Lots of Random Stuff :)

Today I had a rare day when all the daycare kids were gone. It was a treat for me. So of course I went fabric shopping - lol. I actually had a purpose. I was asked to make a carseat cover like mine for a friend to give her sister at her baby shower. When I asked what sort of fabric, she said, "I trust you to pick something." Oh my. No direction at all. But I had a lot of fun, and I think I came up with some pretty good fabric.

My first stop was at my local quilt shop. Nothing there seemed just right. They don't have a lot of kid prints, and not so many of the trendy prints that can be found online. I was really hoping to find Urban Zoology, but it wasn't to be, and I don't have time to wait on fabric from the internet to arrive in our middle-of-nowhere town. What I did find though was these lovely gold and brown batiks. The quilt shop is having another contest - this time aprons, and I'm envisioning a cute Wyoming themed apron here. We'll see if I actually get a chance to put it together before the October deadline. No worries though. If I don't, this is destined for another project that is also Wyoming themed.

So, not finding what I needed, and having the day free from daycare kids, I decided to drive to the next closest fabric shop, which is about 35 miles away. I never get to go to that one because they are only open weekdays 9-5, and I always have daycare kids. Also, there is almost nothing else in that town, so it makes it difficult to convince myself to drive all that way just for fabric. I took my daughter along and we hit the jackpot. I had forgotten how much I LOVE this store! The fabrics they stock are beautiful and trendy. It's just a delight to walk through the store! I spotted the two fabrics in the photo above and almost bought the entire bolt of each (but I chickened out.) I have used these fabrics before - in an apron - and was pretty upset with myself for not buying more of them at the time. So when I saw them, I immediately wanted to get the whole bolt - which was only 4-6 yards of each. But I figured my husband would shoot me ... or have a heart attack ... neither of which seemed good, so I settled for 2 yards of each ;)

And I found what I think is the perfect fabric for the baby seat cover. (Of course I had to buy a little extra of this for myself too - even though I have no project in mind for it. It's a sickness, I tell you. A real addiction.) So now, I'd better get to sewing!

Now here's an interesting note. After fabric shopping, I took my daughter out to lunch at a restaurant in that town, and ran into an old friend. Actually, she was my sister's best friend for years - back when she was in grade school and middle school, and so on. What a delight to get to catch up with her! And to think we've been living within 35 miles of each other for the past 4 years and never knew it. Last I knew, she was in Michigan. Small world!

So, after all that excitement, we decided to go pick more Oregon grapes. The in-laws are camped up at the campground, and had been down to tell us the grapes were in great abundance, and boy were they! We only picked for about an hour, and ended up with about 6 buckets worth.

I put the two year old in the picture to show the size of the bag. It comes about up to his waist, and is pretty wide. My mother-in-law is going to sort through the berries and clean out the stems and a few leaves that made their way into the buckets, then we will make juice. The last batch made about a gallon and a half of juice. We may just end up making a couple batches of jelly, then canning the remaining juice to make more jelly later.

In other news, my in-laws are in the process of having their house windows and siding replaced. It's a big house. This is a view from the side - but just look at all those boxes of siding! I can't wait to see the finished results.

And here's a bit of randomness. How do you like to eat your candy corn? Are you as obsessive as my family is?

My daughter's favorite part is the yellow section. I prefer the white, and the seven year old likes the orange. So we share (breaking them apart, not biting!) The two year old will take whatever he can get ;)

Oh, and one final thing I wanted to note. I forgot to mention in my post on haircuts that my daughter donated her extra hair to Locks of Love. I was so glad she got to do that! I didn't take my camera with me to the salon, so only had pictures on my phone. I will have to add those to the haircuts post later. Right now, I'm headed to bed. The baby is on a special meter to test blood oxygen levels overnight tonight, and he isn't real thrilled with having his toe restricted, so it could be a long night. I'll post more about that tomorrow. Good night!