Zoo and Biking

Today has a been a fun day for me with the boys! My sister texted this morning and asked if we wanted to go to story time at the zoo! I never remember to put these things into my phone and really wish that we went more often. It was lots of fun and after story time we got to go see the three little orphaned black bears that the zoo is fostering right now. They we SO cute and then next to them was a little baby moose with the cutest eyes ever! It was easiest to see the bears when we were next to the moose so if you look carefully in the background of the picture you'll see the cute little devils.

Such cute little babies!

Corbin and Noah were "Superstar Batman and Red Batman" today ;P

The wolves were cracking me up today. My favorite was the one on the left resting his(or her) head on the branch :)

RAWR! Mighty Porcupine! hehe

Then after nap time we headed out on a bike ride! Corbin riding his own bike, and I was pulling Noah in the Chariot. We biked to McDonald's for a treat and then stopped at a playground on the way home. I know the boys liked it and I really did too! The only thing missing was my husband! I've been trying to finagle in a family biking trip for awhile but it just isn't happening. Hopefully soon!

I asked them to make silly faces :)

Happy to be having his ice cream

Very carefully eating his (also known as so slow it's dripping all over lol)

Vinyl and Paint

We live in a small place. It's about 1100 square feet. It is very well laid out and proportional and I do love it. However it seems our bedroom always ends up as the catch all. I don't like clutter and toys being all over the living room. So the toys stay in the boys room and it seems that the clutter always ends up in our room. I painted our room an awesome grey and hung some curtains I got at Ikea when we moved in and I haven't really touched the room since other than cleaning it.

Our bedroom set was mine from when I was a child. It is a lovely real wood (Mahogany I think) set, but it has definitely seen better days. It is still very sturdy, but it had been second hand when my parents got it so the finish was worn and battered. I had always planned to refinish them but it seemed like so much work! The original finish was a really yellowish light color (blah).

Here's my husbands dresser. I just need him to clean up his stuff and move his clothes and it's next! I am going to get different hardware for the drawer too.

I started out with the intention of just cleaning up the room. I had clean laundry piled and just odds and ends that I needed to deal with. But then the bug bit me. I found a wall vinyl set that I had gotten over a year before and had never had the guts to hang up (I was worried I would mess it up!). So I decided to just bite the bullet and get it up on the wall!

Laying out the wall vinyl, you can see the headboard in it's original "glory"

Yay! The birch trees are up!! 

I was so happy with how the wall turned out but then I was so tired of looking at the furniture. So we headed off to Lowe's and got my supplies.

The color I picked for the furniture :)

 Two coats of primer and two coats of paint and they look so much better! I was a little unsure of the color (Muted Ebony) at first but I LOVE it in the room. It makes me want to paint everything! hehe.

Here's the room! I need to accessorize it but the paint is still curing (hence the lamp on the trashcan). I think I'm going to add a drawer pull to the nightstand to perk it up a little bit....it's quite an ugly nightstand but it works.

The sun was shining and I just wanted to enjoy my hard work so me and the puppies snuggled while I read. They're so cute :)

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Father's Day

We had an amazing day as a family yesterday. I would say it was even a mini vacation. We walked down through Kincaid Park taking a side trail instead of the coastal trail (which was much easier as a result of little kiddos and lots of dogs) to get to the beach on the other side. It was paradise out on the beach. It was 70* and there was just enough of a breeze that to keep my skin feeling fresh and the bugs away. I could have sat there all day watching  the kids and dogs. I had packed a picnic lunch to share with my family and it was so good to eat out in the sunshine. After several hours enjoying the sunshine we hiked back and headed back to the house for a quick break before meeting at my parents house for burgers and root beer floats. I can't imagine that the day could have been better!

I think Noah had some bug in his hand lol

Beka and John and the poodles (Aero is the one hiding on the edge)

Corbin was very excited to get to use the sand bucket my Mom had brought

The Sun was BRIGHT! 

Dad, Mom, and Beka enjoying lunch 

Willow was watching Oakley, John, and Corbin

Noah found a jawbone and was digging with it.

It was HOT on the hike back, the boys started running out of steam

Dad was sleeping, the poodles were piled, so were the kids, and we enjoyed our root beer (or orange!) floats.

Alaska Summer

Summer in Alaska. Also known as construction season, tourist season, fishing season...the list can go on and on.

So far for us it's been characterized by visiting family, hiking, and (for me) sewing! The weather hasn't been quite as good as we'd hoped, but there is no snow and I am content with that. I have been remiss in keeping up with my posts, so here's some collage's that I've put together with photos that I had intended to blog about :) 

Lots of family fun!

Loved our Visit with Grandpa Wes! 

 As far as sewing goes I wish I have been getting in a little time everyday, but it's been getting done more in obsessive spurts. I got a quilt top done that I have been wanting to work on for a long time. At the shop they had put the bloomington quilt together as a kit (exactly as pictured on the pattern), I had loved it at first sight and knew that I wanted to make it for my momma. However I had so many projects going at the time and wanted to wait to purchase. Of course that meant that the kit came and went. Luckily last fall, we got in the lovely arching fabric pictured below and my mind turned to that pattern once again. I purchased the border fabric and the pattern and it wasn't until two months ago that I picked out the rest of the fabric. It was a fun quilt to piece and used some techniques that I hadn't done before. I am putting a brown minky fabric on the back and hope to get it quilted sometime this next week. I am going to try and free motion quilt it using the pattern shown inside the pattern. We'll see how it goes. :)

Bloomington Quilt all cut out

Close Up

I love the borders! I know it's going to look great in my Mom's house.

