Friday, July 30, 2010

Seattle Center

On Tuesday we took the ferry from Bremerton to Seattle, to go to the Pacific Science Center. While we go to the Science Center regularly, we haven't ever done it by ferry before.



Chubble really liked the noise.



That's where we're going!



We had a great day in the Science Center, followed by lots of time at the fountain:



Now, a few words on the ferry: I'm not sure about it. I liked it and all. But I don't (as many of our friends do) find it stressful to drive in Seattle, and neither does Fran. It's a little more expensive and it takes a lot longer by ferry. But it *is* an experience, and that's nice on days when it really is all about the experience.

The kids are gone in Portland with MIL for 4 days now. Well, Chubble isn't - she's right here napping - but the rest of them are. It is QUIET in my house today.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Good Morning

Craftacular

In more indoorsy adventures, this week ~L~ taught Girliness how to bead on a bead-loom and I re-taught ~L~ to sew.

I have no idea how to bead on a bead-loom, aside from what I saw Girliness doing; it seems like it's a fairly simple but really fussy undertaking.



After the lengthy process of helping the girls get set up, ~L~ let them have at it, and they worked...and worked...and worked...



Until everybody else got all tired of each other and started acting all sibling-y, and I packed them away for the park. The girls did their beading for over 5 hours. That's some serious attention span right there.

*Earlier that same week*

~L~ can sew by hand and can piece patterns, two things that I'm just middling comfortable with, and she also has a bigger sewing vocabulary (literal words) than I do. However, she is terrified of sewing machines. At a yard sale a couple of weeks ago, she came across a WONDERFUL machine and bought it, and is facing down her fears. I suspect it will be a little like how she didn't bake when I met her, and then "well if Niki can do it so can I!" happened, and now she makes bread on a regular basis. Kind of the same reason that I kind-of-almost garden now.

Anyway, the project I chose was sandwich wraps. These are little flat hexagonal fabrics with velcro attached, meant to take the place of saran wrap when you're packing a lunch. I chose them because they require several different stitch types, three of the most common skills you need to sew, and are VERY forgiving; you don't even need to get the edges all same size, because you really can't tell.

I freehanded the hexagonal wrap shape. Made closure tabs, placed and sewed velcro, sewed wrong-sides together, turned, topstitched, done.