headrest mount for the iPad. Money well spent. These items have saved our sanity.



We doubted we would make it after Ryan declared, prior to even getting on the freeway, "How much longer?" Jack also said, "I need Aunt Ness" at about the same time. Once again, Pixar and the iPad came to the rescue and the kids settled in.


Phil did the majority of the driving while I tended to the kids and navigated as necessary. I also got a lot of crocheting done for Christmas as seen here....


And here.


We stopped in Eugene on our way up and had lunch with friends, which also gave the boys time to run, which was MUCH needed.


Then it was Portland or bust!


After arriving, we went straight to Doug and Vanessa's and met Carolina. She's a cutie and a sweetheart.


She's so cute in this picture and the girl has a wardrobe to die for.

Doug and Vanessa took us to a really great restaurant called Slappy Cakes (which is where that photo was taken) where you get to make you own pancakes on a griddle at the table. It was super fun, delicious, and the kids were entertained with the process while they waited for their food. Happy kids=happy parents=restaurant that warrants another visit.


The biggest thing for us Californians to get used to was the rain and the lack of outside time. Jack did not have a winter coat that fit so that was the first order of business when we got here. He also needed a hat because of the rain and no hood on the new coat. We found this fabulous shark hat. We also discovered a wonderful indoor play place called Playdate PDX. It is like Bakersfield's The Wild times 10. The boys loved it (Well, Jack was sort of miserable since he was dealing with an ear infection. Poor guy). We also ate at Hopworks Brewery, which has a kids play corner. That is a beautiful thing for kids in a restaurant. I don't know why more places don't do that. They also have terrific food.


Lastly, I'm planning on making the above quilt in a similar color pallette so I stopped by Cool Cottons and had a great time picking fabric. It was a very quaint and cute store with some wonderful fabrics. I could've spent a lot of money there. If you're in the area, it merits a visit.

Today is our last day before the drive home. I feel like we just got here, but I'm also missing home, our friends and family and the much drier climate. I hope our return trip goes as smoothly as our drive up. Wish us luck!

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Halloween

This year, Ryan learned how to hang upside down on the monkey bars. When I asked Ryan what he wanted to be for Halloween, he mentioned his new skill and declared that he should be a bat. He also wanted to know if he had bat wings, would he be able to fly? Sadly, no, but cute thought. I then thought that Jack could be a frog since he loves frogs and hopping everywhere, besides, bats and frogs go together, right? Before I got started on the frog costume, Lorie asked if Jack would want to be Buzz Lightyear and would he like to borrow the costume. I thought that would be great. When Jack first got his costume, it was 100 degrees and he insisted on wearing it. He wore it till he was dripping sweat. I was happy that he liked it thinking that he would be excited to wear it for Halloween. He even told people that he was going to be Buzz for Halloween. When his daycare provider asked me to bring Jack's costume last Friday for pictures, I thought, "No problem. He'll be excited about this." Wrong! He would not wear it.


So yesterday, after talking about dressing up like Buzz all weekend, I got him into his costume and we made a special trip to daycare to take our pictures.


We also stopped by Lorie's to say hi where we were joined by Darth Vader. (Yoda was grumpy and did not join in.) My bat was also grumpy and looks angry in these pictures.


Here are a few more pictures from daycare.


While Jack is the oldest child in daycare, he is by far the biggest. This picture cracks me up, especially his feet.


The boys loved trick or treating last night. They were both worn out from walking the neighborhood, but loved the whole experience. Happy Halloween from the Ogdens!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Etsy Shop!

Over the past few years, several of you have told me that you would like me to open an Etsy shop.  This summer, I wrote my first marketable pattern for the crib bedding that I sewed for baby Carolina.  I had my friend, Amanda, test the pattern this summer on her crib bedding.  (This is the blanket I made using the fabrics from Amanda's crib bedding.  I don't have any pictures of her nursery, but it's really cute!)


I had the pattern mostly finished before the school year started, but I had had no time to edit it until now, nine weeks into the school year.  Anyway, I have a new Etsy shop called Bobbins and Boys and you can check out the link on my sidebar.  The only thing I have for sale is my crib bedding pattern.  If you or a friend want to sew some crib bedding, please direct them my way.   My old Etsy account is now gone, so look up Bobbins and Boys and add me to your circle.  Thanks!

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Carolina's Quilt

This summer was spent sewing, traveling, and sewing some more. My main project that I sewed this summer was a quilt for my niece, Carolina. I hadn't posted any pictures of the finished project because I wanted to get it to Vanessa before I showed anyone. Anyway, the time frame on that got skewed when Carolina came early. I ended up showing Vanessa the pictures and sending the quilt with Phil's mom to take to Portland this week. Since Vanessa has already seen pictures of the quilt, I thought it was time to post pictures. And here's a cute one of Carolina at 3 weeks old the day she was released from the hospital.

















Saturday, September 17, 2011

An Update... Finally

Wow!  A whole month has gone by and I haven't updated.  We have been BUSY!!!!!!!  School started this month, which is always crazy, but I'm loving my class and this school year.  The boys are both doing well in daycare (Jack) and preschool (Ryan).  My teaching partner is back and I am loving job sharing again.  

At church, we lost our Cubbies director.  After waiting and waiting for someone to volunteer, my friend Stacy and I took on the job.  And what a big job it has been.  I feel like I am working another part time job, which has been really hectic.  The Cubbies year has been a little bumpy, but I think we're on our way to getting things figured out.  Please say a little prayer for our program if you think of it.  

Last week, Phil and I celebrated our 8th anniversary.  We went out to Maxwell's and had a great date night.  I can't believe eight years have already gone by.

This week has been the craziest week of all.  It started out with my birthday.  My sister and my friend Jessi and I went out to the Padre to celebrate.  I love how the Padre is decorated inside.  They have done an amazing job.  There are several restaurants inside and we ate at Brimstone.  We shared appetizers and drinks and they were all great.  

Jessi and me

My sister Julie made these cupcakes for me.  They are the same recipe as the ones I made for Denise's circus shower.  They were sooo good.


These chairs were awesome so Julie took a picture of Jessi and me.




The next and most surprising even of this week was that my niece, Carolina Elizabeth was born!  She was born September 15th at 5:11 P.M. and was seven weeks early.  She weighed 5lbs., 3oz. and was 17 3/4 inches long.


Doug, Vanessa, and Carolina all seem to be doing well.

 Carolina melts my heart.  I can't believe that I have to wait until our trip to Portland in November to hold that sweet baby!

The next part isn't nearly as exciting as my new niece.  In all of the craziness, I've had a small amount of time to do some crafting.  My friend Lorie and I went antiquing this week and I found the big frame below.  I loved it and had to buy it.  The next day, I went to the thrift store and found an old cork board for all of $3.  I took the frame off of it, wrapped it in fabric, and put it in my new frame.  I'm really liking the result.

The other thing I found at the thrift store were two old brass lamps.  They were $5 each.  I took them home and spray painted them aqua.  I then went to Target and found these white lamp shades.  I absolutely love the finished look in our bedroom.


Last, but certainly not least, Ryan is FIVE today!  I can't believe five years have already gone by.  We have a birthday celebration planned for him tonight out on the farm.  I'll be posting some pictures later on.  Happy birthday Ryan!