Visitng in Vermont

We spent a few days in Vermont visiting my Mom and Grandmother. My Grandmother is preparing to have a hip replacement surgery at the end of August and even though she's stubborn and won't admit it, she is in tremendous pain. She has always been very independent and doesn't like asking other people to help her. She has always been able to drive herself and go as she pleases. For the last few months she hasn't been able to get around like she normally does and now is having difficulty just walking around the house. We are all anxious for her to have the surgery and begin to feel better.

My youngest sister and I took our children and headed to VT to visit and help out for a few days. Mimi(my mom) and Grandmimi(my grandmother) are nature lovers and gardeners. The kids asked as soon as we arrived if they could pick the flowers. Mimi handed each child a pair of scissors and headed outside to cut flowers. The kids loved having their own scissors to cut flowers. Of course my sister was a bit stressed watching her two year old son walk around the backyard with a pair of scissors cutting his own flowers. I'm happy to report there were no scissor injuries and we ended up with lots of flowers.

Here's Nature Girl and I with her cut flowers. Mimi pulled out an array of vases for the kids to choose from and let them arrange their own flowers. Each child had two vases of flowers when they were done.

After cutting and arranging our flowers we headed out for a nature walk. The kids loved this! We found more flowers, rocks, insects and even a few red raspberries to eat on our nature walk. We discovered some burdocks too. As a kid we would gather them then stick them together to create bird nests and houses. Mimi showed the kids how the burdocks stick together.

Nature Girl shows her blob of burdocks. Thankfully when they're green they mostly stick to themselves. In the fall when they turn brown they stick to everything including hair and clothes. I had a few run ins with burdocks as a kid!

We headed off to the beach at a local pond. Yes, you are reading the name right. It's called Ticklenaked Pond. A visit to the pond was on Nature Girl's summer fun list so she had a great time swimming and playing in the sand with her cousins.

My youngest sister and I relaxed on the beach while watching the kids swim and play. My sister BB is great at holding the camera out and getting a good picture. I always cut someone out or get half a person in the photo.

While we were in VT we went to an elk and deer farm near my mom's house. They have machines where you can get corn to feed the elk. One of the elk was very friendly and met us right at the fence. There were also several free range chickens milling about. The kids had a great time throwing the corn to them.

Sweet and Kind

On Friday our refrigerator was on the fritz so we had to call a repairman to come have a look. The good news is he was able to fix the problem without us having to buy a new refrigerator. While the repairman was working, Nature Girl grabbed a piece of paper and began drawing. She brought the picture over to give to the repairman then realized he was wearing glasses. She took the picture back and worked on it again before bringing it to the repairman. He was busy fixing the fridge and she felt shy so she left it for him on the floor next to his tools. In the end the repairman fixed the fridge and took the check but didn't take the drawing. I'm sure he didn't see what I saw. I saw a sweet little girl who wanted to do something kind for a stranger. She worked hard to make the picture just right so he would be happy with it. It was a gift. To me it was a sweet and kind thing for her to do and it made me proud! I didn't expect this middle age man to see a four year olds drawing as the gift she meant it to be so when he left the picture behind I quickly snapped it up and took a photo. Then I put it in the pile of pictures to save. This one was so sweet and kind it's certainly a keeper! So is Nature Girl!!!!

We're heading out tomorrow to go spend time with my mom and my grandmother in VT for a few days. My sister, her two boys, Nature Girl and I will pile into the car tomorrow morning for the two and a half hour trip. This will be Adventure Bunny's last adventure with us. She'll be heading to her new home next week. The trip is one of the last activities left on our summer fun list. Nature Girl is very excited about going and has been asking for two days if it's time to go see Mimi yet. Summer is flying by and I begin school in just two weeks! I'm trying to enjoy the last days of summer while I can.

What I've been up to....

