When I Was Young

My daughter's kindergarten class sent home "parent homework" on Friday, and like every good student, I sat down to do it the night before it was due :) Each of us (mom and dad) are supposed to draw a picture to illustrate a story of that begins "When I was young . . . ." It goes along with a book the class is reading. Both my kids love hearing stories from when I was little, and I tell them all the time. They have their favorites (like when the dying bat fell smack in the middle of our picnic table or when my Uncle Terry thought there was a spider on the wall and--in his attempts to kill it--kicked a hole clear through to the next room). But, when I got this assignment, I immediately got a picture of the story I wanted to illustrate and knew that I wanted to do it in fabric. So, I dug through my stash to create a picture of the summers when I would pick berries around my grandma's cottage:



I really liked how this turned out. When I showed it to my daughter, she asked if this was a competition we could win (she likes winning), so I think she liked it, too. I've offered to accept a commission from my husband to make his. We'll see.

Fruits of My Labor Day

It's only halfway through the holiday weekend, and I've finished the fall swap quilt. Here 'tis:



And, here's the quilting--swirling loops with the word "fall" secretly included:



I had fun on this little project. I've been listening to Antonia Fraser's Love and Louis XIV: The Women in the Life of the Sun King, which is fairly engrossing, while working on the quilt. I think most of the appeal has been to secret myself away in a world where I get to sew and everyone speaks in a plummy brit-accent. What a perfect world! Now, off to work on my next BOAF block.

This is turning into a dream weekend. I finished a co-authored article on Friday before I left work--freeing my weekend for a rainy, sewy, laundry-y, movie-y, reading-y time with the family. Plus, we had Mole at our fav Mexican restaurant on Friday and now Tikka Masala from our fav Indian restaurant tonight. And the US Open is on. Yee-haw!! Life is good! Enjoy your labor day.