First Haircut

Jac had her first haircut today. 

I love Jackie’s curls and I’ve talked Marie out of taking her for haircuts a couple of times

but at 2 1/2 years old, it was time. 

Jac was not a happy camper

but she tolerated the process since Sissy kept feeding her gummy bears.

And the end result? Jackie loves her new ‘do and so do I!

I was afraid her hair would be straight once her baby curls were cut off (it’s a family trait),

but her hair is still curly, curly, curly! Hooray!

The Good Mess

Gary had some free time the past couple of weeks, so he’s been helping Pop with a couple or fifteen projects. 

We have new moldings installed and fresh paint on walls, doors and trim. I’m especially loving this cheerful new color in the hallway.

Gare’s ability to handle jobs on his own - and train assistants -

has also freed Pop to work on other projects, like these long-planned handcrafted cabinet doors.

Gary even grouted this cabinet top I made a few lot of years ago. 

Next up, I hope think, is new paint in the family room. Burnt orange, anyone??

Size Matters

I think I can stop worrying about this quilt not being large enough.

I’m planning to make the back tomorrow and all 3 quilts will go to the long-armer on Tuesday. The sinus/double ear infection and vertigo (I hate vertigo) slowed me down this week, but these are finally done and I’m ready for some new projects. Hooray!

 70x73”. Cat included for scale

Donovan

Daddy got a new phone,

Mommy used it for its best purpose

and Grandma watched as the pictures streamed in.

9 months. 

22 pounds. 

4 teeth. 

That’s our sweet boy!

Quilt Show

Three of us drove 4 hours today (round trip) to visit Road To California, the largest quilt show in our area, and I come away . . . disappointed?

There were hundreds of vendors, many I’d never seen before, with all sorts of sparkly fabric and fancy do-dads (sparkly seemed to be the theme this year; lots of twinkling lights and metallic shimmers). But nothing made me think “I must have that!”

Oh well. It’s always fun to hang out with quilty friends and I didn’t come home empty-handed.

I picked up 2 thimbles, a printed pattern 

and a gorgeous koi fat-quarter from the lone Sashiko booth (KimonoMomo on Etsy);

and 4 yards of fabric from 2 other booths, 

including this cool ‘cheater’ half-square triangle fabric from Frond Design Studios. The booth samples were very interesting; hope this works out the way I’m picturing it in my head. 

Cookie Bakers

Leia has gotten proficient at making chocolate chip cookies, to the point where she can do it without me supervising.

 Each girl has her own apron, of course. 

So today she decided she was going to teach Leanne the ways of the cookie. 

My only job was to keep Jac from falling off her stool and stop her from putting the egg she was ‘mixing’ into the real cookie dough. 

The baker and her apprentice did a great job 

and the cookies were delicious. 

Too bad the girls have to go back to school tomorrow. I have all  the makings for a cake in the pantry . . . 

First Pie

Leia is the grandgirl most interested in baking. We’ve done cakes, cookies and bread, so when she came to spend the day today, we decided to try baking her first pie.

Leia isn’t fond of most fruits so our choices were limited to pumpkin or chocolate. Yummmm, chocolate!

My MIL made fantastic pies, so we pulled out her crust recipe and did everything old-school, from sifting the flour,

to measuring the shortening in water

and cutting it in using two knives.

Leia rolled it out on my new silicone mat (purchased especially for today’s project; it’s wonderful!!)

before we patted it carefully into the baking dish. 

Looks pretty good, doesn’t it? We may try for fancy fluted edges next time; this time I just wanted it safely in the dish!

We filled the shell with chocolate fudge pie, from a recipe I cut from a newspaper many (many!) years ago and don’t make often because it is so rich.

It didn’t disappoint!

Quilty Goals

My goal for this long weekend is to finish up 3 quilt tops and get them to my favorite long-arm quilter this next week. As of Saturday night, 2 tops are done and the third is underway.

Last in, first done: Bought the fabric for this on New Year’s Eve, started cutting and sewing on New Year’s Day. Pattern is “Stepping Up”, a free online download. 

I fell hard for that orange fabric - and still love it - but now that the top is done, I think I may give it away. Can’t keep them all, right??

Jac’s Flower: I was given that pink flower - already cut, with interfacing attached - and the quilt pattern last fall. Put them together with a jelly roll that’s been in my stash for years and some yellow Grunge left over from another project, but then I stalled out on the appliqué. 

Found Baby Shark cuddle fabric (Baby shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo) on the New Year’s Eve fabric run and knew it had to be the backing for Jac’s quilt. She loves that song!

Added a cute snail for the flower’s center, appliquéd everything down, and project #2 is done. 

Last but not least: First 2 rows of the deer quilt are done. Top-stitching the antlers is slooooooooow going; each deer takes me 12-15 minutes and I have to take a break every two or three blocks to unkink my back. 

It’s coming together nicely though. I may not get project #3 completed this weekend, but it will be close. 

Flower Block

These blocks are sew much fun.

Minor Surgery

One of Leanne’s favorite stuffies had a rather grisly accident. 

A sharp needle, a little thread and it’s all better.

It’s not the neatest job in the world, but I was more interested in making it secure. 

Hope Leanne is happy when she sees him tomorrow.