Yep, She's a Good Grandma

The Mermaid Blanket

When I saw found out that Charlotte was going to have a mermaid-themed birthday party, I was inspired to make her a mermaid blanket.  Thank goodness for Pinterest, because I was able to look at what lots of other people had done, but I ended up making my own version completely.

I wanted a fabric that looked somewhat like fish scales on the outside, but I realized that my favorite fabric choice would shed glitter for years to come.  I didn't want Todd and Corinne to hate this gift! So, I had to skip my top choice and go with something that wouldn't shed.  The sparkly fabric I chose turned out to be a stretchy knit, which is not my favorite to work with, but it was still the best option.  I had thought I wanted a fleece for the lining, but then I remembered that Charlotte is warm-natured, so I thought flannel would be more breathable.  Once I chose my flannel - the whale fabric below - I realized that my sparkly knit fabric was not opaque.  So, I needed to choose a THIRD layer of fabric - an aqua flannel to go in between the outer and inner fabrics.  Because this is not a tutorial, I'm not showing off how I did it, but I drew a pattern on big easel paper and, with a bit of fear and trembling, I started to cut.

I wanted Charlotte to be able to put her feet down into the fins, and I wanted there to be no visible raw edges or seams.  With a little mental gymnastics, I achieved that.  And, it worked out well that the outer fabric was a bit stretchy, because it stretched around the layers of flannel, and everything laid smoothly.

I was pretty proud of my blanket.  I guess I still am, since I'm blogging about it!  I did a little secret back and forth stitch at the tip of each fin so that the lining wouldn't come out when Corinne washes the blanket.

Grace was my very willing blanket tester.  Her hair is crazy, but we'll let that slide.

She liked that she could cross her fins.

The best thing about this project was that Charlotte loved it.  And it will fit her for a long time, even when she grows much taller.  I think I have one more picture of her in it...I'll edit this post when I find it.  Happy birthday, Charlotte!

Fun from April

Crazy socks for my crazy girl on crazy sock day

For the longest time, Benjamin would take a selection of his Legos, call them a set, and build and rebuild with them...but none of the others.  Later, his way of playing Legos was to choose pairs of special pieces, as in the picture above, and build and rebuild with those.  One of the things he built with this set is below.

Jeff took Jonathan to see the Blue Man Group.  I had already seen them with Jeff before, and Jeff has seen them SEVERAL times, so I encouraged him to go with Jonathan this time.  It was quite memorable.

And this is the kind of sunrise Jeff sometimes sees on his morning drive.

What to do on April 2

But only if you are crazy enough to get into the cold water, which I am not!  Here they are on their first swim of the year.  They look soft after a winter of no swimming, don't they?  Haha!

Cold water makes a new, birthday-gift beach towel even cozier.

What to do on April 1

We took the day to go to one of our favorite places in the world.  The poppy display was amazing!  I'm not sure I've ever seen the poppies look so beautiful.  Our drought was a little less dry than usual this past winter, so the poppies were happy, I think.

The rest of the pictures appear in somewhat random order, but I'm just going to let you enjoy them without fixing the order too much.  

My favorites!

This rock was super slippery, so we slid down.

The boys were tired and being stinkers and didn't want to get out of the car for one last look before we drove away, so they missed out on this rainbow, among other things.  So beautiful!

So thankful for a day with my sweet family!!!