The boys had been dropping me off at work and I invited them in to pick out fabric for pillowcases. It was fun to see what they picked (They each picked fabric that I would not have expected!) and fun to get a project done so quickly! If you haven't made a pillowcase before they are so fun and quick.

My next quilt that I am hoping to get to very soon!! It's going to be a wedding gift :)

Girly

The quilting bug bit me yesterday and I had an open day in which to accommodate it. Only one time obligation which I have to admit felt pretty amazing. It was a quiet, music and laughter filled day. My phone had accidentally been left on silent, it was a pleasant break. My boys played very happily outside with only minor "you know you're not allowed to play with that" comments from me.

I sandwiched, quilted, and bound this lovely lap sized quilt yesterday. It took me from 12:30-5:30 t quilt it, we broke for dinner, and then I got the binding pieced, and sat down with the boys on the couch and watched Lion King with them hand stitching down the binding. Stopping to bathe them and get them in bed I worked on the binding from 6:30-10:40. I have to admit my hand is a little sore this morning but I wanted it done!! It's now been washed and dried and I just LOVE it.

The border and background print is an Alexander Henry. I love his fabrics SO much. His fabrics just always have a different twist to them :) For some reason it also got put on 60%  discount so I bought the rest of the bolt. I picked some various blenders to go with it. The pattern was from a magazine and was done in red and whites and was called "peppermint sticks" - I like my version better ;P

I did put minky on the back again, The photograph (of course) doesn't do it justice and while it's bright, it is not neon like in the picture. I am still trying to improve my free motion quilting and am pretty happy with how the quilting came out. The thread I used was grey and I think it softened the colors of the quilt even more which I like.

This quilt almost felt like a guilty pleasure as I planned it without a recipient in mind. I wasn't sure if I would keep it for myself or give it away, now I'm pretty sure it will stay mine!

Corbin has been going to Vacation Bible School for the first time. He came home the first day saying "You don't even know what a super fun time I had!!!!" He's known his verse from everyday and I love hearing him tell me about it. Just another preview of what school might be like :) Noah has been a little difficult to adjust to, he is not used to playing without his brother - and let me tell you - that kid does NOT stop talking!! Good thing he's pretty funny most of the time!

Dr. Seuss Quilt

Who doesn't like Dr. Seuss? An icon of the wonder, fun, and true imagination! When we got in Dr. Seuss fabrics at the shop I knew I should make the boys a quilt out of it. So I purchased the fabric based on a pattern that was in a magazine. I hated it. I couldn't make myself work on it and it got stowed away.

Fast forward 6-8 months. A new pattern made it's way into the shop featuring the fabrics and I loved it! I knew I had most of the fabric to make it work and only had to buy a few key pieces (the panel and the white on white). I cut it and pieced it in one evening, with only the borders left to attach. The next day the borders.....done! I had so much left overs that I knew I should piece that backing. I even had other panels left over from the previous plan that would have been cute. I laid it out and even took a picture so I could reconstruct it.

But then it languished......I really didn't feel like piecing the back. A month went by, it kept nagging at me and I knew I should just get it done. However! I was at work on Friday  and lo and behold Minky (super soft CUDDLY fabric) started rolling out from the back. It was around 20 bolts of Dr. Seuss printed minky! Minky is one of my favorite fabrics to put on the back of a quilt because it is so soft and I love the weight it gives to a lap quilt. Plus it's 60" wide of usable fabric so for most lap quilts I don't have to piece the back and I have very little waste left over. So I picked one out and came home and obsessively jumped into quilting it.

I outlined any of the "boxes" with my walking foot and then got out the darning foot and did some free hand outlining of The Cat in the Hat and then did a pointy scribbly stipple in most of the open space. I free motioned some wonky bars echoing the stripes in the border and voila! I trimmed the edges and got the binding on and by Sunday evening it was done! I washed it, dried it and now have a lovely new quilt for the boys to snuggle under. Finishing a project is such an energizing feeling!

Corbin is starting to want me to take pictures of him :)
He also likes to be involved in every step of whatever I'm doing.

I love how much they love each other!

Cute boys snuggling under their new quilt.

The boys dove under the quilt and were giggling hysterically. 

Airplanes, Moving, and Angora

Last Sunday my father was generous enough to take the boys and I to Alaska Aviation Trade Show. It was pretty amazing how huge the show was. They had planes of every shape and size and the boys were on cloud 9! My dad made rockets with them at the space camp booth :) It was a very fun afternoon that I won't forget.

My sister Whitney has officially moved out of Anchorage! It was fun to go out and help her. Her new place is quite lovely and I greedily enjoyed the time with my nephew. I can't wait to spend more time out there! My kids and dogs have lots of space to run around and it is already a happy home.

*Disclaimer* - We were stopped, I would never drive without a baby in their carseat ;P

I will occasionally knit samples for the shop and just finished these sweet baby booties. They are knit out of Lorna's Laces Angel. It's a luscious angora and wool blend. They are very soft and warm and used all of one little baby skein of the yummy yarn. They were a fun fast knit that I think took all of three hours in between helping customers. The pattern I used was the top down seamless booties pattern.