Quilt #13: Reversible I Spy/Checkers Quilt

We're taking it easy this Christmas here at the de Jong Dream House. School is out for my son and Niels is home from work this week. I'm hoping to spend some time in my craft room, maybe getting caught up with posting a few projects we've done, but mostly, simply enjoying the company of my boys.

At the moment, my boys are reading together, so I have a few moments to post about my latest quilt, which was a gift for our son's preschool teacher to use in the classroom: a reversible I Spy/Checkers quilt.

Our son started a new school in October. It could have been difficult starting a second new school in six weeks, but D was welcomed with open arms. Before his first day, his new teacher made sure his name was included in all the class lists, job jars, birthday calendar, and throughout the room and she asked a few boys to be his welcoming committee. When I dropped him off that first day, I walked in with him, and everyone ran over to greet him. When I picked him up, he cried and didn't want to leave. He said, "Mommy! I have FRIENDS!" 

Now, if you want to score brownie points with this mama, you love on my son. And D's teacher has done that so well. We love her and we love his new school. 

I knew I wanted to sew something for his class but I wasn't sure what. I saw a checkers quilt and thought it would be a nice easy quilt to make. As I started planning it though, I though  checkers might be a little advanced for pre-k, so I decided to make the flip side an I Spy quilt. Now more kids can play with it!

I didn't really have a tutorial I followed, nor did I do a very good job writing down directions, but I did take quite a few pictures of the process. 

My supplies:

* 1 yard blue fabric

* 1 yard red fabric

* 2.5 yards school fabric (this was plenty for the quilt, plus drawstring bags for all the pieces)

* 4" I Spy squares. I bought 100 squares on eBay. The bundle included 2 each of 50 designs. I used about 40 of them, and swapped the others with squares of fabric I had in my scrap bins.

* 24 3" wood circles

* 1 bag of wood letters

* blue and red stickable felt sheets. I only needed two of each. 

Basically, other than the yardage, I way overestimated what I needed, so I could make another quilt easily. 

I started with the checkers side. I looked at a picture of checkerboard, and noted that it was an 8x8 square, so I cut out four 4" strips of blue fabric and four 4" strips of red fabric. My wood circles (future checker pieces) were 3" so I added an inch for seam allowance and a little wiggle room. 

Next I sewed the eight strips together, alternating colors. 

After ironing and squaring up, I cut eight 4" strips. 

Then I sewed the eight strips together, making sure to alternate each side to make the checkerboard.

I wasn't sure yet how I wanted to do the border, so I started on the I Spy side. Originally, I thought I would lay out each square in advance, but I decided it would be easier to just be aware that there was a good contrast between each square as I started chain piecing two squares together.

I only started quilting nine months ago, so I'm still learning a lot with each quilt. Chain piecing has changed my (quilting) world. 

I did the same thing as I pieced the two-squares into four-squares.

 I continued along until all 64 squares were pieced together. 

By this point, I decided to put a border around the checkerboard with the school print. I used 2.5" strips. 

I cut out two 16.5" x 4" of each color and sewed one of each together for the two sides of the outside border. 

I lined up the divide with the middle of the checkerboard so that there would be a blue side and and red side. 

Then I repeated on the other side. 

I finished with 4" strips on the top and bottom. 

I followed the same idea on the I Spy side. My son's favorite color is blue so I opted for a 2.5" blue frame around the I spy quilt. 

I made red 4" squares for the corners and used the school fabric for the rest of the outer borders. 

Two sides done and ready to quilt! (Don't mind the Legos. My little helper was getting pretty excited by this point and wanted to monitor my progress very closely!)

I used washed flannel for the batting. 

My walking foot gave me serious grief on this quilt for some reason. (Note to self: in 2014, you will learn how to free motion). After my sad little diagonals, I switched back to my regular foot and made big squares around the borders.

I would have preferred to use one of the solid colors for the binding but I didn't quite have enough of either. (I had originally bought a yard of each of the three main fabrics, but when I went back for more, I could only find the school fabric). 

Santa came early and brought me these Clover Wonder Clips (<--Amazon affiliate link), which made binding so much easier.

And done!

Once the quilt was done, it didn't take long to finish the accessories. For the checkers, I placed the wood circles on the sticky felt sheets. I used my new Fiskars stick rotary cutter (<--Amazon affiliate link) to cut felt circles. Photo credit for this step goes to my newly-five-year-old photographer. 

D was super excited to learn how to play checkers. He picked it up quickly and beat me in his first game. 

Next we role played playing I Spy with his friends from school. 

Our play time gave me the perfect background for the label. 

Finally, I made little draw string bags for each set of checkers, the letters, and big bag for everything. 

I think I used four different methods for each of the bags, so that tutorial will have to wait for another day. 

