Important steps

It's been a week of big important steps around here.  Our Charlie made his First Communion.  I pinch myself when I think how big he's getting.  He had a big day after months of prep and instructions.  The big family party after showed us all what a great little host he's become.

And this morning Adelaide 'graduated' from preschool.  She marches in to Kindergarten next year, a year of all day everyday school with the big kids.

 But I think Little Miss Confident will do just fine.

 Yup.  I think her favorite subject will be socializing!

Consequently there hasn't been much in the way of quilting.  I did a job on my hands lately working out in the yard without gloves so they're cut, scratched and stuck with prickers that I pick out with needles ( a cousin of PH once told me his mother told him to never dig out a sliver with a pin, use a needle.  Aunt Leona said, "a pin is tin, a needle is steel" so I hear that everytime I go digging for slivers and prickers.)  AND one day early this week I went a little crazy and decided to wash the ceiling of the front porch with bleach. It's a big ceiling.  I was out there all morning, just me, a rag, a ladder and bleach in a spray bottle.  I scrubbed, hosed and wiped it dry. 

 It went from this.....

to this.

But oh, my hands!!  So, instead of working with a needle, I've been reading a lot, immersing myself in my annual read of To Kill a Mockingbird.  Also this year I'm reading a review copy of The Mockingbird Next Door, (more on that later) and watching the movie again.  It's a TKAM extravaganza.

I did do some prepping, though.  This is the project I can't wait to tackle.  Last night I cut the background squares, a deep, deep indigo blue, and will start playing with these fabrics for the blocks.  I've been collecting Provence fabrics for years waiting for just the right project and when I saw this I knew I found it.  My finished quilt won't be exactly like this quilt but the applique will be a great project and I can't wait till my fingers heal!

 

OK, now for MichaelMan.  This little guy is 15 months old.  He didn't get the memo.   I swear he thinks he's 10 years old.

 Charlie was out in the yard during his party playing backyard lacrosse with his cousins and friends. Michael, pacifier in mouth, was right in the middle of the action. He never missed a step and the 8-9 year olds didn't let the insertion of a "baby" into the game stop their game.  Michael was a baby for maybe 6 months of his life.  Look at that stance.