Crafting and kids.
My goal was to get 6 more blocks done for this quilt this month, but then I found the perfect backing so I decided just to finish it!
I adore low volume prints. And you know what? I now adore log cabin blocks! There’s zero seam matching until you sew the blocks together. My kind of quilt! I’m super happy with this top and I can’t wait to get it quilted! Quilting suggestions? I’ll be doing it on my domestic machine and I could generously be described as a newborn quilter. lol.
I grew up on the coast and I absolutely love the beach. The sound of the waves, the feel of the sand between my toes, it’s the ultimate recharge place for me. And y’all, because of Covid we hadn’t been to the beach for over a year! 13 months to be exact. Well, I decided that it couldn’t be put off any longer! I did a bit of research and the closest beach to us is Corpus Christi. And wouldn’t you know it? Just on the other side of Corpus is a state park! It’s like it was meant to be. lol.
Mustang Island State Park is about 4 hours from us which is a doable drive. I didn’t want to risk staying in a hotel, nor did I want to deal with food and packing, so we decided to do it as a day trip. Which was an insane idea but I regret nothing!
The beach was perfection! I’m actually wondering if they brought in sand after the last hurricane because the sand was so soft and pristine! Mia was beyond thrilled at the giant sand box. lol. We picked up some sand toys at Target curbside and it was totally worth the $10.
I think spring is my favorite time to go to the beach. It’s warm enough to feel like you’re at the beach, but cool enough that my kids are happy just to get their feet wet so I don’t have to worry about them in the water.
No lie, the drive back was brutal, especially because we got stuck behind an accident in San Antonio for a hour. Literally. But it was so worth it! We basically drove for 4.5 hours (we had to make a pit stop to see the World’s Largest Pecan in Seguin!), played at the beach for 3.5 hours, then drove for 5 hours back home. I *may* have limited snacks and water bottles in the car so that we could avoid potty breaks. lol.
What can I say, I’m a sucker for cheesy roadside attractions!
We are fairly cautious when it comes to Covid and I went round and round in my head as to if we should do this or not. But it seemed very safe. We drove, so no exposure there. I did stop to get gas, but I get gas here too. And once we got to the beach, it wasn’t crowded at all so we had no problem keeping to ourselves. I think there was at least 20 feet between us and the next closest person. Plus, the wind was blowing very strongly and the sun was bleaching everything.
And now that I know we can do it in a (very long) day, we might go again the next time we have a day off!
So, this will not come as a shock to any of you, but I am a tad bit crazy. I’ve decided that we should visit a new state park each month, but we already got derailed by snowpocalypse in February. Never fear! I decided we could catch up and visit 2 state parks over spring break. 🙂
First up was Longhorn Cavern State Park. We are on the cautious end of the spectrum when it comes to Covid precautions, so my rules for spring break were that it had to be outdoors, and we had to be able to get there in a few hours so we didn’t have to stop for a potty break. We’re just north of Austin, so this was an easy 1.5 hour drive.
I wish I had more pics, but I was a bit busy with the kidlets. lol. But this state park was super cool! We booked the cave tour and I highly recommend it. It was a little on the pricey side as far as state parks go, but it’s the only way you’re allowed in the cave and the cave was super cool. There are steps down into (and back out of) the cave, but the actual cave itself was fairly flat. I threw a baby carrier in my backpack and I was glad to have it! Mia totally could have walked the entire way (1.1 miles), but she was a bit slower than the group and also I was terrified that she would try to touch one of the cave walls. Now I just need to practice so I can wear her on my back instead of my front!
They cannot require masks anymore (Thanks Texas! ::sigh::) but they do highly recommend them. Luckily, the group on our tour was all wearing masks, plus we stayed at the very back of the group so that we could have a little more space. That said, the group entering the cave when we exited was nearly all maskless. Honestly, I’m not sure what I would have done if that had been our group… Maybe skip it? I hate that people are so selfish.
Still, super fun easy day trip!
Boy. February was a doozy this year. Maybe I’ll write about it, maybe not. lol. Let’s just say that I’ve decided I’m never moving anywhere where it snows regularly! Still, I got a fair amount done.
Which brings us to the March goals…
We made it through January! Yay! Let’s see how we did with the January goals.
How about some February goals…
I have to go! The monsters are demanding more food. lol. They’ve only had 400 snacks this morning so clearly they’re starving. hahahaha.
I’m making progress! I just finished the 3rd of 4 parts to my king size hexagon quilt.
And my beautiful first born held it up for a pic!
In case you missed the earlier post, here’s the full first half which I currently have up as my design wall.
Then I sorted all of the remaining hexies into 12 piles so I can hopefully finish this bad boy up! When I first started this project, it seemed like I would never finish, but now I think there’s hope!
I am a woman on a mission. I am determined to finish the center of the hexies this year. At that point, I’m going to have to make some decisions about borders, applique, etc., but I can’t let that keep me from making progress. And on that front, I finally finished the 3rd round of blocks! Now I am a busy bee stitching those 12 blocks together at which point I will sort the remaining hexagons into the 4th (and final!) round of blocks.
