Second Trip to the Farm and One More Item Off The List

We had a busy and fun weekend.  On Saturday morning, my sister, her husband and their children Liam and Siobhan came in from Petawawa.  That clan plus our brood invaded my parents house for a few hours.  That's five kids 4 and under, in case anyone's counting.  My parents' house withstood the onslaught, but it was a beautiful day so we spent some time playing in the park.

Edward's Aunt Pinie also arrived on Saturday for the week, and on Sunday morning she and Edward took the Ducklings back to the Museum of Agriculture.  Last time they went, they had a blast and this time was no different.

Keith as a beekeeper

Colin as a beekeeper

Enjoying the tractor

Evelyn and Aunt Pinie

A few child-free hours meant that I could wrap up another project for the Baby Nook.  There are tons of tutorials on the internet for DIYing a canvas rug, and this is my version.  It still needs a coat of polyurethane - if I get around to it - otherwise, it's done.  

The concept is simple:  prime, paint and seal a canvas drop-cloth, which is readily available at any hardware store.  However, in practice, there were a few snags along the way.  For one, I cut off some canvas to achieve the length I wanted, and I should have bound that edge before priming and painting because it's too stiff now to sew.  Secondly, according to what I'd read on-line, there was a chance the first few coats of primer would seep through the cloth, so luckily my father painted it outside on the grass... and thereby primed his lawn.  This canvas took a LOT of primer, too - my father estimates about two litres.  The light blue paint was a left-over from our bedroom accent wall, but I also was surprised at how much of it I had to slather on.  I picked up acrylic craft paint and a stencil at Michael's a while ago, and although stenciling is tedious work, it was probably the easiest part.  Due to the size of the rug, I had to work on the floor.  Given that I struggle to put on my socks at this point, it was a challenge and I'm a little sore today, but I'm pleased with the result.