I’m just too busy to craft, y’all. Thankfully, I’m busy with good things, so I’ll keep the tiny violin-playing to a minimum, but man, I’m itching for some uninterrupted time in the craft room!
I did schedule a time to drop off the Penguin Party quilt in the upcoming week! And, whilst digging said quilt out of the UFO pile, the Layer Cake Crepe quilt fell out as well and I realized I also had the backing for it, so I think I’m going to drop it off as well. Two Christmas quilts!
I did sneak in time on the Husband Christmas Socks and we are almost to the point where I’ll start the toe decreases. SO CLOSE.
Other than that, not much crafting time. A lot of work is going into Band Boosters right now, and then I was asked if I’d be on the board for another parent support committee, so I was helping out with that until Michael asked me to decline the invitation. [insert sad face here] Lots is happening in my church callings as well with the upcoming Linger Longers, Halloween party, and non-stop social media duties. Busy, busy. Autumn is so much fun, but fun takes A LOT of work!
Cross Country is keeping not only Nathaniel, but Michael and me, very busy as well, but that’s normal. Nathaniel set a PR yesterday, so he’s quite pleased. We then went to watch his friend perform in a marching band competition and it was a nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon.
Things will calm down after a couple of weeks; once Cross Country season ends I’ll get my Saturdays back and that really helps me balance my life. I like the uninterrupted time with Michael and Nathaniel at those Saturday meets, but Saturdays are big work days around the house so all that work gets loaded onto weekdays and it can just feel like a lot while it’s happening. See you next week!
This last week went COMPLETELY SIDEWAYS! Lemme break it down…
Homecoming Chaos
I woke up last Sunday thinking I had homecoming completely under control. No dresses to make or hem, only a tie and corsage to purchase, and that was already done. Dinner and photos set up. This was going to be a BREEZE.
And then I went to church.
I caught up with the other two moms of the boys going to homecoming and found out that one of the boys’ dates was gluten-sensitive. The mom who had originally volunteered to host dinner at her house declared that she was really uncomfortable with feeding someone with a gluten sensitivity, and the other mom, who was already taking the photos, was super busy that day and also not completely comfortable with the responsibility of providing a gluten-free dining experience. So I volunteered to take over. I have a handful of friends with gluten intolerances whom I have fed in the past, so I knew I could handle it.
Alright, I could host a dinner for five teenagers. The theme of the dance was something like “Nights in Rio,” so I decided we’d go with something that would be easy to make gluten-free: Mexican-ish, which I could pass off, in the most white bread of ways, as Brazilian/South American. My husband loves to grill, so he said he’d make carne asada and fajita veggies. The other moms volunteered to bring the cilantro rice and fruit platter, and the grandmother of one of the boys heard of the theme and insisted I take a strawberry horchata drink mix home with me to serve them, which I thought was the cutest thing ever. That left me to prepare the beans, taco toppings, tortillas (wheat and corn), and desserts (which Renaissance took over). Renaissance made her now-famous pumpkin spice cupcakes (not gluten-free) because Nathaniel requested them, and then she also made Brazilian brigadeiros and pineapple-coconut sorbet.
I was thinking about what it would be like to be a teenage girl who just learned that she’d be having dinner at her date’s house, and I decided I wanted to make it a little fancier for them than “dinner at home” because, c’mon, it’s HOMECOMING. I decided to keep leaning into the “Nights in Rio” theme and turn my dining room into an elegant Brazilian(ish) restaurant.
I sent out a request on my ward’s Relief Society Facebook group to borrow anything that would support my vision and my sisters in Christ did not disappoint! Linens, serving ware, lighting, florals, greenery…I had ordered a few things from Amazon to decorate with, but ended up not using any of it because my dear friends came through so generously, down to the fairy lights and LED candles! This was SUCH a fun experience, and a reminder that we are all so much better off within a loving community. These ladies were so joyfully committed to giving these dear boys of ours a beautiful homecoming experience from start to finish, and I love them even more for all their help.
So, yeah, kind of chaotic, but it all worked out in the end.
BUT WAIT, I’m not finished!
Because I said CHAOS.
In my #craftygoals post I mentioned that I almost took the Penguin Party Quilt to the quilter’s house this week, but didn’t end up getting to that task.
You know why that was?
Oh, I’ll tell you. Because, in addition to setting up this charming homecoming dinner at home idea, I’m also the president of the band boosters and homecoming means a parade and halftime performance and all the logistics that go into that. But whatever, I’m old hat at this by now.
