A stolen moment

I should be working. After all, I'm at work. But this summer has been so fun and busy and there was always a new trip to look forward to, that now that all the excitement is over, my humdrum daily existence is nearly numbing to me. No more weeks off until Christmas. Barely any days off until then. After Labor Day, I am working or traveling for work every Saturday until mid November. Ugh!!!

I should stop complaining. My life isn't really that humdrum. After all, I'm hosting a 7th birthday party/campout/sleepover for Jason this Friday night. On Saturday night, I am volunteering at the drive-in, one of my favorite places to go on the weekend with the kids. Bathing suits are in the car, and I'm taking my kids to the pool to cool off after work/school today. Besides, this is travel season for work - I'll be in Atlanta and Baltimore and West Virginia and Ecuador and Costa Rica all in the next 6 weeks. I guess I just rebel against the lack of work/life balance in the country as a whole, and in my job in particular. My job gets so much of me, my family gets so little. I wish it weren't that way.

After putting the kids to bed last night I cut and prepped all the fabric for my last 3 Pick and Choose blocks. It is all just sitting there now waiting to be sent through the machine - hopefully tonight after the pool. I've decided that tonight is leftover night, so I'm not going to be spending time making a big meal. Except for fresh veggies. One of the many things that I love about summer is the fresh veggies! I can't get enough!

So hopefully I'll have some quilt pictures of my own to post sometime soon. For today, the only graphic I have for you is the one in the top right of my blog for The Breast Cancer Site. Most of you probably already know this site, but please click there once a day, EVERY DAY, to help fund free mammograms. It is a simple something that you can do that can make a big difference in someone else's life.

I'm still alive

Thank you, Kim, for wondering what happened to me. Vacation, 20th high school reunion, and preparing the kids for a new school year happened to me. But I'm back. With photos!

Shortly after my last post, I went to Maine for 4 days, partly for my 20th high school reunion, and partly as a trip down memory lane. I haven't been back for 10 years, and I haven't lived there in 20. I visited old friends, drove by old houses I used to live in, and generally just soaked in nostalgia. It was great fun! We rented a house near a lake with my sister and her family and my best girlfriend from high school and her daughter. Here's a goofy photo of most of us after an afternoon of boating and swimming. (Did you know that I'm an identical twin?)


The house we rented belongs to another friend of mine from high school. There were some quilting gems in there, and can you believe, I forgot to photograph them!?! One was an ancient, well-worn but super-soft Grandmother's Flower Garden. Another was a scrap quilt. I did remember to photograph this crazy quilted piece, probably once a pillow cover.



After the long weekend in Maine, I worked half days last week while my oldest started 2nd grade and my youngest had the week off (teacher training week) before starting Pre-K today. He was so excited, he RAN into the school this morning. I look forward to next year, though, when they can ride the bus together to the same school. Not once in 4 years have I been able to drop them off or pick them up at the same place. It's hard!

During those half days, I got quite a bit done around the house, and also worked some more on the (puffy!) flannel juvenile quilt I am working on while watching the end of Season 5 of The Gilmore Girls (I love that show! I want to live in Stars Hollow. In the Gilmore house. And date Dean! And eat at Luke's. And go to town meetings at Ms. Patti's.). I was hoping to donate this quilt to Green Fairy Quilts when they go to the orphanage in Romania, but I don't think I'll have it done in time.

I finally did realize, however, that with such a high batt, I need a larger needle. Once I changed needles, it started going much more quickly.

Then, this weekend, my husband took the kids up to Pennsylvania for a quick trip to see how his mom is doing (chemo has begun - she is doing as well as can be expected). While they were gone, I got SO MUCH done around the house. I am not the world's greatest housekeeper, but it stresses me out when the house is dirty and cluttered. Clutter I deal with right away, but the dirt sometimes lingers. And lingers. And lingers. Not now! It is so much more relaxing to relax in a house that is clean. Yesterday I ate all three of my meals out on the porch with a book - aaahhhh! I also managed to sew two more Pick and Choose blocks together (yes, I have been working on this forever but I am only 3 blocks away from being done - well, and some sashing strips - oh, and some border blocks - you get the idea, I'm making progress).



