Thursday, February 28, 2013

Really Random Thursday, 2/28/13

Tomorrow is March? How is that even possible?

Since I was gone for an extended weekend, I have spent time this week catching up on my real job (and dreaming about sewing...).  I showed this picture on WIP Wednesday yesterday, a block that I completed in a hurry right before packing up to leave the quilting retreat on Sunday. Oops.
So the next day, I was walking to school with Charlotte to volunteer in her classroom. We were almost to the classroom when I looked down and noticed this:
Really?

And yesterday I opened the garage door to leave for a bit, and noticed this across the street. Hmmmm....not good.
Turns out, a guy had robbed a liquor store about half a mile away, and made the getaway, not successfully of course, on his bicycle!

Random question:  I have spent the first two months of 2013 really not blogging more than the weekly Really Random, but I am considering restarting The Name Game. Thoughts?
Okay. Your turn.








Tuesday, February 26, 2013

WIP Wednesday

I bet you are saying to yourself, "Hey, wait just a minute here. It's not Really Random Thursday. Does she have her days mixed up?" Yes, I realize what day it is. This is my first non-Really Random Thursday post of 2013. Whoot!

Last weekend I was at one of my favorite quilting retreats--Quilting in the Pines (you can see pictures from last year here). This was the ninth year and I have attended each one. Over the years, our group has gotten smaller, and there were only four of us, although I think there were maybe 60 to 70 women in total, from as far away as Orange County (Los Angeles) and even one from Anchorage!

There was a little snow on the ground when we arrived. It was cold but didn't snow while we were there. And this happy face soon melted.
Our table looked like this all weekend.
And I didn't take many pictures. Not sure why. But here are a couple of pictures of things I worked on. The front of Farmer's Wife is completed! Now to put the back together, including the remaining thirty blocks, and get it to the longarm quilter!
I worked on some braids, for a project that I'm not quite ready to show yet.
And started my charity donation quilt for 2014. Swoon blocks with Oakshott cottons--such beautiful fabric.
I'm always happy when points come together like they are supposed to:
 Our good friend, Jullie, came to visit us on Saturday and brought homemade cookies. Yum.
Jennifer, me, Jullie, Dotty
(Not pictured--because I cropped her out--because she hates having her picture taken--is Deborah)

In lieu of a picture of Deborah, here is the quilt she was working on, Greek Cross blocks made out of Joel Dewberry's latest line. SO pretty!
I didn't participate in the "challenge" this year (where every participant gets 1/2 yard of the same fabric) and I forgot to take pictures. Doh. Except for this really cute little quilt (hi, Judy!)
And she used open zippers to make the flip-flop part. So clever!
Late Saturday afternoon, it rained just a little bit. At the same time the sun was shining.
I was kind of in a hurry on Sunday morning when it came time to pack up. I just wanted to Finish.This.Block. Being in a hurry is usually never a good idea.
Ooops...If it wasn't for the fact that it is going into a charity auction, with the hopes of raising significant money for a great cause, and the fact that it is a ginormous block, so the mistake is equally huge, I would be tempted to leave it.

I'm linking to Lee for the first time this year. I can't tell you how happy that makes me.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Really Random Thursday, 2/21/13: The end of an era

Well, now that is a little dramatic, isn't it?

What I really mean is that hopefully the spell of nothing very quilty here is coming to a close. Look--fabric combinations. Mark is holding down the house this weekend while I go to the annual quilting retreat in the mountains.
It was Grandparents Night at Charlotte's school last week. They served mexican food and there was a great turnout. It was really fun. And she was probably one of the only ones to have both sets of grandparents there. Sweet girl.
(sorry for the garbage can--PicMonkey wasn't loading pictures when I needed it to...)
I was sick (again) last weekend. We had plans to have dinner at our friends' house, but instead she rang the doorbell and left a care basket. So thoughtful.
These are now blooming. They are beautiful. They smell horrible.
When the boys comes over, the family room goes from no toys to lots of toys in under five minutes. I don't care one little bit...
Okay, I'm off to sew. Pictures next week!


Thursday, February 14, 2013

Really Random, 2/14/13

Smiling children make me happy. This one can make the silliest faces.

This one was having fun seeing himself on the iPhone camera and taking pictures.
I went on a field trip with this one the other day--we rode the school bus together to another school to see their middle school musical. It was lots of fun.
And we were finally able to give this one the present for her first birthday, which was nearly a month ago. Crazy schedules and sickness...But at this age, I don't think she really noticed that it was almost a month late!

A few weeks ago I mentioned that my dream is to ride a Zamboni. And someone remarked that it was the 100th anniversary of the Zamboni. Google even did a doodle honoring the event.

I was sorting through some old pictures and came across these. When the place where my parents currently live was being built, Aaron went up in the rafters and wrote facts about his life at that time. I think it was then boarded up and probably no one will ever see this, but it's kind of cool to know that it is secretly there. 
 
Kind of hard to read, but these were all his favorite sports teams at that time
Our good friends, George and Cheri, will soon be celebrating their 2nd wedding anniversary. I had saved corks from their wedding reception and finally got around to doing something with them. I found these cool little frame that come in a set. You hot glue corks into and turn them into coasters. I have a huge selection to choose from--and no, I did not drink all the bottles of wine that these corks came from! Just some of them.
And finally, I didn't forget that today is Valentine's Day. I made this for a little sweetheart who loves purple.
Hope your day is lovely.




Thursday, February 7, 2013

Really Random Thursday, 2/7/13: Hopefully this phase is almost over

I'm in a phase. I hope it ends soon. I'm having a hard time getting myself to write. I thought it would end once the holidays were over. But it's still hanging around. *sigh* Does that ever happen to you?

The only sewing I have accomplished in the last couple of weeks was this block. For the second time. The first one, which was sent to the fabric designer, never arrived. And since it has been nearly a month, we both agreed it likely never will arrive. Repeat sewing--not quite as exciting as the first time around.

 For our family Christmas, we each were assigned a letter of the alphabet and had to buy a $25 gift card from some place beginning with that letter. So our son, Aaron, was assigned the letter M. He purchased $10 at Mossetti's, the local baseball card shop, and $25 at Max's bar and grill. I was the recipient of the dual-gift card. Now think about that. Mossetti's baseball card shop? Other than Aaron, and his children by extension, no one really has an interest in purchasing anything from that shop. Which almost guaranteed that any recipient would kind of "deed" the results of that $10 shopping spree back to him. Clever, huh?  Well, this year's baseball cards were released last week. Aaron picked me up after work and we went there together. I was able to purchase five $2 packs of cards. He seemed pretty excited to see what cards he would get to add to his collection I had gotten. They were actually pretty cool. If you have young boys in your family, or older "boys" (Aaron is almost 35), you know that green refractor cards and die cuts are pretty cool. I kept them all overnight so I could really enjoy my Christmas present. And then gave them to Aaron and Levi for safe keeping. But the real present? It was the time I got to spend with Aaron at Mossetti's. Seeing his continued excitement with his favorite pasttime, baseball, was really fun--and that was the real gift. 
 Saturday picnic time.

We found all of Aaron's old Transformers in the garage rafters this weekend. Remember them? And now the next generation gets to play with them.

Mark and I found these interesting streets in one of the new developments in town.

If you are musically inclined, one of these would be a good street to live on:
I'm pretty sure none of these would apply to me:
I tried imagining giving my address to someone over the phone and saying I lived on Trendsetter Street. Um, no.
But I would definitely like to live on either of these streets!
Your turn.