Wow...19 years

Has it really been that long? I remember it like it was yesterday...all the preparations, all the anticipation and a lot of stress, not to mention an all night session the night before the wedding, putting all the flowers together.  My best friend Kathy traveling from Alaska to serve as my Maid of Honor, my Mother in the midst of a gallbladder attack and Valium induced, removing half of the beading on one of my sleeves at the church because there just wasn't enough time to finish both...and now that you mention it, my dear, sweet Grandma & Grandpa Soma spending the week before the nuptuals at my parent's house the entire week before to help with everything...and the two of us (Emily and I) sewing beads and sequins on my gown in the evenings...oh, how I treasure THOSE memories.  Then the day was finally here and my Dad and I were standing at the end of the aisle at Richland Lutheran Church, at 2pm sharp and he asked me, "are you nervous?"..."Nope, says I...let's do this!" I distinctly remember anxiously wanting to begin the rest of my life with my new best friend...

DH asked me as we ceremoniously cut the cake, "what do we do now?"..."just start shoving" and so we did....1 year later, I was still picking cake and frosting out of my earrings...19 short years and two kids later, he is still my best friend, the one with whom I love spending time, the one who completes me...wow, who would have thunk it? Me, of course...it seems that I knew the moment I saw him...

Both Sons have quilts, can I have one now?

I'm feeling pretty good right now, having finished two ufo's in two weeks. It has made me realize though, that I need to pay more attention when I add  borders that I cut them on the straight of grain and measure more precisely, rather than wing it like I did this time in the name of getting something finished. That, and I need to work from the middle out in both directions. It was well pinned and stretched on my livingroom floor and I had intended to just do straightline quilting over the entire quilt, but made the mistake of first stitching in the ditch each vertical row before going back to do the other closely spaced vertical lines...major puckering  ensued the closer I got to the end, which resulted in a frustrated and unhappy quilter, but alas, it was another lesson learned and my oldest is happy with it.  My husband, bless his soul, remarked, "you are the only one who notices that anything is wrong with it." I do have to admit that most of the puckers crinkled up nicely after washing and drying. So, now comes the question...what do I make for us now? I'm considering a quilt as you go log cabin like the tutorial/quiltalong done by Sewtakeahike, that looks totally do-able in queensize...And I would only have to wrestle with the beast quilting-wise when putting the backing on (let me explain that my Brother has a relatively small throat, which makes anything larger than a twin a real challenge to mash through the opening) As I ponder my decision further, let me leave you with the pic of the whole quilt hanging on the backyard fence.

Almost...But Done Enough To Show You

My hope was to get this finished last night and washed this morning, but with all of the running around that happens on a Saturday in my house, it just didn't happen. My DH installed a new oven in the trailer (doing the happy dance here...the old oven didn't work and was just old enough that you couldn't get parts for it anymore) but for some reason, it didnt have an oven rack and he had to improvise...a replacement bbq grill and a set of bolt cutters did the trick (at least it wasn't duct tape...hehe!!). While he was working on that, I whipped up a batch of pico de gallo, some ceviche to go with last night's dinner AND a pan of enchiladas for dinner tonight.  My reward was a refreshing mango margarita and dinner in the back yard until I realized that ahem, I could be stitching on my binding if it were machine attached...off went that hat and inside I went to break out the sewing machine to get that done. The sun, however, was nowhere to be seen by the time that it was accomplished...not to worry though, I popped my posterior on the couch and listened to the Sons of Anarchy reruns that DH was watching...the end was in sight...one more corner to go...1am rolled around and this girl just couldn't keep her eyes open any longer....Oh well, there is always today, right?! I can have it finshed, washed and nicely folded for my firstborn to take with him out to the ranch this evening, with that being said, I need to get a move on if I am going to fit in a well-deserved (ok, not really deserved, more like heavily craved) chocolate chip ice cream cone  at the Country Mercantile!!!

It's a Finish!

Finally! After 3 years (or was it 4?) of sitting on the shelf, I finally finished my youngest son's quilt...he wasn't quite so tall when I started it though and when I saw him sleeping with it this morning, it didn't look nearly big enough for him (sigh), he loves it...couldn't wait for it to come out of the dryer even! Don't look too closely at all the puckers in the back...(no really, don't look!) In retrospect, I would have quilted it differently had I to do it over again, but by the time I had decided that, it was halfway quilted...and I was NOT going to pick out all those stitches!!! Now it's on to the next quilt top...I wonder if I could get it quilted by the end of this weekend? Hmmm.....

We Interrupt the Preparation for this Swap...

To bring you this little bundle of joy... My nephew and his girlfriend had themselves a sweet little baby girl early this morning! She weighed in at 8lbs 10ozs and a whopping 21in long!!! It's been a REALLY long time since I have held a newborn, so I had to soak it all in, she slept and cooed and wiggled when I unleashed her little feet, but oh what a joy to snuggle with!!! Anyway, I just had to share...isn't she just yummy?!

One Swap Down...

And one more to go...these Bento blocks are addicting and fun AND a challenge to come up with different combinations AND I love the way they turned out! Here are pics of the total 48 quarters, after I removed the 12 that I kept and what my 12 look like all put together. I already said that I love them didn't I? Yes, I know that I am gushing...so onto something else... Ah yes, they still need to be packaged  up and mailed, but that's just a detail...have I mentioned that I can't wait to see what comes back to me in the mail? I'm not good with anticipaton, so to occupy my time I think I'll get the rest of my modern siggy squares sewn, cut and signed, and with any luck, I can pop those babies in the mail at the same time as the Modern Bentos, sounds like a plan!!! And to celebrate the start of a big finish (and the fact that my DH just came home and dinner is almost ready) I'll be blending up a tasty adult beverage...now that is what I call instant gratification!!! (perhaps I can talk DH into a shoulder rub...it's a bit tense between the blades) Have a happy weekend everybody, if you need me, I'll be enjoying a warm summer evening on the porch!!

Phew!! We got my oldest son graduated from high school with minimal stress albeit A LOT of hard work but, the house was ready, the food prepared, my DH laid concrete and sod in the backyard weed patch...It looks great and we are still enjoying it! So, what a better way to celebrate a successful graduation and family visit, than to start ANOTHER project! The Mod Bento Block Swap was just to cool to resist, we are using this tutorial and the nice thing is, that so far, I have just used what is already in my stash.  If there is any purchasing to be done, it might be a little Kona cotton, but I've got JoAnn's coupons for that, so no worries here! As you can see the sewing assembly line is goin while the pups enjoy a lazy afternoon snoozing on the couch...I gotta say that I truly heart these blocks! By the looks of the flickr photostream, there are some wonderful pieces out there...a lot of them destined to grace my mailbox sometime soon!!!  And I am more than just a little bit excited about that : P  Well, this chick needs to get back to work and keep the momentum going, but I will leave you with a picture of the happy graduate and some of the peeps that graced my house, enjoy the rest of your weekend!!! TTFN