Gratitude

It is so easy to not take time to be grateful for all the blessings bestowed upon us with each and every moment of the day.  It is so enriching to the soul to pause a moment and give thanks. Thanks for the beauty that surrounds us.  Thanks for the opportunities that come our way.  Thanks to God, our creator who loves us.  In a moment of thankfulness, I went for a bike ride on a beautiful day here in Alameda.  This is only a bit of what I paused to see and capture on my camera. 

First - way over there across the water on the left is where I live.  This is not where I was bike riding.  This is a view from Crown Beach looking over to Harbor Bay Isle where I live.

This is the lagoon that weaves in and out of the homes in Harbor Bay Isle.  I was on the bike path riding along and enjoying the views.

Ducks and geese love hanging out in the lagoons of Harbor Bay Isle.

Gathering together for a little afternoon swim. 

Life is good today in Alameda, California.

Friendship In Blocks

I'm currently working on friendship blocks that will be made into gifts for some friends.  I may think twice before I decide to make 1 1/2" half square triangles again.  Even using Thangles, it was tedious. 

Lots of stitch, cut, press procedures

Then there is the putting together of 9 small blocks to make 1 

Quite cute when done

A blue border makes a nice addition

There is still more to go.  These will eventually become mug rugs.  I'm hoping to make 20 of them.  It's a bit more of a task than I thought it would be.  At least I've started early since I won't be giving them out until August.

Independence Day In A Small Town

One of the great things about small town living is the hometown parade on the Fourth of July.  Alameda claims to have the second largest parade in America on the Fourth.  It's always quirky and fun.  Basically anyone who can get a group together can pretty much enter the parade. And there is also the high school bands, the military groups, the scouts, etc.  We stake out our place early and bring our chairs along with snacks.  The darling grand-daughters always get a Popsicle at the end.  A great time was had by all. 

 Hooray for the Red, White and Blue

 Proud to be an American. (and I am proud to be his mom)

                                                  

76 Trombones led the big parade......well not quite 76

Larda, a student from Spain, who is staying with Jon and Lissa's family for a month.  Cool glasses girls!

 Seven years old going on teenage. 

Oh My!  Did that horse just...?

 Sharing a Popsicle between sisters.

I told you.  Anyone with a group can enter the parade.  They were towing a boat.

Read-Alouds Anyone Can Enjoy

I just saw a blog from someone who was cleaning out her mother's home.  She came across many favorite children's books that she remembered.  Instead of keeping them, she took pictures of them.  I don't really have a lot of the books from my own childhood but I do have several that I used to read-aloud to my kindergarten and first-grade classes.  

I think the newest one among these is Shel Silverstein's book.  They are all "old" by the standards of when they were written.  But it didn't matter.  The children all loved the stories.  So I got to read them over and over again to each new class.

The classes loved the silliness of these poems and his "The Giving Tree" is a classic. 

Old fashioned classic.  Any kid can relate to the antics of this boy. 

So many kids were unfamiliar with this book but they knew of  Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Disneyland.  They grew to love it as we read through it.  

The book is so different from the movie.  We would watch the movie after we finished it and then have a comparison discussion. 

Once again, an old classic has become a movie.  I was reading this to kids long before the current movie came out.  I hope the movie has inspired kids to read it.

Holding on to a real book, snuggling in with a blanket, and reading (or being read to) is one of life's simple pleasures.

How To Wish Your Son Happy Father's Day....

.....offer to take the darling grand-daughters for a sleep-over so he can have a date night with his wife.  Then get back together again on Father's Day for a jazz concert in the park and a BBQ at home.  Great weather in the SF bay area provides an extra bonus. 

"sew" here is how I entertained the DGDs: 

Makayla can now reach the foot pedal and sew on slow with supervision.

The beginning of a nine-patch quilt.  Fabric selection by Makayla

Violet sews while sitting on Nahn Nahn's lap.  She'll be independent soon.

Pillow design by Violet.  The modern scrappy look.

We had a great time together.  Sunday morning we made waffles for Pop-Pop and the day was complete by bringing out Legos (that their father used to play with).  Now we're off to the Jazz Concert. 

Makayla created a Family Room following the directions.

Great fun and so creative!

Stephen Tribute - A Little Bit More

Some projects need to marinate alot.  That's the way it has been with my Stephen tribute quilt.  I got it out last week and began to add some more detail.It took some time to add nails and knotholes to the shutter.

 

Now I'm thinking that it needs some vines or something over on the left.  I'm really stumped about how to do that.  Wouldn't bougainvillea look pretty?  There is no way I'm going to try to applique bougainvillea. So I thought to myself "Maybe I can find some silk flowers that can be taken apart and used for applique?".  Looking on line, I discovered that silk flower bougainvillea sprays cost a small fortune.  I decided to try my local Beverly's.  Beverly's has lots of different silk flowers but no bougainvillea or anything resembling it. 

 I bought a couple of California poppies (Stephen was after all a California boy) to bring home and play with but they are too big. They do look good on my mantle for summer.

I also bought some grassy looking sprays to play around with.  Those I may use. 

In the meantime, this project may have to go back to marinating mode for awhile.

Pressing Matters

I've always been inspired by Laura Wasilowski.  She's so creative and colorful.  She let's the design take her wherever it will go.......and she is a FUSER.  Her latest work with all the stitch embellishment is really cool.  So.......there she was, in person, in Paducah at a cute little booth with her patterns, threads, and fabric.  And some of it was kitted.  Before I even thought about it, I bought a kit.  I even started working on it before I left Paducah.  

.....and there it sat, waiting for inspiration and completion.

So this weekend, time was mine and inspiration and motivation hit me big time.  So I began to work on it again.  I quickly found out that I had cut some of the fabrics from the kit wrong so I fudged a bit in creating the borders.  My mantra?  What would Laura do?????  I'm sure she wouldn't give up. 

A few fused down details begin to give it a little pizazz.

But what it really needed was the stitch embellishments.  So I pulled out my newly purchased Laura W. hand-dyed #8 perle cotton, put in a movie and began.  It's a little hard on the fingers going through all that material and batting. 

Yep.  I'm liking it. 

A little fused binding and it's done.  

I think I'll be ordering the other two patterns for this series called "Tools of The Trade".  Thanks Laura W. for your creative inspiration.  It's been really really fun.