A visit from the Grandparents

Grandma and Grandpa came to town.  We haven't seen them for a couple of years since they've been on a mission for our church.  The first couple of days they were here were hot so we headed for the beach.  It was a great day.  I love going to the beach on weekdays after school.  It's uncrowded and beautiful.  We just watch the weather and go when it's good and avoid the weekends like the plague.

 

With Grandma and Grandpa playing on the beach with My Girl, I had a chance to have a little fun myself.

Grandma got to see the dress rehearsal for My Girl's dance class.  It's pretty cute.  I like this class, low key, age appropriate costumes and music, and she loves it.

We also did Projects.  Grandpa loves a project so we had saved up a few for him.  We now have a new bed for more tomatoes.  I now have 8 tomato plants.  Since I'm the only one in the family who eats fresh tomatoes that's a lot of pasta sauce.  I'll need to plant more basil.  My girl was concerned that the new bed was in the middle of her soccer field.  We still have plenty of room for soccer and the tomatoes.

Grandpa also painted, hauled compost, insulated and covered exposed plumbing, pruned an overgrown lemon tree, and helped take out a beast of a cactus.  I could go on for pages about how much I hated that plant.  The only problem was that I wasn't paying attention and learned a little too late that it was on our neighbor's property.  OOPS!  Fortunately he was OK with it.  He didn't like it either.  We (he) got a lot of work done. Grandma helped the kids sort and organize their rooms, mended and sewed.  I think we all wore ourselved out.

Thanks for coming and thanks for all the help.

My new dress

Here's my latest sewing project.  I really like the idea of the maxi dresses I see around.  The only problem with the dresses in the stores is that they aren't long enough, and they are generally sleeveless, the neck is often too low, and I'm not a 20 year old hippie.  I guess that's four problems.  Three, since being a non-20-year-old non-hippie isn't a problem.  So I decided to try to make one.  I don't sew with knits a lot, but I'm doing more lately.  Finding fabric wasn't easy.  There aren't a lot of knits around and printed knits are even harder to find.  I found this at Hart's in Santa Cruz.  They also sell fabric online which is handy, but it is also nice to be able to see it and feel it before buying.  This fabric is a lightweight knit that is SUPER soft and very stretchy and drapey.  That made it a bit tricky to work with, but the pattern was simple so it wasn't too much of a problem.  The print isn't what I originally had in mind, but I think it works.  There is a small white floral print on the grey that hides any errors in the sewing and any lumps and bumps underneath, which is just what I wanted.  Who wants a dress that is comfy enough for a night gown that requires "shape wear".  I'm still working out how to accessorize.  I did find out that if I wear the fabric belt high and my hair pulled back the dress is decidedly Jane Austen.  Dad and Buddy Boy like it.  My Girl thinks it needs to be shorter.  The fashion critique begins.

Pandas and PJs

Buddy Boy's absolutely favorite animal is the panda, especially Teddy Panda.  I've had in mind that he needed a panda shirt so when we found the perfect panda fabric it was time to make it happen.

I used the panda design from the fabric, tweaked it a bit and added text, and then used the freezer paper stencil technique to put it on the t-shirt.  Buddy Boy wanted the red fabric for the shirt, but I vetoed that idea and made pajama pants instead.

On the same trip to the fabric store My Girl saw the one and only bolt of Hello Kitty fabric in the store.  I'm not sure if this is a dress or night gown.  She asked for a night gown and I used a dress pattern.  Maybe it's another one of those all day all night gowns like the t-dresses.  I changed it to make it a lot longer.  It actually comes past her knees and buttons in front instead of zipping up the back.   After a specific request, I also made the sleeves "ruffly".

I had a bit of a revolt over the fact that there is blue trim instead of pink.  I may need to change it if I ever want to see it on her body.

