Martinique Bag class

We had a great turnout for making our Martinique Bag this week.  What neat bags left the shop! Debbie's was so pretty, it had a white with black polkadots for the lining...

Julie's handle fabric was at home but hope she finishes it soon!

Gini did a great job with her birds on her bag.

Barb was nearly done...

We all loved the pretty spring print!

It was so neat to see so many cute bags!

Kathy said she's showing her friends how to make this one!

Alicia had such a fun summer time print on hers, we all loved her gray lining.

Susan had red inside her black and white!

And here is our newest Irish student.  Julies friend, and I know I'll spell it wrong, with the Irish spelling of her name, but it's pronounced "Nieve".  It was fun to have these 2 Irish girls in the front row chattering away.  If you missed class, we have patterns available at ETC.

KindergartenGarrett

Yep that title is right....all one word...this little boy is ready for Kindergarten!  I realized I didn't post the photos from Garrett's other preschool graduation.  I got to go with Amy,Chris, Aiden and Ethan to celebrate this cute guy graduating! He's been going a couple days a week to a different preschool besides attending the one at his house so he's been in preschool every day this year. What fun for him to have a whole new group of friends there.  

 They did some fun songs and then had this face painting ceremony where a parent painted their face with certain symbolization that the teacher read, all being ready to become a real Kindergartner! They had a nice lunch after to celebrate the kids, thanks for including me in another special day.  Garrett you will make the best new student at your new school!

Martinique Bag

Just finished a new sample for our Martinique Bag.  Class is today on it so I made this one to brush up on the construction.  It's such a comfortable great bag, made out of laminated cotton on the outside so very durable....wipe it off if it gets dirty!  I've made them out of plain cotton too and either works great.

 Here's the inside, sorry for the lousey focus job here...but it has a open pocket, a side open pocket that has a zipper pocket contained in it and then a big central zippered pocket so it's handy to have as an open type of bag but then you can keep things secure in the zippered areas.  A magnet holds it all shut.  So if you haven't made one we are teaching it today at ETC so come on down.  If you miss it, patterns are in the store and I suppose we can be talked into teaching it again!!!!

D-Backs game

What a fun night we had with our kids treating us to a Diamond Backs baseball game.  They are lucky enough to get tickets here and there from Chris's Dad Steve who has many jobs at the ballpark including running that big screen! Here are Garrett and Ethan as we arrived...

 Amy and Chris...

Ethan and Garrett and Ken...

 It was Boy Scout night and there were Boy Scouts everywhere. They paraded into the field and walked clear around the entire perimeter.  They just kept coming and coming. How cool to see that many young boys involved in such a neat group and then at such a fun event.

 After they paraded in then Aiden got to come and sit with us and enjoy the game...and the snacks which keep them all busy...

 What great seats! After the game was a huge fireworks show to music which Steve was also involved in, what a great show!  Then a campfire came on the screen signaling all the boy scouts to go get their sleeping bags as they were all getting to spend the night on the d-backs field!  I wish I could have seen photo's of that!  Chris stayed with Aiden (we heard they were going to be watching a movie and then hopefully catching a couple hours sleep as they had to be out of the stadium by 6AM! ) What a fun thing to experience!  It was so great to get to go along and experience the whole thing!

 Lots of fun, and Ethan made it until about 5 minutes before the game was ending and the fireworks beginning, oh well! Thanks Amy and Chris for the fun night!

Bode the cool dude!

Here are just a couple little iphone photo's I snapped of Bode and Chris the other night when we met them for pizza.  He arrived as the "cool dude" in the sunglasses!

 He was so cute!

Watermelon Picnic class

My 3 week series for Watermelon picnic ended this week too.  I had 7 coming to class to make the fun watermelon picnic quilt.  They all did such a great job learning the log cabin block.  All made it in the watermelon style but for Marti, she branched out and did this great color group.  It was fun to see it set with all these fun colors.  They were all in different stages by the last class, everyone wanted me to wait to take a photo of it tho when they had it finished, most were drawing out their baskets, punching out ants with the die cut machine, some were learning how to do a flange.....so I guess I'll show you as I get to take photo's of them coming in to show me. Nancy, Jennifer, Julie O., Christie, Julie N. Carla and Marti, you all did great with this classic block ! I teach this same project again in June if you missed it!  Beyond Basics is a 3 week series on Thursdays, morning or evening.

Preschool Graduation

Whew, what a busy week we've all had!  Remind me next year to not schedule so many classes this last week of May when there are so many fun other things going on!  I'll catch you up a bit here to show you the fun we had yesterday!  Garrett and Ethan graduated from preschool!  Yep, I know it was Garrett's 3rd graduation but it was still very important....you can tell by the photo's that he was in goofy mode and SO ready for kindergarten!

They paraded in with caps and gowns to Pomp and Circumstance....

Here you have the goofy ones that are ready to leave preschool and there is Ethan all ready for this solemn occasion at his very first preschool graduation!  Love 3 year olds! They sang songs for the crowd that showed up of family and friends and siblings...

They had a skit to preform where they each had a solo sentence to say....and everyone did it!  Amy was worried about meltdowns and everyone just was perfect in everyway!

Aiden even got to attend...you know those last few days of school...he might have missed a movie! It was fun for him to get to come.

And after receiving their diplomas they got to toss their hats....I think Ethans went the highest!

Aiden showed me his new scarf he was awarded at cub scouts this week, he's now a BEAR!  Congrats Aiden I know that took lots of fun activities to get to the next level!

