First Day of School

First day of Kindergarten for my twins today. I am still recovering. I woke up at three am with a terrible dream that one of my boys got lost after school and couldn't be found for hours. I never went back to sleep. But all was fine. They had a great first day. They survived being in separate classes. And we (the parents) survived too. Hope everyone has a great school year.

Sewing again

I finally made it into my sewing room to finish my niece's quilt. It was a three day weekend and I spent a lot of time in my sewing room. It felt great to be quilting again. And if I am in my sewing room then that means my boys migrate in there as well. So my sewing room became a play room.

My cutting board and pattern board became the top and door to this bedside fort. I also had to give out buttons and empty spools to furnish this hideaway.

The side of my sewing table became a secret hiding space complete with star wars gift bag for a secret door. I love that my boys want to be where ever I am but it can get quite chaotic when battles interrupt stitching in the ditch.

New York

Just back from a family vacation to New York to visit my sister. We had tons of fun playing with our cousins, visiting local attractions, and eating. Oh and we ate. Dunkin Donuts (usually twice a day), Rockland Bakery (you can pick your own bagels, fresh and hot as they come out of the oven), Friendly's (reses peanut butter sundae's), pizza, and pretzels. It rained only one day and the rest of the time the weather was amazing. We went to Bear Mountain Park, Bergen County Zoo, Central Park, Museum Village. We spent most of our time in upstate New York but spent one day in Manhattan. My favorite event was shopping at the Christmas Tree Store. I had heard about this place but they don't have any on the west coast. I spotted one near my sister's house and got everyone to go with me. It was amazing. I seriously had to restrain myself. Just in case you have never heard of this it has nothing to do with Christmas. It is sort of like a cross between a Big Lots and the home decor section of TJ Max/Marshall's. I bought as much as I could squeeze into my suit case. Despite the three hours we spent on the tarmac in Texas, a little rain, and a fair amount of arguing with the GPS, we had a very nice time. I really hope to get back to quilting and my other projects. But with soccer, piano, and Kindergarten starting this month I am not sure how much progress I will make.

Flare Up

I am having a major flare up of my tendinitis. I can barely type. Hopefully I will be back soon. Stay tuned.

Laurie's Quilt

I made this quilt for my best friend Laurie. I used Moda charm squares that I bought at Esty. The pattern was my traditional charm square quilt pattern. And I used a loopy stitch to stipple it.

I also got to use my new fence to take a photo. I always wanted to photograph my quilts on a fence.

Summer Fun

It has been a busy summer. We have been camping, swimming, playing, and having lots of fun. So much fun I forgot to blog for a while. On our first camping trip we went to McGrath State Beach. On one night we made banana boats. We stuffed bananas with min marshmellows and choclate chips and roasted them over the fire. Yummy. We were very dirty but had a lot of fun.

On our second trip we went to Lake Casitas and spent the day at the water park. This is a photo of the the lazy river. The camping part was not so good and we ended up leaving early but it was still good family fun.

Here is a photo of the pirate village that has taken up residence on the bedroom wall of my boys room. I believe it got a special summer rate and has been a source or many hours of fun and entertainment.

Chocolate-zucchini cakes

These little muffins are yummy. And since they have zucchini in them they count as one vegetable serving! I over sprayed by muffins pans this time and the muffins actually popped right out, some rolled onto the floor before I could catch them. My kids liked them and they are bite size so they fit easily in a lunch box as a nice treat. The recipe is from Food Everyday by Martha Stewart. (The recipe calls for walnuts but as I am not a fan of those I omitted them) I love this little magazine. It always has so many great recipes and tips.