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Letter to my Newly-Five-Year-Old

Dear D,

This week you turned five. In just thirteen short years, you will be an adult and my hands-on parenting days will be over. I will step back and see the man you have turned out to be. Hopefully, all the hours we've spent together and all the prayers your daddy and I have prayed over you will have helped you become the man God created you to be.

If the last five years are any indication, I think that day will come much too quickly.

Tonight, we were at Target where you were proudly paying for the big flashlight and two Hot Wheels cars you bought with your very own money made up of money you have been diligently saving over the last few months, and partly from a generous gift of cash from your Uncle Chris and Auntie Kelly for your birthday. As you stood holding your newly prized possessions, we talked about how it is our role as your parents to teach you everything you need to know to take care of yourself, a home, a car, a family. By the time you graduate from high school, we want you to know how to pay your bills, budget, save, and give. We want you to be able to cook more than a few meals from scratch and know how to plan a menu. We want you to know how to show the people you love how much your care for them with both your words and your actions. We also want to do show grace and kindness to those you find harder to love. We want to you to be confident as you step out into the great big world. Seeing you with that look of pride on your face today, I saw a glimpse of that man inside my baby boy.

Today, you are insanely smart, curious, funny, tender-hearted, generous, and loving. I hope you will always be those things. At the same time, I know too well that life can change in an instant. In a few weeks, it will be ten years since the day I slipped on some ice and broke my brain. Even as a toddler, you knew the difference between my good days and my bad days. God gave you an early ability--and willingness--to discern when a tantrum was exactly what Mommy didn't need. So many times, you made my heart feel so much better, even when my headache still raged on. From a bowl full of marshmellows and flax crackers, to a hug, to tucking a quilt around me, to laying your chubby cheek against my aching body, you have a wonderful way of loving me (and Daddy!) and I pray you never lose that gift.

Because I know that what you are today is no promise of who you'll be tomorrow, I must say this. No matter what happens to you, no matter what life brings you, or doesn't bring you, no matter if you really do become a rocket scientist as you are currently obsessed with doing, or circumstances prevent you from fulfilling any of the dreams you have your life, no matter what, all I want for you, all Daddy wants for you, is to know these three truths:

1. You are loved.
2. You are enough.
3. We are proud of you.

I read once that the words we speak to our children become their inner voice. I tell you these things--over and over and over until you roll your eyes at me and say, "I know, Mommy!"--because I want these truths to be your inner voice.

You are loved.

We have talked to you about the two sisters waiting for you in heaven. On that Easter weekend six years ago when Daddy and I found out that your new life was in me, we were so happy and so scared. We didn't want to say goodbye to another baby before we had a chance to say hello. We wanted you so much. I had such hard time keeping you safe in my tummy until it was safe for you to come out. Your months in my womb were bathed in prayer for your safety and for the long, happy, healthy life I wanted you to live. And when you were born, you were perfect. You still are. Simply because you are the boy God created for us.

You are enough. 
Nothing you do or say will make me love you more. Your kind actions might make it easier to feel love towards you, but my love for you is a choice based on the fact that you are you. Nothing you can say or do will ever make me love you less. Your words may pierce my heart, but my love for you is a choice that will never waver, as hard as it may be for me, at times, to express that love. Daddy and I may have our own hopes and dreams for you, but  what is more important is that we help you discover the hopes and dreams God has put in your heart for your own life. What you do, what you wear, what you have, who you know...ultimately, these things can all be lost. If you know that you are enough--that you are valuable--simply because God created you, than all of those things become blessings to be enjoyed, not measures of your worth.

We are proud of you. 
Daddy and I will always be on your side. It may not always feel like it to you, but we hope that you trust us when we say that we want what's best for you. We remember what it's like to be young and living in the moment, and we know what it's like to be older and can see the value of considering how today's choices impact tomorrow's consequences. We don't want an easy life for you. We want you to create a life that is mixed with both the delight of discovering skills that come quickly and the self-satisfaction of working hard to develop abilities that take a lot of effort. Now that you are in school, you are becoming aware of what things are easy for you, and which are more difficult. And you are learning to see that those things are not the same for everyone. Our pride in you does not come in the abilities you have, and our pride is not lost on you for the skills that you don't have, but we celebrate you in the process of developing your abilities, however competent you ultimately will be in them.

It's after 1 am and I couldn't sleep because I am so in love with you and so proud to be your mommy. In those dark days when I lost my job, my savings, my home, quite a few friends, and really, my identity...well, I wondered if my life would ever have anything good in it again. Then I met your daddy. And just when I thought my heart couldn't be any fuller, God gave us you.

***Just now, you wandered into my craft room, Curious George held tightly in your arms. You said, "I need you, Mommy. I'm having a bad dream. Will you take care of me?" To take care of you, to you, means to snuggle and cuddle and talk about happy things. So I am signing off to settle in with you, to talk about the wonders of the universe, and to embrace this gift of you being my baby boy one more night.***

Happy birthday, sweet boy. I love you.

