Weekend Update: City Market

I love me some Saturday morning sights, sounds, and smells at Cville’s bustling City Market.  Sue, the world’s greatest Chiropractic Technician, and I set up our table by 7:30AM to provide complimentary blood pressure and body mass index (BMI) screenings for Spinal Health & Wellness.

Blood Pressure Screenings at Charlottesville's City Market

Several folks stopped by for their free screening.  Unfortunately, almost everyone had coffee (City Market staple) before getting their blood pressure checked.  In case you didn’t know, caffeine acts as a vasoconstrictor and can drive up blood pressure a few points.

After Calvin and his Daddy walked around the market grabbing a few essential produce items, they stopped by our table for support and hugs.

I just love the way my husband is adoringly looking at our sweet son. The blood pressure screenings were such a huge hit, that we’ll do it again next month, and maybe even through the rest of the market season.

Sunday is our typical relaxation day.  After spending the morning at church, we head home to quickly get Calvin fed before he collapses in a tired heap on his crib.  While he naps, Steve and I sometimes watch a Netflix movie or take our own naps.  Church-lunch-nap takes up the majority of the day.  If the weather’s nice (read: NOT blazing hot), and we’re feeling up to it, we ‘ll embark on a family walk or hike.

Craft Inspiration Attack

I’m going to start a new craft project.  By new, I mean something other than photographs and photo books.

I LOVED crafting as a kid, but that creative spark kinda got shoved under the rug when I hit the academically intensive track in high school.

Last week, I found this farm friends quiet book page on Homemade by Jill.  Suddenly, I grew nostalgic and remembered my treasured quiet book when I was a kid.

I absolutely needed to make one for Calvin.

I kept searching online and found patterns and more inspiration from a seasonal-inspired felt quiet book at Martha Stewart to several creative quiet book projects by creative and talented moms (A Lasting Love Fest, Making Ends Meet).

I love the free pattern at Modest Maven.  I’ll use the basics on this book to create the canvas for the pages and the quilted cover.  However, I’m going to go about this book in the economic-friendly way and use fabric scraps to inspire the pages similar to Homemade by Jill.

I can work with a sewing machine to do some basic things.  Forget embroidery.  I never had the patience or skill to pull that off without many, many mistakes.  I’ll stick to fabric markers instead.  Also, instead of creating ALL the pages, I’ve begun to delegate the task to some family members (starting with grandmas, but I’d love to ask his aunts, too).

I think this loving project will be cherished by Calvin and his future siblings for many years with the combined creativity from several family members.

As I being this project, I’ll blog about it and keep you posted.  I like to finish projects that I start.  Crafting projects have a tendency to get shoved by the wayside if they’re too difficult to complete (note: don’t get me any project that involves embroidery.  It just won’t happen).

I fully intend to finish this Quiet Book.  Goal completion date is Calvin’s 2nd birthday at the end of October.  I should have plenty of time, right?

I purchased muslin and interface (on sale at JoAnn’s fabrics), and I’m beginning to collect fabric scraps from friends.  I’m committed!

If you haven’t already, check out Part II of this week’s Weekend Update.

Your turn:

How was your weekend?  What’s your favorite way to relax with your family?

Have you started a crafting project lately?

–By Dr. Dolly

Twitter me: drdolly