Little Artist

While walking Grace to class yesterday morning I noticed an eagle posted in the hallway located across from the art room. It looked similar to Grace's drawing style and upon closer inspection, I realized that it was her drawing! She was a bit nonchalant about the whole thing, but Dean and I were so excited for her.

Remembering Grandma

A little over a week ago my Grandma Nelson passed away. My most fondest memories of her revolve around the kitchen and food. From the delicious Sunday meals she prepared (not to mention the holiday feasts), to the "cookie cabinet" that she always kept fully stocked, to the overflowing candy dishes, no one ever went hungry.

As Grace and I spent time together in the kitchen this afternoon, I thought of Grandma often as though she was right along side us, helping us make applesauce. These are the sweet memories of her that I will cherish for many years to come.

Mulch Hunt

Grace's class is collecting pieces of cypress mulch that have a naturally occurring hole. Apparently they are going to be used to create nature necklaces which will then be sold to raise money for a local charity. So each time we take Sophie out in the backyard we're on a hunt. Our last search was the most successful yet, yielding five pieces.

Oh, I neglected to mention the motivation behind this project. For each piece of mulch Grace finds, she's able to exchange it for a fairy stone - which is great motivation indeed!

A Trip to Rainbow's End

Wow, I've been gone from this space much longer than I had intended. Between adjusting to our new routine and completing a massive cleaning of our house, I've been left with a limited amount of computer time.

Over the past several weeks I've been putting some serious thought into Christmas gift ideas, particularly for Dean, Grace and Sophie. I've decided to make each of them a quilt. So after dropping Grace off at school today I headed to my favorite quilt shop, Rainbow's End. It's over a hours drive from our home but their selection can't be beat. Here's what I chose for my loves.....


For Dean, whose never been a recipient of one of my handmade items, I selected some rather masculine looking fabric to create a lap sized quilt. Grace plans to draw pictures of his favorite things (comics, chocolate, etc.), which I'll embroider on some of the squares.


For Grace, who's quite particular about things (especially fabric), I selected colors per her choosing - pink, purple, turquoise and yellow. Her twin sized quilt won't be much of a surprise since she has seen all of the fabric and chose the pattern herself. I'm all right with that though, because I know she'll love the end result, which is the important part.


Last but not least, the fabric for Sophie's quilt. Grace thought it would be a "great idea" to choose fabrics that represented the things Sophie enjoyed - chasing squirrels and lizards, playing ball, eating carrots and bananas, etc. It's ended up being quite a variety of prints and colors, but Grace couldn't be happier that I went along with her suggestion.

I send special thanks to my Mom who spent the entire three hours with me at the quilt shop and to my Dad who allowed Sophie to spend time at his office, sparing her of a day alone.

I'm off to get some sleep so the quilting frenzy can begin. Goodnight!