Supernova Friendship Block Swap: Block 3 and a Childhood Memory

Time to swap blocks again! 

Kristie from Sew Sunshine and I have been participating in the Supernova Friendship Block Swap, hosted by Stephanie and Sandra, for the past couple months.

I'm loving these blocks so much!

Mine is the pink and Kristie's is the yellow. This time, we met up at the quilt shop and laughed as we exchanged blocks. We always seem to put the contrasting colors and patterned fabrics in the same places. We've decided we are just meant to do this together!

Here's what the blocks are looking like all together.

I LOVE IT!

I cannot wait to put the whole quilt together. 

So this month we had to share a childhood memory. 

Kristie and I both spent a lot of time playing outside as kids, making forts and using our imaginations! I loved those times and here is my memory I shared with her.

 When I was 5ish, my folks built a house in a new development outside of Plattsmouth, NE. Our house was surrounded by lots of trees, a ditch on one side and a corn field in the back yard that, when it was at it's tallest, separated us from the neighbors. It was sort of like living in the country.

I'm thankful that I had my sisters to play with, otherwise, I may not have liked living there so much. It seemed secluded at times. If anything was needed from town, we had to navigate a gravel road. So yeah, we did live in the country! 

  We spent so many hours playing outside. My sisters and I would pack up our dolls and toy kitchen ware and head out into the weeds and trees to play house. I made lots of juniper berry soup and mud pies decorated with clover. Each of us had a "fort" out there which was AWESOME! We each had a space we could go to be alone and sometimes we would be invited to each others forts. 

Most of the time though, we were like, "get out of my fort!!"

We used to have these two sisters who would babysit us. The poor girls had a very strict mother who never let them watch TV. So when they babysat us, you can imagine that all they were concerned with was catching up on some shows. The minute our mom and dad left the house they would immediately turn on the TV and start frantically watching as many shows as they could! It was like they couldn't get the pictures in their eyes fast enough! It didn't matter if the show was Dynasty, The Love Boat or Happy Days. Those girls were watching it.

We didn't have a remote control TV, so one of the girls would be on the floor, changing the channel between the 3 stations. Anytime a commercial came on, they would turn to another show to maximize the shows they were watching. 

My sisters and I were NOT happy about this and we always tattled on them to our parents. I mean, they were supposed to be playing with us, right?

That brings me to one of my favorite childhood memories.

It was summer time and the sisters were babysitting us. They had started their TV watching routine and I'm sure my sisters and I began to protest and say hey, play with us! Instead of playing with us though, they said it was time to go to bed. It was REAAAALLY early, like 7 pm. 

In the summer with the sun still shining.
 I'm guessing Falcon Crest was on.

My sisters and I whined and cried!

It's still light out!

How could we possibly get to sleep now!

Our mom and dad NEVER make us go to bed THIS early!

We really tried to convince them. They didn't care. I think they may have threatened to spank me so I  eventually went along with their crazy early bedtime plans, knowing that they really only wanted to watch TV.

 Meanwhile, while I was complying, my sisters were hatching an escape plan! I remember all of us getting our pajamas on and then poof! my sisters had disappeared! 

The babysitters went into panic mode.

Where did they go?

We searched the house. We went outside and looked around the yard. Nothing. We called for them. Still nothing. I started to think that maybe they had gone into the trees to one of our forts but I didn't let on.

Sure enough, that's where they were, laying down in the tall grass so no one could see them.

 They REALLY didn't want to go to bed. I don't remember if they gave themselves up or if we found them but I remember them, quite awhile later, walking back through the grass to the house, blankets and dolls in hand. The babysitters were so mad but relieved at the same time. I'm pretty sure we had to go straight to bed after that. 

I thought it was really funny that my sisters had outsmarted the babysitters but then I was sort of mad that they ditched me!   

When I asked my mom if she knew this had happened, she said no! The babysitters must not have told and maybe I didn't either. It is one of my favorite memories of my sisters though.