It’s been a little more than six months since I last posted here, which is a record. This blog is ten years old, and I’ve never gone that long without posting! But it was kind of a welcome break–I needed to concentrate on packing up, moving from New Jersey to Washington, getting settled, finding a house, getting H settled at a new school. It’s been a ride, and we’re just starting to settle down.

I started this quilt almost two years ago with a ton of sketches, and it is finally, finally finished. I don’t know why I’ve never posted photos of the progress on this quilt, only sketches. But I’ve worked on it, put it aside, finished the top, put it aside for months upon months before making the backing, and then putting it aside again before I finally got it quilted and bound. But now it’s done…just in time for us to move out of this house, and out of this bedroom that we specifically painted to coordinate with this quilt. It’s like the curse of the boyfriend sweater, but for bedrooms.

I bought a big tie dye kit on sale when I was stocking up on summer craft supplies, and then I pinned some great projects on Pinterest. And one of them was this I Love to Create Tropical Twist Teepee. I knew I could sew the tent and get H to help me dye it, and then she’d have something really cool for her backyard play. And we had so much fun! I love how this turned out.

This is a project I’ve wanted to do for ages now. The kitchen island was the only real place in the house where we could really do some messy play, and obviously the kitchen is not always ideal. Also, my kitchen island is frequently covered in life–mail, crockpots, recycling. So, I’d wanted to make a nice big blanket, one side laminate, so we could move messy play around the house. Because I’m me, I apparently cannot just go buy a tarp.