FIVE CUTE KIDS: January and Quilts

We got a lot of snow in January and Nathan took the boys sledding one afternoon. Of course, they had to come home and have yummy hot cocoa to get warmed up!

You should definitely watch the video! It will make you laugh out loud!!

We got the cutest pineapple plant from Trader Joe's. Doesn't it just make you smile by looking at it? It makes me very happy!

We got Andrew's wrestling pictures back. Doesn't he look rough and tough...and handsome!!

Spencer played school basketball again and showed amazing improvements! He made an average of 4 points a game and one game had a high schore of 10 points.

Andrew got creative about his placement of his hammock. Surprisingly, I didn't freak out.

When we went to Alexa's graduation in June we saw a "jelly roll quilt" for the first time. Her grandma had made it for her. Nathan loves to make things so after watching numerous quilting tutorials, he caught "The Quilting Bug"! It seemed that everywhere we went we were shopping for fabric. In July when we were at the Smith family reunion, Aunt Nip told us that every summer her mom (Nathan's grandma) had her kids make quilts so they wouldn't be idle during the long summer days. That was the beginning of Nathan's mid-life crisis (as his children call it)-QUILTING. Nathan got schooled on the long arm quilter and then the madness began!

Spencer completed the first quilt of the family. He laid out the jelly roll and put the colors together how he liked them. He did most of the sewing and all of the long arm quilting.

Benjamin was next. He picked out colors of fabrics he liked. His dad did most of the quilting but he did all of the long arm quilting.

Levi picked out some scraps from the quilt store that he liked because he wanted a very colorful quilt. They decided to do a CRAZY quilt block. Nathan had Levi pick out a color and then they'd add it to the block.

He loved the one-on-one time with dad!!

I also used a jelly roll of fabric for my quilt. I got it all pieced and then got to do the long arm quilting. At first I was a little intimidated with the long arm but after just a few minutes I really got the hang of it and could enjoy the process.

Nathan worked on his quilt for most of the summer and was finally able to do the long arm quilting part at the end of summer.

Sarah really enjoyed doing the long arm quilting on her quilt. She created a contemporary design with a traditional log cabin block.

Andrew really got into the whole quilting experience!

Here is Andrew doing the long arm quilting on his quilt. He did a free style pattern and really enjoys snuggling up in his flannel quilt.

For Christmas, everyone helped make a quilt for Nonnie. This was the first time we used a kit from a local quilt store. The name of her quilt pattern is Stash Stars. We gave it to her when we were in Bend for Thanksgiving. She was pretty surprised. I know she loves it!

We also made a quilt for Grandma Smith for Christmas. The colors and pattern were picked perfectly with her taste in mind.

Nathan had been "eyeing" some fun candy/treat fabric and Grandma Smith was so kind to buy it for him. During the Christmas break, Nathan and I worked on it and he finished it in January. Everyone loves to snuggle up with it when they watch a show!

When we asked Levi what he wanted for his birthday, he quickly told us that he wanted a Skylander quilt. Nathan ordered the fabric online and we had a lot of fun putting it together. It's the same pattern as the candy/treats quilt. Sarah and Andrew are holding it up in the background.