A new Quilt

My youngest son is in 4H, and every year that he has been in 4H he has participated in the Quilting Category. Most years - he makes a Quilt of Valor.....

This year....


He is making a new quilt for him.   He has grown quite a bit in the last year, and most quilts he owns - aren't quite long enough for him.... so!  He is remedying that.

He started cutting his fabrics, and got all mathy...

That is a word - I promise... Mathy.... quilters get it right???

And then he started laying pieces out

and this is where he is at the moment

He'll get to sewing some more today and we will take measurements and move on!

and.... My Oldest Kid had a birthday

This one was actually born on Fathers Day

and his birthday was on Fathers Day this year

kinda cool

Pumpkin Pie you ask?

Why yes that is Pumpkin Pie....

and he did blow out alllllll the candles ( ha ha)

Linking to:

Monday Maiking
Design Wall Monday ( or Floor)

More 4H

This is kinda an In Process Post...

My Middle son is in Quilting for 4H - This unit was to design your own quilt.... so he did.

He had fun, I think he enjoyed the drawing more than the actual piecing.... and LOVED the quilting. He likes my power tools.... ( R'oh, Owh, Rowh  _ think Tim the toolman taylor)

Even though the Accucut was out....

I made him learn the rotary way for the borders.

He used the Accu-cut for the Flying geese though

That is a fun Die!!

Then he put it on the Long Arm

Ignore the vacuum in the back - I was deep cleaning while he was working

And then we remembered he needed photos for the record book...

Oops

Below is his finished top

It is before quilting....

We will get to the fair a lot this week

So we will see how he did.....

And get a finished quilt photo.... we sort of forgot that as we ran to the interviews

Adopting a Unit

One of the guys that I worked with was deployed a month ago, and he decided that it would be great if I adopted him and his guys while they are overseas!! And of course, how can one say no.

Our small little 4H group loves to do community service, so I thought I would ask them if they wanted to help make some things for the guys.... they are so awesome! We filled 2 USPS/APO boxes of goodies... and made these ....

Those fleece tied Blankets 

I love my Joanns coupons!!

Even the dads joined in - they are a great work crew!!

And everyone had a chance to tie them up

We made 3 blankets total to send !  And of course, had to try them out first!!

State Competitions Day 2

Day 2 was the Archery day. And it was even hotter than the day before. My car finally cooled off to a blamy 103 degrees as I made the McDonalds Run. Probably you didn't know that at all these venues they don't have flushing toilets. And as much as I pride myself on being adaptable - the McD's was only 5 minutes away.... and I found it!!!

My oldest this day got his best score ever, so he was tickled. He had to go 2 times, and the first time he survived,. the second round it was just SO hot.

Our highlight of our trip was finding the 3 Margaritas Restaurant. If you ever need a GREAT Mexican place - that is it. And they are helpful when you have gluten problems. Yummy!

State Competitions Day 1

My boys made it to the State Archery and State Rifle Competitions down in the Lovely town of Pueblo. The competitions were on 2 different days so we made a weekend of it.

The first competion was the .22 . It was on dirt, and on dusty dirt, and I think we had dust everyone on us, and in our clothes... but my dons did very well and had a good time.

After being out at the Dry Range, we were able to move inside to the Air Rifle range... it was air Conditioned. I liked it!  In fact, I encouraged ALL the boys to compete in Air Rifle next year.

We did not stick around long enough to hear all of the results, because we had to get to different locations for each event. But youngest had his best score of all time - 62, and earned us all a candy bar ( yes, I do admit to bribery, it was HOT that day)

Champions

We headed over to the Weld County Fair on Saturday to see how everyone did with all their projects. I think they should all get ribbons for getting things done ( each person at the fair, not just my kids). I just don't know how everyone can fit everything in these crazy schedules anymore!

First we headed into the vegetable. Wrangler Man entered some of his veges from his garden. This was his first year - and he did well! His Spaghetti Squash got a first place. And it tasted good too, or so the kids tell me. ( I had gingerale) He entered tomatos and pickling cucumbers too.

Then we headed into photography. Middle Bit decided to enter a photo this year and he took 3rd place. Not to shabby. Now he wants to take pictures of everything. Our favorite was taken by a lady we knew - is was an eagle landing on a tree with its arms outstretched. Beautiful.

