Saturday, April 7, 2018

A Fun Week

Wow, this week just sped by! It was full of family and fun, exercise, sewing, yard work and so much more.

London and her mom, Heather
On Saturday I went with my DGD London (my DS Shane’s daughter) and her mom Heather to Wheeler Farm for an Easter Egg Hunt. I have experienced my share of Egg Hunts in the past, both as a mom of three kids and as a mall marketing director for 9 years. Plus, I worked at Wheeler Farm for 4 years, and we had Hunts then too. But I’ve never been to one that was so well organized as this year’s hunt!

The kids were separated at pre-registration by age and parental preference of Hunt in the Woods or Hunt on the Grass (for the younger ages). The different groups staged in different areas and were then further split up and led into different sections of the woods (the farm is about 75 acres) by guides.

Everyone got the “Let’s be kind and share” lecture so that no child would go without. The kids were just great about this! The eggs were empty, and once the kids got their allotment, they helped other kids. When it was all done, they turned in their eggs back at the barn and got a full Easter basket of prizes, candy, a stuffed bunny and other toys and coupons. What a deal!

London was in the last group of the day and they didn't have any egg limits. In fact, they were asked to help out the Easter Bunny by finding all the eggs they could (and to share, of course) so that he wouldn’t have as much work later. We parents and grandparents further helped out by gathering and bringing out any plastic eggs that had been smashed by over-anxious kids!  Anyway, it was really fun to walk all over and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine. In fact, Bruce and I went back on Monday and walked the entire farm again by ourselves. We also visited all the new baby lambs and goats.

On Tuesday I hemmed up some flannel receiving blankets for one of my neighbors who will be going to Uganda with a local radio station. They go twice yearly and bring these blankets to the villages so the babies don’t have to be taken home swaddled in newspapers. The Riley Blake company, which is local, donates quite a bit of flannel, and I hemmed up a bolt of the blue chevrons and then added some of my own. This pictures shows some of them.



I got some more sewing time on Wednesday and worked on my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks. This month is yellow.  First I did three Linked Squares blocks, which will finish at 16” each. I need a total of 20 and now have 11 finished.


Next were six 4” (finished) bowties.  I only need 32 more - a few of each of the remaining RSC colors. This project will continue on...


And finally I finished up 10  selvage blocks in yellow. They will be 6” finished. No plans yet other than to clean out my selvages!!  :-)


I still have lots more yellow blocks for the next few weeks: birds, Squared Away sampler blocks, quarter log cabins, and crumb blocks. Plus, I’ve started my daughter’s “Love is All You Need” medallion quilt. The tough part was all the quilty math to figure out the various rounds - no small task because she wants a rectangular rather than a square quilt. So, I worked out the numbers and designs on paper, pulled the fabrics and have gotten started. I’ll share more about this in a week or two. But I will be making certain blocks as the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month coincides with one of the colors in the quilt (mostly yellow, pink, turquoise, blue, black and white and some orange).

My final sewing goal for this week was to get my Geese Migration blocks sewn into a flimsy. That happened yesterday. Excuse the wonky picture. As usual, I pin the top on the design board and let the rest fall freely, so the bottom part is not taut. But it is even, I promise!



I am so tickled at how this is turning out! I still have to whip up a backing from some of fabrics. I’m going with green because I found a 3-yard piece and another 1+ yard piece in those colors that will work. The binding will be the same gray fabric.

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We finally got our new car this week. We’ve been waiting for two weeks, and our new Toyota RAV4 Hybrid finally came in and got its windows tinted. It was ready for us on Thursday. I borrowed this picture from the Toyota website (I hope they don’t mind), as our new baby is exactly this color - Electric Storm Blue.

We love our Toyotas! We sold Bruce’s Tundra and traded in my Prius and are now just a one-car family. This car’s controls are very similar to my Prius, but the visibility and some of the newer features (back-up camera) are superior. My favorite thing is how well it fits me. It’s so solid and tight and ..... geez, I sound like a commercial. Sorry, but I just love it. We always give our cars names (please tell me we are not the only ones who do this! Bruce’s Tundra was Elwood and my Prius was Penelope), but we haven’t named this one yet....

