Weekend Festivities

It feels like it has been a long time since we were all home together on the weekend. Either Pera and I are running off to Grandma's or Tobias is off to rehearse for a show.. This weekend we were all home and got to do some really fun things together! We started Friday night with a picnic in the front yard. At least one meal a day right now is in the form of a picnic, either on the rug, in the back yard or under our sun tent in the front yard. We also took this opportunity to paint daddy's toes. He was a semi willing participant (Pera and I totally appreciated that!)

Saturday we made a trip by ferry to Bremerton and the Forest Theater to see a friend in Seussical the Musical. This was our first time at the Forest Theater. Really cool! We brought a picnic, a blanket, pillows, games etc down a trail through the woods and set up our little couch to enjoy the show (no I don't travel lightly but it was well worth it). This was Pera's first theater experience. Perfect! We ate and played, she was sitting far enough back that she could take in the show when she wanted while lounging on a pillow, sucking down hummos and crackers and playing with her Nana Jackie. Totally fun, and she made it the full (almost) four hours through the show. Highly recommend this theater to anyone who can't imagine sitting in a darkened indoor theater during the most beautiful time of year in Seattle.

You can't see the shirt with the sweet applique very well but you can see one of her summer skirts that I made last week at mom's from this free pattern (in the side bar of this blog).

All in all a fun weekend.

Pera's summer clothes

Well, despite all the rain, spring/summer must be here because I find myself wanting to knit less and sew more. So I am beginning to sew Pera some summer clothes. Who knows if she will wear them, she is very particular about this lately. But still fun to sew. Top photo is Pera in her new digs the "Baby Doggy House." The pink frock is taken from this sweet little pattern, Miss Madeline found on this blog. I figure we will get to the aproned version when Pera will actually wear a dress.. Or not.

Tulips!

This last week we also went to the tulip festival. Fun day! Great to do during the week when there is not much traffic nor a huge crowd to contend with. Lots of color. My absolute favorite were the ones that looked like scoops of icecream. Alas for some zany reason my dad and I decided to switch cameras thinking I would take pictures of he and mom and he would shoot photos of Pera, Toe and I. We made the switch and got separated. So his camera contains some of the photos I wish I had to share.

A Hooker's Retreat

Hello All! Again a while between posts and doing a lot around here. Just went away last week with mom for some girl and craft time. We stayed in Leavenworth, WA and went to a rug hooking retreat with Jane Olson. It was an amazing experience for me. We laughed a lot, created a lot and probably ate way too much! Jane is a real treasure: funny, smart and fiesty. She is truely an artist. I hope to be able to go next year.

I created my own little rug of Pera and Lolly or as Pera calls herself and Lolly "Baby kitty and little tiger." The rug was made using beautifully hand died woolens from Jane's studio.

I heard someone describe what Jane does as painting with wool. I am very much humbled by what she can do, but was very pleased with the results of my own attempts at painting. The rugs are created with wool strips and as you can see from the group photo above there was quite a variety of creating taking place in the room. What I loved most about it was being able to come and go as we please, set our own pace and accomplish each day what we wished. At 85 Jane kept up and was there in the morning when (after a coffee and a walk) I finally came into the studio and at night as I was tottling off to bed.

A lot left to do on my little rug, but very fun and inspiring!