Sunshine Wednesday

A wonderful unexpected day of sunshine (according to the weather man).  Feeling energized I have been accomplishing a few things (while listening to the Bee Gee's - keeps ya tapping your toes)

Last week-end was Lamb Day at Catherine's Farm, so the three biggest grands came along for a cool but very fun day.

Day care for the littlest ones is closed this week, so two days with them.  And "L" almost has walking down, so photos to come.  They are coming over on Sunday for a Mother's Day lunch - hurrah!

View of the back garden

You can notice all the new bright green growth

Don't remember the name, but love these in the rockery

Just a couple of little projects behind the sewing machine,

A little cushion to use for sitting on the wet grass

And re-making some left-overs from another quilt to use for a CTA baby quilt.

Check out the size of the leaves - this afternoon's project

Some sort of rhubarb something.  Yum!

Happy spring days!

Some Sewing is Going On

Not so much sewing, but some.  Over the week-end I finished the 'purples' quilt.  It is to be a gift to Beth and Marlene who let us stay in their place in February in Arizona.  They have quite a bit of purple in their home, so I hope they like it.

During my stint at Pacific Fabrics a couple of weeks ago, I bought a Downton Abbey charm pack.  Several months ago I bought a new tool and wanted to try it out.

On the left is the usual size (approx. 4 inches) of this twister tool.  I wanted to give this small one a "go".  It proved to be a fair bit more challenging than the usual sized tool.  I was super careful with my seam allowances and pressing and, in fact, starched each little square before I joined them.  I have no particular plan for this, but do like it.

You may notice that some of the fabrics I also got at Pacific Fabrics, for my sweatshirt jacket, are from this same line.  Remember?

We got new chairs for the living room.  Woo Hoo!

AND, the weather was so glorious today, that we got to dine al fresco.  Had a lovely, fresh salad and some fruit for dessert,

And now you know all there is to know about life at Casa Nana (at least for today)  Love this sunshine!

So Fortunate

I really do feel badly (sometimes) as my life is really so good.  I just cannot complain (well - I do occasionally, but I really shouldn't <grin>)  We had a terrific week-end for the second outing of our RV group.  This trip was to Port Townsend.

Now the weather did NOT look like this all week-end, but we did have many moments that looked just like this.  It was terrific.  Got to see an otter (rather close, I thought)

Lots of seals and birds galore.  Of course spring is coming along, so that was grand to notice.

We went on a "little" hike with friends Steph and Cate and Lynda and Linda.  [There were several minutes when I wasn't sure I would make it the whole way - this was NOT a "little" anything].  We went to Fort Warden, which is now a state park.

Notice that little patch of land behind the shoulder of the gal in pink [that's where we walked from]

That is the RV park where we were. (much enlarged).  Needless to say, it was quite the adventure.  We walked down along the beach, then up the hill to a part of the park not as many people see.  During the second world war there were gun emplacements there, although they were not fired.  So it has been commemorated with a Memory's Vault.  (a place to remember what didn't happen at that place.)

Opposite are the original gun settings

While this is all publicly accessible, it isn't easy to get to.  I guess that makes it more special.

Great time.

More Easter stories

Saturday evening was a church potluck dinner.  [Caro calls these church dinners.  We call them Mix-Sups]

We were at Janis and Wes's condominium.  Such a lovely home.

Such a spectacular view, from the deck

We were responsible for dessert.  Rhubarb atop a shortbread crust, with meringue.  YUMMY!

Church this morning.  Afterwards was an Easter Egg Hunt [very traditional American custom]  Miss B
timidly found a few.  Mostly she liked going on the slide in the church playground

Later we celebrated my daughter's birthday and had another Easter Egg Hunt.  Great fun!

Oh - I am so lucky with these five great grandkids.

A Very Happy Easter

This has been a busy but lovely week, so let me catch up. . . . .

Last week-end, the big grands came for a stay - always such a fun visit.  Mid-week my sweet quilting friend Alayne came for a coffee date.  So with a cup of coffee and a strawberry croissant, we did a bit of sewing together,

She is working on Judy Niemeyer paper pieced blocks.

I was working on the binding of my "going away" quilt for our friends Nancy and Diane who are moving to Colorado.  [how we will miss them!]

Saturday was my turn to do a volunteer stint at Pacific Fabrics.  One of the largest fabric stores in the area.  CTA provides volunteers at two different Pacific Fabric stores, at least once a month.  We are there for questions, advice, consultation to men and women who are visiting the store.  It is always a fun time.  People love to visit and chat about all sorts of things.

Beth and I were able to fit in a little bit of shopping of our own.  One of our CTA members is teaching a class on converting a sweatshirt to a fabric covered jacket - so we found our fabric choices.  These are Beth's

 and mine

Fun, huh?

We also got to play with some squares.  Stashbusters will be making a Four Patch Posie quilt.  It is such fun to get to arrange the four like blocks.  There are multiple ways to arrange them.  As people walked

past they seemed to enjoy re-arranging the blocks.

More on the next blog.

Joys of Spring

Oh, how much I love sunny spring weather.  It is just so cheering and makes me so happy.  Everyone at Casa Nana is recouping from the big Superfluity sale - no more schlepping heavy boxes for a while.

I am pleased to report that I have finally finished this quilt for Owen.  He chose the fabrics probably a year ago and Nana has been slow to find a pattern that seemed to work well with this disparate collection.  But I am quite pleased with how this turned out and I think he is as well.  He has a "youth" sized bed and this seems like it will be a great fit.

I have also been working on my Block of the Month embroidery.  It feels so spring-like, with all its pinks and greens and lavender.  Next are the flowers in the small triangles.

Today was our first visit to the recently renovated (and moved) Museum of History and Industry - MOHAI.  It was a great place, with nice views and very interesting exhibits about Seattle from its earliest settlers to modern day happenings.  Yvonne - I think we might want to visit here.  Also, Caro, you too.

Nicely located right on the shore of Lake Union - a busy harbor filled mostly with pleasure boats, but a few older ones, including this one that holds wonderful memories for me.

When I was a child, through high school I went to summer camp every year, on a nearby island and this was how we got there and back.  We were so very excited to travel there and so incredibly sad when it was over and time to come home.  Lots and lots of memories. . . . . .

We enjoyed lunch with our dear friends Nancy and Diane,

Later we did some yard work, 2 of the "grands" worked on building a bird house,

and we finished the evening with the first BBQ of the season,

What a grand day!