And now I’ll switch gears (pun intended) for the final time. This week Darla learned how to wind a bobbin. And she is definitely a southpaw!

Hey, I’m the Supervisor, not the Bobbin-Winder!

If she thinks I’m going to sew those batting scraps together when the bobbins are done, she’s got another thing coming....




17 comments:

  1. Pretty yellow stuff happening in your studio! Love your geese migration. Congrats on the new car, too; I'm on my second Sienna.

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  2. Hey--I need some bobbins wound!!!
    Pretty color car--hope you have many great adventures driving it to fun places!!
    and all your Yellow projects are doing up nicely--
    but where is the photos of the babies at the farm???
    enjoy, di

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  3. It's always fun to get a new car - but sometimes they are smarter than we are! Looks you had lots of fun with your granddaughter at the Easter Egg hunt, and some sewing fun this week, too! How many 4 inch bowties did you decide you need for a quilt? Mine are 6 inches, and I'm thinking 80 - 120. I have a long way to go!

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  4. What a great project for the babies! And how kind of Riley Blake. Don't forget, you promised to take me to Wheeler Farm the next time I get out there. And who DOESN'T name their car? Oddly enough, mine is named Penelope.

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  5. What a great week Cathy, so much fun. Your yellow blocks looks great so far, you make a lot of them!!! Your geese migration top.... is beautiful ♥ Darla is so cute ♥ And yes, contrats for the new car. Enjoy.

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  6. Looks like a fun week was had! Love the flannel blanket project; we truly don't understand how our western standard of living differs from so much of the rest of the world. On a completely different note, I think "Stormy" would be a great name for your new car! (sorry, couldn't resist! gggg)

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  7. Pretty projects, all of them! Yellow is such a bright color, we feel better!

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  8. You're a lucky grandma to have had such a fun time with London. We have to treasure every minute. Your Geese Migration looks very modern with the grey. Enjoy your new car. It's gorgeous! I still am amazed at all your salvages. They must represent a room full of fabric. Have a fun week!

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  9. So enjoyed your post, like reading someone's journal. The Easter egg Hunt sounded great, so organised. So pleased those receiving blankets are going to Uganda, could not get the picture of babies being wrapped in newspaper out of my head. Love all the blocks and your Geese Migration top is gorgeous, the deep grey sashing really highlights the different colours of the blocks.

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  10. Looking forward to the Bow Tie quilt (since I'm making one too but with a larger block.) Geese Migration is looking good. I really need to make some of those blocks. I say that every time I see a Geese Migration quilt.

    And what a wonderful project for Uganda. I've learned that lots of foreign countries don't even have hospital linens. I can't imagine being swaddled in newspaper although I would imagine it is warm. I have a pic that I just love of a little boy in an orphanage in Uganda with one of the quilts I donated through Quilts Beyond Borders.

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  11. Okay, now that we know you have a quilting intern, I'm much less impressed with your amazing productivity. I really love your geese migration.

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  12. this all looks like some fabulous fun in your studio, and I love your supervisor. She has such a persuasive look... And honestly, what is not to love about those yellow bow ties. I am fairly swooning at the finish of your Migrating Geese quilt. All fabulous.

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  13. Love your geese migration top! I'm impressed with Darla's abilities. Perhaps she can teach my dog Ivy how to wind a bobbin?

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  14. my pale gray RAV4 I named Silver Streak! Hubby's white pickup with dulies under the long bed I refer to sometimes as The Bride... she's wearing panniers (hip extenders popular in the late 1700's French women's fashions, along with a train...)

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  15. Love the color of you new car! I haven't seen it around here. I'm pretty sick of silver and bronze cars. Such a great time with your kids. I remember when London was just a toddler. Darla has been learning her skills from you. Pretty soon your machine will be purring along as Darla stitches a seam. Great quilts too.
    xx, carol

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  16. We love our Rav4 so I know you will be happy with yours. And I'm so jealous of the colour you got - ours is a plain ol' grey and quite boring in comparison (despite the fact that we've added a funky racing stripe to the side of ours). All the yellow in this post is a definite reminder that daffodils are hopefully on the way!

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  17. Hmmm, the name "Jacko" came to mind for your new Toy. You have some fun projects!
    Sandy at sewhigh.blogspot.com

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