My second quilt

When Isabel was about five I decided I would try to make her a quilt and after a year of working on it I managed to finish it. Then when Sofie was five I wanted to make one for her too, but it took until she was six and a half that I finally did it. With the first one I had Isabel choose fabric and I cut all the fabric myself and spent a lot of time making different blocks. With this one I chose fabric out of the colors I know Sofie likes and I chose to buy a jellyroll. I had no idea what to do with a jellyroll, but I spent some time on pinterest and found that a jellyroll race quilt would be the best option for me at this point. 

Putting it together ment a lot of cutting and now I regret that I didn't save all those little pieces since I am sure I could have made something out of them too.

I use my sewing machine to quilt and I just make a lot of swirls. So far I have found that to be the fastest and easiest way for me to finish a quilt. 

Here is a close up of the swirls.

The finished quilt. My husband is behind there holding the quilt so it is quite big. Sofie now uses it every night. From start to finish it took me about five days to make it and I am eager to try to make another one soon. Next time though I might try to make different blocks again, but this was a quick and easy quilt to make just to get me started. 

Three weeks gone by

Three weeks has gone by since my parents arrived to help out with putting metal sheeting on the walls of the barn. The weeks has flown by so fast that I can’t believe we got so much done. Two walls got covered and my mom and I got a whole lot of other things done at the same time. The picture shows my dad up on the scaffolding preparing for the last sheeting to be carried up there and bent around the corner. That was Sunday. Monday we got the last sheet up and took down all the scaffolding. Not to mention the fact that my mom and I cleaned out my garage for stuff going either to a flea marked or the recycle plant. I managed to clean out a whole room in my basement that was filled up with either trash or our old stuff that we didn’t need anymore and I had put it all in the garage. So Monday it all went were it belonged. 

Now after being so busy for so long, I am trying to fill my days again with things that needs to be done before we leave on vacation. Today I have baked 9 bread, cleaned the hall, washed clothes and started packing. I got to keep busy so I don’t fall into a depression again. I feel it is not far off and I really don’t want it to take over now right before vacation. Making myself todo lists helps a lot. I have achieved a lot just today. 

Bucket list for things to do in the Seattle area.

I thought I would share my bucket list for things I just have to do when I visit the states again. This summer on June 23rd I will arrive in Edmonds, Washington, and spend about two weeks there before going to Disneyland on the 9th of July.

1. Visit the spa. I have a spa I have visited several times in Lynnwood that I really enjoy. It is called the Olympus spa and I try to visit it every time I’m back. For those interested in visiting sometime this is the link for it https://www.olympusspa.com. 

2. Visit friends. After living in Lynnwood for six years I have a lot of good friends still living nearby and when I visit I always try to get together with as many of them as possible.

3. Visit the zoo’s. In the Seattle area there is a lot of different animal parks that I enjoy visiting. This time we will visit Point Defiance zoo and Woodland Park zoo.

4. Visit Pike place market. There is always something new at the market to see and I love shopping for handmade things, flowers and donuts there. I also found a great place for gelato last time I came there with my cousin and I hope to find it again this time.

5. Glazed and Amazed in Edmonds. The kids love to go there to paint pottery that they can bring home with them. And we always make a day out of it visiting a small toy store and the frozen yogurt place down there.

6. Sounders soccer game for my husband. 

It isn’t the longest bucket list, but it is what we deem the most important things for us to do. Especially hanging out with family and friends. 

Only 18 days left till we leave on our vacation. 

Working on the barn

When you own property  there is always work to be done. This year we decided together with my dad that we should do something with our barn. The walls made of wood where rotting and falling apart and they needed to be tended to immediately. No paint could solve the problem either. So after discussing the problem and then finding metal siding laying in the barn we decided to get the metal siding onto the walls. 

My dad is extremely handy and came to help us. He is 72 years old, but in good shape. Together we raised scaffolding made out of reclaimed wood up to four stories tall. I only got onto the second floor, but my dad got onto fourth floor with ease. Within a week had managed to get siding on one wall due to fairly nice weather through the period. 

After we were done with the first wall, we took down the scaffolding and moved it to the next wall where we built in in steps. At least it didn't need to be as tall there. We discovered that the second wall were only 37 years old, but in the years it had only had about two layers of paint and that is not enough to keep it in shape when you consider the harsh weather conditions it is getting right there. Hard sun in the summer, lots of rain in the spring and fall and plenty of snow and wind in the winter. 

At the moment we are just about half way done with the second wall, but due to rain and wind we have had to take a small break for now. 

My dad on his way up to the fourth level. 

Looking down from the second level.

Seeing it from the side. 

My dad on his way up the scaffolding on the second wall. 

The walls are now covered in siding in several colors. The first wall is red, orange and black. And the second wall is dark green.