Really Random Thursday, 4/18/19

Last Friday morning was school open house for Ella and Gabe. Ella's room was really cool--the teachers had spent a lot of time showcasing all the student work.

The kids study famous artists and then do their own interpretation. We were really impressed with Ella's pre-kindergarten classroom. One of these is her interpretation of something by Kandinsky--I think it is the one just above and to the right of her head.

This section of the classroom had black lights so the paintings by the kids were really cool.

Self portrait:

In Gabe's first grade class, they had to make their version of this piece by Matisse and then give it a name.

He also had to write about "long ago" and "now." Quite interesting:

And he built a robot, Kevin.

Saturday was the quilt auction for third world relief. I only went for part of the day. I still don't have a lot of energy to be around crowds of people. But it was fun chatting with Tanya while she knit some socks--and gave me some excellent instruction as well.

I didn't make a quilt for donation this year. However, my friend, Barb, made an opportunity quilt (for every $1 ticket you had a chance to win) using the my "My Swedish Ex" pattern. That was fun.  This isn't Barb--this is the person selling the tickets and she was a good sales person!

A couple of weeks ago, Mark was working at the thrift store. He had built a sign for the donation drop-off location, which included a doorbell. The bell rang. He went out back. And the person dropping things off recognized him--because she reads this blog. So if you are that kind person who chatted with him, please leave a comment. And I'd LOVE to meet you one of these days!

Speaking of the thrift store, the manager, Ilone, makes the most inventive decorations, and changes them regularly. Isn't this cool?!

A few months ago, while Mark was working on the renovations at the thrift store, which included lots of cool barn wood walls, I saw this on Instagram, and asked if he could recreate this in our laundry room--on the two walls of the pantry.

He had access to a pile of barn wood. I went along with him the other day to stock up.Don't you love that green paint on some of the boards?

Before:

And so it begins:

During:

And done:

Ella's first comment when she saw it: "What HAPPENED in here??" She likes it, though. Whew!

I'm so happy with it. I've decided against painting the door kelly green--our laundry room is quite small. And I think the touches of green on some of the boards are just the perfect pop of color.

We ran a DNA test on my father, using a different company than the one I used. My results were surprising in that there was a high percentage of British. It was a mystery. But check this out:

So the mystery remains...

I've been making a lot of selvage pincushions. So much fun. (Expect to see an extensive post one of these days.)  I had made one for my friend, Lauren, and stuffed it with unscented kitty litter rather than crushed walnut shells. Lauren says she is happy with it so far. She sent me this picture of its daily use. Thanks, Lauren. :)

This is just a sneak peek of something to come...

And something that Mark sent me. Hmmm.

Really Random Thursday, 4/11/19

Last week I was lucky  enough to spend some time with a friend I met on Instagram, Patty Joy, aka @soxtherapist. She lives in Rochester, Minnesota, but has a daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren living here in Fresno. We met at Starbucks where we had a chance to chat, and because she is an expert sock knitter (with a great pattern on Ravelry called Fish Lips Kiss), she walked me through the heel portion of knitting socks. We will see if I can make some progress before her next visit to Fresno. :)

Nope. Not answering this call.

Ella and I spent some time looking through a scrapbook I made about Aaron and Christa's engagement and wedding. She had fun trying to figure out who all the people were. After all, these pictures were from nearly 20 years ago!

While Christa was out of town and speaking at a youth conference, I picked kids up Friday morning and dropped them off at school.

Well, not the one on the left.  He drove his own car to work. :)

Then Janice and I headed to Lindsay for the Best of the Valley quilt show. For some reason I only photographed a couple of quilts, other than those Janice and I entered into the show. This was Best of Show. It was absolutely spectacular!

Moonflower, Molly Y. Hamilton-McNally, Tehachapi, CA

I loved seeing this quilt, designed by Shelly Pagliai, one of my Grubers friends. I texted her pictures as soon as I saw it because I knew she would enjoy seeing that her quilt design had won a ribbon.

The Mad Hatter's Flower Garden, Diane Ruby, Visalia, CA

I'm not a huge fan of Halloween quilts, but this was such fun. If I had the skills, I would totally make this one. And it had just the perfect amount of bling-y crystals.

13 Days of Halloween, Janice Minyard, Los Osos, CA

I entered five quilts, four of which received ribbons!

The Prayer and Finding the Way to My Heart each received a 3rd place ribbon.

Friendship Circles and Kaleidoskop each received Honorable Mention. 

Janice's gorgeous quilt received a well-deserved 2nd place!

Big Purple Machine didn't receive any ribbons, but it was fun to see it hanging in the show.

Mark had helped Charlotte with some kind of fundraiser at her school, and was rewarded with tickets to a Fresno Grizzlies game and a date with Charlotte. They had such a good time. 

I have some new quilty shoes. 

And snapdragons are some of my favorite spring flowers.

I'm fascinated with these tattoos that look like embroidery and cross stitch! 

And finally, I hardly ever take naps during the day, but lately I've felt like this more often. How about you?