Garrett came over to me after the ceremony and told me he was GOING TO KINDERGARTEN!  He's so excited and so ready!  Being 5 is so cool!  They had treats after with donuts and gummy worms and juice boxes and fishy crackers, Amy and Chris had the yard so nice with shade and tables so they all got to enjoy their friends again and have a snack.

And here is Ethan and Garrett with their teacher Miss Amy!  Yea for Little Love Bug Preschool!  It's been an amazing year for Amy with 12 students on her own, some energetic students but they all made it!  I must tell you tho my favorite part of the whole ceremony...totally the unplanned part.  Amy always has a slide show playing from photo's from the whole year for the kids to watch while parents arrive and then parents can all watch while the children escape to the back to dress in caps and gowns.  The photo's all to music and on came a Christmas song, here are 12 little ones all sitting on the floor watching the screen and they just break out in song singing right along with the music of their favorite preschool songs..... just shows how comfortable and relaxed they all feel and how much fun they had for them to even reminice their favorite preschool christmas songs again....so cute to hear all those little voices singing just cuz they wanted to!  Well done Amy!

nesting boxes

We had our nesting boxes class last week at ETC.  Lots of people wanted to learn how to make these cute boxes out of fabric!  They loved how easy they were and how easy it was to match a decor, use up scraps and make some fun containers.

 What a creative bunch of gals we are privileged to share our project with. You  should have seen the ideas flying around the room once they had them figured out.  That is the best part of teaching, seeing everyone take the basic project and run!

 Some were out at the die cut machine, some were contemplating vinyl on the front to slip a photo in, you could tell they just loved how this all worked.   I  loved the idea of initials on the front.

 Barb had fun decorating her sample.  This was a fun class for all, we had 15 come, everyone had their big box about done when they left, what great talented students we have to teach!

Simply Spooky

Here's a new sample done and finished up at ETC.  It was so much fun to do !  It's a fun 2 part class we are having  at ETC. in August, the 2nd and 9th, both classes in the afternoon.  

I don't know which block was more fun to make! We've had a great response to this class already so it's fun to see everyone smile at this one! 

 Then when it's done you have so much fun finding the button eye or nose!  Easy and fun to do! 

 We were already hauling it out to the fabric area as some gals wanted to match up the fabrics, it's going to be a fun class and lots of fun for everyone to make!

Baby shopping

MB and Bode and I went shopping this weekend and bought our newest little Grandson some fun things for his arrival in July. I like the Mommies to pick out what they want their babies wearing their first few days of life....."hospital wardrobe"! And I know he won't need much and they have Bode leftovers but every little baby deserves a few new things.  So here is what MB picked out.  Ken joined us so he and Bode stayed occupied so we could shop!  It was fun to get to splurge and buy our new little guys some things, what a sale, everything was half off and then we had a 25% coupon!  So now I'll be taking these out to shop for fabrics for receiving blankets to match!  He's going to be so cute in all these. Chris liked the Crabby but cute one when he met us to eat at Someburros!  I think Marie and I will love the Grandma's hero with the firetruck! and of course we found a little brother one and a big brother shirt for Bode!  What deals, Jamie and I were texting on  jammie sizes for Noah  and then Bode will get some for his birthday too, don't you love a good sale!  I'll show you what I end up when I finish them, little Brock will look so cute in all these!  

Sew and Go Watermelons!

A full house for this Sew and Go project last week!  LOVE the watermelon table runners!  Lorene did 3 melons and some ants! Everyone loved getting to die cut their ants!

 Vicki got half of hers even quilted in class!

 Yea for Julie, she bought 2 kits to do it bigger.

 Julie did 2 kits too, she and the above Julie are getting their fill of watermelons as they are both doing my watermelon picnic class now too!

 Everyone went home home with borders on and loved it!  If you missed it, we have the same project for this tuesday at ETC.  Sew and Go includes your kits, $18....what a deal!  Thats our last project before our summer projects start, everyone is excited to get going on their summer travel sets!

Relaxing Mothers day!

Lucky me got to do so many favorite things on Mothers day....I awoke to flowers from Ken!  A walk and then off for a relaxing brunch at Chris and MB's.  The guys were "cooking" so we enjoyed Mimosa's, Chris is in the background making bacon....

 Amy and Chris overseeing that bacon!  Ken cut up watermelon...he makes perfect squares!

 It was beautiful out in the backyard, perfect shade everywhere and the sounds of the fountain made it so relaxing.  Here is Bode standing by his surprise for his Mommy....Chris and he replanted MB's flowerbed all in summer flowers ( they did it while we were at the luncheon with my mom so she was really surprised!), what a gift! Even a sign saying happy mothers day!

 Bode enjoyed taking his cousins into his soon to be new room.  he naps in there now and will move in not to long a time... Baby Brock is coming the end of July!

What a beautiful oasis they've built in their back yard!  The boys love playing on the rocks!

 Here's Garrett, the water was chilly but once they got in they all loved it!

 Little Bode...

 Jumping off the rocks is just the best!  They love the water fall and jumping over it!  There is a bench under there to sit on even!

 Ken and I enjoyed a movie after we left here, what a treat!  We got home and I enjoyed calling my Mom to reminisce about the fun luncheon we'd enjoyed together and then a fun long skyping time with Jeremy, Jamie and Noah!  It was fun to be "parked" in their family room and get to sit and visit and watch Noah play...

 It was Jamie's birthday too, besides her first mothers day.  It was fun to see what was going on at their house, watch  Noah crawl around and walk with his little walking toy, he was having fun babbling about all kinds of things!  What a great day to get to relax and enjoy everyone!  Topped off with a blizzard (shh don't tell!), it just doesn't get to much better!