Good evening. The long holiday weekend is almost over, chilly and windy here again. Before I forget, are we tired of patriotic photos and posts? I lost at least three followers on Instagram this weekend.
Moving on, I am still acclimating to going out maskless---but I like it. I was okay with the claustrophobic " I can't breathe'' issue, but my densely fogged glasses made every outing an exhausting ordeal. This is better!
Last week I went to Michael's. [craft store] A start of summer trip to the art store has been a tradition of mine for many years. I'd go to Pearl Paint on Canal Street, later on Long Island and choose a new nature sketch book and a small watercolor paper pad. Maybe a delightful if costly tiny set of watercolors or watercolor pens. A couple new fine line drawing pens, Sakura. Then I'd trawl the garish craft aisles for kits, projects, games--rainy day treats for my kids. Beads for bracelets were always a hit, as was tie dye. And those weird foam shapes. Markers, crayons, a puzzle book or a word game. I love doing crafts with small children, one of my dream jobs I never pursued---we had so much fun.
Kids are older now and Michaels looked oddly barren. First visit there in two years or more. I didn't buy a sketchbook, I no longer paint, but I found a few good treasures.
I especially love Dollar Bins, here and at Target too.
Trims and inspirations for Fall etsy items. [half price sale right now, come visit!]
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Another day last week a long awaited mail order from TQC finally arrived. The owner mentioned online she was welcoming a new grandbaby so I won't complain. What a treat this package was.
For quilting. Love the shoe polish tin they come in.
Peonies and sunflowers. Summer perfection.
Last bit of news is that I have switched from in person grocery shopping to online/ delivered/ carried up the FEMA stairs for a ten buck tip---grocery shopping! I didn't want to do it during Covid because I didn't want strangers handling my food---plus I enjoy the shopping part of grocery acquisition. But now I decided to go for it. It's expensive but wonderful. I am very impressed. So far after a month of deliveries, they only forgot my ice cream and my hummus, just once. I was not charged for those items, so that's okay.
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So tell me what was your favorite activity with your kids, or other kids in your worlds? Or something special you did each summer with your parents, a special treat?
My favorite activity with my mom was reading together, plus nature walks; my favorite activity with my dad was sewing and drawing, and evening runs to the ice cream stand. My fave with my own kids was summer crafts and beachy activities, teaching them to swim---pool and ocean, surf, beachcomb, kite fly and so on. [and trips to the ice cream stand...] I vividly remember one late summer, teaching son to to surf cast for fish. Maybe you loved going to soccer practice? Or braiding hair? Planting their first seeds in the kiddy garden, riding bikes or skating? What memories does summer's beginning bring back for you? Tell us.
Treasure of the realm! Found objects, gathered for no reason, just a joy in their oddness,
their uselessness.
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You’re SO SPOILED..you’ve got Mo reading your quilt patterns for you to help you! Love the way he sits on them..I guess to see them better!
ReplyDeleteGreat $6 fabric buy...I love buying scraps, because scrap quilts are my favorite and it stretches my mind when I have to be clever with what I have available..
Getting hotter here again, every day. Off to ride.
Ooh, those quilting goodies look so tempting! My machine is out for making curtains and finishing a Roman Blind though, so I need to concentrate on those first.
ReplyDeleteI loved playing board games with my mum - I had a compendium of games one Christmas and we used to play Ludo, Snakes and Ladders, Draughts etc. I liked helping her in the garden too. Dad and I used to love window-shopping at Antique shops. We never went in as no money to buy anything, but it was nice to look and I've had a life-long love of antiques because of that.
With my children, we took them to castles in Wales and right up to Scotland, went on walks, learned about history and archaeology and wildlife, went camping, went to the beach, and one of my abiding memories is fishing for Crabs at Scarborough (Yorkshire) and Brightlingsea (Essex). They all learned to swim in their uncle's pool and would be in there for hours!
Fun memories! I loved and still love playing cards and board games, but no one else seems to like it as much. We used to play Gin on the beach a lot.
DeleteAntiques, always loved going to the flea, or w my best friend whose dad took us to big fancy antiques shows, he was an antique weapons dealer. I fell in love with long Scarlet Ohara earbobs and gorgeously dressed French bebe dolls. I suppose this is when I fell in love with antiques.
Your roman shade sounds ambitious. I never could attempt. I ll look on your blog for the result.
love
lizzy
I took my two to the beach every day--for their swim lessons and then did my needlepoint while they played...haven't done needlepoint in a very long while...
ReplyDeleteI like that pattern a lot--really neat...
Looks like you got a lot of goodies...hugs, Julierose
*I* don't mind patriotic posts and pictures! I'm glad to see them, actually, as there seem to be so many people acting and saying things decidedly anti-American. Even American Olympic athletes, and that really bothers me.
