And Sew On: Recently

...I haven't been blogging much about our daily lives, so here are a few things we've been up to lately:

The girls have started spring activities. Lily is doing Song Circle with me at Riverdale Farm, and Audrey has Ballet/Hip Hop with some of her classmates on Saturday mornings. They are also both in swimming lessons. Audrey goes in by herself, but I am still getting in the pool with Lily. Last time for that, though. In the fall she will be out of Guardian Swim and into Pre-school 1. I will be a bleacher Mom at last.
Lily is still loving pre-school. She has started napping again most afternoons, which is unusual since she dropped it almost 6 months ago. I'm certainly not complaining!
Daddy is wearing his hockey jersey on play off game nights for the Vancouver Canucks. I actually like hockey. I like most sports if I have a team to cheer for.
I spent the day at the Creativ Festival with Scrapbook and Cards Today. There is some amazing growth and change going on there. I'm excited to see where it leads!
Getting ready to paint the house and finish up the last bits of the reno. After that there will finally be some "after" basement shots.
I'm making a dress (or two) for a fundraiser for Japan being organized by some Japanese ex-pat friends. The money will be sent directly to contacts there in the communities in need.
We're celebrating my Nanny's 88th birthday tomorrow. My Nan is about the sweetest person on the planet. The girls adore her, and they call her "Grand-Nan". I think I'll buy a big bouquet of purple flowers for her at the florist-- along with some cheese to go with my homebaked bread I was assigned to make for the party.
Taking a breather on the sewing. I made several pieces for my niece's birthday, and I am determined to make something for myself next. Okay, maybe not next, but soon. I'm thinking a romper. Yes, for me. Rompers are in!
The weather has been up and down, which is a tease. We all want spring weather so badly! The girls have had the opportunity to play out back a few times, though, and it makes me SO happy to be able to stand in my kitchen and take a photo like this:

(As you can see, there is still some work to be done in the back. We need cement to replace that which was torn out in the fall...and yes, that is fake grass. Fake grass rules.) See the layout in the bottom right hand corner of that photo? It's from the February Studio Calico Kit. (I'm slowly working through them.) That little corner is where I photograph my layouts now. Sometime I just lay them on them floor, but in this case I put it on an easel and took about 10 shots, trying to get one that was perfectly straight. Then I cropped one down to 12X12 and gave it a little boost (fill light/highlight/saturate/sharpen) to get this: