I'm hoping we've finally turned the corner on springtime – do two good days count? Sunday was absolutely glorious, followed by two days of cold and rain, followed by another glorious day today. Mid 60's and sunshine! However, considering the weather in the rest of the country, we have no right to complain about our record-setting cold spring so far.
On Sunday we headed down to Snohomish to celebrate Isobel's and hubby's birthdays. Isobel was a little annoyed that we were not celebrating on her actual birthday, which was yesterday. So she called the party her "pretend birthday party". The party was held in the local park and it was picture perfect weather!
Hubby is also annoyed that he is now of Social Security age, but is comforted in the fact that I will join him later this year. Isboel gave him a coffee cup that she decorated herself – "Happy Brthday, Love, Isobel". Priceless!
Our present to Isobel was a science kit. As soon as she got home she put on her lab coat and started experimenting:
Her greatest desire in life is to be a scientist. Ivy's is to be a princess (gotta work on that girl!).
Isobel's Auntie Ling bought her a bicycle, which required some adjustments from Grandpa:
On the way home we drove through the tulip fields. We didn't stop, but I managed to get some pretty pictures from the car:
Once again I am reminded of what a beautiful place we live in. In fact, as I write this I'm watching out the window as two bald eagles circle over our yard.
My etsy shop has been quite busy! In fact, I had to get busy and restock since I had sold so many items. I am having so much fun making these little bags. I just restocked yesterday:
One of my customers requested a custom bag for her daughter's wedding. That got me to thinking how pretty monogrammed bags would be and I came up with these:
They can be customized with any color or initial. I'll be putting up a section for special ordering these, but if anyone's interested before then, just email me. This set is going to be a shower gift for a friend from church. I also discovered that the smaller bag can be made from a fat quarter. So I dived into my fabric stash and found some fat quarters that had been languishing because I couldn't figure out what to do with them. These bags will be coming soon!
Lest you think I've abandoned knitting, I can assure you that I've actually got quite a bit done in the last two weeks. However, none of it is particularly photo-worthy. I finished one of the fronts on hubby's Cambridge Cardigan and am busily working away on the last clue of the In Dreams Shawl. There is no way I'm going to try to spread it out on the needle to try and get a picture. It's pretty crammed on there! This particular clue has 1600 beads!!
This weekend we'll be having the girls with us. Abby's sister and two kids fly back to Japan on Friday, so we'll be giving her a bit of a break. If the weather's nice we'll probably spend a great deal of it outside. One can only dream!
Oh, and I almost forgot. My random number generator (aka hubby) picked out a number and the lucky winner of my blog contest was JoLynn. JoLynn is almost local – she lives over on the mainland and we occasionally run into each other. She was in our class with Cookie A. Congratulations JoLynn! She has already picked out her prize and it is winging its way to her.
missouristar 
Dorothy – I love your purses! I’m going to be ordering a set for my daughter-in-law in waiting (wedding July 5), but I need to find out if she will be taking Wagner or keeping Stretcher for the initial. Also have a son’s girlfriend that has done so many nice things – and she is crazy about zebra stripes if you think you might have anything like that. Love your blog! Oh – and it is Mother’s 90th birthday on Friday May 13. I know she would love to get email.
Dorothy,
My lovely notion bag arrived. Thank you so much.
JoLynn
Happy Birthday to DH and Isobel.
Why didn’t DH get excited about his birthday? It’s the only birthday where someone starts depositing a check in your bank account every month. That has to be a good thing.
Congratulations on your shop’s success and for acheiving spring. This is the first time in my whole life when it turned May without leaves on the trees. Maybe tomorrow. The lawn needs mowing, but I’m not riding around the yard on that tractor until it hits at least 60 degrees.
That mug is precious! Happy birthday to both of them.
Love those tulip pictures! They’re quite late this year, aren’t they? Sounds like you had a really nice weekend. It was beautiful here today too.
Happy Birthday Wishes! Dorothy, I cant believe how big the girls have gotten!
May the little scientist have hours of fun on her bike! Don’t we all go through a princess phase?
Thatsa lotta tulips…
Love your bags – glad your shop is doing well!
My scientist daughter remembers her first experiment when she sucked coke up her nose through a straw at macdonalds thinking since she could breath through her mouth and nose, she must be able to suck as well. Her high school teacher called her the physicist and that’s what she does today. Good luck to your little scientist.
Those are lovely little bags. I’m still mulling over some small sewing projects as a way to use up some of the small bits in my fabric stash, and you’ve definitely inspired me.
As a scientist myself, I absolutely love it when young girls are excited about science! I only give my little sister science-related or educational type toys.
Those tulip fields are gorgeous! I didn’t make it over to the coast for the tulip festival this year, but we are so going next year!
We’re going to be visiting some relatives in Friday Harbor at the beginning of June, hopefully we’ll be bringing Ponyo with us. Maybe she’ll remember the area!