And then Wednesday happened.
I was working on the homecoming dinner plans and getting ready to reach out to the quilter to set up a time to drop off the Penguin Party quilt, when my phone buzzed with a text. I picked up my phone and saw that it was the Band Booster Board Members’ group chat.
. Secretary: My son just told me the homecoming football game is canceled tomorrow. ???
Me: LoL if that’s true because I just can’t .
. Secretary: He said the other team canceled the rest of their season.
I’ll spare you the rest of the panicked text conversation, but yes, ten minutes later there was an all-district alert sent out stating that our homecoming football game was called off because the other team had ended their season. THE DAY BEFORE our homecoming football game, we found out the opposing football team had canceled the rest of their season.
The school district made the decision to keep the parade on the books and move all the football-game-related stuff (homecoming royalty, marching band halftime performance) to the next football game, so we adjusted a few things surrounding the parade and went to work. The next day and a half involved a lot of texts, waiting for confirmations, and a general feeling of anxiety. But it went fine! Woo hoo!
Parade? Check.
Game? Canceled.
Dinner? Check. (So good…the carne asada smelled AMAZING and I think strawberry horchata is one of my new favorite things!)
Dance? Check.
Wandering around the house on Sunday in a comatose state? Double-check.
An excellent homecoming week, despite the obvious hiccups!
Crafting
As you can guess, not a lot of time for crafting. But since the Husband Christmas Socks live in a portable knitting bag, I have managed to sneak in a few rows here and there. We’re getting into the home stretch with these, I’m so excited!
I am really pining for some time to work on Rachel’s graduation quilt, but I don’t even remember the last time I was in the craft room.
I’m looking at my calendar for the upcoming week and I don’t think I’m going to find much time to work on creative pursuits this week, either. I need to break down all the homecoming decorations and return them, and it looks like this is THE week for planning meetings and rehearsals for a bunch of other stuff. A big life takes a lot of work! See you next week…maybe I’ll have finished up the socks by then?
No pictures because I’m feeling protective of our guests and don’t want to splash other people’s kids’ photos across the internet, and because the Husband Christmas Socks are a gift.
I was sick for almost two weeks in September, so I lost out on a lot of creativity time, AND THEN there was homecoming, which took up a lot of time, which subtracted from sewing and knitting. To be fair, homecoming prep was a very creative endeavor, so I’m not upset about it; I had a grand ol’ time working on homecoming!
Debrief: September #craftygoals:
Rachel’s Graduation Signature Quilt: I finished the backing with all the signatures. And I sewed up the individual pencil crayons and drawing lines.
Husband Christmas Socks: The goal was to get through the heel and maybe some of the foot. I am definitely into the foot! Woo hoo, Me! I wish I could show you pictures of these!
Penguin Party Quilt: The goal was to drop it off at the quilter’s house. It ALMOST happened. So close. I’ll explain more in my end-of-the-week post.
Wonky Stars Baby Quilt: The goal, which was really just a wish by the beginning of last month, was to finish it and gift it. I still haven’t touched it. I think I may need to release my desire to make this project a reality.
October #craftygoals:
Time-Sensitive Things That Need Working on ASAP:
Penguin Party Quilt: Drop it off at the quilter’s house. It’s so late at this point that I may not make the Christmas deadline. Ugh!
Things to Work on After the ASAP Projects:
Machine Stitching:
Rachel’s Graduation Signature Quilt: I could conceivably finish piecing this quilt this month. I don’t know if I’m going to quilt it or send it out.
Knitting:
Husband Christmas Socks: I want these done before the end of the month and blocked. No one’s going to die if it doesn’t happen, but I’d have a lot of peace in my heart if I didn’t have a Christmas gift looming on my mind when November starts.
Summary of October’s Crafty Goals:
Penguin Party Quilt: Drop quilt off at the quilter’s house.
Rachel’s Graduation Signature Quilt: Finish the quilt top and move forward with the quilting. Possibly finish completely.
Husband Christmas Socks: Hopefully finish and block.
The school year is massively underway! Life is operating at a breakneck, nonstop pace!
Cross Country
We hosted the Cross Country team dinner before this week’s meet, and it was so much fun! If I could do my parenting all over again, I would have pushed for every one of my kids to run cross country. That group of kids and their parents are just the best sort of human beings. They all work hard, they’re all polite, and they’re a no-drama group who are always thankful for anything you do for them. I love that Nathaniel runs cross country.
