Mini Quilt Progress & a Swap

I dropped Nature Girl off at preschool this morning then I headed home to reintroduce myself to my sewing machine. We haven't spent anytime together for the last week and a half. With Nature Girl at school, I had two and a half hours of uninterrupted sewing time. It was wonderful! I spent the time working on my quilt for the Miniature Booty Quilt Swap. What's the one problem with having uninterrupted sewing time? No one to show your project too! I was excited about the progress but couldn't show my quilt to anyone. Usually my husband & Nature Girl are my audience and cheer my little craft endeavors. Which reminds me, tonight Nature Girl told me I was the best mom in the world. When I asked why she said"Because you do projects with me. No one likes to do projects alone. I like to help you." Awwwh melt my heart! How sweet is that?
I discovered something cool today. While I was trying to make the quilt tag, I discovered I can print on fabric using my printer. I was able to print a great tag with one problem. I can't get the ink to set, one washing and the tag is toast! I did find some info at Quiltpox.com concerning making quilt tags. If you're interested you can check it out here. I have a new HP printer and I'm not sure I can set the ink after reading the info at quiltpox. So now I have to experiment with making a new tag for Kristie's quilt. I have to finish binding the quilt and remake the tag then it will be finished. I really wanted to share photos but I don't want to ruin the surprise for Kristie so instead I'm posting a pile of fabric. I used a few of these fabrics in the quilt.

Speaking of fabric, Tracey at Itching 2 B Stitching is hosting a fabric swap. For details and to sign up, check here. I'm very excited to get new fabric. I've never done a fabric swap but it sounds fun! What crafter doesn't love surprise fabric?!!!

Quilt Swap

Today I worked a little more on my quilt for the Miniature Booty Quilt Swap before heading off to Nature Girl's dance dress rehearsal. When we got home tonight I opened the mailbox to find a package. Cindy had sent me a miniature quilt. My first thought was, I can't open it because I haven't finished my quilt to send to Kristie. Then I decided it would be rude not to open it so I tore into it and look what Cindy made for me! Thank you Cindy! I'm planning to use it as a wall hanging in my front foyer. This is the first swap for me all of the other's have been for Nature Girl. When I opened the package she asked what it was. I explained it was from a swap Mommy signed up for. She said "Mommy did you sign me up for a swap too?" I told her no. She said "Well you can sign me up for another swap!" She's too funny! I think she's addicted to swap mail!! I'll have to watch for another kid swap.

Here's Nature Girl hamming it up in her dance costume. She's not usually one to ham it up for the camera so we had fun with these pictures today! Her dress rehearsal was this afternoon so I made a few minor adjustments to her costume. She doesn't like the hat because the elastic is too tight. Even the new elastic I put in isn't to her liking. Thankfully she just has to wear it for her first number. She has a tap number and a ballet number in the recital. The recital is Sunday afternoon then we're off for the summer. Yippee!

I'm obviously biased but she's pretty cute! You should see her dancing! By the way thanks to all of you who have commented about her cuteness in past posts. I can't take any credit for this, she doesn't look a thing like me. She looks just like her dad! We tease him saying he looks really cute as a girl !!!

Our Girl's Day

Nature Girl is accustomed to having the attention of her mother and father to herself. Last week we had two extra kids for the week so she was in need of a special day by the end of the week. Friday she and I headed out for a girls day. We packed a picnic lunch and went to her favorite petting farm & ice cream stand. We've been visiting this farm every summer since she was a year old and she has become attached to several animals at the farm. Her favorite is Sunny the horse. Quickly followed by a pair of peacocks named Prince & Poppy.

Here's Prince in all his glory. Isn't he beautiful! Nature Girl was thrilled to be able to purchase one of his feathers for 50 cents. She also picked one out as a birthday gift for her grandmother. Every year Prince and Poppy have little peacock babies that we watch grow through the summer and fall. Nature girl loves them, although she does wonder why Prince calls so loudly.

Nature Girl took this photo of the two piglets. Aren't they sweet! We both agree that the black & white is the cutest. Usually the farm hangs signs with all of the animal's names. The signs weren't up on Friday so I don't think these little piggies have their names yet.

This is Nature Girl sitting on the fence rail with Sunny in the background. Sunny is a 41 year old pony that Nature Girl has adopted as her special friend. He has been a favorite of hers since she met him three years ago. We have the cutest photo of one of those first meetings. Sunny is sticking his head out of the barn window and a little Nature Girl right up close to his face talking to him. I'll have to find it again because it's so sweet.

The farm also has a huge sand pile with toys & shovels for the kids. The two big wood chairs for the grownups are very inviting. I relaxed while she played in the sand. Nature Girl had the farm and the sand pile to herself for most of our visit. She was very happy!
After visiting all of the animals and playing in the sand pile we were off to the hand washing station so we could get cleaned up and get our ice cream. Nature Girl enjoyed a chocolate ice cream cone while I savored a dish of pineapple orange ice cream. Yummy!
We packed up and headed off to our favorite thrift store to end our girl's day. Nature Girl loves thrifting but she has a lot of toys already so we're instituting a new rule for thrifting. One in and two out. I had Nature Girl choose two toys she no longer plays with and we donated them to the thrift store. In return she got to choose one toy to bring home. If we can keep this up we might clean out the extra toys in the playroom over time. Of course I felt a bit of guilt instituting this rule for her when I haven't followed it myself. I guess I should work on following this new rule too. Instead I purchased more fabric that I hope to turn into an apron. I'm thinking I'd like to try making the Gathering Apron from the Sew Mama Sew tutorial contest. Of course I think I'll finish my aprons for the apron swaps first, then I can try the gathering apron for Nature Girl.

