Treasure Van

Pop found a $10 treasure at the local mid-week swap meet

and brought it home for Jac and Donovan -

who spent the afternoon stocking it with sleeping gear,

ready to hit the road as soon as one of them gets a driver’s license. 

This is going to be loads of fun. 

Helping

I’m not getting far on hand-stitching this binding with someone wrapped in the middle of the work zone.

At least she’s comfy. 

Muck

On Friday, Jac introduced Donovan to the joys of “muck”.

You dig a little,

add some water - ok, a *lot* of water -

toss in some pebbles, 

stir and repeat. 

Donovan got a bit bored, 

so Leanne showed him the fine points of sun bathing,

while Jac kept right on mucking around. For her birthday in June, maybe she’d like some bigger tools? Gotta remember to ask her. 

Excavating

Word of the day: excavating - digging up *big* rocks.

Jac: I am an excavatinger!

It’s also a prime example of the difference between parents and grandparents. 

Grandparents be like “dig a hole anywhere you want, my darling.” 😂😂

Surprise Tula

Once the backing was done for Carnival, ready to hand off to my long-armer pal tomorrow,

I thought I’d see how far I could get on my national parks quilt. 

Turns out, making a color decision took longer than the actual sewing. 

Love this panel.

The backing fabric has been in my stash for awhile, and it must have been on sale since I have 6 yards of it. When I look at it I see Dresden plates, one of my favorite quilt designs, but the real name is “pineapple slices.” And surprise! It’s by Tula Pink from her long out-of-print Acacia line. I had no idea until I looked it up on Etsy (where it’s selling for $20 for a fat quarter!) Score! 

Ombre Carnival

Carnival, aka ‘Hot Mess’, is done and heading to the long-armer this week.

I thought I had at least another week’s worth of sewing but the bottom section went together this afternoon with no problems. Yay!

I found the backing on the half-price sale rack at my local quilt shop earlier this week. I wanted something quiet and peaceful, as opposed to the color riot on the front, so the recipient could choose a side according to her mood. 

Maybe quilt it with cupcakes since she’s a baker? Still thinking about that one . . .

Bee-utiful

Jac and I have been working on art projects whenever Donovan isn’t here. They are inseparable when they’re both here, but Jac thinks I’m an ok substitute if he’s not around. 

First up was painting with glue and food coloring. 

Glueing fabric scraps is one of Jac’s favorite things but this was the first time we added color to the glue first. Giant hit!

As was the basket of leftover ‘diamonds’ and ‘jewels’ I dug out of the craft cabinet. It really does pay to (almost) never throw crafty things away. 

We also celebrated the gorgeous weather 

with a bit of sunbathing and chalk drawing

while poor Leanne was in school (in her pj’s and quilt).

The art part was almost over before it began

 

when a bee landed on Jac’s shirt and freaked her out. 

Look at the size of that stinger! Poor bee was probably as traumatized as Jac. 😂

Orchid tree

Our lizard habitat 

Frog Pond

Turns out quilts take trips to the frog pond too, not just crochet and knitting. 

Rippit, rippit.  

All better. 

Teeaa Teeaa

Jac and I were hanging out when she started talking about, “you know, that girl that left the stuff in the bathtub that squirted me in the face.”

“You mean Aunt Teena?” 

Yep, “Teeaa Teeaa”.

 
So Jac wrote her a letter and, typical child of the digital age, insisted I send Teeaa a text and picture.

But she’s even more excited about this ⬆️. 

Hey Teena, keep an eye out; old-school stick-a-stamp-on-it letter headed your way. 

Halfway

Nine rows done, eight more to go. 

I’ve been calling this “Hot Mess” - rather than “Carnival” - ‘cause that’s what it looked like on the design wall before this weekend. Pretty amazing the difference a little stitching and pressing can make.

 

Horses and Chickens and Snowballs, Oh My

Jac and I took a quick trip

  Ride ‘em, cowgirl!

to our favorite farm stand this afternoon

 Jac had no interest in the goats, alpaca or sheep, just the chickens and her “pony”

before I started in on the giant pile of snowballs. 

 96 snowballs, all in a pile. 

My original plan was to cut the fabric squares and call it a day. 

Then it was ‘hey, the last 2 stars won’t take long’ . . . and ‘maybe I’ll start the first line just to see how it looks’ . . . 

And presto-changeo, all the pieces were done. I’m glad I went ahead with the lines, I think they add a lot. Next up? Sewing all 221 blocks into rows and columns and squares, oh my. But that’s definitely waiting for tomorrow. 

Little White Blocks

I finished nine and three-quarter stars today before I ran out of snowballs. 

The little white blocks are an odd size for cutting with my Stripology ruler, requiring a chart and a bit of thinking, so I’m waiting for a quiet house and refreshed brain cells before I cut more. Better waiting than swearing, right?

And I think a few white lines are needed in addition to the stars. Since my quilt is smaller than the original, I can’t follow the pattern for placement, but I think this will work. We’ll see . . . 

Not So Quick

I wanted to make a quick quilt for a sick friend (kidney transplant in the works) and remembered the *already cut* ombre fabric and pattern Teena sent me. (Thanks again!)

So much glorious COLOR, with bonus sparkly metallic dots, would cheer anyone up, right? 

But it’s not going as quickly as I thought. (Story of my life.) Three days in and the color placement is set . . . I think . . .

and now I’m debating if I really need all those white lines in addition to the white stars. Sure would be faster not having to make a million snowballs . . . Hoping to start sewing stars tomorrow during nap time, so it’s decision time.