i have to say...

with a little imagination and some free time...

...boys will come up with just about anything!

I find that boys need to be kept busy.  All the time.  If not, things tend to get a bit hectic and, well, too boyish for me.  Lots of running, wrestling and arguing comes out of their boredom and my tolerance for that is low.

On the other hand, letting them get too carried away with their creativity can get a little scary.  Their imaginations take them to places that I don't understand.  They start jumping out of trees and doing dangerous stunts to fill their time.  Not my cup of tea, either.

My hubs was able to find some scrap wood at work and he gave it to the boys along with a hammer and some nails.  After a couple of days they asked me to come down and see their bridge.  I expected to find something akin to one piece of wood laid over a ditch, but I was surprised to find an actual bridge--a sturdy one--with supports!  It wobbles a small amount when you walk across, but not enough to make you think it is going to crumble under your feet.

I am impressed.

They still have more wood and guess what they want to do?

Build an addition onto their fort. 

A fort that is about 10 feet off the ground.

Should I be worried?

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***My blogging friend, Christy, is having a giveaway on her blog to celebrate the opening of her brand new shop  which opens tomorrow!  If you have a moment, click over and say "hi" to her!

"pop" goes the garden!

Pop Garden is in the shop and let me say that these fabrics are fabulous!   Bright, bold and fun!

There are still a couple bolts from this collection on their way, as well as some Bijoux and Farmer's Market.   Lots of loveliness to look forward to!

a quilt completed

It's finished! 

All I ask is that you don't look too close, because this is definitely my practice quilt.  The stitching is huge (we could call is mega-stippling!) and the stitches are all different sizes, but I will say that the 2nd half of the quilt is better than the first.  When it comes to crafting, I find that you have to jump in and start somewhere and work on developing your skills before you complete something that you really feel good about.

My next quilt will be much smaller--a baby quilt--and the stitching is going to be smaller too.  I am confident that the outcome will be more to my liking.  It has to, because it is a gift!

For now the quilt is resting on the chair waiting for cooler days when it is sure to get lots of use!

While I was sewing, Aubry was teaching her friend to make a pillow.    They were so cute together and Aubry was a surprisingly good teacher, even if she was a little bit serious about the whole thing.

Hmmm....I wonder where she gets that?!?

After finishing her pillow, her friend asked if it is possible to make a necklace out of fabric, and I told her that I didn't know, but within 5 minutes she had one made up and she even put a button on it for decoration. 

I think Aubry has a crafting-partner in the making! 

Lucky girl!

weekend happenings

Both of my boys celebrate birthdays this week, so over the weekend we had a small birthday bash.  (From the picture above, can you tell which one of the boys is the serious one and which one is the ham?)

  We are blessed with some friends whose kids ages are very similar to ours, and they are all best friends, so we had them all over to spend the night and play the next day.

Of course, pool time was on the schedule and they used the sponge balls to play keep-away.  If you haven't made any of these, you need to before summer is over.  My kids have used ours so much that I had to take them all apart and remake them because of all the abuse they were taking.  It is a cheap and easy craft that equals loads of fun!

My son and his friend are hoping to earn the title of Mr. Universe someday, but for today they qualify only for the "most attractive ribs" category. 

I think that Aubry's summer smile is perfection!

How did you spend your weekend?

if at first you don't succeed...

...take the project out of the trash and try, try again!

OK, I didn't throw it in the trash, but I did set it aside for about a year so that it could collect dust and I could get really tired of the colors I chose.  Honestly, I am not quite sure what I was thinking when I picked the fabrics for this one, but I assume I was in a "I want to do something different that my usual" moods, and I succeeded!

I decided to revisit this lonely quilt so that I could learn to machine-quilt, which I must say is a challenge.  Thread breaking repeatedly is not something that I can be patient with for too long.

Lucky for me, my hubby's mom machine-quilts so she gave me some tips on her visit.  Her main advice was "slow down!" which I found hilarious considering that was my own mother's mantra when she taught me how to sew many years ago.  Changing needles frequently and using needles designed for thick fabrics seems to help also.  I am using hand-quilting thread on the spool too, which is helping A LOT with the breakage.