We served a pasta bar with amazing garlic breadsticks, and Renaissance spent three days making custom decorated sugar cookies for the team. Nathaniel sure has a sister who loves him!
The meet went well. I always enjoy cheering with the other parents as we move from spot to spot on the course. I think Nathaniel finished fourth on his team, and, compared to this time last year, he is running faster. He’s not at a personal record (PR) pace just yet, but he’s steadily improving.
Relief Society Activities, Now Featuring Rachel
Rachel is serving on the Relief Society Activities Committee and she conducted the activity that was held this past week. She was adorable. It’s so funny to me that she doesn’t really like public speaking, but she’ll soldier through because, while she doesn’t like doing it, she fully realizes it’s not going to kill her to speak in front of people. Sometimes that’s the healthiest mindset for getting through something.
Pep Band
Another home football game, another potluck for the pep band! We did a chili and baked potato bar this time and once again had too much food left over. Better than the alternative!
It was also our Alumni Night, where we invited any and all band alumni back to play with the band for funsies. The turnout was a little smaller than we’d hoped, but Renaissance and her two band buddies decided to go and it was so cute to see both Nathaniel and Ren playing in the same band. It was a nice evening.
Rachel’s Graduation Quilt
Haven’t touched it. Not one bit. When would I have had the time?
Husband Christmas Socks
Still slogging away on ’em. They look good; it just takes a long time to knit socks for man-sized feet.
Gardening
We’re trying to tidy things up in the yard before winter arrives. We’ve cleared the area where I want to plant the bulbs, and then Michael offered to build me a raised bed there, so at the moment it’s a bit of a mess. AND…our plans for next weekend have changed drastically, so I don’t know if we’re going to get this project finished anytime soon. Eek!
There’s another busy week ahead of us, but it’s mostly really fun stuff! It’ll be fun to share with you next week!
Fear not, dear readers, ’twas only a cold that kept me from checking in for the last two weeks. The Boy brought it home after only one week at school, and Renaissance and I caught it within three days and it flattened us for nine days straight. Hopefully we’re now done with back-to-school illnesses. One and done. ONE AND DONE, YOU HEAR ME?!
(Except that I just re-read my last check-in post and remembered that we had a mild virus in the week before we had the cold…TWO AND DONE, YOU HEAR ME?!)
Rachel’s Graduation Quilt
I did manage to find a little bit of time to work on her quilt! I added the top and bottom borders on the signature backing, so that side is officially done!
And we also have fully assembled pencil crayons and drawing lines for the front of the quilt. I stuck them up on the design wall and Renaissance walked into the craft room shortly thereafter and just busted up laughing.
“Those pencil crayons are OBSCENELY large!”
And yeah, they are. Almost four feet tall. I’ve never made a quilt like this before and it is weird to have elements that big. I’m sure it will look amazing when it’s complete. Which shouldn’t be too long from now.
I mean…then I’ll have to quilt it and who knows how long I’ll drag my feet on that?!?! Sigh.
Husband Christmas Socks
The heel is completely turned, the gusset is finished, and I am firmly entrenched in the knitting of the foot at this point. I think we’re going to make it, guys.
I love knitting when the autumn vibes set in! It’s so satisfying to work with wool when the view includes crimson leaves peeking out from fog. Michael bought me a pumpkin spice creamer at the store last week, and I’ve been adding it to my rooibos chai in the morning and it’s just *perfection.* A warm cinnamon cuppa, hearty wool clicking on the needles and wispy fog make for the best kind of mornings.
Back-to-School
The first home football game (and pep band potluck and performance) is in the books! Everything went well, it was fantastic to see everyone again and we’re sounding really good for so early in the season! It was our big hometown rival game and we were winning until we weren’t, sad face.
It was a really good game though, so hopefully that bodes well for the rest of the season.
There have also been a handful of Cross Country meets and invitationals. We went to the farthest-away invitational this past weekend, which required a ferry ride!
It was a lovely day; there was no cell service where we were, so it was a day of conversation and walking, which is always a nice break from this crazy digital age that we find ourselves held hostage in. I nestled under my Florabelle Hexie Stripe quilt while the morning was chilly and damp, happy to chat with other parents while knitting away on a decoy sock. We ate wonderful bagels from a super cute local bagel shop, and the kids tumbled over each other as they laughed and waited for their assigned races. By afternoon it was warm and sunny and we were ready to cheer for everyone as they ran a beautiful PNW course lined with cedar trees and lush ferns. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day.