Sailing, sailing

Dad likes sailing, not that we have really done much together, but that doesn't matter.  His uncle had a boat and he did some sailing with his family as a kid and teenager.  We rented a little Hobie cat for an afternoon on our honeymoon, but that was awhile ago, and I wasn't very good at it.  I had a hard time getting the concept for some reason.  Anyway, we are now the proud owners of this little 8 foot el toro sail boat.  The shovel on top tells you it's an el toro.  One of the advantages of this boat is that it is small enough to put on top of our minivan.  It needs a little work on the paint and varnish, but is otherwise in good shape with all of it's parts.
 

I think it will be a lot of fun.  As you can see it isn't very big, only one or two people.  One website said it was perfect for two children to sail.  It will be awhile before I let the kids go out by themselves on this thing.  My girl needs to learn to swim first.  When they are old enough to sail on their own I think we need another one so that we can race, assuming I learn to sail the little things before then.

There are a couple of reservoirs nearby that will be perfect for sailling this little boat.  I'm looking forward to it.

Do you like the new haircut?  She says she looks like Dora the Explorer.  I like that there is a lot less complaining about combing.  We both win.

A big bead

Awhile ago I ran across a book on wire crochet jewelery.  I was interested.  I like wire.  One of the projects was a bead like this.  It reminded me of the beautiful jewelry by Niiro, the Entangled collection.  The example in the book was a 1.25 inch cube.  I went with a smaller oval bead.  It was pretty easy to do, just chains slip stitched together wherever they cross.  You start with a larger hook and go smaller and smaller until you completely cover the wooden bead you started with.  After I decided the wire was thick enough I tucked the end in and tapped it all down with a hammer to pack the wire all together and smooth it out.  You can still see a little bit of wood through the wire, but I'm done.  I like it even though it is pretty big and I'm more of a small simple jewelry person.  I also need to string it on something a little better than balloon ribbon.  I'm still thinking.

the Joker Soaker

After seeing this I knew I wanted to build my own kid wash for the backyard.  I've been waiting for it to get hot enough to play in the water and then all of a sudden it was.  We had the pvc pipes from a couple years ago.  All I needed was an adapter for the hose and end caps so all the water didn't run out.  I pulled out the drill and drilled away.  It was all rather free form.  I didn't even need to glue the joints.  Just make sure they are pushed in tight so that the water pressure doesn't spring it loose.  I did learn that you can only do so many holes or there isn't enough water pressure to make it all work.  For us the magic number seems to be about 35 1/8 inch holes, if I remember right.  Bigger size, fewer holes.  It's been fun.  If I were to do it again I might look for a different hose adapter.  This pvc one fits tight on the pvc pipes, but is a little difficult to connect to the hose.

And so the Joker Soaker was born.  Buddy Boy named it.  The name fits, although I'm not sure who the Joker is supposed to be.

She isn't running through because she is trying to wash the sidewalk paint off her hands, legs, every other body part, swim shirt...  Not a product I'd recommend for the faint of heart or clean of floor.  This photo shows the full thing and all the water the best.

I strategically placed this over the dry spots in the back lawn hoping to revive it a bit.  If not this summer, it will green up over the winter.

Maybe the table top version is next.

Stenciled T-shirts

I've seen freezer paper stenciling on other blogs like here and here and I decided to give it a try.  You basically take freezer paper, cut a design, iron it on, and paint away.  I used my new toy to cut the stencils.  It is a Silhouette SD cutter.  It's like a printer except that it cuts instead of printing.  The advantage to this over other similar cutters is that you can make your own designs and use any regular font.  You can also download and buy premade designs.  I made the mermaid and downloaded the dinosaur skull.  I found the bone font on Dafont.  It is just called Bone.