Finally, I took advantage of being alone yesterday to wander around one of the Antique Malls in town. It kinda bugs me that not everything there is antique. It is more an indoor flea market/antique mall. Whatever. I've been wanting a proper tea cup to drink my tea in after serving it from my teapot (remember this auction find from this spring?).

I found this cup that was just $4, right in my price range. It reads "March" on the inside, but I see no reason why I can't use it year-round, can you?

Quilt envy

We got back from vacation on Saturday. A week at the beach, with a private pool and hot tub - it doesn't get much better than that. I am relaxed and refreshed and TAN! More on that later.

Look what I picked up today!

My mom saw this quilt at our quilt show this year and wanted it. I told her to name her price and ask the quilter if she would sell it. Turns out, she would! Isn't it adorable? It measures about 17.5" x 22.5". She's going to hang it in her guest room which she is preparing to paint a very pale lavender. Look at the detail on this - I really need to learn to embroider.

Anyway, I met the quilter today to pick it up, and I was going to mail it, but I didn't want to let go of it just yet - I'll mail it tomorrow!

I didn't get much quilting done on vacation. I worked a bit on my Grandmother's Flower Garden. I also worked on a puzzle with a quilt in it - does that count?

Other than that, it was walking to and playing on the beach,

Reading on the deck in the ocean breeze, playing with the kids in the pool

and losing to my mother at Cribbage.

I love vacation! Only 1 more mini vacation left this summer - this weekend we are headed to Maine for my 20th high school reunion. Fun, fun, fun!

At home yesterday, I tackled the weeds that tried to reclaim my property while I was gone, then caught up on a couple of blogs, including Green Fairy Quilts. They are looking for some quilts to take to an orphanage in Romania, and I thought, hey, what about all those flannel tops I have to quilt. So, yesterday I sandwiched this one and started quilting it.

(hmmm, where's the photo, you ask? I can't find it! I'll take another and post it later. That way you can let me know if the quilting is working or not.)

I have a really high loft batting in there (because that is what I had in the house and I refused to get back into the car yesterday). It is challenging to hand quilt something so high, but I like the look. I am doing a bigger, more primitive stitch around the center squares for now, not sure what else I will do. I'm not even sure I'll have it done to send to them before they go to the orphanage, but reading about her trip was enough to motivate me to get started quilting something.

This is another flannel top that I pieced using a crumb piecing technique.

I sent the top to a woman in my guild to practice FMQ on and the plan is to donate it to the Guild as a comfort quilt. It was waiting for me when I arrived home from vacation, so yesterday I also stitched the binding on and just have to sew the back down. However, I mangled the corners somehow. It is no longer anywhere close to square. If I were conscientious like Lane, I would take the binding off and re-do it, but I just can't bring myself to do that. I hate sewing on binding so much that I would probably just not put it back on. Oh well, it is to provide comfort, not win a prize.

By the way, it came back with blood on it. Is it my blood? I can't remember. If so, I would have blogged about it way back when, but my other blog crashed so I can't check. How do I get blood out? Any tips?

And how could I forget, Jason and I are now Orange Belts in American Freestyle Karate. Ki-ya!

A snippet of my daily life

Yesterday was my husband's birthday. I called him as I was leaving work to find out if he wanted anything special for dinner. When he answered the phone, he said, "Erin, I think we have a problem here," and proceeded to relay this story:

"As I was shaving this morning (remember, this is my husband's story, not mine), I glanced out the window and saw the biggest pile of dog poop ever (we have a yellow lab with a hefty appetite). As I turned back to the mirror, however, it moved! I looked again, and realized that it was a turtle. So I rushed outside to get it and put it in a shoe box so I could show the boys when they got home. The trouble is, I just got home, and the shoe box is still here on the bookcase where I left it, but the turtle is nowhere to be found!"