Autumn is Here
The weather is lovely right now, a perfect blend of foggy, rainy days interspersed with warm and sunny days to dry everything out for a little while before heading back into overcast. The leaves are starting to turn in earnest, and I’ve officially had to start wearing a hoodie in the mornings. Such a pretty time of year. Hopefully it translates to some more crafting time soon, but back-to-school is a busy time of year, so let’s just keep our expectations low through October.
I’ll get caught up on posting the House & Holiday Plan posts soon.
Here we are at the Labor Day weekend, firmly entrenched in September. School has begun and the weather was cool and rainy for most of the last week, with that lovely wet pavement smell that makes you reach for a hoodie. Well, hello there, autumn, it’s nice to see you peeking around the corner. If I remember correctly, we’ll cycle through at least one more round of warm weather before the Pacific Northwest truly heads into its Hoa Hoa Hoa aesthetic.
There was some progress on various projects this week, but I think the girls and I caught a mild virus for 3-4 days that made us feel lethargic and headache-y. It’s one thing when I’m the only one feeling sluggish, and it’s a completely different thing when, one by one, all three of us experience the exact same symptoms in a cascading course of events. I used my sluggish days to work on the House & Holiday Plan because I could just sit in a chair and putter around my office desk and actually achieve something productive in spite of the raging headache I had.
Rachel’s Graduation Quilt
I did work on this for one 45-minute work session this week. My knee was twinging just a little bit afterwards. I’m going to experiment with this a little bit more in the next couple of weeks and see if it’s healing or needs some extra help. I once had “unexplained” hip pain that seemed to have come out of nowhere and I was getting really worried about it until a friend pointed out, four days later, that I’d slammed the side door of the van shut on myself at one of my kids’ sports practices, could that have been where it started? So I’m wondering if I did something to my knee and have just forgotten about it. Because it is getting better, as long as I respect it.
But yeah, the pencil crayon tips of the quilt blocks are trimmed now. Yay.
Husband Christmas Socks
I finished knitting the heel flap! Time to turn the heel and then get into the wonky business of knitting the gusset. AND THEN it’s a much easier knit because the pattern is only knit on the top half of the foot and it’s just normal stockinette on the sole. Goes faster once we reach that stage.
Back-to-School
The Boy is back in the school building. It seems to be going fine. I already had to run a forgotten thing down to the school when it was forgotten at home, but I’ve decided to mentally give two free passes for that sort of thing per semester, so it’s acceptable.
Back-to-Home
Renaissance’s summer break BEGAN this past week, so she has no classes for almost the entire month of September. She asked me to help her plan a personal curriculum to work on during her break so she can practice some of the things she’d like to be better at. This week’s theme was flavor combinations and she has been baking up a storm all week making (tea-free) London Fog Custard Tarts, Lemon-Peach Almond Cupcakes, and Coconut Lime Tres Leches cake. I think the London Fog Tarts are one of my most favorite things that she’s ever made, OH MY GOODNESS they were so tasty.
House & Holiday Plan
Um, this thing has taken on a life of its own!
I didn’t expect such an enthusiastic response to my post about it, but online friends and IRL friends are clambering onto the wagon and it just brings me so much joy to be able to talk about this fun little obsession with so many people.
It’s weird; I can see the traffic that’s coming in on that post, but there’s not a lot of tangible signs that it’s popular, but then while I was at church today multiple women stopped me to gush about how much they love the idea of getting going with holiday cleaning and planning right now, and then they told me what they were up to in their homes for the past week.
I am very inspired by all the work these ladies are getting done in their own homes! And talking about Christmas prep in the halls between classes?! Yes, please! Always more of that!
Loving the Rain
We had some amazing days of rain this last week and it was lovely. You forget how awesome a drizzly day is until one finally shows up after weeks and weeks of sunshine. As luck would have it, that was also the day Renaissance was figuring out her London Fog flavor proportions, so the girls and I really leaned into the whole cozy-tea-while-watching-the-rain aesthetic and it was perfection.
Rain tapping on the windows, something delicious coming out of the oven, warm mugs in our hands while we laughed over something Rachel was enthusiastically over-explaining…it was a very good September afternoon.