Here’s my pretty pile right before I started sewing them together! Once I get that done, I plan to switch my attention to Xander’s caterpillar quilt. I really want to get it to the same stage as Mia’s butterfly quilt. I got 2 fruit blocks done for it this month, and I only have 3 to go. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can. And yes, I know that plums aren’t teal, but there no teal fruit we do what we’ve got to do. lol.
And! I just committed to (and purchased!) some navy fabric for an inner border between the center of the quilt and the pinwheels.
It’s going to require some math (not my favorite thing!) but I think it’s going to look awesome.
Then! I think I’m going to reward myself and spend some quality time with my ice cream soda blocks. 🙂
Mia has a massive backlog of school work, so I had planned to use today to catch up. But then I woke up and it was absolutely gorgeous outside. The kind of day that it’s a crime to waste. So I made a snap decision to pack the kids up and drive to Mother Neff State Park! Literally, we were walking out the door within 20 minutes of me checking to see if they had available reservations. lol.
It’s such a fun park! It’s a little over an hour away, but I dug out the kids’ headphones and tossed their iPads in the backseat so it was blissfully quiet. I will say that one of the unexpected perks of virtual school is that everyone has their own iPad. lol.
And once we got there it was perfection! It’s for sure not stroller accessible, but I threw a mai tai in my backpack and crossed my fingers that I wouldn’t have to use it. And Mia was such a trooper! We didn’t hike for 10 miles or anything, but she did great over a pretty uneven “rustic” trail. Our first stop was this cool cave. More of an overhang, but I’m not complaining.
Then we followed the well marked trail to a little pond. So much fun! We hiked back to the cave since that was where we had parked and had our little picnic. Pro tip: leave most of the food in the car. 1. You don’t have to haul it around. 2. It’s very motivating for kids when they find out that they have to hike back before they can eat. lol. (I did have an emergency stash of apple sauce pouches that I let them have on the walk.)
I snuck in some time to work on my hexies, naturally. lol. I remember when the twins were born and I wondered if I would ever be able to take all 3 kids on adventures by myself. It was so easy when it was just Kate and I and I was worried that I would never get back to that. I am happy to report that there is “life after twins.” lol. And I wouldn’t change a single second of it. 🙂
We had a snow day yesterday! Like for real snow! Generally speaking, it “snows” here once ever 2 or 3 years. And by snow I mean, there’s a bit of sleet and we just tell our kids it’s snow and to go our and play with it. But yesterday we had 2 inches of actual, honest to goodness, snow! So while my kids were outside getting hypothermia (we live in Texas and thus have zero winter gear) I finished December Daily. 🙂
This year I was torn between getting a travelers notebook or sticking with my usual square format and in the end I decided to split the difference and make my own book that was 4×6, portrait. I love love love the look of full page photos in December Daily, but there is zero chance I will pay for enlargements for this project so this seemed like a good compromise.
I used the December Daily kit from Citrus Twist, the December kit from Freckled Fawn, as well as my (extensive) stash. I really love having a kit! As for the construction of this book, it involved a whole lot of tape. Honestly, I wish I had given up on the idea of making my own travelers notebook and had just whole punched it and used some binder rings, but it’s finished so I’m not complaining. 🙂
This December was pretty crazy around here, what with overseeing virtual schooling and all, so I made a deliberate choice to simplify the process. It’s not my favorite book (I like more variety and embellishments) but I finished it in January and not September so I’m counting that as a win. 🙂
I tried to be really intentional during the month to make sure that I had a portrait orientation picture (I tend more towards landscape photos) and a specific story to tell. It really paid off!
I did a mix of crafty pics and pics of my kids because it’s my project and I’ll do what I like. lol. I tried really hard to eliminate choices so that it would be quick to finish. Each page had a plain lined journaling card, a strip of washi, some tiny word stickers, and a circular number.
I also tried very hard to lure the tween from her cave so that she was included in some pics. Easier said than done. lol.
All in all, I’m quite pleased with how it turned out! Next year I think I’ll go back to being a bit more creative with it, but for right now when I’m soooooooooo far behind with all of my scrappy projects, it feels so good to cross one off of the list. Now if I could just get caught up with Project Life and the 12×12 scrapbooks…
I was envisioning more of a snowflake craft extravaganza when I thought about a January seasonal celebration, but then Epiphany! I usually try (and fail) to make a king cake for Mardi Gras. But when I was looking up ideas for epiphany this year, king cake kept coming up. Then it hit me, KING cake= 3 KINGS! Duh!
Usually my cake is tasty but ugly. My dough is just never right. But this year, I went straight to my favorite baking recipe site: King Arthur Flour. You guys, if you’re not using their recipes, you are missing out! They are so easy to follow and they never disappoint.
So this year I kneaded it waaaaaay longer than I normally do and it turned out so good! It rolled out into an actual rectangle JUST LIKE IT WAS SUPPOSED TO! And it was absolutely delicious. I didn’t roll it out quite big enough so it baked into a bit of a blob, but there was an actual spiral with filling inside. And it was soooooo good. I just need to remember to order some purple sugar sprinkles. My just-add-red-food-coloring-to-the-blue-sprinkles-plan didn’t ::quite:: work out the way I had planned, but the kids didn’t complain. 🙂