More Sightseeing, Less Crafting

A long blog silence, but here we are in California, sleeping in Matt's childhood twin beds (lucky they're not still bunked), chasing seagulls (Willow refers to them as "sea eagles"), watching the girls bond with their grandparents, and visiting every hands-on children's museum in the Central Coast. At the Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose, I learned an interesting fact about my hometown-- --Sydney and Grandma Janie had a tea party--
--I tried to get one of those photos of my family in the room with the altered proportions so that they look all weird compared to each other, but certain members of the family would not cooperate--
--and the "paint your own face" face painting booth was a BIG hit:
So no, there hasn't been much crafting, but I do have plans, at least, to visit Uncommon Threads tomorrow (beware of the stupid baa-baa noise when the page opens) to get the exact colors of Cascade 220 yarn that I need to make the Hogwarts House Scarf (I'm a Ravenclaw, don't you know) from . I have my brand-new circular knitting needle in my possession, and I'm sure that if I could just do the exact same stitch about eight billion times in a row, like I will with this scarf, then I'll finally be able to remember how to do it the next time I knit. Is it too ambitious to be thinking about House Scarves for the whole family for Christmas (Matt and Sydney are Hufflepuffs, and Willow is a Gryffindor)?

I also found the most awesome book in Matt's mother's house, and after I asked her to make the quilt for the girls, she told me I could just have the book (and make it my own damn self, darn it). But how amazingly, awesomely awesome is ? I am really, really excited about making these blocks using only thrifted/vintage materials. You have to watch out, though--the layout for the applique is spot-on for the character blocks, but the actual block illustration is just an example of what your block *could* look like with a little more creativity and skill than the book provides. For instance, the Fozzie Bear block is made with the actual fabrics used to make, you know, Fozzie Bear--good luck with that one, home sewer.

And last but not least, my Sublime Stitching Stitch-It Kit is sitting there patiently in my luggage, waiting for me to whip it out and learn some basic, yet valuable, embroidery skills. On account of that's what vacations are all about, right? Ooh, and visiting local thrift stores!