As much as I loved that rain, I do kindly request that it holds off until November, though. There’s a lot of fun outdoor stuff that I’d like to do in September and October, and it’s way more enjoyable when the sun is shining.
Please, Mother Nature, give us pleasant autumn weather. Just keep the rain tucked away for a little while longer…
We’ve done it, y’all: We’ve arrived in the ‘Ber months! Woo hoo! It’s all about the cinnamon from now until the end of the year!
Debrief: August #craftygoals
Rachel’s Graduation Signature Quilt: The signature backing just needs its top and bottom borders, and legitimate work has begun on the front of the quilt. My knee started acting up the last two weeks, so I haven’t done more with it since. Bah.
Husband Christmas Socks: Got to the heel of the second sock yesterday!
Smitten EPP Quilt: This wasn’t technically on the August list of goals, but I pivoted to it when my knee started acting up and I’m happy to report I’m almost done with attaching all the rows to each other!
September #craftygoals
I’m looking at my calendar for September and I’m hesitant to commit to the idea of lots of crafty progress, given how much awesome back-to-school stuff we’ll have going on much of the month. However, if I were to have some #craftywishes, they’d be:
Penguin Party Quilt: Drop it off at the quilter’s house!
Wonky Stars Baby Quilt: This needs finishing, ASAP.
Rachel’s Graduation Signature Quilt: Keep chugging along, knowing that I cannot start another project until it’s done.
Husband Christmas Socks: Obviously, finish the thing. Realistically, get through the heel, maybe some of the foot?
If I can get through all of that, and it’s highly unlikely that I will, then I can recommence working on the FQS Sewcialites Cherry Limeade Quilt. The Moda Blockheads sew along is starting up at the end of September and I so badly want to join in on the fun, but I know I shouldn’t; I have way too many projects in-progress. I talk out loud about joining up, but then Renaissance rolls her eyes at me and tells me to stop because she knows that what I really want is to finish the already-begun projects and TO STOP CREATING MORE WORKS-IN-PROGRESS. Sigh.
Hopefully I have an actual finished quilt (or two!) to show you by October…I seriously don’t know, though, especially with adding the House & Holiday Plan into the mix.
Well, as far as I’m concerned, summer is pretty much over. I keep my patriotic summery decorations up through September 11th, and then it’ll be full-on autumn here in Brooketopia.
Smitten English Paper Piecing Quilt
I gave my knee another week of rest, just to be safe, and spent my creative time working on the Smitten Quilt. I am thisclose to being done with attaching all the rows into one cohesive quilt top! So exciting!
Then I’ll need to attach the side triangles and two borders and the top will be complete. I am hoping to hand-quilt this one, so I talked to Renaissance and Rachel about the idea of me setting it up in the TV Room so that anyone could put some stitches in when they pleased and the two of them were intrigued. Fingers crossed, it would speed up the process and I love the idea of all of us quilting it together.
Rachel came downstairs one day while I had the two halves of the Smitten quilt laid out on the TV Room’s floor and immediately yelled out, “PLAGIARISM!” and ran out of the room. I yelled that it wasn’t plagiarism because I started sewing my Smitten quilt years before she started sewing hers, to which she replied, “I’m the one committing plagiarism!” as she dashed up the stairs to the craft room. Turns out she really liked one of my blocks and decided to shamelessly copy it in her own Smitten quilt. Ha ha.
I don’t know if I’ll keep pushing forward with this in the upcoming week, but it would be smart if I did!
Husband Christmas Socks
I put in some solid effort on them this week and I’m so close to starting the heel! I think I have like two rows left to knit before I start the heel. Woo hoo!
Back-to-School
It’s upon us and I’m about to get pretty busy with band shenanigans. We held an ice cream social during this last week and it was attended pretty well. It’s the first time we’ve done something like ahead of the school year, so I’m hoping it was enough of a success to warrant repeating it in future years.
House & Holidays Plan
It’s here! It’s here! Today is the start of the 2026 House & Holidays Plan! I can finally let all my Christmas joy explode out into the world and rain down like confetti throughout the house! I’m toying with the idea of creating a separate series of posts for this this year because I really like the idea of hunkering and going all in on this. I’ve dabbled with the HHP since 2004, never really ever finishing it completely, and I appreciate the ways it prepares and organizes my holiday season. Every year I go big in the first few weeks and then lose interest, so we’ll see how long I can keep it up this year.