I had to laugh as I first pictured my city-boy husband handling a turtle (turns out, he armed himself with leather gardening gloves), and then his horror when he thought that it could be ANYWHERE in the house. He found it before I arrived home with the boys - it had crossed the living room and was hiding in a corner behind the furniture. You will see from these photos that there were some dust bunnies in that corner; I'm pretty sure that I've shared before that I am not a model housekeeper. It looks like the poor little guy has whiskers!



Obviously, the kids were thrilled with this discovery. After that excitement died down and they reluctantly put him in the garden (might as well, nothing is growing in there anyway), I directed Jason's attention to the mail he had received - squishy mail! I was so covetous! One of the lovely ladies on this blog saw that he had won a ribbon in the quilt show and sent him some fabric to start his stash. You can't tell how thrilled he was in this picture because I caught him in mid-sentence, but THANK YOU, KIM!!! You made his week!



He told me that he needed a place to keep his stash. Eventually, I'll probably just get him a little plastic chest of drawers (I told him he could just add it to my stash, but he didn't fall for it!), but in the meantime, there was a box in the car that he could use. He dashed out to get it, then carefully folded all his fabric into the box.

Fast forward to this morning. After seeing the turtle covered in dust from my floors, I got up early to sweep and mop the downstairs before work. As I wandered into the kitchen for a glass of water to fortify me, I noticed that my passenger side car door was open. I knew in an instant that it had been open all night. It also rained all night. I am always fussing at the boys to close the car doors when they get out, and apparently, I forgot to close my door when I got out my purse yesterday. It is a perfect teachable moment, right? As the kids and I were driving to work and the entire inside of the car was moist and smelling a bit like cat (I found one of them on Donald's car seat when I went out to close the door), I told them what I had done and that even grown-ups make mistakes. After all, I want them to be able to own up to their mistakes. After a few seconds, Jason spoke up. "Actually, Mom, remember I came out and got that box for my fabric last night? The box was on that seat. The car door was closed when I came out here, but I don't think I closed it when I went back inside." Huh? Well, lesson learned, I guess.

I love my kids.

More GGG blocks

I didn't go to karate. I didn't take the kids to the pool. I didn't make a trip to the grocery store. Instead, in a major deviation from my usual routine, I came straight home after work and sewed. Aaahhh! It was great! It is not often that I get to sew when it is still light outside.

First, I started sewing together two of my last five Pick and Choose blocks. I didn't finish them, but I plan to finish them tonight. Then, I sewed together 4 more GGG blocks (great great grandmother's quilt), bringing my total to a whopping 8. I keep telling myself that it was the turtle who won the race in the end.



I have pretty much convinced myself that I will need to include some new fabric in this quilt to help stabilize things. This fabric is so old and threadbare that it stretches out of shape at the drop of a hat. I think I will like it better anyway with the blocks framed, either with sashing or put on point with setting squares. We'll see.

I leave for vacation (again! I LOVE SUMMER!) on Saturday. At this point, I don't have a hand project to bring with me, and there is no room for my sewing machine in the car (we are going to the Outer Banks and we are bringing the dog with us for once). Hopefully I can pull something together quickly, maybe work on my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt. However, if I don't sew on vacation, it will be OK. I plan to swim, read, nap, ride bikes, and just RELAX!!! Oh, and there is wireless in the house where we are staying, so hopefully I can also get caught up reading everyone's blogs!

BEAUTIFUL!

A friend and ex-coworker got married this past weekend. Jason was a ringbearer:



Donald was excited to get dressed up, too:



The venue, the ceremony, the bride - everything was BEAUTIFUL! Here is where the ceremony took place:


There was even a beautiful old log cabin quilt in the main house, framed and mounted on the wall, but I couldn't get a good picture because of the reflection off the glass.

So, another weekend down with NO QUILTING, but I had a great time. Oh, and on the way home, we needed a break, and pulled in at a place called Ellwood. It was an old, remote 18th century farmhouse that was taken over as headquarters for Grant's army during the Battle of Wilderness(?). It turns out that that cemetery on the property is where Stonewall Jackson's left arm is buried. (The rest of him is buried here in Lexington, VA where I work).