Love,
Mommy

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Gevulde Speculaas (Stuffed Gingerbread Bars)

December 5 is a BIG day for our Dutch-American family. On this day, Dutchies around the world celebrate the arrival of Sinterklaas. I intended to write a post about the Netherland's version of a generous man in red, but that will have to wait til next year, because I'm going to share my favorite Sinterklaas recipe instead, and you can thank me all year round!

I was first introduced to the deliciousness of gevulde speculaas during my first Christmas in the Netherlands. I couldn't wait to to enjoy these gingerbread bars stuffed with almond paste again but I had to first translate the recipe from Dutch! 

Today we brought these bars, along with other Sinterklaas goodies and birthday cupcakes to our son's class and they were a bit hit. Both his teachers requested the recipe, so it was just the motivation I needed to get this post up before calling it a day!

Sinterklaas came to help me out.

 Ingredients: 

• 2 cups flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 Tablespoon speculaas spice (you can make your own with my recipe)
• 1 cup coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
• 10 Tablespoons butter (or dairy free alternative)
• 2 Tablespoons Almond milk
• 1 egg yolk
• 8 oz. almond paste
• Handful of whole almonds

Instructions: 

1. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.

2. In a large mixing bowl, add speculaas spice,sugar, and flour mix in a large mixing bowl. 

2. Slice butter into small pieces and add to the flour mixture.

3. Combine until mixed well.

4. Add the milk and egg yolk.

5. Knead together until a slightly sticky ball forms.

6. Wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate overnight (or at least several hours).

7. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

8. Divide dough in half.

9. Grease a square pan and set aside. (I like to use my homemade non-stick spray)

10. Roll out the first half of the dough so that it will cover the bottom of the pan. Press dough into the pan so the bottom is evenly covered.

11. Spread the almond paste over the dough. If using paste from a can, break the paste into pieces and carefully spread out the paste without squishing through to the dough.

12. Roll out the second half of dough, and carefully cover the filling layer.

13. Press almonds into the dough in a block pattern so that cut pieces will each have an almond in the center.

14. Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes clean when poked in the center.

15. Let cool before cutting into pieces.

Eet Smakeliljk!

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How to Making Saving a Little Less Painful

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As is the case for so many families, this time of year money is tight. The typical money pits of Thanksgiving and Christmas bookend two additional spending occasions for our family: Sinterklaas (Dutch Christmas) and our son's birthday. If we aren't very careful, December can wreck havoc on our budget. 

Over the past few years, we tried a few different savings plans. I use PNC's Virtual Wallet to set aside money throughout the year for things like our son's preschool tuition and bills that are not paid monthly. I have had a harder time setting aside money that was not for a specific purpose. For some reason, I do better if I know the dollar amount I am trying to reach. 

Two years ago, we tried saving $10 a week. It worked for awhile, but we dipped into that stash over the year. About a year ago, I read about the idea of the 52 Week Money Challenge. It's been credited to both Montina Portis and Kassondra Perry-Moreland. 

I printed it out and referred to it as I set my budget for 2013. As you can from the chart, you save a dollar for each week of the year--$1 in week one, $2, in week two, etc.--until you reach a deposit of $52 in week fifty-two, for a total of $1,378 for the year. Pretty cool, eh?

Over the course of the year, I've seen Facebook posts about the challenge as friends as checked in to see who was sticking with it. That's when I started to hear about variations. I like the alternative that Saving Advice offers, which lists all the weeks at the bottom of the page, and you have flexibility to chose the amount you save each week, so long as you cross off all the week numbers by the end of the year. 

Please do NOT pin this image from our site. Please pin from the source. 

For our family--and apparently many, many others--was to start saving the highest amount ($52) and saving one dollar less as the year went on so that by the time we get to December, aka budget-bustember, we only have very small amounts to contribute each week. 

This worked very well for us. Even when we had to dip into our savings a couple of times, it wasn't too painful to catch up. In fact, I finished a little early because I wanted to use my savings to take care advantage of Amazon's Black Friday shopping. (Living with a brain injury means I need to avoid the malls most of the year, and especially during the sensory overloaded Holiday season. I aim to have all of my shopping done by Thankgiving and thank God for the convenience online shopping.) I will soon be the proud owner of a new Nikon 7100 DSLR Camera. I have been a very good girl!

I loved that I could make such a big purchase without using my credit card, so now that I'm starting to work on my 2014 budget (how is that possibly?!), I tweaked the challenge so we'd be officially done by Black Friday. And, with a little extra effort, plus one additional deposit on Tax Day, you'll end up with $1500!

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Both of these spreadsheets are available as free printables. Feel free to download, share, and use whichever one fits your family's needs in the new year.

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