One of my favorite things about my good camera is the macro lens; I love taking pictures of flowers and bugs and, especially, bees.
Remember the twinsie dresses I made Addy and Leia for our Colorado trip?
The third, and final, one in the series is now done, modeled and gone home.
The first four quilt blocks are done. 
'Fifty-Four Forty or Fight' was first.
Then 'Drunkard's Path', correctly pieced this time.
I only needed to rip out one block and re-orient it. Much nicer.
'Garden Walk', the companion to Fifty-Four.
I cut these pieces in class but ended up re-cutting the triangle sections when they refused to play nice with the four-squares.
And last up, 'Grandmother's Fan', which I love.
The gold in the 'fans' is with of metallic threads, so this one really sparkles.
Only (??) eight more blocks to go over the next two weeks. Can't wait to see what Debbie throws at us this Saturday.
PopPop took Leia to TWO Disney stores on Saturday, looking for the Brave dress in her size, so she could wear it when we took her to the movie today.
Apparently, size 5-6 (she's 3!) is very popular; it's also almost too small, girth-wise. Length-wise, she still has a bit of growing room.
She tried this on for us Saturday night and I asked her if she was my Princess. Her answer? "I'm your Princess Monkeybutt!"
And how was the movie? Fantastic. Hubby and I both think it's the best Disney movie ever made. I knew I was going to love it the first time I saw Merida astride her horse, Angus. No pretty princess
pony but a big powerful Clydesdale with plenty of attitude.
Brave has it all - interesting characters, laugh-out-loud humor in subtle places, unexpected plot - AND the princess is the hero throughout; no prince jumps in to save the day. Leia thought the bears were a bit scary, but not too scary, since she definitely wants to see it again. And so do I.
My recommendation? Go.See.This.Movie. It's destined to become a classic.
Instructor's sample quilt.
(the pink in the center and the pink/black on the far right are Rach's favorites; 60's paisley is back is style. Kinda scary.) 
After skipping two generations, the grandgirls seem to have inherited the 'shoe gene' from their great-grandmother.
My mom loved shoes. I remember her having a minimum of six pairs, with varying levels of comfort, in the trunk of her car at all times.
I've never cared that much about shoes; when I find a pair that's comfortable, I'll wear them until they disintegrate. Leanne's mom is the pretty much the same way - comfort above all.
So it's pretty funny that every time Leanne comes for a visit, her very first priority is finding the pretty princess shoes and getting them on her feet. (Notice that her feet barely fill the toe portion of the shoe? Doesn't slow her down a bit.)
And her second priority? Seeing how much noise she can make clacking her way around the house.
We headed up into the mountains today since Addy's mom and dad had the day off from work. First stop - Dinosaur Ridge in Morrison, CO. The girls had a good time checking out the dinos
and digging for bones in the sand pit.
We'd hoped to do the ridge tour but it was over 90 minutes long and we didn't think the girls' interest would hold out. Plus, it was almost lunch time and we were anxious to get to the real reason for our trip - lunch at BeauJo's in Idaho Springs, which John assured us was the Best. Pizza. Ever.
I have to admit, the man knows his pizza! After stuffing ourselves, we took in some of the sites in downtown Idaho Springs,
a quaint old mining town.
I especially loved the hanging flower baskets on every light pole
and the view of the falls from across the freeway.
The little girls added to their collection of babies -
a bunny for Addy and a cat for Leia - so they were content to let us visit a few antique stores before they got totally bored.
We'd passed the old Argo Mine on our way into town, so that was our next stop.
A bus took us to the top of the long-closed mine,
where we donned hard hats for a short trek into one of the tunnels.
Hiking back downhill, past the very curious big-horned sheep hiding in the trees,
we checked out the old tunnel entrance
before moving into the mill
where all the ore taken from the 4.5 mile mine tunnel was once processed.
By this point, Leia was thoroughly bored; not even the ore cart choo-choo interested her.
But the last part of the tour perked her right up. Panning for gold!
Everyone got into the act -
Leia and Addy were very serious and intent, swirling and agitating the dirt and water just like the guide showed them.
Both were thrilled when they spotted those shiny little flakes of gold in their pans.
Even at $1600/ounce, these tiny bits won't enhance their college funds, but I'm betting this is a memory they'll treasure for a long, long time.