Before I started the stenciling I had to modify the t-shirt.  I was inspired by Dana and her t-shirt remakes.  The shirt is a size 6-8 and needed to end up a size 4T.  The neck was actually a good size.  I made a box pleat from front to back over the shoulder to get the shoulder seam in the right place and make it more of a dress.  I then took a seam under the arm to raise the arm's eye and made another box pleat on the sides.  The sleeves have yet another box pleat at the hem to pull them in a bit.  I didn't take any pictures of this process.  I was just winging it, trying it on Little Darlin' in between steps.  She loves her new t-dress.  Then it was time to paint.  I used my Silhouette to cut the stencils and ironed them on the shirts.

For weeks and months Buddy Boy has been saying he is a paleontologist.  He has moved on a bit to archeologist, but still returns to the dinosaurs sometimes.  The t-rex skull is sneaking up from the side to bite and then it says paleontologist down the front, not your typical t-shirt.

It was a lot of fun and pretty quick and easy.  I have plans for more.  We'll see when I get to them.

Projects and primroses

A few weeks ago my parents came to visit and as Dad says, "I'm always good for a project", so I took him at his word and we did projects.  The biggest project was organizing the garage.  No pictures.  Not interesting, but very good to have done.  Mom made curtains for the living room.  I wanted short curtains, not exactly the trend, but I wanted to be able to keep the bookshelf right next to the wall.  Dad figured out how to hang them to make them look great.  The curtains themselves are simply big rectangles, about twice the width of the window, with wide hems on the top and bottom.  We used clips and a simple rail on the top.  Using the clips to hold the pleats keeps them neat looking.

The second project is a shade structure of sorts for the back patio.  We had the shade tarp from our last house, but no way to hang or support it.  Dad came up with a simple structure made of PVC pipe with lines to the fence to keep it up.  The uprights come off and the rest rolls up nicely to stow away under the eaves on days that we want the sun to come it.  We almost needed it that week, but we are seriously back to winter this week.  Rumor has it that there is a chance of snow.  We won't be needing this for a little while.

I took this picture in the morning so you don't see the shade effect.  The back of the house faces west and gets very sunny in the afternoon.  That makes for a bright kitchen in the winter, but a blinding hot glare in the summer. 

You can see the little pot of primroses on the patio.  They are Little Darlin's pets.  She really wanted pink flowers one day at the grocery store and we bought this little pot of primroses.  They are almost a pet.  She will carry them around and (over)waters them and takes them outside for sun and inside to look at while we eat our lunch.  It's all pretty cute.

Visit from Grandma and Grandpa

We had a great visit from Grandma and Grandpa.  Grandma arrived with a cooler full of showballs for my California kids.  Throwing snowballs was a huge hit.

Before they arrived we had to come up with a list of projects so that they would stay.  If we run out of projects Grandpa starts itching to go.  We had a list and got through it all.  As Grandpa frequently says, "Always good for a project".  New curtains in the living room.  Serious trimming of the grapes and other stuff in the yard.  One bush had what I thought was a dead branch.  It turned out that the whole bush was dead and the greenry on top was hanging over the fence from the neighbors yard.  A structure for the shade tarp.  A temprorary fix of the funky exposed plumbing on the roof that turns into an unwanted solar water heater in the summer.  In August the water comes out so hot that it could burn you.  A clean garage!  We had just thrown stuff in when we moved in last summer.  Now I can find things again even though the work bench needs a little work.  Wheww... 

We took a day off and went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  I figured it was educational so I took Buddy Boy out of school and away we went.   We all had a great time.  I have to say that a Monday during the winter seems to be the time to go to avoid crowds.  It was fantastic.  We could see the displays and all the animals and I wasn't worried about losing the kids in the crowds.

Grandpa loved the spring like weather, especially when he heard that their home town had a high of 19 on the day we were eating our snacks outside watching the waves come in.

 Watching the feedings at the kelp forest

  

 Buddy Boy the barnacle

 The jelly fish and sea horses were favorites

 Lots of great interactive kid stuff to do.  The whale flippers were Baby Girl's favorite.

A good day, but we were all worn out by the end.

It is so fun when family comes to visit.  We'll see them next time at their house.