On Friday, April 19th Isla and Nick attended the Mae Richardson Daughter Dance held in the gym of Isla’s school, Mae Richardson. The dance was Taylor Swift themed, and attendees were encouraged to dress to the theme.

Isla had a few cute dressed in her closet, but with her recent growth spurt, nothing seemed to fit quite right. So in the week before the dance we journeyed down to the mall to find the right fit.

After walking through Kohls and Penny’s, we didn’t see anything that struck us as super Swifty. But once we hit the kids department in Macys, it was like striking gold. Not only did they have several fantastic options, they were all on clearance. Who doesn’t love a good deal?

Here were the final 4 options:

Option A:

Option B:

Option C:

Option D:

Which one do you think she picked?

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She picked the…

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Radiant Red Dress! Just gorgeous!

Marshmallow does not love the outdoors but tolerated a quick photo shoot.

The dress was originally close to $100, but we snagged it for $9.80! With that kind of bargain we had room for accessories so we headed to Claires and pickled up a serpent mood ring and earrings– also on clearance, both for $12 total.

Shoes were from Kohls, but either Gran or Grandma Linda had gifted those for Christmas.

Dad’s outfit was stunning! We picked the coat up from the mall at JC Penny’s, pants from Macys, and shirt on clearance from Marshalls. We already had the red shoes but I am sure those came from Ross a few years ago.

Together they made the perfect match!! As Grandpa Ken said, “The best date she will ever have!” ❤

Nick and Isla both said they had a great time! There were photo booths, temporary tattoos, cupcakes, and of course lots of music and dancing. Isla quickly found her friends and Dad said they had the best time jamming the night away.

After dancing until they dropped, Sophia’s Mom offered to take the girls to Olive Garden for dinner. When Isla came home to be dropped off, the door was opened to three little girls begging to have a sleep over. How could we say no? So Isla, Sophia and Nelly Jane continued the party here until about 11 when all were exhausted, as evidenced as everyone being very soundly asleep.

The next morning I ran out and grabbed the girls a few Mochi Donuts from Mochi Donut House, a new grub spot in Central Point. They were an interesting take on donuts, and pretty good!

All in all, it sounded like a very successful event. Only one parent was allowed to attend the event, and given this was to be our first time in attendance we were sure to follow the rules. However Nick said that were a few couples there, so next year I will not be missing out!

After picking my own fabrics and completing the cookie quilt; I decided to try my first quilt kit. I bought it off of Amazon for $120.

After my the success of following a pattern for the Christmas Snowball Quilt; I was hooked on quilting! I knew that I could understand and follow the basic guidelines of a pattern so I eagerly started looking around on Etsy for something cute. I stumbled upon the Crunch Time Cookie Quilt Pattern by Kelli Fannin and instantly knew that I could do it. I bought the pattern for $10.00.

This quilt ended up being magical before the first stitch. I was very nervous to pick the fabric; but it somehow came together in one simple online Joann’s transaction. The real key was the background fabric; and the instant I saw the Robert Kaufman Dots on Blue I was hooked. I kept the cookies simple with a brown crackle fabric. The light tan and black chips were Walmart fabric I already had.

Everyone reading this likely knows my Grandma, Grace Johnson, was an avid crafter and prolific quilter after her retirement in 1994 (fact check needed). My paternal grandma, Pat Beers, was also and avid crafter and also loved sewing. The last Birthday gift I received from my Grandma Pat before she died was a sewing machine. I loved sewing on it here and there, but it largely sat untouched for 10-15 years. I always carried it with me though. Many moves from Las Vegas to Oregon, and back.

Since I had my sewing machine, I also picked up any remnants, notions, or tools my Grandma Grace would give up. Over the years, I was able to procure a fair amount of fat quarters, a big bag of buttons, threads galore, my first pair of sewing scissors, a few quilting books, and my current holy grail- a project box stuffed so full of quilt squares that never made it into a quilt, it won’t close.

Before I started the Hello Kitty Quilt, I was organizing some craft supplies when I came across the book “Snowball Quilt Simplified” by Patricia Knoechel, which I had scored from my Grandma Grace many years before. It was from this book that my quilting journey truly began. As I flipped through the book, I was shocked at how simple the instructions seemed. I thought I could probably do it!

Instead of using fabric from my stash, I purchased all the fabrics from Joanns (minus the red, I already had that from Wal-Mart). I did not put much choice into the fabrics, just stuff I thought would go well together. I utilized the Joanns app and website to preorder my fabrics and got a pretty good deal.

The quilt came together easy enough. It was my first experience (and only experience as of writing this in May 2023 ((oops!)) with strip piecing. I found it fairly challenging to get my nine patches to line up properly, and I look forward to trying this technique again soon.

Though I started this quilt well before Christmas, I did not finish it until mid- January; making it my official 2nd quilt. I found myself packing up my Christmas goods, and decided that I must finish it to pack it away. How, silly.

But it is exciting to know there is a treasure waiting for me this Christmas.

Fabric: Joanns
Patter: Joanns
Thread: Wal- Mart
Pattern: Star Snowball Quilt from the book Snowball Quilt Simplified by Patricia Knoechel