Yogurt and Quilts

 It was warm yesterday when I picked up the girls and walked to get yogurt but not hot.  Any outing is a good thing.  I think I took very few pictures, maybe none that are worth sharing.  

Snoqualmie is trying blocking off the main street this weekend and having people come downtown to eat, but since they're not providing a lot of tables and chairs (bring your own and picnic), I'm not sure how that's going to work out.  When we passed by, the pizza place and Infusion Grill's outdoor sections were full, and this was at 3:00.  There were kids riding their scooters up and down the street, and I was a little glad my girls didn't bring theirs.  I didn't need that stress on top of a hot day, ear-pinching mask, and melting yogurt.  I did order some plastic hooks for the masks, for clipping the ear elastic to since we're going to be wearing the things every day.

Once they had finished their yogurt, we went back to the garage to hang out and play with the Barbies.  That's still holding their interest, but only if I play.  They built a gym so they could do gymnastics and rock climbing, and when one's leg came off, they set up a physical therapy room.  

They can get pretty creative with those shelf expanders that I don't know what to do with.  

A nice treat was that we saw Anna, another second grader who lives in the apartments, pass by with Lunala the cat following her.  The girls got all excited by Lunala and trapped her and adored her and just aggravated her in general.  She's the best though and let them keep her in a cardboard box for a long time.  Anna asked her mom if she could come in and play, and she could.  Her mother Mary came down and we got to have a nice conversation about school and lots of things.  

I met Mary's mother last summer at the park when she was visiting from Egypt and babysitting.  At first, I didn't know if she spoke English and we just mainly communicated by one-word sentences.  Then as we walked along with the girls a lot, I found out she was very fluent and very interesting.  Unfortunately, she had to go back home and now can't get here easily because of the travel restrictions, so even thought Mary works at home, she has a hard time keeping Anna busy.  Anne said, "I get fussy when I'm bored.  I got really fussy today and even stomped."

When Emily came, she and Mary exchanged phone numbers, so we'll try to get the girls together to play more.  I know it's hard on Anna being the only child, and the girls seem to have a good time together.  

The school plan was released yesterday, and most of the comments on the Facebook community page are pretty negative.  Despair at 6 hours of learning and being on the computer.  Fear that their child is going to miss important things.  Frustration over the scheduling.  Kindergarten and 2nd grade are on different schedules, so that's not going to be good.  The person who is supposed to working with the kids might not get to handle that long a day.  I just don't know if I can get involved, how safe it's going to be through the fall and winter.  I'd love to, but I also don't want to take chances.  Sad that things have gotten this bad.

I do have a couple of pictures from Thursday when I went by and watched them at gymnastics.

Graysen didn't notice me much, but Katherine couldn't stop turning around and waving!  They seem pretty comfortable on the beam so far, doing their little routine of getting on gracefully and then standing up, walking backwards, pointing toes etc.  I love the small classes and extra attention.

Both girls have new haircuts and new gym outfits, so they were extra cute.

I went and picked up lunch afterwards, and we just went to their house to eat.  Peeking in the Happy Meal box never gets old.  

I thought it would be okay to go upstairs and play in the open area with masks and distancing, and they brought out their Lottie dolls.

They played school, and it was pretty serious.  I kept forgetting to raise my hand before I asked a question.  Mainly asking why they got desks and I didn't.

I noticed this over the bookcase outside their room.

Barbara, my best quilting friend from GA/AL sent me this Auburn pillow kit several years ago, and it's still looking good.  They love it.

From talking to her and hearing about the things she's doing, I'm gradually getting my sewing and quilting interest back up.

I decided to work on Emily's old quilt yesterday and tried out a couple of stitches just to tack down the seams where they were coming out.

It's hard to see from the pictures, but I tried two different stitches and sent her these pictures to chose from.

A feather/herringbone type stitch was her favorite.  It's hard to see, but if I can keep my eyes on the seam, it does a pretty good job of holding it together and doesn't look too bad.

This one was much quicker and probably would have been okay, but I think the other one is prettier.

I finished all the separated seams and gave it to her for checking, and then if she wants, I'll go over the whole quilt with that stitch and tack down all the seams.  It looks okay on the back.

It's just for her so she gets to keep her quilt a few more years maybe.  I have to get it back and work on that binding.  It's worn down on the edges, so I'll just be patching a little.

I might have to go back to the drawing board on that pretty purple backing  I found yesterday.  I looked at the directions, and each quilt takes 5-1/2 yards of backing.  Yikes.  That's 11 yards at $11 a yard?  I might have to find something less exciting and cheaper, some of the 108-inch backing fabric.  I think I can get by with a little less since I'm piecing the back, but I don't want to get stuck with too little.  

I'm up in the middle of the night because I went to bed so early, so I just cut the border strips and will get those on today.  

I also cut up a bunch of 2 to 5 inch strips for a scrappy inset on the back.

Like this....  Maybe.....

I don't want to waste any of this fabric.  Some of the colors didn't really work in the quilt, so I'll work on some masks for the girls from this extra.

Katherine especially wants something with her monogram on it, so I might try a little one on a mask.  It would have to be tiny.  Maybe just a K.  Or maybe another towel for them.  I'll have to come back here and remember what I was thinking about when I couldn't sleep.

I tried sitting on the balcony and playing Mah-Jong, but it soon got too chilly.  I'm not going to be saying that long, because we're in for about a week of really warm temperatures, even up to the low 90s on Sunday.  The sprinkler just came on outside, and I'm thinking about turning on my storm sounds on the noise machine and imagine it's a hot summer night with a thunderstorm and try to sleep again.  I do get a lot done during the night though.