The Best of Mother's Day Gifts.

I celebrated Mother's Day last night with an impromptu get together with all my kids and grandkids! A gathering of that sort has become a rarity lately, so I always count it as a gift when we are able to get together and celebrate us. 

 

I just love the smiles on these faces!

 

And so begins the count down, again, until the next 'leave' or our next trip to the east coast.

And what better way for a girl to chase the blues away than a shopping trip.  From our return to the airport with two little ones in tow and a couple of bribes promises, we spent a fair amount of time in JoAnn's.  Then it was off to the pet store where we acquired a new frog named 'jumpie'.  The frog was a compromise because apparently our aquarium is to small to accommodate a 'sucker fish'.  All I wanted was a solution to all the green growing on the sides of our aquarium and I thought  a 'sucker fish' would be just the thing.  When I told the clerk at the pet store that, she suggested a green mossy type plant that she claimed would do the trick.   The last time I bought a live plant I ended up with a couple of very prolific snails!  Well, I could see disappointment written all over a certain four year old boy's face.  A green glob of moss that just sits at the bottom and does absolutely nothing isn't nearly as exciting as a 'sucker fish' . . . .  but a FROG is way more exciting than a 'sucker fish'.  Especially a frog that eats frozen blood worms every other day.   Did you know that you have to sign a paper when you buy a frog?   With two little ones taking off in opposite directions, I have no idea what I signed or why I needed to sign it.   Hmmmm.  Green being my least favorite color . . . I sure am hoping this pompom looking glob of moss does its magic.  If so, I'm going back to buy a truck load for our pool!

Block 3 of the Spring Sampler Quilt Along

I had a major case of the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day blahs.  Moving to Australia didn't seem too realistic so decided to try and chase those blahs away with my favorite thing to do.  Ta Da!

The center came out a little wonky but I'm going to attribute that to the fact that I had a sweet little two year old trying her best to get my attention by wedging herself between me and the back of my sewing chair trying to put my hair in a 'pony'.  I'm hoping that in days to come the wonkiness will remind me of sweet things.

Block 2 of the Spring Sampler Quilt Along

Stayed up way past my bedtime last night completing Block 2.  Ignoring that little voice that said: "Stop now so you can get a decent night's sleep", I just hummed along till it was done.  It went together quickly once I got past choosing the prints. 



 





 

 

Can't wait for the release of Block 3!

 

 



Spring Sampler Quilt Along

A girlfriend  recently told me that there is type of anxiety that some people feel when their space is disorderly.  Hello . . . boy does that explain me and my recent love/hate relationship with my sewing room!  After months of neglect . . . . my sewing room  is in to such a state of disarray that I can no longer stand to be in there.   Resisting the urge to throw up my hands & walk out shutting the door behind me, I  promised myself if I could just tidy up half of the room I'd  reward myself by starting a new project.  Beginning in the farthest corner of the room with my sewing, cutting, and pressing stations, I spent several hours organizing, tossing things out,  and putting things in their place.  It actually was kind of therapeutic in a way (not therapeutic enough to finish the whole room in one sitting). 

 

So with my back to the remainder of the chaos,  my reward:

 

 In perfect timing . . .  Cora's Quilts just released their  Spring Sampler Quilt Along sponsored by Connecting Threads. 

 

Looking through my stash, I ran across a line I had forgotten that I had tucked away  Vin du jour by 3 Sisters for Moda Fabrics. 

Being a relatively new quilter and a visual person, I had a hard time sorting my fabric choices into the various groups until I found the tutorial on choosing fabrics  that Cora's Quilts included with this Quilt Along. Wow, what a great help that was! 

 

 

I was surprised at how quickly I was able to completed the first block and I love the way it turned out!

 

 

I heard the instructions for the second block are posted.  I'm going to try to resist the temptation to start it until I get another part of the room in order.  Hopefully by the time I finish all of the blocks my sewing room will again be my oasis. 

 

 

 

 

 

Back Again

There hasn't been much quilting going on here the last nine months. . . but lots of good things have kept me distracted from  my sewing room: 

Probably the biggest 'thing' for me is that we went from a two family household back to  one family.  Son #1 and his family have a cute little house a few blocks away. . . After their move, it seemed like the perfect time to 'spring clean', purge and shuffle furniture around.  At the end of summer our DIL accepted a full time position which meant that Grandma went into full time grandbaby sitting.

Son #2 left for his first deployment to the middle East last summer.  I was amazed at how much time I could spend planning  themed deployment packages.  Decorating those monthly boxes, shopping and mailing them off . . . not to mention emails (sometimes daily) helped to pass the time till his return.

 Before I knew it,  the holidays were here.  We had a bad flu season this year . . . love those preschool germs!  Quarterly visits from Mom and Sis.

Then there is our never ending honey-do/remodel list . . . nothing like having a personal contractor to share coffee with each weekend morning and brainstorm about remodeling ideas.  His ideas are always much greater than mine.  We finally got that new roof put on.  And new trim and gutter covers.  Ya see what I mean?

Next was our daughter & her family's move a few blocks away . . . Now that is Trouble with a capital T.  Playtime with the grandbabies AND shopping at a quilt store all in one stop . . . just around the corner from home.  I'm in heaven.  Check it out at Cora's Quilts.

For the first time in a long long time it's back to just the two of us. How do you adjust to being empty nesters?  New Furniture seemed the perfect way to me. What started as a trip to the furniture store for a TV stand for the guest bedroom Mom sleeps in turned into the mother lode.  Well ok, not exactly the mother lode, a living room full and a media chest and chair for the guest bedroom.  For a while there every week when hubby came home from his business travels there was some new item added to the living room.  It was a fun little game to see how long it took him to notice!  All that's left are the window valances.  I'm itching to get started on those.

Now that winter is over, Son #2 is back from the middle East, and it feels like the dust is beginning to settle,  I just can't wait to get back into my sewing room! I've got several projects lined up that I'll share real soon.

In the mean time here are a few of my favorite pics from the East Coast 'homecoming':

USS Harry S. Truman pulling into the pier at the Norfolk Naval Base

 

Manning the Rails

THERE HE IS!

The Best Part of Being There.

Proud Dad

 

 

 

 

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A New Craft

It was not my intention to find a new craft this summer. . . if that's what it could be called.  Maybe better put, a way to have some fun and feel closer to a loved one so far away.  It is a given that this mom of 2 sailors could not escape the big D. 

 

DEPLOYMENT

So how do you  pass the time and have some fun with a son who you miss terribly and can't call or visit for months and months?  THEMED CARE PACKAGES have become my new craft!  I suppose I could just throw some pre-processed, pre-packaged junk food items in a box along with the home town newspaper and call it good.  Yeah, Good and Boring!  So most of  my August has been occupied with thinking, planning, scheming, scouring web sites, and shopping.  I've been busy coming up with themes, designing the inside of FPO boxes and visiting the local stores for cheap, clever, and cute items to send half way around the world.

It took me two weeks and three trips to the post office counter before I could get the first package sent off, which he has yet to receive.  Package #2 was a little easier and arrived before package #1.

The fruits of my labor:

 

Box #1 - we are so 'blue' cuz we're missing you.

 

Box #2 - it sure must be getting hot there.

 

 

Each box contains a treat bag of chocolate kisses marked with the name of each loved one in our family.  Wonder how long it will take him to notice that?

 

Oh and on my sewing table:

1 baby quilt ~ mostly done

& something for the new little guy in my life ~ half way done . . .  more about those next time.