Everything is AWESOME!

A little musical entertainment for you. First up- Reid:



"Everything is AWESOME" (the theme song from The LEGO Movie) in the Brusven house. Join our dance party:



We took the boys to see The LEGO Movie on Wednesday. If you aren't familiar with it, here's a little "Behind the Bricks" Featurette:

My Sewing Room

I stayed up way too late last night (thank goodness for Spring Break), and I'm finally ready for the big reveal.

TA DA!!!

The book case, baskets, kitchen island, table, chair, and wire basket organizers are all from IKEA. The rocking chair is the one we had in the boys' room.

The buildings on top of the book case are The Cat's Meow and showcase buildings and landmarks around Iowa State University. (Go, Cyclones! They're playing in the Sweet Sixteen tomorrow.) I also decorated it with knick knacks from my Grandma Starrs and dad.

A cross stitch I completed in the 90s.

My home on the range view.

I found Lightening McQueen hidden in a pile of fabric. Aiden quickly noticed him this afternoon and returned him back to the fleet.

I feel very lucky to have a whole room set up just for my craftiness. Eventually, Aiden and Reid will probably want their own rooms, but we can just buy a new house with more bedrooms when that time comes. ;)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Currently on one of the bulletin boards at school: Preschool Farm. Awesome!

Nice weather for outside play after we arrived home:

Wearing their new green shirts to make sure the leprechauns didn't "snap" them, as Aiden told me. He meant "pinch", but you can see where the confusion lies when you realize how similar those two motions are.

Last week at Hobby Lobby to buy supplies for their swim teacher's gift. The boys found a few hundred distractions along the way:

Two more Farmer's Wife Blocks-

#3 | Basket

#4 | Basket Weave

Farmer's Wife Quilt

I'm starting a Farmer's Wife quilt. I was inspired by a bunch of quilters I follow on Instagram. I'll try to post my progress on the ol' blog, but following me on Instagram will probably be the best bet for seeing more timely updates. While you can access Instagram on a computer, it's best used as an app. If you don't have a smart phone, but do have an iPad, you're in luck. I think you should be able to download the Instagram App to your iPad. You'll probably have to set up your own account and then you'll need to find my account: "@kbrusven". I have my account set to private, so you'll have to send a request to follow me. 

There are 111 possible blocks to choose from. We'll see how many I get made before I piece together a quilt... or wallhanging... or doll quilt... or pot holder.

There are also a lot of pictures of people's farmer's wife quilts to be found on Pinterest. If you're friends with me on Pinterest, it's no surprise to you that I LOVE IT! Not only am I inspired by the projects I stumble upon, but I have also learned so much from links to different people's blog tutorials. For example, one person suggested using freezer paper to cut accurate templates. The book has a CD with the templates in pdf fromat. I merged the templates for Block 1 using Photoshop and printed it on the non-shiny side of the freezer paper, rough cut them out, and ironed them on the fabric. Pretty neat trick for cutting out accurate templates.

I'm using some Michael Miller airplane fabric, "Wild Blue Yonder", that my mom made the boys' crib skirts out of. I already have a bunch of coordinating fabrics because I was going to make a wall hanging for the boys' nursery. Four years later, it looks like that plan might not happen. Time to use up some of the stash. (Loving my new sewing room, too! It's still a huge mess, but I'll share pictures here once it's presentable.)

Block 1 | Attic Windows

I'm going to use #kerisfarm for my Instagram hashtag on this project. By the way, did you know hashtags are a programming tool to be able to search for certain text? I've started teaching my students about this, so they actually know what using a hashtag means. They had no clue and more or less attributed it to the magic of the internet. I would also suggest following @elizabew. She has been putting together the most amazing blocks and is fussy cutting almost every single one of them. They're incredible. You can search for others' blocks using the #fwqal (Farmer's Wife quilt-a-long) hashtag.

I like this project because I think I'll be able to sneak in a block here and there without the pressure of worrying about when the entire project will come together. Each block feels like a mini accomplishment. 110 more to go...