Next it was on to the quilts. In the 8 to 13 yo class, Little Bit won first and Middle Bit won second. It was fun to watch her judge them, because she had a horrible time making a decision. It came down to... the star on the black and red quilt was left unquilted, and she said that it would affect the integrity of the quilt in the years to come. *Now, in my mind* I wonder how she knew that for sure, since so many of todays batts say they can be quilted as far as 12 inches apart without any problems.

In the 14-18 class Big Bit took first place with his quilt. Which led Little Bit and Big Bit to be in competition for Grand and Reserve champion. ( plus a 3rd quilt, but I didn't know that kid....sooo....) 

Big Bit won Grand and Little bit won reserve in the youth division. Here was the bummer tho - the fair labeled my oldest sons quilt with his younger brothers name on it. And even though we pointed it out, they did not change it. So for the week the quilt hung there - no one saw his name. He was a LOT dissappointed. So was I.

Oh - and they had project board for archery and .22 sports, with their record books. They did well on those too - but I can't remember who got what. I was trying to hard to remember the others!!

All in all - it was a good fair I believe!

County Fair Results

My Youngest boy isn't old enough to be in 4-H yet, so he made his quilt and entered into the open classes. He got first place in his age group, and second place in the first timers competition. He was VERY excited! He used Star Wars , Blue Flames and Blue fabrics.

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Son number 2 entered his quilt thru 4-H and won first place in his age group, then Grand Champion overall. They selected his quilt to go down to the State Fair at the end of August. Of course, he really doesn't want it to, because he wants to use it RIGHT now!! His quilt was made out of Super Hero fabrics, and Red and Blue Flames.

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Son number three also won his age group, and got Reserve Champion. He made his quilt of Camo fabrics, and then put Air Force fabric on the back. The judge thought that the backing didn't coordinate with the quilt front, until he explained why. That he helps make Quilts of Valor for soldiers, and that Air Force is his favorite college. I am not sure she completely agreed, but then I told him - we listen and take her comments to heart, and also realize that it is our quilt and this one was ultimately made for him. If he wants to make a true competition piece, he should pay very close attention to what she is saying. Made sense at the time ;-)

While we were there at the fair they had a lot of neat activities going on. One of them was a hot air balloon. We all got to take a little ride in it, and

the last ride of the day happened to be when Wrangler Man , oldest son, and I were in the basket. So the Ballooneer let me help him take the balloon down. This picture is from me sitting in the basket as we are tipping it over to lay the balloon down. It was really cool!

Cooking and the ER

Our little 4-H group adopted 2 families for Christmas this year. Being in a small town it is easier to coordinate things thru the police dept, and our leaders worked it all out that we could make food, and dinner and they would come pick it up to deliver for us, along with some gifts.
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So we all met to do the cooking. We were assigned the cookie baking. That's my favorite - and we thought we could do that well. We made 8 dozen chocolate chip and sugar cookies.
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Some of the kids were playing (although I am not sure I would call that playing!) and my poor middle son got his hand smashed in the door. He came running in to me just gushing blood and 2 of his fingers were flattened. I wrapped his fingers tightly in paper towels, told the kids to grab jackets, told the leaders we were leaving and headed into the emergency room. Of course - the only thing I had with me was my camera - no insurance card, no money, no cell phone.... good thing Wrangler man had his wallet.
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We spent 3 hours in the ER, had x-rays of his hand. The Docs were so surprised that his bones were not crushed, just one had a tiny fracture. But he will lose 2 fingernails - and they should grow back. They had to puncture the nail to relieve the pressure on both fingers.
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We not only had a RN nurse, a Doctor, but also an EMT. I think he was my favorite. Oh - all of them were male - my son LOVED that! The EMT has a 2 and 4 yo boy, and was so kind. So the fingers are all wrapped up in finger gauze, and he has to keep his hand elevated for 24 hours.
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Needless to say - it was an interesting night. And the boys who pushed on the door, rather than letting him out are on my worst possible list to have. But we do not need surgery.... so that is the best news!
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Since I had my camera my son and I took various pics of the ER and he said I could share this one. Note to self: Next time you are in a painful situation give son the camera. Stops the tears!!!
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Have a great day - we have a little snowcoming down, a little shopping to do, and a little ( very little) cleaning to do!