ReplyDeleteYay for grocery delivery! Not available here since the Covid mess has mostly passed, but I can completely understand enjoying not having to carry everything upstairs! I have done a lot of the curbside pickups, and have only recently gone shopping inside a few times (finally drove the electric carts in Walmart - some of them are weird and touchy, lol) and I have appreciated that.
The fabric sampler is so neat! I love all those colors and prints and can't wait to see what you do with them. The strip quilt looks interesting, too - and pretty complicated! My mom used to make crazy quilts with the little odd-sized scraps left over from sewing and other quilt projects, and I think those were some of my favorite quilts. I got to 'help' tear the newspaper off the completed blocks, which was fun for a kid!
My summers growing up were mostly spent helping in our huge garden and canning, and sometimes playing in the creek. We didn't have a local library but sometimes we'd visit a store in town where the bookmobile would leave a selection of books each week - we got to 'check out' our own books there, and I loved to read.
When my kids were young they loved to go to the swimming pool, and we spent time at the lake with their grandparents which was a lot of time in the water. One daughter showed a passing interest in learning to sew, but neither one enjoyed crafting... :( Oh, well.
You find some of the oddest things on the beach, lol! Is that the grit wheel off one of those foot-smoothing gadgets? LOL, last-minute sandal fixing?
It hasn't been bad here - warm but not TOO hot, although it may storm tomorrow. We have gotten to enjoy a few ripe cherry tomatoes off my plants, and the slicers are growing! Such great flavor!
I'm enjoying going maskless, too - although I still see some people wearing them. Except in health facilities, they still require masks I think.
Hope you had a good holiday weekend, and thanks for sharing with us!
Library and Bookmobile! I forgot those wonderful memories. My om had truoble keeping enough books on hand fr my brother and me. We were thrilled when the Bookmobile came, almost as good as the ice cream truck's weird twiddly theme song warbling up at the corner by our baseball lot.
DeleteOh my, you're really stretching my poor memory! I can't really remember my mom ever doing things With us, she was always obsessed with cleaning the house, probably contributing to my aversion to such activities. She did enjoy playing card games with her grandkids though! When my own were young I read to them every day, and we did crafty things. Gingerbread house birthday parties, making our own play dough, etc. We took the kids to historical sites like Old Sturbridge Village, a medieval museum with suits of armor, Plymouth Rock, etc.
ReplyDeleteYou scored well with that pack of scraps, they're lovely. The pattern looks like fun too. We're back to heat and oppressive humidity after a wonderful weekend with three of the grandkids who had a wonderful time playing in the creek each day and generally wearing out the dog! I think he slept about 12 hours after they left on Sunday afternoon.
Hello!! Glad you are having fun. Those fabrics are lovely. Well, I'm back home from the coast playing catch up. In Oregon everyone was still wearing masks. We ate indoors for the first time in over a year. I am still ordering groceries online and picking them up. I may never go back to shopping. I hope you had a fun 4th. Kit
ReplyDeleteI had to laugh at Kit's comment. Only saw a few faces covered today in Bend. I haven't worn a mask in weeks! Oregon has been the slowest to get rid of the mandate, but when they did, no masks, no signs, no social distancing, like we never had a pandemic! Very weird!
ReplyDeleteI understand it is different in the city, esp Portland.
Summer fun with the kids! Crafts, little pools in the back yard, city sprinklers, just a lot of outdoor fun with no schedules. I was one of the few parents that was always sad when school started back up in the fall.
I hope your un-follows on Instagram weren't a statement about your patriotic posts. I unfollowed two accounts recently just because I never interacted with them. It was nothing more than that. Just not for me.
ReplyDeleteWow, you got some really fun stuff! It's like Christmas in July at your house. The six dollar fabric find will provide you with all sorts of fun.
My Mom never got a drivers license, so if we went anywhere, we had to walk. Didn't stop us. I loved the visits to the library across town, or when I was in my early teens and financially we were a little more stable, we'd walk to the drug store on Friday evenings and have a burger at the counter.
TJ's had peonies for a long time this year. I pined over them every time I was there. Never treated myself to them, and instructed DH not to get me any as the cats would destroy them. I also think they may be toxic to cats, so two reasons to leave them for someone else.
Good for you having groceries delivered! I kind of dig grocery shopping (when things are normal ;)) My neighbor has signed up for one of the meal delivery services. They bring you the ingredients and recipe cards, and you put it together. She is really enjoying it.
Thanks for sharing. Oh, fun little collection of found objects, too.
I'm quite behind with comments!! Fabulous fabrics. Hours worth of tactile pleasure.
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