Disney Christmas

I forgot I hadn't posted this; I had trouble scanning it in December and just got around to trying again.
 
I love this picture. Brings back memories of a such a fun, happy day. Just wish Marie and her family had been there too. 

And with that, Christmas 2012 is officially over. I think. 

Zoo-Be-Dooo

Last Friday was warm and sunny, so we packed up the little girls and headed to the Santa Barbara Zoo. 
 
I've said it before, I know, but this zoo is the perfect size for toddlers and young kids. Nice uphill path to tire them out build anticipation,
  
enough animals to keep them interested -
  
including a petting zoo, which Leia loves,
  
and giraffes to feed, which she really loves -
  
a sliding hill (Leia would happily spend her entire time here, if she could),
  
a pond with big, brightly colored fish,
  
Emmett the Train,
  
room to run,
  
and so much more.
 
Leanne had her I'm-not-going-to-have-fun- and-you-can't-make-me moments
 
but having her favorite bear* to cuddle
 
and so much to see and do kept those moments to a minimum.
  
It didn't hurt that the day we went was the first warm, sunny day in a couple of weeks. All the animals were out, enjoying the sunshine, and many - including five or six condors and a small fox - were right at the fence, where the girls could see them up-close. 

If you click on the giraffe picture above, you can see the two new lionesses sunning themselves on a rock, just above the giraffe's neck. Which put them right at eye-level and about 10 feet from the viewing window when the girls got there. And as the train conductor told us a little later, put the lions right where they could daydream about giraffe burgers for dinner.


*Leanne was terrified of this bear until the batteries ran down and it stopped moving and talking every time she touched it. She's much happier now that she's in control.     

Winter Showers, Spring Flowers

Leia and I decided we should do some planting today, before the rain that's supposed to start tonight. I've had tulip and daffodil bulbs in the fridge for just over a week, trying to trick them into believing it's winter in So. California.
 
We unearthed the gardening equipment, finding a misplaced tiara in the garage along the way - Leia was thrilled - and started digging. Tulip bulbs went in along the front sidewalk, with Mr. Peacock-Head standing guard.
 
More tulips went in along the gravel walkway. 

  

Leia was pleased to learn that bulbs have 'butts', just like we do, 

and that they sit on their butts, just like we do, when you put them in the ground.

 

Four-year-old attention spans being what they are, Leia decided right after this that playing in the dirt was a lot more fun than digging with a purpose,

 

and abandoned me to finish the daffodils on my own. 

 

This last bed was full of worms, so I have high hopes for these bulbs, at least.

 

Leia thought the worms were cool, but when I asked if she wanted to touch one, it was "ewwwwwwww". 

 

Just as well, since I thought touching them was "ewwwwww" too. 

New Scarf

This was a super easy project, even with re-working the pattern so it was half as wide - and so I didn't have to cut my yarn every 2 or 3 rows. I hate weaving in tails.
 
With a slip stitch here and a slip stitch there, carry a yarn, weave a yarn - minimal yarn tails! My version is a little different from the original, but close enough.
 
The pattern is Sashay by Berroco, using two colorways of their Lodge bulky-weight yarn. Loved working with the yarn and the way the colors changed.
 
I'm teaching this as a class in April. I'm still debating about adding fringe, as in the original. I'm not much of a fringey person but I'm thinking this needs a little something more. At least I have a month or so to make up my mind. 

Newest Sewest

A friend saw the pillowcases Leia made - yes, I was bragging and yes, she's already made a second case, for Leanne -

and offered to give Leia the rugged, almost indestructible, 3/4 size sewing machine she'd used in her first and second grade classroom before retiring.

Leia is soooooo thrilled. We got it set up tonight, and Leia was off and sewing. She was very good about keeping her hands away from the needle (Me: do you want to see your blood? Leia: no way.) and remembered to always pay attention when the machine was running.

She quickly figured out how to change stitch patterns, raise and lower the presser foot, go in reverse and control the sewing speed. I put the foot pedal on a footstool, which made it the perfect height for her.

Some things I showed her how to do, and some - like turning the handwheel to raise and lower the needle - she discovered on her own.

Tonight was about experimenting and having fun with her new machine. Next time we sew, probably Thursday or Friday, she wants to make something "for real" for her daddy. Sure hope he wants a pillowcase!

 

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Potato, Potaato

Noro calls this a strawberry lace scarf* -

  

but to me, it's a pineapple.

 
It's smaller than usual, so maybe that's where they get 'strawberry'? Or maybe they want it to appear more modern? 

Either way, it was a fast, fairly easy project, with an 8-row repeat that I had memorized the second time through, except for the start and finish of each row. Never could make sense out of those so the pattern followed me everywhere, as I checked off each individual row.
 
On the up side, that made it easier to count repeats and know when I was supposed to be done. As usual, I got bored three or so repeats from the end and decided to stop. I think it's plenty long, so if I don't mention it, I don't think anyone will notice . . .

A 'by request' arm-warmer/fingerless mitt for the daughter of a friend is also done. 
 
She has arm and wrist troubles that include wearing a brace and the cold makes things worse.
 
It's my usual mitt pattern, super-sized for length. Hopefully, it will help, at least with the 'cold' part.

*Strawberry Lace Scarf by Robin Chachula, published in Crochet Noro: 30 Dazzling Designs. My Ravelry project and info is here.

Teach One

The last time I was in Joann's, I spotted a little pillow - half price! - that was perfect for Leia's preschool nap-time. I let her pick pillowcase fabric from my rapidly growing stash and today we started sewing.
 
To say Leia was excited would be a big understatement. She was completely engrossed, concentrating on getting everything just so.  
 
In fact, we got so involved, we forgot about the time and ended up sewing straight though what should have been her gymnastics class. Oops!

I cut and pinned the initial tube, then Leia sewed it together. 
 
We pulled it inside out, ironed, trimmed and re-pinned it so she could sew the next set of seams - with just a bit of help from cousin Leanne, who wanted in on the action.
 
Once the sewing was done,  
 
we fit-tested,
 
then sleep-tested the pillow 
  
before Leia did her "I made a pillow" happy dance.
 
But we still had one more step to go. I had Leia write her name on the pillowcase (it took a couple of tries to get it just right, as you can see on the right below; a quick pressing with a hot iron will erase all evidence of that quickly enough)
 
and then I embroidered over her writing. 

Perfect. Both of us think so. 

Quilt Class Do-Over

You may remember the quilting sampler class I took last June (here). It was waaaaay just a little bit over my head back then, so when Debbie offered it again, I signed up for a re-do. Today's blocks were 'Fifty-four Forty or Fight' 

and 'Garden Walk'.

 
I'm feeling much more comfortable with sewing and was able to finish both blocks in class, with only minor oopsies. Yay! And I'm very happy to have my sewing machine out again. It's been put away since Christmas and I'm itching to start stitching.