A Week of Celebrations!

Most of this week has been spent celebrating ... what a wonderful way to live!  No complaints here!

Brother celebrated his 27th birthday!

He loved his new waders ... our Alaskan boy!

QBee Sam celebrated her birthday as well!

We've been celebrating QBee birthdays together for 8 years ... creating wonderful memories!

Mr. DD and I will celebrate our 34th wedding anniversary tomorrow!  Wowser ... how time flies when you're having fun!

And Flicka?  For her everyday is "moth hunting" day!  She celebrates by pretending that she is a "Big Cat"!

Yep ... it's just one big party here in DillyDallydom!  Wishing you all a great weekend!

Do what you love.  Do party!  Do dillydally!

Mrs. DillyDally

DillyDally Birthday!

Today the DillyDally family is celebrating "Davy Crockett's" twenty-seventh birthday!

Gosh ... I love this boy!

Do what you love.  Do dillydally!

Mrs. DillyDally

Eight Weeks of Farm Girl Fun!

Time passes so quickly ... hard to believe the Farm Girl Vintage sew-a-long began 8 weeks ago!  Yikes!  Has it really been two months?

Last Friday we were busy picking Farm Fresh Flowers and built a Farm House!

Lately Flicka has little or no interest in quilting!  She has been spending a lot of time outdoors, pretending to be a wild mountain lion!  She is so small in size ... these wild flowers are only about 4-6 inches high ... Mr. DD and I giggle watching her "Big Cat" antics.  She has proven to be a great moth hunter ... and gobbles them up quickly!  Yuck!  All we can think is that they must taste great, because it is not like she is hungry!  Too funny!

Since Flicka is not joining me in the sewing room, it is especially nice to have the peeps there!  Yep ... they totally get me! ;-)

We picked pieced this Farm Fresh Flower together!

Here they are looking at the 37 little pieces necessary to build the 6 inch Farm House ... we shared the trepidation and apprehension!

As a child, I always assumed that I would remain in farming ... and I dreamed of a large white farm house with a red roof!  Now ... all these years later ... I've built one!  Dreams do come true!

Here are the 15 blocks I've done thus far ... it is so fun to see what hundreds of others have done on instagram ... I'm sew enjoying my first online sew-a-long experience!

Sew ... the peeps and I celebrated our accomplishments this week!  Just so you know ... I embrace my silliness ... it is who I am!

Two weeks from today, we will be traveling the DillyDally Trail through Oregon ... I am so excited, it is hard to get anything done!  Yep ... those dillydally dreams do come true!

Do what you love.  Do dillydally!

Mrs. DillyDally

Do Celebrate!

Birthdays!  I believe in embracing them ... at every age!  Life is the greatest gift ... of course we should celebrate!  Recently, I was invited to participate in a friend's birthday fun!  We went out for lunch, then to her daughter's home for cake!

Her daughter and granddaughter had spent the week testing cupcake and frosting recipes ... such memory making fun for them!

They found a cake recipe that hit the mark ... but it was too difficult to pick just one favorite frosting ... so ...

... they made three different flavors!  Wonderful!  Each guest went home with cupcakes!  It was lovely in every possible way!

The Birthday Girl!

After cake we came here to DillyDallydom for a dillydally playdate!  Tinted embroidery was on the agenda!

The three of us traced our designs and then pulled out the crayons!  We're all retired teachers ... love to color ... it was a wonderful way to spend a rainy afternoon!

I chose a vintage Halloween design ... super simple ... not sure where the dillydally winds will take this project.  ;-)  Just planning to enjoy the journey.

Celebrating birthdays and friendships ... makes for a perfect dillydally day!

Do what you love.  Celebrate birthdays!  Do dillydally!

Mrs. DillyDally

New Peeps and Farm Girl Fun!

It is impossible to believe that we're already seven weeks into Lori Holt's Farm Girl Vintage sew-a-long!

