The Last of It

By late afternoon today, this was the last of the snow in the flower bed, at least for this time. Probably, probably, there will be more, but I did wash my heavy winter coat this morning and don't plan to put it on again this year.

Soon the flannel sheets will go and I'll be putting on one of the pretty sets that Sarah and Winnie got me for Christmas. And then, oh joy, the sweatpants will go, to be replaced by Life Is Good flannel pajama pants.

Right now, there's rain, but it's 46 degrees, so we're safe from the white stuff tonight.

Date With Aaron

Nora is spending the weekend with Aunt Tina, and I had Saturday off, so it was a perfect day for a date with Aaron. We started out with the anticipated ride in Gran B's truck and made the library, with its trains, our first stop. Aaron enjoyed whispering and saying, "We gotta be quiet" as he took play breaks and wandered through the aisles of books.


The next stop was McDonald's, which he declared was not McDonald's and he said nicely that he didn't want to go in. I think that "not McDonald's" means no play area. He enjoyed his cheeseburger and "frenchy fries" in the truck.

We took the bus to the downtown Graeter's for ice cream, but right inside the door were lovely cupcakes with plastic basketballs on top. Ice cream didn't rate once he spotted those.

Being the sweet little tourist that he was, he kept looking up at the buildings and declared that downtown was high. He waited patiently for the bus to take us back across the river. The bus was a big hit.

Next came another train set-up at Barnes and Noble and a book purchase. Love those trains. The tracks here are glued down, so there was no fretting about the track coming apart.

Back home again, it was a lovely sunny day and the neighbor kids were outside. We stayed outside for an hour.


When I left, he was settled in the "big bed" watching Cinderella. Aparently, he never did drop off to sleep after his big date with Gran B.

Friday Fill-In # 166

Friday morning, Friday Fill-Ins. Answers are in bold.

1. Why are you making french toast with white bread? Try making it with whole wheat - it's really yummy.

2. I want you to take your vitamins with calcium and iron. I'm a fan of multi-vitamins and Stress Tabs, and now I'm taking an extra vitamin D too. Only thing is, my hair grows like wild. Hope the cells inside are doing well too.

3. One of these days soon I'll take the leap - then it will be on my terms.

4. Squish up the fabric really good, pour the dye on top, and see what happens. It's always a surprise and I like it that way. I can't quite bring myself to measure precisely and record everything.

5. I could use a break from the cold weather, and it's coming this weekend. Twenty-two degrees this morning, can't quite imagine how how fifties is going to show up.

6. First I'll go and take a look at the river and walk across the Purple People Bridge and then I'll go to Barnes and Noble. Then, some people watching. Possibly a look at the jelly fish at the Aquarium. Maybe there will be music. Newport on the Levee when the weather is nice.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm planning to get to work on a new church banner, tomorrow my plans include a date with little Aaron while his sister is at Aunt Tina's, and Sunday I want to do something outdoors.

Happy Friday, everyone.

Results

My dyeing session was somewhat less than perfect -

even with all that rinsing, there was still some dye left that bleed into the other colors.

The yellow got the worst of it.

But still, the magic happened and I know that when it's all said and done, I'll use that yellow in some project and think, "Wow, it's perfect for this."

And aside from that, I showed up. I did it. This weekend, light fushia and blue.

Dyeing Today

I put three batches of fabric in dye this morning - managed to rinse one of them out before I left for work. I usually don't let fabrics set in the dye for an entire day, but it was the best I could do today. And, after a while, all the dye that's going to be absorbed is already absorbed.

I got home late tonight and am rinsing out the next batch. I've learned the hard way to not mix colors together on the first rinse. A rinse to me is a washing machine cycle, which is actually two rinses. When all three are rinsed I'll put them together and add a little soap in the next cycle. Then one more to be sure all the dye is rinsed out.

Maybe tomorrow I can show you - green, yellow, and brown. Earth colors.

The picture above isn't fabric - it's dryer sheets. Just enough in each one for a little gauze of color.

Stitched Down

After a period of thinking, the trees on Helen's quilt are darkened, stitched down, and have orange and yellow netting added to help it look as if there are some fall leaves still hanging on.

I learned a lot about free-motion stitching backwards down the tree trunks and the batting is now on, so the trees get a little dimension. Next step will be adding green bushes and green patches here and there. We're getting there, Helen.

Good Fortune

Lunch with my friend Patricia at Asian Wok - with a pretty little cake and a fortune cookie included. And the cookie had a real fortune - I hate it when there is just a comment instead of a fortune. It said, "Your talents will be recognized and suitably rewarded." A little piece of paper I'll hold on to.

And dinner with my best girl at Chick Fill-A. We were on the way to La Rosa's, her choice, when she spotted Chick Fill-A. She said, "Please, can't we go there instead? Please?"

And how could I not say, "ok." I'm sure it was the play area that won her over, and she played and played.


I went to the counter to get her an ice cream cone afterwards and the counter woman said that cones are free for kids. Nice.