MOVING DAY!!

It's finally HERE!!! After talking about it for SOOOOOOOOOO long, we've finally taken the plunge and done it. In fact, I'm publishing this post as we are headed out the door to go to the new house.

While we are nowhere near as far along with anything as I thought we'd be, we just decided together that we need to be out there. So, this house isn't ready to sell, the Mountaineer isn't fixed, and technically we don't have power hooked to the RV or a waste tank. So what! Right? I mean, power and waste removal...those are such minor things. (yes, I'm kidding)

I know it's probably crazy, but we're nothing if not crazy...that seems to be the buzz anyway. Regardless of how it seems, this isn't crazy and we will spend the rest of our lives telling the stories of this year. So to those of you who secretly whisper to each other that we're nuts...well maybe we are (a little)...but we are four very happy (and excited!) nuts.

Always Quilt

Here it is, the Always Quilt.



With my deadline fast approaching (ie the baby is almost here!!) I needed to get the quilt finished. I finally buckled down yesterday and got it done.



I have had some basic designs sketched out for a series of minimalist quilts which express the love between a parent and child. I have sketches with turtles, rabbits, bears, even worms. The turtle is probably my favorite, and I've worked and reworked my turtle sketch several times. It can take 20 or so head and eye combinations to get it right. (is that strange?)

News of a newly pregnant cousin was a fantastic excuse to break out the fabric and get cracking. This actually ended up much less minimalistic then I originally planned. I had planned for a solid print or even more basic with a nice unbleached cotton. But, a trip to the fabric store convinced me otherwise. I am a sucker for a batik print, plus I loved the combo of this green and blue together. Then I found a 50% off natural linen remnant, so really the fabrics chose themselves. The very last choice of fabric is an old antique pillow case from our grandmother (Mimi). I have several old antique pillow cases of hers, and though this one was in rough shape I held on to it anyway for a future project. And I know if anyone in the family would appreciate that sentimentality...it would be this cousin.



I had some funny hiccups along the way...that's just how I roll. I think I've mentioned before that perfection is NOT my middle name. If only I had a perfectionist to do the work for me, and I could just sketch out the ideas. This quilt is not perfect...and that's what makes it just right. I got to use some newer skills as well as some old stand-bys. I mixed machine quilting, hand embroidery, machine embroidery and machine applique to make this quilt. I love the way the turtles came out with their little french-knot eyes looking all lovingly at eachother.





Congratulations to Alexis and Seth. I just can't believe you're all grown up and having a baby! (yay Uncle Skip and Aunt Donna!)





And a special thanks to Jeni Key, I used your tape-to-the-floor technique and it worked great!

Garden Porn

Aren't those beds beautiful? Don't they make you drool just a little. People can have their fancy cars, big houses and high fashion...just give me some wood and dirt and I'll be as happy as a worm. (I don't know that worms are happy per se...but as garden analogies go I thought worm was more appropriate than clam) I took this picture from Better Homes, but this is similar to what we'll be doing...though in a more simple way. I thought we'd go with raised beds this year, with Laurel and Luke each getting their own. They both picked pumpkins...so we'll see how that goes.

While not everything is sprouting yet, the peas and corn are taking off like gangbusters. And the tomato, lettuce, pinto beans and a few others are trailing behind. One of Laurel's pumpkin sprouts finally showed itself. We can't wait until we get to the camper...it's beyond wanting at this point...we need to be there.



We stopped at the Tractor Supply store yesterday and the baby chicks were out. If we had already been at the new house we would have snatched them right up...but we couldn't...not yet. It was so hard to leave the store without those little guys. We've also been researching where to buy our goats, which cost a lot more than I thought. But, nonetheless, we are hoping to be in the camper by the end of the week, have the garden in by the end of next week and then goats and chickens the week after that.

Ever Wonder Who Buys the Singing Fish?

A quick trip to the RV store for some needed accessories turned into a day of fun for the kids. Seriously...why pay to go to Disney World when your kids think running from RV to RV is the best thing ever. Each RV is it's own adventure, the kids are partial to the ones with four bunks...I wonder if they're hinting at something.

So after I investigated prices and features on a waste tank (I won't expand on that further) I purchased a part I needed to fix our table (which I inadvertently destroyed last week while attempting to convert it into a bed)...and got convinced by the cutest kids ever to buy the singing bass. You know the one...it sings Don't Worry Be Happy and flops around. I couldn't help it. My kids don't ask for much, and I appreciate that...so I felt that they deserved the on-sale-singing-fish. Watch the video and see if you can blame me.

Happy Birthday Grandma Dorman!

The weather was so beautiful outside yesterday that we had no choice but to spend the entire day outside. And what better way to spend it then on this little project? The kids had a blast, despite the covered eyes and grimaces (it was very very bright). To Grandma Dorman, we wish you a very happy birthday...

Corn and Lettuce have won the sprouting race!