Week #1 is “Planning and Paperwork,” which has me cleaning up the office areas and establishing my Christmas Activity Center. I’m hoping to start working on that once I publish this post.
Farewell, Summer
So we’re buttoning up summer and getting ready to immerse ourselves into autumn. Aren’t seasons just the best?!?! I love that the landscape just changes for funsies throughout the year. Enjoy this last week of real summer, seeing that next weekend is Labor Day and everything will become orange and pumpkin spice the morning after.
No complaints here, but I’m trying to be responsible until then and remain present in the moment and the moment is summer. Wish me luck!
Hello lovelies! We’re already at the last full week of August! This summer flew by at such a clip! I’ve been fighting the back-to-school vibes and the alluring pull of autumn season-core, but I grow weary of the battle and will soon concede to the apple and pumpkin overlords. I got a big ol’ hit of yearning for all things fall yesterday, and actually felt excitement about it, rather than dread and overwhelm. I’m glad we’ve been trying to fit in everything watermelon and corn on the cob these past few weeks because it’s felt like a good final embrace of late summer.
Rachel’s Graduation Signature Quilt
Shout out to my dear friend Chrissy for saving the day so I could keep sewing this week! My printer is out of magenta ink, so it won’t print ANYTHING AT ALL. I designed these pencil crayon quilt blocks for the front of Rachel’s quilt and wanted to do them using foundation paper piecing, but couldn’t print the papers and it was going to cost $30 to print them at FedEx Kinko’s, which I wasn’t willing to spend. So I reached out to my friend at 8:45 on Sunday night and asked if she could print them, and she said to head on over. Who cares if she was packing to leave on a camping trip the following morning?! She had my back. And then we shared the hot goss in her driveway for an hour while slapping at mosquitoes biting our ankles. Excellent summer fun. Five stars.
I was able to get a good start on these blocks on Monday morning and was really cruising along until I wasn’t. I have the pencil crayon tips mostly completed, but then something started pulling in my knee early in the week and I’ve been resting and babying it since. I’ve been lucky that I’ve not had knee injuries, partly because I’m terrified of them, so I shut everything down anytime I feel anything amiss in those precious joints. Rest seems to be doing some good, so we might be ok. I tried stretching them a bit this morning and they’re cranky again, so I’ll probably keep things light this week, just to be extra safe.
I sew standing up. My back couldn’t handle the motion of getting up from a chair very well after my back surgery, and I found standing while sewing meant less pain for me, so that’s how I’ve been doing it for many years. I might try setting up my machine at some sort of table temporarily and see if it lessens the pressure on my knees for a couple of weeks. Maybe my back is finally strong enough to sew like a normal person again? I guess we’ll find out!
Husband Christmas Socks
I am doing really well on these! I’d say I’m at least halfway, if not two-thirds to three-quarters of the way done with the leg of the second sock.
I started a new thing this week: Listening to an audiobook while knitting. It’s pretty awesome and I really recommend it. I don’t like audiobooks whatsoever; I am not strong in the audio processing department and prefer visual anything over listening to it, so it’s a big surprise to me that this new experiment actually went well. Apparently knitting may be the missing link between my brain and the spoken word?
We’ll see if it sticks, though–this was the last week of the weird summer training schedule for The Boy, and I won’t need to stick around at his practices for an hour each morning anymore. Hopefully I can still find time to knit each day when I’m no longer forced to wait around for him.
Summer Band Concerts
YOU. GUYS. Renaissance joined a local community band and they just got done performing their series of summer concerts in the park and it was SO LOVELY. I went to every one and enjoyed them so much. The sun would set over the course of the concert and everything would end on that warm and fuzzy note of a perfect summer evening spent in a camp chair on the grass. Friends showed up to support her, too, and we’d chat between pieces, basking in the golden light and beautiful music. blissful sigh
I’m so glad she’s playing music again. I missed seeing her play in a band these past couple of years while she was busting her bootay to earn money to pay for pastry school.
Back-to-School Band Shenanigans
We’re getting close! I manned the Band Boosters table at Tip-off this last week and it was so nice to see everyone again. As luck would have it, my table was right next to the table handing out the school bus passes, so I could easily flag down freshman students as they left that table and ask if they were in band. I was able to meet and greet A LOT of the incoming freshman band babies and their families, so it was a very good day. It’s going to be a fun year with the band, I can’t wait! I’m so glad I still have an excuse to go to the high school football games, even if I don’t have a football player in our home; it’s just such an autumn thing that I love so much. There are few things that feel more like autumn to me than a Friday night football game, the pep band playing in the stands, and our community cheering on its youngsters.
