It was a short weekend, and a fairly relaxing one. I had laundry to do at Ann’s & had to prep our apartment for guests arriving today, but paced it out nicely — it doesn’t always work that way!

While I was waiting for the dryer to finish at Ann’s, I did some research into making Half-Rectangle Triangles (HRTs) and Flying Geese using HRTs… something I should have done earlier! Most of what I’ve done/cut is correct, but the sewing up & trimming isn’t as straightforward as when using the much more common Half-Square Triangle (HST) ratio. I’ll have to pay attention. Meanwhile, the Tuesday Quilters meet tomorrow & I’m looking forward to that. I haven’t done a thing in regard to that project, other than choose fabrics, but this will get me on track & focused.

I took a walk around The Butterfly Pond with Kate & Kai on Saturday morning, a slightly different/longer route. I love that there are a few different ways to navigate that trail.

Things are starting to change out there.

I get a very good view of our backyard/garden from the bedroom windows every morning, but it’s been almost two months since I was actually down there, mainly because it was so painful to descend stairs. Yesterday, I walked down with ease — still using the handrail, of course, but not with an iron grip.

The main attraction was our one-and-only head of broccoli! There are three or four plants, total, and suffered from an early season CHOMP by deer (probably), after which they were corralled & protected with chicken wire, but they’re probably a bit crowded. It’s a learning experience & definitely not discouraging. We also have leeks & celery growing down there & they’re both doing great! Kate made a pot of cream of celery soup last week & it was so good… celery from the garden is nothing like store-bought.

I’ve been rewatching THE BEAR on TV — I’d already watching seasons 1-3 (maybe 4?), but no one else had, and I’m not sad about seeing it again. Season 5 was released earlier this summer & is the last of the series.

I’ve been crocheting during TV time. I used up all the random stray balls of Felted Tweed last night, so I don’t have to think about them anymore… and now there are a bunch of partial granny squares to finish. I’m going to have to start a new stack because the current one is going to topple over pretty soon.

Hope you had a great weekend!

I ran across an event on Facebook last week called “Textile Arts Day” at Heritage Hill, a State Historical Park in Green Bay, and thought it would be a fun thing to do with the girls. The boys would have been welcome, too, but Junah had just returned from a week at camp (I saw him later that day and, wow, he still looked completely wiped out from a busy week) and I don’t think Davy would have had much patience. Plus, it’s been a long time since I had a girl date!

There were exhibits & demonstrations of weaving on a few types of looms, spinning, and embroidery, plus examples of knitting, crocheting, and sewing. Both girls had an opportunity to sit down at that adorable little loom and, between them, added a good few inches to the project.

We walked the whole park & stopped at every building on the property — church, blacksmith, print shop, lawyer’s office, hospital, kitchen, garden, barracks & residences, jail…

…and the Belgian house (and barn, at left, which had been relocated from the southern end of Door County & was charred on one end from the Peshtigo Fire). There were some adorable outbuildings, too.

I could have spent a little more time poking around in that house!

It’s a popular place for school field trips (Ginny’s already been), but it had been decades since I visited Heritage Hill!

The girls were each able to choose some fabric squares to eventually make into a quilt square. First, Nona will have to press & square up those blocks! Yikes, there wasn’t much care taken in cutting.

We went out for lunch after that, then to a thrift store, and the cookie shop for dessert… but that wasn’t enough!

I’d also read about the Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass “Festival of Glass” which had been relocated to Appleton from Neenah because of the recent tornado & the ongoing recovery effort.

It was fun to see so many different types of art glass from all over (including an artist from Scotland), and the girls each chose beads to make a necklace. Too bad it couldn’t have been outdoors, as originally planned, because it was such a gorgeous day, but it was nice. We also sat down at the kid activity area & made some pinwheels.

It was nice to sit down! Wow, that was a day for me — almost 7,000 steps! I had some ice packs in a cooler in the car, and used those while we drove from place-to-place.

Needless to say, I took it pretty easy yesterday. It rained much of the day, but I went to the store with Kate so I could walk around a bit, because I knew I’d get a “restless leg” feeling as I tried to fall asleep last night if I didn’t.

As part of the kids’ Christmas present last year, I gave them some shirts & dye & a promise for a future ice-dyeing date. Well, I decided that it had to happen now!

The kids each brought at least one other item to dye. The items all had a good soak in soda ash fixer while Junah & I ran for ice.

I already had a few sifting/sprinkling devices — everyone’s favorite were some swivel spoons meant for powdered sugar, I think — and found a few more while out thrifting. Turns out, I had WAY more fiber reactive dyes than I realized… which all added up to lots of colorful fun!

Rusty, Kate & I each dyed an item, too.

Photo by Kate!

Now we wait…

This was late yesterday after much of the ice had melted. Tonight I’ll rinse & wash & fix the color (hopefully).

I report for surgery at 5:30 am tomorrow, so I’ll post t-shirt results when I can!! Send your best juju for everything!!

The weather could not have been better, and we have a few more days of stellar weather before there’s a change. It’s warm, sunny, low humidity & dew point — it’s just perfect. More, please!!

My main accomplishment over the weekend was getting the first border sewn to my quilt top!

There was a lot of cutting, piecing, trimming & pressing to start!

That matching of the join at the border with the sashing/cornerstone seam could not have lined up better if I’d planned it. I’m not sure that I would have planned it, but since it happened organically, I let it be.

I look pretty pleased, don’t I? It’s a pretty accurate image.

Next up are some large, dotty flying geese blocks. I made a paper template to check the proportions & may modify my original plan… will need to look at it again.

Here’s a little nugget to start your week with a smile:

We’ve been noticing Davy’s style lately — he’s been showing up with his t-shirt tucked neatly into his jeans. The only thing missing was a belt, and Ali fixed that with this amazing Golden-D version… which Davy absolutely cannot stop looking at! He looks pretty pleased, too, doesn’t he? So adorable.

Happy Monday! Happy June 1st!!

It was a pretty great weekend with the perfect amount of getting stuff done & relaxing… and it didn’t speed by, either.

On Saturday morning, I was out of the house before 8am, on my way to a rummage sale.

It was the city-wide sale weekend in my little city, and I’d seen an ad for a “crafters’ sale” that had a picture of some fabric & I could easily spot some Kaffe Fassett designs. I don’t go to a ton of sales (there are years when I haven’t stopped at a single one), but I’m kind of surprised at how infrequently I find fabric or yarn — even crappy stuff. Sooo, anyway, the sale started at 8, I arrived at about 8:03, and the place was packed! I managed to rifle through the fabric stacks & came away with a nice little haul — by my calculations, probably around $60 worth of fat quarters & yardage (some of it vintage/discontinued) for about $10. Very happy. Some of this might be used in my current project.

I shared the photo with “‘The Tuesday Quilters” — we have a chat group now! We are all looking forward to getting together again before long — project TBD!

A little later on Saturday, Kate & I drove down to our CSA farm to pick up plants. It was a gorgeous day!

Planting commenced… there’s a zucchini on the far left of each raised bed, celery at the other end of the near bed, and leeks will fill in the far bed. We also brought home some kale, a tomato, and a bunch of herbs & flowers. It’s all looking pretty nice. It rained quite a bit yesterday, too, so everything got a good watering-in.

I got some knitting time, too, and have begun the back shoulder decreases — exciting!!