Whirlwind week!

Tuesday: My mom met me at work and came with me to the quilt show at the fair while I served as hostess (greeting visitors, making sure no one had food or beverage, handing out gloves to those who wanted to touch quilts or see the backs). Imagine my joy when I saw that Jason had won second place in the youth division! (I promise, this is the last photo of Jason and his quilt.)



After checking out all the quilts, I sat down and did some more deconstruction of my great-great-grandmother's quilt while my mother and I had a nice visit. Since my hubby had the kids at the park and pool, I took my mom out to dinner - I didn't want this grown-up evening to end!

Wednesday: I wasn't feeling very good, but after work, I took the kids to the county fair. We started with the quilt exhibit, but then moved on to the rides and the food, and finally the livestock. Three and a half hours later, I was exhausted but giddy - I love the fair!

Thursday: Woke up SICK!!! I had strep throat last month, and this felt very similar. I went to work, but made a doctor's appointment in the AM and lo and behold - strep throat AGAIN!!! I went home to rest because I had to go to New York City the next day for work - ugh! There were some bright spots in the day, though. At the doctor's office, I finally sewed the hanging sleeve onto my challenge quilt from last year. It still isn't on the wall, but that is coming. I also shaved all the hair off of my head. Maybe that doesn't seem like a bright spot to some of you, but I am a simple gal, and all that hair was driving me CRAZY! I feel light-headed now, free to swim and sweat and nap, etc, without worrying about what it will mean to my hair. Guess I need to change my avatar now...

Friday: Feeling better, but exhausted. Drove 2.5 hours to the airport, flew to NYC, did my program and fell into bed.

Saturday: Surreal day - woke up and wandered around the Upper East Side looking for breakfast before hopping on a bus to LaGuardia Airport. When I got home that evening, I built a campfire in the firepit with the kids and made smores. Aaahh, home!

(yes, that is a large cooking fork we are using to roast marshmallows - necessity is the mother of invention)

Sunday: As much as I wanted a day of rest, it wasn't in the cards. First, we had to go pick up our quilts from the fair. Jason was surprised again when he found out that not only did he get a ribbon, but he got PRIZE MONEY! Yup, he has already started picking out fabrics for next year's quilt...

We also went to karate, then to the pool. Guess what? Both my kids can now jump off the diving board into the deep end! This is going to completely change my pool-going experience! No more standing knee-deep in the kiddie pool for me. So glad I cut my hair!

Back at home, I watched 4 episodes of Gilmore Girls while I finished taking apart my great-great-grandmother's quilt. Now, all I have to do is put it back together...

Monday: I'm so glad I had the foresight to take the morning off. I got the kids off to camp, then went for a short run before spending a couple hours with my quilting buddies at City Hall. I forgot to bring an iron, so I was pretty limited with what I could do, but I did sew all of the trimmed down pieces of my great-great-grandmother's quilt together into two-patches. (I need an acroynm for that quilt; that is too much to type - GGG perhaps?) Then I treated myself to lunch and coffee with a new paperback before going in to work. After work, the kids agreed to skip karate and go clothes/shoe shopping with me - who says you need little girls to enjoy those things!?! I love shopping with my kids - they are brutally honest about things that don't look good, but when it works, they rain down the compliments. Plus, they give me permission to buy anything I want - I got a purse, a dress and THREE pairs of shoes!!!

The cherry on top of this day was the squishy mail waiting for me when I got home from This-n-That Fabrics. I think they are my new favorite online quilt shop. They have great $3/yard fabric and they ship immediately!



TODAY: I have to work, and then karate and a work-related gathering, so I'm not going to have much time to sew, but I am determined to get something done, even if it is just pressing the two-patches I sewed together yesterday. I am feeling the need to CREATE! First, though, I need to catch up on what you all have been doing...