Toddlebot

I tried to come up with a new working-mother-of-two design for the robot quilt (i.e. faster to make so that I can catch up on the quilt backlog). It's based on the square I did for my friend Camile's quilt, so it has that extra bit of love and tender sadness blended into it. It probably took as long to make as the original robot baby quilt design, but it translates better into a toddler quilt. I have gifted it to my sweet and darling 1.5-year-old niece Anais. Behold:

See how the photo makes it feel like you are unwrapping a gift from me to you?

Is that a familiar shape that I detect? Yes, an outline of a robot!

A small robot recharges in the corner of the quilt, which is mostly tie quilted beyond a couple of hand quilted details.

See how I messed up the embroidery with a jaunty backwards s? Totally intentional. You see, the native americans believed that every hand crafted item should have a mistake woven into it to act as an escape portal to let out the evil spirits...um...okay yeah, so I had an attack of needlepoint dyslexia. Anais doesn't mind, so shut up.

Anais, proving me right:

Easter 2012, part 4

Easter crafts:

Tillie made a bird feeder at Home Depot.

Our neighbor Tavi had us over for a special easter craft. We transferred the dye from old silk ties to easter eggs--a very neat process in which you wrap the eggs in the ties and then boil them in a vinegar solution for only 20 minutes (while chatting with other dads). Et, voila!

And finally, we enjoyed the family egg hunt and easter spoils.

Okay, that is enough for easter 2012!

Easter 2012, part 3

An easter party!

A visit from a real easter bunny:

More egg hunting:

Cascarones fight:

Whack the bunny:

Post-party sugar-fueled madness:


Relaxing bath to wash off cheeto dust, koolaide stains, chocolate smears, and confetti dye:

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz:

Easter 2012, part 2

Cousins Anais, Writer, and Nicholas came to visit!

Easter 2012, part 1

Easter didn't stop for 4 days, chez Tillie and Django. Here is day 1:

Kite

A Collaboration

Dusting off the old easel:

Precision color mixing:

Background first:

Rainbow goes here:

Her first acrylic-on-"candace" oeuvre:

Better Late...

I finally finished Django's robot blankie! He is already too big for it, but he likes it anyway. If I start now, I can finish a twin-size quilt in time for him to use it in his college dorm room.

Oops--the eyeballs woke up during the photo shoot!

Stacking

Close Inspection

Puppirazzi

Tillie spent maybe an hour taking pictures of things in the yard. I love this one of a reluctant Athena. Our dogs love our children, but they wear them out--hence the nervous backwards glance. (Come to think of it, that goes for me too.)

Boys

This pic is from last November, but I really like it. Django and his cousin Axel climbing fences: