M & M | Crazy for Fiber

January 2025
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31

Archive for the ‘M & M’ Category

Spring Break with M & M

Thursday, March 29th, 2007

Yesterday was an exhausting and exhilarating day. M & M arrived home from their camping trip on Tuesday. I called Steph and asked if they could come and spend the day with us. They arrived fairly early. We packed up a snack and headed for the Rhododendron Garden. We fed the ducks and took in the beauty of the spring colors, especially the pink snow.

Then we got in the car and headed for Burgerville for lunch.

Back at the ranch, after sharing some Girl Scout shortbread cookies, we settled down to do some work. Miles and Mr C played a rousing game of Slap Jack and then went to the basement to make a tugboat. Miles had brought the directions with him.

Mia read all of the comics that she could find in our house and then played on the Pollypocket.com website. I folded two loads of laundry and made some discharge samples.

The sun had come out in earnest by 2 pm so we mixed up some homemade bubble mix and headed to the front yard. We made our own wands out of pipe cleaners and plastic lids. Maggie just loves shiny bubbles. She ceases to act like a 12 year old dog when bubbles are in the air.

And, look! M & M were both wearing Crocs!

You can see all of the Spring Break photos here.

I have appreciated all of your comments on my work from Tuesday. I am taking it all to heart and hope to get back in the studio, today.

Posted in M & M, Maggie | 2 Comments »

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Sunday, March 25th, 2007

This is on my design wall. I started it at Art Quilt Tahoe. When I was back in my studio, I put it there and have been contemplating what I will do with it. The other day Mia was in the studio with me and said, “Gramma, nobody is going to buy that!” So, my mission is to turn it in to something that Mia thinks is marketable.

I am also going to make some changes in this one that has been languishing on the design wall since AQT. I am going to remove the cut work on the right and do something else for that end. I will turn the cut work piece in to a small piece by itself.

This week-end, Mr C had a retreat with the Outreach Commission from the Cathedral. It was raining on Saturday, so I spent the day working on a newsletter/brochure for the Arts Commission. I thought I was just going to do the layout, but I met with the Arts coordinator last week, and her assumption was that I was writing it. I finished it this afternoon. I think I did a pretty good job. I have sent it off to the chair and the coordinator for their comments.

M and M and their parents have gone camping on the coast of Washington. They will be back on Tuesday. It is spring break. I am hoping they can come over later in the week to make some Easter decorations and plan their mom’s birthday.

Mr C and I loved all the comments on our possible food stamp diet! The whole outreach commission is planning on participating and they are going to encourage members of the parish to participate and then get together to discuss the experience. I just realized that for part of the week, I will be going on retreat to the beach with the STASH quilting group. This is going to be interesting.

Posted in M & M, My creations | 2 Comments »

Eek — A Mouse!

Sunday, March 18th, 2007

Today, Miss Mia became a mouse for her drama class spring production.

Here she is with the other cutey patooty mice.

Isn’t that just too cute for words?

Later, we had family dinner — sausages, hot dogs, pasta salad and strawberries and ice cream.

I am feeling so much better. Just about pain free. Thanks for all the well wishes.

Posted in M & M | 7 Comments »

Spicy Beads

Sunday, March 11th, 2007

Yesterday, M and M came to spend the night. They started their visit with some chocolate mint Girl Scout cookies:

Later, we went to Stickers in Westmoreland for Asian food. Miles had Yakasoba noodles with pork, Mia had Teriyaki chicken and rice. Mr C and I had a delicious halibut with coconut curry sauce and rice. We started the meal with Chinese scallion cake and dipping sauce and Vietnamese salad spring rolls. It was a very eclectic Asian meal.

Yesterday, I was cleaning the laundry room which is also the entry to our house from the garage. It is a catchall for stuff coming and going. I had an old spice bottle rack stored there that I have not needed for a year. I was about to send it to Good Will when I had a brain storm. Why not use it for bead storage. So I washed it up. And M and M helped me start sorting my beads by color.

We had a few spills, but overall it was a fun activity. I have a good start on the sorting and they felt like they had done something to help me (and they did!)

I still have some empty bottles — which is good because I still have a lot of beads to sort. This will be so much more efficient than little boxes and bags of beads in a box.

This afternoon, Mr C and I attended a concert at the cathedral — Arthur Honegger’s Oratorio —King David. The music was very atonal, which I love. It was nice to still have daylight for taking Maggie on a walk around the neighborhood after the concert.

Posted in M & M, studio | 3 Comments »

Birthday Cake Activity

Thursday, March 30th, 2006

This morning M & M came over to help me make their Mom’s favorite cake. For those who wanted the recipe, here goes:

1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
3 cups sugar
6 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tsp. coconut extract
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup milk

Toast coconut in 300?Ǭ? oven for 20 – 30 minutes. It should look like this:

In a large bowl cream butter, shortening and sugar. Add eggs one at a time. Stir in extracts. Here is pretty picture of the batter:

In a separate bowl, sift flour, salt and baking powder together.Add to batter alternately with the milk. It is best if you have helpers do this:

Miles is amused by his reflection in the bowl.

Pour batter into a well-greased, floured bundt pan. Bake at 350?Ǭ? fir 1 hour and 20 minutes or until done. Cool on a rack for 30 minutes before removing from pan. Cool completely before slicing. Serve with a scoop of high quality vanilla ice cream and fudge sauce.

While the cake baked and cooled, M & M made cards for their mom and birds with party hats for decorations: