Lego Party

My house looks like a fabric shop exploded, got run over by a mack truck full of Christmas and then 3 kids and a baby ran through it.

And I'm happy.

November and December are tough months for us, because Mr. Chaos is in and out of town with the Nutcracker.
He's in Idaho this week.
I think.

I know he started the week driving up to Pullman, Washingtion.  

...
yup, I checked, the tour schedule says Idaho.

We also have 2 birthdays and Thanksgiving.

Hence the random silence on my part.

~ Today ~ 

I'm watching a friend's infant - 7 months old - part time while she goes to school.

So there's baby toys scattered around and bottles in my kitchen.

I was inspired by sophie to set up a bunch of tables and quilt last night, and didn't put anything away.

 and I began to decorate for Christmas.

I got my window lights up!

~ Rewind ~

I threw two totally awesome parties for Jack and Tess.

A Rapunzel party and a Lego party.

Lego Party first.

Saturday was Jack's Lego party, which was a huge success.

I made a Lego cake and everything.

Simplest Party ever.

I pushed all our furniture against the walls to make a big open space.

I bought two boxes of basic Legos and  20 mini-packs of individual figures, set them out on a table
- I didn't bother with a tablecloth - they're boys, they don't care.

I thought the runner was festive enough.

and wham -   added the boys.

They built stuff and ran around, like boys do.
(One of the dads stayed, with his two older kids - a high schooler and a middle schooler - all three of them were playing with the legos too.)

When arguments started to break out
(if you put 12 8-year-old boys in the same room, they WILL argue)
it was cake time.

I scheduled the party from 3-4:30, which meant I didn't need to feed everyone.
(tee-hee, super sneaky me!)

They had cake, ice cream and fruit punch or apple juice.

Paper plates and cups  - no dishes to clean!

When that was done, we did presents.

They all sat remarkable well while Jack read every card out loud and opened everything.

Then they ran around and played until the parents showed up
(which wasn't very long at all)

Perfect timing.

Score Mom.

The best part?
Once everyone left clean up was super simple.
No mess, no fuss.

The kids spent the rest of the day playing with the new toys.

Jack got lots of legos and graciously chose to share with his sisters.

~At our house there are no "mines" but when you get a new toy,
you don't have to share on your first day.
works like a charm.
The siblings learn to be patient, knowing that they'll get to try the new stuff tomorrow.~

They played for hours.

I didn't even make him wash his face until bedtime.

Feed him Hawaiian Punch and he gets a red mustache.

every time.

Now he's eight.  EIGHT!
when did that happen?

What happened to my 3-year-old?

  

I Won the Block Lotto!

I won the Block Lotto for November!

blocklotto.blogspot.com

I was so surprised.  

I had to read the list twice and then check the participants to make sure I was the only Kristin.
I almost didn't enter my blocks, 'cause I wanted to make something for me.
I'm so glad I did!
Whoo hoo!

I entered 5 blocks.

It was totally fun to use up the "what was I thinking" and "thank you for the wonderful gift"  fabrics.  Individually some of the fabrics are cringe worthy, but together they make a happy scrappiness.

The pattern and info are here.

These blocks are great because they are so scrappy.  Putting them together should be a breeze.  I won 37 blocks, and I made extras to bring the total to 42, which is a nice 6 block x 7 block layout.

I've decided I'm going to do it completely randomly, sewing them together, just making sure that there aren't two blocks with the same fabrics side by side.  I'm leaning towards a barn raising layout, but I'm not sure.

The pattern is on Bonnie Hunter's website, Quiltville, and she's got a couple different layouts pictured there.

That got me thinking about the other blocks I've made for the lotto.  

Looking Back...

I started playing the lotto in August of 2009.

I was new to quilting and totally stressed over each block making it perfect before I entered it.

The official 2009 Block Lotto archives are here.
(The archive has links to pattern info and what-not)

I made 39 blocks that year.

2010 was a year of improv-y wonky blocks, which I'm not a huge fan of.

I won in January. a set of 40 blocks.
Those totally awesome Tic-Tac-Toe blocks are waiting patiently.  I had a hard time coming up with a setting I liked, and then when I did I got busy, so they are still waiting.
I have a plan now.  It's nothing like what I originally was going to do.

I only was able to participate the first three months before life got in the way.  The word blocks were fun.  The rest of the year I looked at the blocks each month, but they didn't really strike my fancy enough for me to take time to make them.  

The 2010 archives are here.

I made 24 blocks that year.

This year the lotto was a mish-mash of patterns.
If sophie had a theme, I'm not sure what it was. 

The archives for the year are here.

I made 36 lotto blocks this year.

So, I've made a total of 99 blocks over 15 months, and won twice, a total of 77 blocks.
useless facts, I know.

It's been totally fun and I'm looking forward to next year.

It's been fun to play with all the different patterns and fabric combinations.

I Hate Decisions! Help!

So, I'm building this quilt.

The top is done.

Yeah me!  

But then I decided it needs a border....I think..

These are my three choices.

I can't decide which (if any) I should use!

No border

Border 1 - this fabric isn't in the quilt anywhere, but it goes nicely with the other greens.

border 2 - solid red

or border 3 - leaves on cream

What would you choose?