My sister & her family are packing up the last of their things in Peru. Annie had planned & counted out the “work outfits” she’d need and packed up the rest. Brian & their dog, Hazel, are due to arrive in Atlanta on Thursday (they are departing a few days early in case there are issues), after a 24-hr quarantine there, he’ll rent a car & drive up to Wisconsin; I pick up Ann & Addie at the airport on Monday! Less than a week!!
Addison sent this to me yesterday…
“Definitely making the cut.”
I made both boys a flip calendar a couple of years ago for Christmas… SO MANY great Auntie Camp memories.
They have grown into such wonderful young men… I’m happy to have such great memories of the little boys.
I had Friday off, so my weekend started early! Man, what a scorcher… the heat is supposed to break today, thankfully.
Junah hung out with me for most of Friday. He was overdue for a haircut, and possibly influenced by the weather, he went total buzz! This is one of the photos I snapped after I told him to “look at the camera like you love it”! That’s something my mother would always say, and the resulting expressions are always amazing (even if it doesn’t exactly read “love”)! Isn’t he adorable?
Love you, Mom, and miss you!! Eleven years. sheesh. xoxo
On Saturday, Kate & I had our long-awaited birthday shopping/lunch date with Malina & Ginny. They’ve been patiently waiting since March & May (respectively), but part of the delay was waiting for them to move into their new house. They each picked out a few super-cute outfits — Malina very sporty, Ginny very frilly — and a blanket for their beds, along with some cute hair clips & a few other gee-gaws. I’m not sure if Ginny’s been in a fitting room before, but it was definitely Malina’s first time & she was very excited about that. We all had so much fun! They chose Noodles for lunch and it’s been quite a while since I’d been there, so of course it was pretty tasty.
On Friday, I cut out all the fabric pieces for the girls’ bed pockets and started sewing up on Saturday. The printed instructions were great for cutting all the pieces (pretty good visual) but I am so grateful that there’s a video tutorial for the making-up!
I spent quite a bit of Sunday in the apartment getting ready for Maddy’s arrival — which is happening later today (WOOHOO)!!! It’s not all done, but Ali will be coming by to clear out the rest of their stuff today (or tomorrow). I even found the lost remote for the DVD player & got all the components working again. Even with lots of water/sit-in-front-of-the-ac breaks, I was sweating buckets… it’s so flippin’ hot.
Anyway, while Kate made spring rolls for supper, I spent a little time at the sewing machine again last night (thankfully, I didn’t need the iron). The exteriors are all sewn up, except for sewing in the bottom. After that, I have to make up the linings, assemble them with cardboard inserts for sturdiness (I’ve already cut them), and then figure out where to sew the second piece of velcro on the straps. I’ll have to do a home visit/consultation to figure out the best placement.
I’m still working on my second Hitchhiker, mostly while watching TV, but I don’t have a photo — it was pretty dark this morning.
I’ve been on laundry duty at Ann’s house the last couple of nights and brought along my Temperature Blanket. On Monday night, it was all about planning & math. Last night, I picked up some stitches & got to work!
Click to embiggen, if you wish. I haven’t decided yet how deep that border will be, but I’m leaning toward “pretty substantial.” I have plenty of black Felted Tweed. It’s a big blanket and, as established many times ’round here, I dislike circular needles — it would be so heavy & cumbersome, anyway — so I’ll be knitting the border in sections on my favorite long aluminum Susan Bates needles, which will later be seamed. I do so love knitting a mitered corner… or four. It feels good to be working on this!
There’s another big blanket project that I need to attend to…
Remember Hexi Love?? Oh, I love this blanket so much, and so does Addie… so I’m going to finish it & give it to him for graduation. I need to pull it out & assess where I’m at — I think I made & attached a bunch of half-hexies to even off the sides and am somewhere in the borderlands. I want to personalize it somehow, too, as I did Mack’s blanket, and will likely do some embroidery along the border — maybe the four corners and/or some surface crochet.
SEWING:
I’m not actually doing any sewing… but I’m working toward that end. My worktable/workroom & sewing table are getting cleared so I can start/resume working on two projects:
The first project is actually TWO: bedside caddies for Ginny & Malina’s bunkbed. I’m using a pattern from Missouri Star Quilt Co. The girls have chosen their fabrics from my stash of Kaffe Fasset prints — they’re going to be SO FUN — and I’ve already cut out the cardboard pieces needed for stablization.
The second project is my Alabama Chanin Car Jacket.
Remember that? It’s been a few years. The School of Making Club is hosting an informal 100 Days of Sewing project, which kicked off last Thursday. It’s been 7 days and I haven’t stitched a thing yet, but I’ll count it successful if I can just get it all on my table again! I put it on my calendar, so there’s a daily reminder…
It’s a lot to jam into an already busy summer! Have I mentioned that Maddy is soon on her way?? She begins her journey TODAY, and I’ll be hugging her on Tuesday!! (eta: Maddy will be spending a couple of days in Milwaukee before heading up here. It’s a long trip from Sydney, but not that long!) The pressure of Ali’s house has eased, as they have nearly two weeks under their belts already. (I do have a bunch of prisms to reattach to a chandelier, though… maybe Maddy would like to be my assistant on that project.)
READING:
I finished Nesting just in time for last week’s get together — the first time in a long time that I’ve finished a book on time for ANY book club.
I attended my first protest on Saturday, and I wore my mom’s favorite pin.
It was Rusty’s first protest since the Viet Nam war!
We drove down to Oshkosh to attend the protest there, as there wasn’t one in Appleton* and Green Bay’s wasn’t until much later in the day. Attendance was estimated at 1,500!! The energy was amazing, and there wasn’t much of a counter-protest. We saw some friends, some great signs & t-shirts… and Captain America skateboarding up & down the main drag! Many people drove by honking their horns and waving flags & signs.
It was very well organized, with volunteers helping to keep crosswalks open & others distributing bottles of water. The weather was much better than predicted, and quite warm!
We made our signs on Saturday morning, and affixed flags before we left home. Kate also pulled out some yard signs from artist Patrick Martinez a few years ago — they were 2-sided, which was great. Kate carried one that said, “People Give Up Their Power By Thinking They Don’t Have Any,” a quote attributed to Alice Walker, and mine said, “Hate Is Too Great A Burden To Bear,” which is attributed to Martin Luther King Jr.
There were a couple of “leave one/take one” bins in the square for signs, and we left our handmade signs. Later, having lunch just up the street a ways, Kate spotted one of them!
*There wasn’t a protest in Appleton due to the 74th annual Flag Day parade — the nation’s oldest. I wouldn’t be surprised if there weren’t some protesters there, but I haven’t seen anything about that.
I’m back! Travels went smoothly, even with a new airport opening in Lima (arrived at the old, departed from the new); Addison is a graduate, I had a nice visit, enjoyed some wonderful meals, and there was lots of love & laughter.
Lots happened when I was gone…
Malina doesn’t need training wheels anymore!
Davy got dirty, then clean… and also gave himself a funny little haircut.
But I’m mainly here to mark this occasion…
Ali & the kids spent their first night in their new home last night! There’s still plenty — PLENTY — to do, but this is a huge milestone!
