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Newport on the Levee today is getting ready for the big fireworks show on Sunday night. If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you'll see signs on the bridge. There are a few tarps "reserving" spaces on the bank, but I'm not at all sure that they will stay in place this early. If you could look off to the left, you'd see various food tents already set up. In three days, the banks on both sides of the river will be packed.
Which means - summer is just about over, way too soon. When I lived in Michigan, Labor Day truly was the end of summer, there could be frost at any time. I'm glad that isn't true here, but, still, there's a feeling of change never the less. School started for the grands this week, and just about all the schools are in session now.
I've been using this week to transition between twice-a-week babysitting to not at all. Last night I did take both kids to Dairy Queen, supposedly after Aaron's soccer practice, but it poured on our way to practice and the field was too wet for soccer. Earlier ice cream for us. I've been missing those kids this week but am happy to clean my house and work on Holly's quilt.
And, next week, September. September camping is coming soon.
Yesterday was the last day of summer babysitting for the grands, and while we didn't actually go to the zoo, I love these pictures from last week.
Yesterday we went to the "downtown park" under the Big Mac Bridge. I love this area, and yesterday it was practically deserted since Cincinnati Public was already back in school. Most of the time was spent playing in the sand at the sand volleyball court, getting water from the fountains, and playing on the twirling tire swing, which had no line.
At the end of the day we met Steph at the kids' school and met the teachers for the coming year. Aaron was excited that he already knew where his classroom was, thanks to the Kinder Camp last week. Nora was excited that her third grade is on the second floor, a whole new level of education.
I enjoy the summer experiences with the kids and try to plan outings they'll enjoy. I'll miss our comings and goings, but I can see more sewing/quilting projects in my immediate future.
Yesterday was baby quilt group, and the tables were filled with pretty quilts, ready for teeny babies. I love to think of those teeniest babies growing into their quilts.
Right now I have three baby quilts on the wall/floor. One with tumblers, one improvisational, and one kind of traditional with alphabet letters. Yes, Holly, that one's yours.
And yesterday, one of the members brought the prettiest fabrics for a challenge quilt. No quilting today, though, this is a work day for me.
I love going places with the grands and hanging out at home with them, but sometimes I really enjoy being with an "only child." Just one kid to talk with, enjoy the day with, no sibling distraction.
This week Aaron is at Kingergarten Camp in the mornings, from 9 - 11:00, with a dozen other children. It was the perfect time to take Nora to IHOP for breakfast, although she ordered Kraft macaroni and cheese.
Nora is lovely to chat with, girly but not overly so, laid back when there's no brother aggravation. She's relatively quiet by herself, totally happy. I'm guessing she's an INFP, but pretty much toward the center on all of them.
I love to tell her that if all the grandgirls were lined up in a row and I could pick any I wanted, I'd always pick her.
Checking out the various items on the table on the back porch at the Nature Center. Stones and bones. Bits of this and that which can be picked up and admired.
The lake is wonderfully clear, and there is a place to buy fish food. Fish and turtles come swimming up to wherever kids are tossing in food. Continuous fascination.
And then there is the Playscape, with its meadow pathways, a creek for wading, a bridge for playing Billy Goat Gruff. Log houses with branches for adding the roof. The kind of unstructured play that I love for kids.
I've been watching the grands a couple of days a week during the summer, and this is one of my favorite spots. One of those places where kids can just be.
There was no taupe solid fabric to be found at the local fabric store, but I like this gray just as well for the second charm pack baby quilt.
And now I have a little stack of three baby quilts to take to the next meeting and can go on to other quilting in the meantime. I'm thinking about a scrappy tumbler quilt. This could be combined with neatening up my shelves of smaller fabric, and that would be a very good thing.
I have a ticket to the Reds game today, and the weather looks wonderful. I'm wondering whether the grass will be dry enough to mow before game time.
A couple of the neighborhood college students stopped in last week to ask whether I could sew pockets on their tee shirts. They'd been exploring Pinterest and loved the idea, plus another one for picture frames that they were working on that afternoon.
I don't do much garment sewing, but I've sewn on lots of pockets in my past life and it was easy to remember how to do it. I used a size 10 ball point needle and there was no puckering on the tees. Sometimes I wonder whether the sewing dilemas I used to have were from inexperience or from not having the lovely tools I have now. I'm guessing it's a combination.
My friend Carrye gifted me the Frixion pen. It's a great for marking because the point is so fine, and just a bit of heat from the iron erases it. Carrye says that putting the marked piece in the freezer will bring the marks back, should you need them again. I've seen the pens in quilt shops as well as in office supply stores. Of course I'm going to look for one in yellow for darker fabrics.
Once the worship banner was off the floor, the latest baby quilt took its place. Just one more, and I'll be caught up. And since I have more charm packs in the same fabric, the next one will be pretty much like this one but with taupe instead of green. Others in the group have made quilts for twins, but I've never done that. Using the charm packs makes the piecing go fast, and I love the thought of being caught up with my group.
I usually have a pretty good selection of threads at home, but I did get two small spools of bright green for this quilt, and this is what I have left. Two inches from the end of the binding, the bobbin ran out. I wound a partial bobbin with a similar color, and no one will know the difference.
Artist Statement: Several years ago, I made a worship banner
for Lent, with different symbols for different weeks: snake, bee hive, water, palm leaf, and a
couple of others. Since that time, it’s
lived in my closet. This seemed like a
good time to bring it out and renew it, retaining the pretty colors in the hand
dyed fabric but reconfiguring the pattern to represent transitions. The original banner is still here, and its
blocks and symbols were the basis for this new banner, which blends and moves
in different ways.
Pictured above is the original. It seemed appropriate to hang the new banner today, when our interim pastor started his work.
Aaron waiting for his box lunch at Twisted Sister in Bellevue. He declared his sandwich made with a soft pretzel to be the best sandwich ever.
We took the sandwiches to the park in Bellevue, which is nice because there is no floodwall and it feels like we're right on the Ohio river. Which we are.
Then we stopped in at the Newport Aquarium. I hoped to see my friend Michelle taking pictures, but I guess she wasn't there that day.
Steph was off on Friday and we took the kids to COSI in Columbus. Absolutely fabulous, and they have a reciprocal pass agreement with the Cincinnati Museum Centers.
On the way home we stopped at school to check out the class lists for the coming year. Kindergarden isn't posted yet, but Aaron didn't seem at all concerned about that. Nora was pleased about her new teacher.
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