Awaiting the Apples and Preparing for Pumpkins
I didn’t do any of the things I was thinking of doing in the garden. There’s still time, but I’m starting to doubt any of it is going to happen. My cranky knee made things difficult and gardening tends to be hard on the feet and legs. We did enjoy some homemade watermelon sorbet, though, which is peak “August in a bowl.” I might try to sneak in a batch of strawberry ice cream this week, just for the sake of savoring the last days of summer.
The Ward Activities Committee had its end of the year planning meeting this morning and we talked all about sunflowers, apples, pumpkins and Christmas, so the autumn and Christmas vibes are definitely getting their little feet through the door. I also had dinner with my aunt and granny a few nights ago and I might set up a crafting project to do with my granny sometime this fall, which I think would be so awesome.
Dinner prep calls. Happy last week of August, friends!
It’s that blissful time of year when we spend quiet time at home tending to whatever happens to strike my fancy. Mornings are spent in the yard, talking to my little hummingbird friend when he hovers two feet away from my face while I’m drinking my morning tisane, and the sultry afternoons are spent in the craft room in air conditioned splendor. The squawking baby birds have flown from their nest tucked in the eaves of my neighbor’s porch, and I am low-key struggling to find new ways to get my family to eat ripe tomatoes and zucchini. I love late summer.
Rachel’s Graduation Signature Quilt
I was able to spend more time on this in the last week and the backing is almost completely done! As predicted, I ran out of the outer border fabric. I went to my local quilt shop to buy more, but they didn’t have any, so I put in an order at Fat Quarter Shop and it should be here next Saturday.
I shifted to working on the quilt front, which will be made from Riley Blake Confetti Cotton Solids that match the Crayola fabric I’m using on the back. I’m almost done cutting that fabric; hopefully I can piece the top this coming week? (Let’s be realistic, it’ll probably take three weeks…I don’t know why, but that’s just how things go in real life.)
Renaissance and I have been spending a lot of time together this summer, which has been awesome; we’ve even started watching movies and shows in the evenings in the craft room. That has been a big reason for the sudden action on Rachel’s quilt. I love this time with my girl. She works on her little projects, I work on mine, and we laugh at whatever we’re watching together. Most of the time we talk very little; it’s just nice to have another heartbeat in the room with me. I know I’ll cherish this extra time with her when I look back on this chapter.
Husband Christmas Socks
I did a lot of work on these this past week. These are the most complicated socks I’ve ever made (which isn’t saying much) and I am very proud of them. I think Michael will be very pleased with them on Christmas morning. I’m about 15% done with second sock?
Gardening
I woke up yesterday morning with an inkling to spend time in the garden and try to tame the craziness that it’s become after two years of being allowed to lie fallow. I figure, I may not get much out of it this year, but I can clean it up and it get prepped for an easier start next spring? That should work, right? Ha ha.
I came across a cute little bird’s nest tucked beneath the rhubarb stalks:
I have a cherry tomato plant that is sluggishly growing some tomatoes, and my container blackberry and raspberry plants actually produced a couple bowlfuls of berries in the past weeks. Not terrible for the zero amount of effort I put into them throughout the season.
According to my previous years’ notes, I could still sow some spinach, beets, turnips, and radishes for a little fall harvest. I’ve missed the date to sow carrots by a week or so, but I’m tempted to give them a go anyways. Wouldn’t it be lovely to get a little bit of produce out of this neglected garden before winter arrives?
I’m thinking about moving my blackberries or raspberries into the area of my garden where I usually grow beans. I think it’d benefit our family far more to grow berries than beans because we straight up like berries better and can’t get enough of them, while nobody around here is particularly passionate about beans. It seems like picking sugar over substance, though, so I’m having a somewhat Victorian moral dilemma over it all. I guess beans can grow the containers I currently have the raspberries in, so a swap wouldn’t be the end of the world…hmmm. It might not be the ethical quandary I’m turning it into in my head.
Autumn Approaches
I’m refusing to give space to autumn just yet. We’ve been so busy this summer that I haven’t felt like we’ve really gotten our share of the season! Hopefully we can find some meaningful ways to stretch out fully into these last days of summer break and be fully re-energized before school starts up again.
Methinks some homemade ice cream needs to happen, yes?
