Treasures

This morning Ada and I headed to the Farmer's Market here in town.  The weather was perfect, and so was the selection at the market.  It's a pretty small gathering of vendors, but there's a great assortment of veggies, syrup, breads, preserves, pickles, honey, and handmade goods to choose from.

Our finds included a great mix of cherry tomatoes (there's about 8 varieties in there), those cute mini chocolate bell peppers, 2 little burpless cukes for Ada (they're so cute!), and some bright yellow squash for the grill.  Yum!

I also made a terrific discovery this morning; this bread may be the best I've ever had, like ever, as in my entire life.  As a matter of fact, I'm going to go eat some more as soon as I'm done typing this post.

And I couldn't resist getting Ada some handmade "cookies".  She immediately loved them and has been "eating" them, and "feeding" them to us all morning, and saying "MMMM" each time.  Unfortunately this guy has decided they're also his new favorite toy:

Hopefully his most recent favorite toy, the hackey sack, will satisfy him instead.

And just because she's so darn cute, here's Ada eating her snack after we got home:

Sliced cukes, and some crackers with hummus.

This girl LOVES her hummus. :)

Happy Saturday!

And a beautiful sunset...

Sneak peek - progress!

Can't wait to show more of this soon!

Morning Sky

Quiet

Our house seems a little too quiet this morning after a wonderful week of visiting with Gramma and Grandpa K and Aunt Sarah.

Ada is missing them already, looking around the house for her Bumpas.

Good Things Come in Small Packages

So I thought this post would be all about last night's quilt guild meeting.

About how we each participated in an improvisational challenge and took 5 small strips of fabric:

And turned them into these amazing blocks in just over an hour:

(Mine's the beach-themed one; the seams are kinda wavy on purpose - part of that whole beach thing - but I couldn't get it to iron flat.  No matter; I love it.)

And then there's this small package of fabric:

It totally doesn't match my holiday decor, but that's why I picked it.  Because I know I'll be able to just play with these and come up with something fun for the Holiday Challenge, no stress.

But then we came home with this small bundle tonight:

And Ada went crazy with joy at having her own "kitty..puppy..baby..SCREAM!" in her own house.

The lightest gray kitten I've ever seen, with dark ears, a dark tail, and dark gray on the backs of its legs.  And let's not forget those pale blue eyes.

After a couple hours of non-stop running and play (this thing is more work than a baby!), it finally settled down for a nap on the laptop:

The jury's still out on whether it's a boy or a girl, so no name yet.

So how did we end up with this cute little kitten?  It all started with an impromptu visit to the Humane Society last Friday night to let Ada look at the kitties and puppies.  We weren't really looking with an intent to buy, just keeping our eyes open, but the visit triggered the mention of a free kitty this morning by our daycare lady - a friend of hers had one free kitten left.  So we stopped by just to take a look...and we couldn't leave this sweet little kitty behind.

So I guess it's true...good things do come in small packages. :)

May: Sewing!

Wow - finally crossing this post off the list!!

May was full of sewing events, with some actual sewing time fit in too. :)

First, there was the second meeting of the Twin Cities Suburban Modern Quilt Guild.  One of the ladies showed off her fabulous photomosaic-style giant "Elvis" quilt!!  We talked about hexagons - they have been haunting me lately, but I just can't start a hexagons project right now since I have just a few other piles of fabric that urgently need to be turned into quilts and other assorted projects!!  We also made fat quarter bags; so easy and fun!  I'll have to post a tutorial one of these days.

Then there was the Sandi Henderson book signing our guild co-hosted:

And then  - I got to meet this amazing lady face to face!!!

That's right - Anna Maria Horner - in person!!  And her cute little man.  And she signed my book!  I'm saving all my allowance so I can splurge when her new line comes out this fall...well, okay, I might have to spend a little beforehand on Meadowsweet 2...

AND...I was lucky enough to be asked to make a sample for the front window at Quilted Treasures, for a solids display.  I created a fun, reversible, little handbag, and love how it turned out!!

The handles are my favorite part!  I'm noticing I didn't really get a picture of it, but the other side of the handles are all chocolate, except for a hint of dark pink at the base (you can just make it out at the top of this photo).

And a double pocket inside.

This was so fun to make; I started out with a vague plan based on the fat quarter bag, and then cut, sewed, and improvised and ended up totally satisfied. :)  I have future plans for another version featuring some fun embroidery on the outside.

Oh yes, and how could I forget?  There was also the Young Mom's Sewing Club...speaking of which, the June 1st meeting was the last time I touched my sewing machine!!  But I'll be back at it all next month; at least every moment I'm not working in my gardens...

Summer Reading

I have an odd "Summer Reading" pile going so far; I'm not entirely sure where my summer reading will take me this year.  Usually I feel like the books all fit together somehow, but at the moment I seem to be going with a flow I haven't quite figured out.

I finished Iris Murdoch's A Fairly Honourable Defeat; I found it hard to put down, but also depressing.  At the same time I was working on Anna Karenina, which also has it's share of depressing parts, so I was in the mood  for something different when I finished these two.  That's what led to the odd beginning of the summer reading pile earlier this week.  I decided to start with Treasure Island, which I've never read before, but enjoyed quite a bit and is on my "read again" list.

So, what's up next?  I'm leaning toward Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter; this is one I'm going back and forth on as it doesn't feel like a typical "me" book.  Or I could stick with the sea theme, as both The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle and The Witch of Blackbird Pond are in the pile as well.  (Both books that I enjoy reading over and over again.)  The last two books in the pile are The Borrowers (I've had this one for years, but haven't gotten around to reading it yet) and Summer, which is toward the bottom of the pile for now since it sounds in many ways similar to Ethan Frome, a favorite, but dark. :)

If you'd like to know which one I end up choosing, check the "What I'm Reading" list in the next day or two on the right side of my blog.  I've also added a list of what I've read so far this year to the blog; check out the "2010 Reads" link at the top of the page.

What are you reading this summer?  Any recommendations?