And the winner is …

Kitten with a Whiplash, who left two comments and it was the second (which had nothing to do with the contest) which won the prize. Congratulations, and since the Kitten was the only commenter who expressed any interest in actually winning it, I'm so glad the Universe took care of it. Heh.

What a weekend! But first, how was yours? I hope you did some fun stuff and got some necessary stuff done, as well. It's all about balance.

Saturday was our fun day (but we had to drive, drive, drive to get there and then drive, drive, drive home again, all in one day, boy was I tired). We went to my husband's granddaughter's first birthday party. In addition to a sweet little doll, suitable for ages 0+ (meaning it has no parts that will come loose, and do you know how difficult it is to find dolls for babies when you live in the Middle of Nowhere?), I made her this:

Beanbags, anyone? A set of 10, with a matching tote
and a sheet of beanbag games instructions. You can find the tutorial here.

I haven't sewn anything in a month of Sundays, so was a little apprehensive about finishing it on time, but this project only took a couple of hours on a couple of afternoons, start to finish. The best part is the patterned fabric was from a tablecloth I found on sale for five bucks, and the denim was upcycled from a dress I was ready to give to the thrift shop. (Yes, sadly, I used to wear a denim dress.)

Not that I wouldn't have paid for a gift, but why not use what's readily available, rather than drive, drive, drive to the fabric store? Heh. Actually, the best part was that our daughter-in-law loved it and couldn't believe I made it.

She had bought some party decorations from an Etsy seller, but neither she nor her mother could figure out how to assemble them, so they saved them for me "because Debbi's crafty." Between the three of us we finally figured it out, before the birthday girl woke up from her nap, and here's what she saw when she looked at the ceiling from her highchair:

So pretty, and so easy! The main element is scalloped tissue paper.

I made up for all that party fun yesterday, when I planted about a million little pieces of creeping sedum, a foot apart, at the edge of the rocks lining our new landscape bed. (Now you know how big the damned thing is!) Then I tied up all 40 tomato plants, which are soooo close to having a few ripe ones it's making my mouth water, and then I picked blackberries. Enough for this. Which did make my mouth water! Yum!

It's too darned hot to walk outside lately, but if I'm working outside I somehow manage to get through it. Of course I'm toast for the rest of the day. Or toasted. I actually had a fever last night, but I'm fine this morning, if still a little tired.

Come back tomorrow for a new giveaway. Betcha can't guess what the theme will be!