Life has been even more hectic than usual here in DillyDallydom ... there is a bit much on my plate right now ... I love this quilt and have worried about keeping up.  I know ... dillydalliers aren't supposed to worry, but it sort of creeped in unnoticed ... that happens ... even when you're a dillydally champion! ;-)

But ... as in all aspects of my life ... "I get by with a little help from my friends"!  Meet the new cheerleaders here in DillyDallydom!

They arrived in the mail last Friday!  The dillydally label hinted at the fun that would be found inside!

Inside ... a card and this incredible wooden "Oregon Trail" treasure box ... completely amazing!

Such a fun card ... vintage pattern design!  Loved it!

Inside the box were three gifts!

A fun notebook wrapped in a fat quarter of cowboy themed fabric!  Too fun!

A child-sized, hand embroidered, kitty themed vintage potholder!  So sweet!

Next up ... wrapped in cowboy boot fabric ... treasure!  Vintage Fisher-Price toys!  Be. Still. My. Heart!!!!!  I am over the moon ... there is a Mrs. DD, Sister DD and Sewing machine with table and chair!  What treasure!

They were just the inspiration I needed to get in the sewing room and work on my Farm Girl blocks!

This block is called "Crops" ... nothing can sum up farming more ... it is all about planting, growing and harvesting crops of some kind!

The peeps cheered me on ... love how they match the color palette of this quilt!

Next up ... Egg Basket Block!

Loved making this block ... easy piecing instructions ... would love to make a scrap quilt of this pattern in 12 inch blocks!

Love how the peeps look like they're about to jump in the basket!  Too stinkin' cute!

All 13 blocks ... it feels sew good to be caught up!  No worries now!

Flicka (who is not allowed on the dining table) reached up and pulled the kitty pot holder down to the chair she was on ... and quickly made her and her new friend comfortable!  Such a silly kitty ... too funny!  She is always intent on being in on the fun!

How to thank someone for such thoughtful and touching gifts?  It is impossible ... just want her to know that they are loved and appreciated in a way that is impossible to describe!  I am honored and richly blessed ... thank you!

Do what you love.  Do dillydally!

Mrs. DillyDally

Travel by Sea!

Happy Flag Day!

Long time readers of this blog know that I refer to where I live as my/our "remote corner of the planet".  I qualify the term remote, because the only way to travel to or from here is by air or by sea.  This past week, I needed to make a quick trip to Anchorage ... with no other impending plans for the few days following, I chose to travel by ferry rather than fly.

Check in time was 4:00 am ... driving the car on to the lower deck and parking it is always a bit stressful for me, even though under the direction of the ferry staff it has never been a real problem.  I took this picture from the observation deck before we left Cordova ... it was a misty morning.  We left at 5:00 am with calm seas!

I dozed on and off for a few hours ... enjoyed a delicious bowl of oatmeal from the ship's cafeteria ... then got down to business with graph paper, pencil, eraser, needles and wool.  Uninterrupted time to work on my gansey ... it is easy to see why I love traveling by ferry!

It took about 6 hours to cross Prince William Sound.  We arrived in Whittier at 11:45 am ... from there it is a short 1 hour drive to Anchorage.

After a whirlwind 24 hours in Anchorage, I looked forward to a relaxing ferry ride home.  I quickly secured myself a seat with a table so that I could spread out and focus on some serious charting!

We left Whittier at 5:45 pm ... conditions were perfect ...

... I finished the chart ...

... and with in a few hours had made good progress on knitting!

Every hour or so ... I would get up and walk around the ship.

It was a gorgeous evening!

I was completely embraced by my favorite color ... blue.  This group of photos were taken at 9:30 pm.

We arrived in Cordova at 12:30 am ... still surrounded by blue.  Traveling by sea ... is a wonderful way to dillydally!  I love my lifestyle ... here ... in my remote corner of the planet!

Do what you love.  Love your life.  Do dillydally!

Mrs. DillyDally