Sunflowers

I’d hoped to have this one finished today but vertigo made me think twice about being around sharp things (like rotary cutters . .)

The center section is done and the pieces for the first border are cut and ready to be sewn together. 

Hoping to finish it, and the backings for both quilts, this weekend. Gotta get a move on since Christmas waits for no quilter! 😜

Cosmos

 The first Christmas quilt is ready for the longarmer on Friday,

if by “ready” you mean the top is done and I maybe have a plan for the backing.

This fabric is gorgeous but it’s hard to get good photos of the metallic sparkles and ombre effects. 

The pattern is based on a picture I saw on Pinterest. I couldn’t find the original pattern so I winged it. Kinda pleased with how it looks so far (everything looks better after a trip to the longarmer.)

Birthday Roundup, With Bonus Fabric

 The teenager is officially 17!

We celebrated with a family breakfast,

Leia amusing herself 

presents, 

and cakes! 

Multiple flavors were needed since the birthday person wanted red velvet and everyone else said ”ewwwwwww.” 😂

We also … got Leia’s ears re-pierced. (This was attempt #4 - the first 3 times, when she was under 6-ish, we discovered she’s allergic to nickel, silver and gold when she got an infection from each. Fun times. This time we went with medical-grade stainless steel. So far so good…)

from Stitches Quilt Shop, Johnstown CO

shopped for fabric … I have a plan for that blue … 

Rachel’s haul included mushrooms and super cute snails. 

The weather forecast now predicts 6-10” of snow starting Thursday afternoon into Friday morning. Sure hope Friday’s noon-ish flight can get off the ground!

 Wednesday Sunset 

She Started It…

Leia wanted to see snow so we took a drive up the canyon to Estes Park

to ride the Coaster,

check out the Stanley Hotel (Leia is fascinated by the ghost stories)

and do a bit of shopping. 

The only snow we found was a tiny patch in the parking lot

but it was enough for a snowball…

Hiding behind Auntie Rachel

which somebody thought would be a good idea to toss at Pop…

apparently forgetting that old people 

have a lot more experience getting even,

especially in snowball fights. 

I’m sure her hair and coat will dry out, eventually. 😜

Birthday Week

Addy’s birthday is Tuesday but this whole week is a grand bday celebration.

Saturday we checked out two local craft fairs. The hit of the day was Leia’s Barbie sunglasses. She’s so stylin’. 

Today we hung out with The Rock.

Leia and I made custom-scented candles 

before joining Rachel and Addy at the paint tables. 

Rachel knew what she was doing,  

and Addy had a good grasp of color theory,

but Leia and I

just followed the written directions

and hoped for the best. 

First attempt

Rachel wasn’t crazy about her first attempt 

Finished tree

so she went rogue and redid it her own way.

Not bad for our first try, eh?

So much fun. 

Silly faces

Travel Day

 Look who’s bright and cheerful, 

even though we woke her up at 0415 - 

aaaaaand who passed out almost as soon as our plane was in the air.

So happy Leia gets to spend the week with us in CO for Addy’s birthday. 

New At The Zoo

Since there was no school today, we packed up the baby grands and headed for Santa Barbara. 

There were lots of new things at the zoo - a week old baby giraffe (not on exhibit yet);

a Ranger Station with lots of touchables - the skulls were a big hit with Donovan and Jac;

a new tank for the axelotyl, one of Jac’s favorite creatures (Donovan said the meerkats were his favorite today);

and a red panda in a really nice waterfall-adjacent habitat.

The Australian exhibit puts the kids almost within touching distance of wallabies and kangaroos.

They were also within touching distance of the snow leopard (if you don’t count the window wall between them).

Leo’s favorite thing was the climbing wall, which was doing a brisk business.

Leo: I made it all the way to the top!

Me: So how was it?

Leo: Absolutely terrifying.