working girl

i've been taking the leftover bits from my pouches and sewing them up with random bits of fabric scrap to make what i lovingly refer to as "franken-squares."  the squares are getting bigger and tonight i started to frame them in solid fabrics.  my plan is to give them some solid space to float in, because a whole quilt made of franken-squares side-by-side is too much for the eye to take in all at once.

i've also been working on new additions to the shop, like these adorable coasters.  they are truly quilted, with some flannel as the filling. they're soft, but not smooshy, if that makes any sense. i didn't want to use real batting because i didn't want them to be all big and weird. these are firm and solid, but lay nice and flat.

my truck has this weird fuel leak, too, so i couldn't really go anywhere today. don't cry for me argentina, though: you can buy fabric online.  dammit.

so spent the day listening to podcasts and sewing fabric together. i also made a delicious indian curry (everyone in my house says "oh, i hate curry" then eat it all when i make it. how can anyone hate curry? it's awesome.) and discovered my newfound love of two podcasts in particular:

• oh no ross and carrie: in which two delightful skeptics try out religions and movements and give honest, not-asshole, feedback.  they're funny and irreverent but still super kind about the subjects of their investigations.  i love them.
• sawbones: a wife who is a doctor, and a husband who is not, discuss medical weirdness from years past. tonight i listened to them talk about medical marijuana as well as mesmerism. i loved every minute of it. 

i literally listened to hours of radio today and sewed for miles. it was amazing. dear saturday, you were a good time.  love, amanda

family farms!

this weekend was JAM PACKED with action and adventure, via the annual skagit valley festival of family farms. we went about two years ago and had an awesome time, so this year i took my stepdaughter and a friend of hers out for not one, but TWO days of farm madness.  we had a great time; we saw a million different animals, saw how different farms work, ate elephant ears and apples right off the tree (what, you've never seen an elephant ear tree? sucks to be you.), took a million photos and used a lot of hand sanitizer.  good times. 

the best part for me, beside seeing cute, baby animals, was listening to the girls in the backseat as i drove them around.  pre-teen girls are funny and sweet and completely wacko.  they come up with games that make no sense, they giggle at everything, they clam up if they know you're listening, but if you keep quiet and let them sit together in the back seat while you chauffeur them around you get to hear a lot. what i came away with was the certain knowledge that both kids had a fun time, and that this is something they'll remember fondly when they get older.

to add to my pot of good-mom-points, i also made them pumpkin, chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast this morning.  ahem.  you can send my medal right to the house, i don't need a fancy ceremony.  photos, as usual, are over here.   

saturday hijinks

the boychik and i headed out to the la conner flats to put down the deposit for sept. 18th. this means that we are indeed getting married in september! i wasn't terribly afraid of losing our date, since i'd let them know we wanted to reserve it and the folks that run the la conner flats are amazing, but i wanted them to know we were serious. i wanted to make sure we locked the date down, just in case someone else got the grand idea that they were going to get married there on our weekend.

we also went book shopping, and i found some neat boat ones for D, to give him for valentine's day. i also finished a knitting project, got it blocked and am waiting for it to dry so i can take some new photos of it. now i want to tidy up the sewing room a bit more, listen to some podcasts, and get some more knitting done. mean pea be dammed!

good morning starshine

there is a whole hell of a lot on today's agenda, which is unusual for a saturday at our house. to wit,

• my sister and niece are coming over! for breakfast and then...
• local berry dairy parade! if maggie loves anything more than a parade, i'm not sure what it is.
• i've already made a whole, 12-cup, pot of coffee. when the girlchild, my sister and i hit it, we'll need all 12 cups.
  
• making some sort of fun father's day craft for D. the girlchild has already made him something fabulous, i'm going to try to talk the boychik into doing something for his pop.
  
• berry dairy also involves the park across the way being overtaken with food and crafts and stuff, so there will be lots of wandering and stuff going on as well.
• after that, i really should unpack some stuff. honestly. last night i started, then took a nap, then watched a whole lot of cartoons on our new cable tv.
  

whew. this is just our morning plans. the rest of the day is wide open; my mom is supposed to come over to pick up my lovely niece so she'll see our house for the first time. this made D nervous and he did a whole lot of cleaning yesterday. i think the house looks great, even with my boxes everywhere, but i want to do some more work. having my sister over will help; she's good at helping me sort the wheat from the chaff, as it were. i need to get rid of a lot of stuff, and she's the girl to help me out.

i should be in the shower now, cleaning myself up! hopefully tomorrow i'll have photos of our day!