The View From Where I Knit

It was a sunny day in Northern New York State. The breeze made it feel a bit cool but overall it was a lovely spring day. We spent the afternoon outside sitting on the deck while Nature Girl and her cousins played in the yard. This was my view from where I sat knitting a dish cloth.

I like to have a project to do while I'm sitting down chatting with family and friends. I enjoy visiting but why not chat and craft at the same time? I get to visit and at the end of the visit I feel like I accomplished something. Today I made this dishcloth from a pattern my mother-in-law gave me several years ago. These make great gifts for family at Christmas time, although I made this for me to replace my old shabby ones.

I started to work on the hexagonal net crochet bag from Orange Flower. It's riddled with errors but I'm very impressed with myself that it has a bit of a hexagonal shape to it. Really I need to pull it apart and try again because all the errors will drive me crazy. For just my second crochet project I think I'm doing ok. I obviously need a lot more practice but I'm enjoying trying to learn. Of course I'm more of a visual learner so I need to schedule another coffee & crochet lesson with my friend Cindy.
We're planning to head home tomorrow afternoon so I'll have lots of time to practice crocheting on the ride home. We'll also finish listening to Harry Potter. Once we get home it's back to business for me. I have lots of projects I need to get working on. I want to have my miniature quilt and my 6" quilt square for my swaps done by the end of next weekend. Hopefully I can accomplish that. We also have Nature Girl's dance recital next weekend so I need to make some minor alterations to her costume. Wait till you see how cute she is in her dance costume!

Spring Branches

We're traveling to NY this weekend to surprise Nature Girl's grandmother. We'll be celebrating Grandma's birthday and Mother's Day while we're there. Nature Girl loves to visit with her Grandma and Papa. She's done this trip every few months since birth so she's great riding in the car for the 5 hour trip. Of course she gets to pick what we listen to in the car which is often boring for her mom & dad but it keeps her happy and the ride goes by without a since complaint or an "are we there yet!" We're fortunate that she's so good! For tonight's listening enjoyment we borrowed the first Harry Potter Book The Sorcerer's Stone on audio CD. We're looking forward to listening to this one on tonight's trip.
We had our girls day out today. We had a very nice day together. I'll try to post pictures tomorrow. In the meantime check out the new Kids Craft Weekly which includes flower crafts. We tried the scrunchy blossoms that look like spring branches.

Taking Pictures

Blogging has me taking more pictures than I have since Nature Girl was a baby. During April I took over 500 pictures. Since I'm dragging the camera around with me everywhere we go Nature Girl has become interested in taking pictures too. So I've handed over the camera and let her take a few. It's pretty interesting to see what she wants to take pictures of.

The picture of this dance bag was taken by Nature Girl this afternoon during her dress rehearsal for dance. I've volunteered to be one of the backstage moms for Nature Girl's class. This means caring for thirteen 3, 4 and 5 year olds in the basement of an old local theater for 3 hours. After the busy week we've had what's 12 more kids to watch, right?! The rehearsal was fine so now were ready for the full dress rehearsal on Monday. By the way this isn't even Nature Girl's dance bag but she does take a pretty good picture. At least it equals my picture taking abilities.

My sister picked up my nieces this afternoon so we're back to having just one child. After having to share my attention with her two cousins for the last four days Nature Girl is in need of a girl's day. We're planning to spend the day together tomorrow. We hope to visit her favorite petting farm & ice cream stand. They just opened up and we're looking forward to our first visit this year. We also have a project in the works for tomorrow. We hope to make some stepping stones for our garden. They'll be a mother's day present for me. Of course Nature Girl wants one for her own garden so we'll do that too.
Our weekend is shaping up to be busy but I'm hoping that by Monday I'll be back to my normal boring old life. I'm really looking forward to it!

My Old Boring Life!

When I decided to start blogging I worried that my life was too boring to write about. I have a great life but it's not very exciting and no one will ever write a book about it. I'm not complaining! It's a good life and I'm glad I don't have a lot of drama. For the last three days I've been watching two extra children. My sister had an emergency and needed to someone to take her girls. My other sister has the oldest daughter and I have the 4 year old and 5 month old. This is the great thing about living near my sisters we can help each other out at the drop of a hat.
After three days of the flurry of activity that has accompanied caring for three children and the numerous adjustments to our normal schedule I'm looking forward to getting back to my old boring life! I greatly love my nieces and have enjoyed having them with us. Of course having three children has changed how we navigate through our day. Nature Girl is an only child and has gone everywhere with me since birth. As a result she has very good behavior in public and can go anywhere without an issue. We regularly head off to run errands, go on outings, play dates or whatever we need to do. Having three children makes it difficult to do the these things. You should have seen me trying to take the baby and two four year olds to pick out flowers and terracotta pots for our teacher appreciation gift. After loading flowers and pots into the car we headed off to pick up a friend's child from school (We do this every Wednesday before going to play at the children's museum and heading off to dance class.) Add in a stop at the Dollar store and a trip to McDonald's for dinner and you have our day today. I'm tired just thinking about it!

So where do these rusty old milk cans come in? These are on my list of projects to complete this spring. I bought them last October at an auction for $13 each. I think it was a great deal, my husband didn't agree. I'm planning to paint them, then use them as a decoration in font of our house. My husband is not a fan of my milk cans and will be happy to see them finished and out of the garage. When I get back to my old boring life I might have time to paint them or to catch up on the other projects I haven't had time to do! I love my old boring life!