My main reasons for finishing this quilt are to get some practice, and the fact that I feel wasteful letting it sit there undone and unused.  Something tells me that during the winter months I will appreciate this warm, oddly-colored quilt on my lap while I sit and dream of hot, summer days.

just checking in...

...to say that our visit was lovely.

Our family members arrived early so we had a houseful for a couple of days, but it worked out just fine.  Everyone was a wonderfully easy guest (I am serious about that!) so it made the time pass by too quickly, and it seemed premature when everyone left. I suppose that is better than counting the minutes until a difficult guest leaves, right?

Our garden is beginning to produce some edibles.  Is it me, or are garden-fresh tomatoes heavenly? 

My basil is going strong and I am looking forward to making some basil pesto soon.  Usually we make spinach pesto and I am looking forward to trying it a different way.

The only other item we are growing is peppers---3 kinds---but they aren't even close to being ready.  The one little jalapeno that I can see is only the size of a small bead, but I do hope for enough to makes loads of salsa!

It makes me laugh to think of those early spring days when we were so excited to go to the nursery and pick out our plants.  Snow was falling softly on the day we chose, but that didn't stop us, because the change of season held too much promise.  Warmer, longer days filled with sunshine and laughter and lemonade.  It occurs to me that we are living the days that we longed for back then. 

It puts a smile on my face to think of that.

i want...

...one of these super-cool bikes:

At Newport Beach in California, these are all over the place sporting a rainbow of pastel colors and even polka-dots.  Of course, they are mostly ridden by skinny girls in bikinis. 

When I was a kid I wanted one badly, but never got it.  Funny how those things we wished for in childhood seem to stay with us forever.  I always imagined myself on a watermelon-pink one.    Maybe a wicker basket on the handlebars?

Now I am older and I live in the mountains, so having a beach cruiser would be pointless.

A girl can dream, can't she?

The blog will be rather quiet next week due to friends and family visiting for the week.  I will probably check in at some point, because I am obsessive about my blog cool like that, but you may also find crickets chirping when you pop in.  The shop, however, will be open, and orders sent out promptly.

See you all soon!

wama lama jamas

I finally broke out the sewing machine a couple of days ago and made something:  new pj's for Aubry.  I even used some of the fabric from my shop (I can't believe that I haven't done this already!!!) and I traced a pair of her old pajama pants for a pattern.  I added some length and some room to the width of the legs, although I think I was too enthusiastic adding width.   I am sure that the next pair will be a better fit.

I do like the combination of fabrics:

Surprisingly, the dots are Aubry's favorite of all of my stock.  They are adorable, but I thought she would go for something with more pink and more flowers---you know, more girly. Maybe my baby is growing up?

Just for fun, we are calling them Wama Lama Jamas. 

Doesn't everyone name their clothes?

links, links, links

***What kid wouldn't love to have a Wandering Sack  to carry some goodies around while wandering on a summer day!

***Madeline-Marie Studio has tutorial to make a simple t-shirt dress.  So cute!

***Here is a video that shows how to make your own laundry soap.  Watch and see how simple it is!  (Thanks to Deb for the link!)

***One Shabby Chick has put together her first tutorial---a pillow cover.  It is a cute one, so check it out!

***Cindi has a great idea for keeping the kids busy:  a family newsletter created on your own desktop publishing software.

***Angry Chicken shows how to make a 5-minute skirt.  5 minutes!!!

***Have you seen the quilt that Old Red Barn Company is giving away?  Amazing!  Go check it out!

Have a happy day!

some canning

One of the perks of working at a CSA is that we get to take home "extras" sometimes.  Beki, the farmer-in-residence is quite generous when we pick, and this week she gave us some extra yellow zucchini. 

Martha's recipe for Sweet and Spicy Bread and Butter Pickles was the perfect way to use them up.   (You can always count on Martha, can't you!)

They taste great, but next time I will add a little more of the spicy stuff to each jar, probably a 1/4 teaspoon of the red-pepper flakes, to make them hotter. 

My family likes a lot of flavor!