Word Girl, 2. July Birdhouse mini quilt, 3. Katys felt bird quilt2, 4. Katys quilt package, 5. Needlebooks, 6. Satin spider apron, 7. Halloween Apron, 8. Ghost apron, 9. Friendly Frankenstein apron, 10. Halloween aprons 2008, 11. Sewing kit bag, 12. sewing kit swap, 13. Felt Frankenstein & Ghost Pins, 14. Birdhouse quilt top, 15. Tooth pillow

Here are some of the projects I've been working on in July. The ghost/ frankenstein apron and Word Girl costume are staying here with us, but most of the other things have already been sent on to their new homes. See. . .even though I haven't posted much this month I have been busy crafting! I have a tutorial for the tooth pillow. You can download the Tooth Pillow pdf here.

We Were Spoiled!!!

Val from Yarni Gras! was my partner for the Booming Aprons Beat the Heat Halloween Apron Swap. Val and her kids really spoiled Nature Girl and I! Look at some of the goodies she sent for us. She sent an apron for Nature Girl, two sets of amazing cupcake toppers, seeds for pumpkins & gourds, Halloween place cards and several recipes that I can't wait to try. They also sent two cute crocheted tank tops and two plush bags for Nature Girl. They were missing at photo time since Nature Girl was thrilled with them and has added them to her stash! She kept saying "That girl spoiled us!" They really did spoil us! Thank you!!!!!

And look at my apron!!! I love it!!! Val used Lucy's Sassy Apron pattern, which I had been admiring! I've been trying to slow summer down and enjoy my last few weeks at home before beginning work, but this apron is bringing out my fall spirit! I wore it today even though it was 80 plus degrees and sunny! By the way Nature Girl took the photo of my apron(that's Toot my pig doorstop in the corner, he mostly collects dust but I love him.) Val took some lovely pictures of the aprons and goodies.
Speaking of fall and Halloween, we started Nature Girl's Halloween costume. Yes, I know it's still only July but we've known for 3 months what Nature Girl wants to be for Halloween. Can you guess? If you guessed Word Girl, you got it. Of course most people have no idea who Word Girl is. She's a superhero with super vocabulary on PBS Kids. We're word Girl fans here.
This weekend one of Nature Girl's cousins is having a superhero birthday party and we needed a superhero costume. So we started our Word Girl costume. We still need to make the hood and some red shorts but we've got a good start. I had our little Word Girl defining words during the picture shoot. She defined dazzling and predicament for us. It made us laugh!
We also made a Batman tee shirt and cape for the birthday boy to wear at the party and a superman cape for his little brother. Hopefully we'll have some fun superhero pictures to share after the party on Sunday.

We Be Pirates!

Nature Girl's first job aspiration was to be a pirate. She's also added being a cook and a baseball player to her list of job aspirations but we thought it would be fun to be a pirate for a day. Pirate Adventures in Hyannis, MA. was on our summer fun list. We've already checked off a bunch of items on our list so Saturday we drove to The Cape and boarded the Sea Gypsy.The kids got to be part of the Sea Gypsy Crew. They wore pirate vests and got pirate tattoos. Nature Girl asked for a flower tattoo, she's a real tough pirate- lol! After heading out to sea the crew had to put together a puzzle to get the treasure map. Here's Nature Girl checking out the map.
Then they had to look out for sea monsters, a message in a bottle, a bad pirate named Slash who wanted to steal their treasure and of course the treasure. When they found Slash they had to do battle and try to sink his ship with water cannons. Nature Girl had fun but was a timid pirate! She wouldn't squirt Slash with the cannons and some of the pirate talk was too much for her. But all in all it was a fun adventure! All of the kids went home with a handful of treasure.
We had to rescue the bad pirate Slash from his sinking ship and he shared his grog(orange soda) with the crew. Nature Girl says the whole thing was her favorite part. My favorite part of the adventure was when the crew had to put their right hand over their left eye and swear to keep both feet on deck at all times, to take turns with the water cannons and to share the treasure with their crew!
I had the great idea to make us pirate shirts for the pirate adventure. I had planned to paint the skull design I had drawn but I discovered that I'd have to paint a lot of layers to get it dark enough to show on the black tee shirts. Of course I started this project the night before the trip so time was limited. In my defense we moved the trip up a day in anticipation of bad weather. In the end I decided to cut the skulls and crossbones from felt. I stayed up way too late working on these shirts and in the end the only Nature Girl wore her tee shirt. It was 90 degrees so we opted not to bake in the black tee shirts! Nature Girl was happy with hers and my husband and I can always wear them for Halloween.
Saturday morning I went thrifting with MB and found a bag of Potato Heads and accessories. When we cleaned them up we found this Potato Head Pirate. I also found a few other toys I plan to take to school with me this fall. I accepted a teaching position in a local school district. I'll be teaching special ed at the preschool and early elementary level. This job is similar to what I did in my before child life. I start teaching at the end of August so if I seem to disappear for a bit this fall that's why.

