Grand Kid Visit--Farm Quilt post 1

The lunch chefs

In April, I was able to surprise my husband with a visit from the grand kids. Their parents were able to surprise their daughters with the visit to our home. My son in law had a dentist appointment. He told the girls that they might be able to go into the office to wait or they might wait in the car. Instead, he drove an alternate route to our house that they didn't know. He had them duck while he backed down the drive way. 

After he stopped the car, he told the girls that they had arrived and that they could get out; but, to put their masks on. The look on their faces was priceless and the look on my husband's face was priceless too! Aside from a drive by visit and a swimming

Art project--an exercise in mark making

afternoon in the kiddie pool, they haven't been here much since the pandemic began.

It had been so long since they spent time here that they forgot about finding the mailbox. I hide a small mailbox somewhere in the living room/kitchen area. Inside is a letter about the activities for the day and a treat. . .like Oreo cookies or gummy bears or something one shouldn't be eating early in the day! Once they located the mailbox and had their day mapped out, we started making lunch.

Miss J approved block arrangement

They were delighted to learn that we would be having breakfast for lunch and that breakfast would be pancakes, a favorite of Miss K and bacon with runny eggs, a favorite of Miss J. 

It has been months since we cooked together. Miss K's cooking skills have progressed. She can make pancakes from start to finish now. She was so proud of being able to flip the pancakes so they landed on griddle and not somewhere else! We discussed that it is easier to flip pancakes when the top is fairly set. She said that was such good information to know! 

Miss J fried an abundant amount of bacon. She can turn it and remove it from the pan when it is "done." She can also eat a lot of bacon that she dips into the yolks of her egg.

Pinning tags on the blocks to keep them in order

We completed an art project. I had been working through the online Sketchbook Revival workshops. There was a session on mark making that I thought they would like to try. The presenter would give a prompt and then we would mark lines with that prompt in mind. I had a variety of mark making items available so there was plenty of choices. The only rule was that you had to fill the page before you started another page. Miss J completed three pages, Miss K started a second and I completed one! We all had fun with the exercise.

After the art project, we moved on to quilting. Miss K picked out a few beads that might work into her mermaid project. She also decided that she wanted to embroider the fish's eyes rather than sew beads. 

Miss K and the pink leggings

Miss J decided to sew the churn dash blocks I won at the spring retreat into a quilt. She arranged the blocks in an order that was pleasing to her eye. It was a hoot listening to her determine which blocks could be next to each other! 

We auditioned fabrics for the sashing and cornerstones. She didn't know what I meant by those terms so she looked at a quilt on her auntie's bed as an example. She chose a yellow fabric for the sashing and a landscape print of stones for the cornerstones. The yellow fabric represents sunshine on the farm and the stones could be gravel or fences. The outer border fabric is Christmas trees because there are Christmas tree farms in our area! Then they used my row tags to pin on the blocks to keep the blocks in order.

Too soon the visit was over. At the end of June, we've arranged a time for a sleepover. By then her parents and the two of us will be fully vaccinated. We will be todo more activities together. I am most looking forward to not wearing a mask when we are together! I've pre-washed the sashing and cornerstone fabric and cut the pieces needed for the blocks. I'm waiting for the quilters to return for more stitching fun!

Miss J and the pink leggings

On Mother's Day, they girls came for a short visit. They wanted to see how many more Frolic blocks I had made. They humored me and tried on the pair of leggings I made at the beginning of April. I now have an idea of how to make alternations so the leggings fit closer to their bodies. 

Regarding COVID:

Worldwide:163M cases; 3.37M deaths

United States: 33M cases; 585K deaths

Oregon: 195K cases; 2,600 deaths

In Oregon, last Tuesday the governor released a statement that when 70% of the population has received at least one vaccination, she will list most of the restrictions. She stated she was confident meeting the 70% goal in June.