A Surprise Package and a New Swap

It's been a week since I blogged, not because I didn't have anything to blog about. I haven't blogged because I've been busy. We took in a play, a magic show, story time, a jewelery party and a family adventure this week so we've been busy! I also finished packages for 4 swaps this week and have three more in the works. I can't show you any of those things since they were just mailed out Friday and haven't reached their final destinations yet. I'll share pictures next week once the items have made it to their new homes. I also have another simple sewing tutorial for kids that I hope to share in a few days.

This was a surprise package that arrived from Pattie this week. Pattie has a wonderful blog called Attitude Changes Everything! She had a blog contest this summer and I won a nine patch quilt block. Pattie sent two blocks and this fabulous Chenille making kit to us. Did you know you can make Chenille? I didn't. It looks like a lot of fun and Nature Girl and I can't wait to give it a try! She's picked out a cat quilt block and I've picked out a sheep block to make.
Did you notice the sign Pattie included for me? "Finished is Waaaay better Than Perfect!" I've been planning to make a sign for my desk that says "Progress not Perfection." Pattie knew that and included this sign for me. This sign is going to go up in my work area once I clean it up and organize it again. Thanks Pattie!!!

My bloggy friend Susan is hosting a Strawberry Swap. You need to make one handmade strawberry item and the rest of the items can be purchased. You also include a strawberry recipe with the swap. To get more info or to sign up go here. This is one of my favorite strawberry recipes.

Strawberry/Spinach Salad


1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup veg. oil
1/4 cup cider vinegar
2 tbsp. sesame seeds
1 tbsp. poppy seeds
3/4 tsp. garlic salt
1/4 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce
1/4 tsp. Paprika
Spinach
Strawberries

Mix all together let stand about 24 hours mixing occasionally throughout. Put spinach in a bowl with strawberries, mix. Mix in above dressing just before serving.

Hint: I add the dressing to each individual bowl of salad so the leftover salad doesn't gets soggy and I can eat it later.

Goodies

I missed my quilt guild meeting last week while we were on vacation. I had a friend bring the raffle gift, the gift for my secret pal and my block for the swap. This is what I received from my secret pal. The fabric is Michael Miller and the appliqué book and kit are perfect since I need to learn to appliqué in August. It's the theme for the August mini quilt swap and I already have my idea. I just need to to learn how to do it, so the book will come in handy! I sent the cherry note book and a cherry needlebook for my secret pal. I hope she didn't feel totally jipped! I'll have to come up with something better for my secret pal in August.

The block on the left is the block I received in the swap and the one on the right is one I made. I've been making two blocks, one for the swap and one for myself so I can see how much I've learned. I kept the wonkiest 9 patch block for myself and sent the better one for the swap.

Saturday morning we headed to our favorite thrift store. We haven't been in 5 or 6 weeks, so we were excited to go. It was a good trip! We found more kids books because you can never have enough, especially when you're a teacher. Nature Girl found a Dr. Suess flash light shaped like the fish from the Cat in the Hat. She was pretty cute wearing her felt Cat in the Hat hat and playing with her flashlight. I didn't take a picture of that but I did get a picture of my goodies.
I found a prim crow shutter, an appliqué quilt kit, some green corduroy and this frog fabric. It's on a roll and looks like it's a wallpaper border but it's actually a roll of fabric. I'd guess there is about 4 yards of the frog fabric. I thought it was cute. I'm trying to figure out how to incorporate it into a mini quilt. Any ideas? I was thinking it might look good with a strip of frogs across the top and bottom with some blue that looks like water for a pond in the center. I guess it could always be used for borders around a quilt.