Category: Uncategorized

I cannot believe that it is September 14th. I should because I turned 61 on the 12th.

It seems like it should still be June. My daughter and het family moved down here to NC from PA the 3rd week of June. I have been so busy with the kids and helping them get settled.

The 21st of July we went to PA for my mother-in-law’s 80th birthday party. The trip was very eventful and long. We hit a pot hole in the rain in Virginia. We blew a tire. By the Grace of God no one got hurt and it happened right near an exit where there was a Pep Boys. It took about 2 hours to get new tires. On the road again and the car started vibrating badly. Well we drove over 200 miles till we reached Mother’s house. We had the car fixed and we needed 2 more new tires, new front brakes because when we hit the pot hole the right brake pad broke into 3 pieces and a front end alignment. Have I mentioned how much I love Virginia?

Any way Mother’s party was lovely and we got to see family we hadn’t seen in a long time.

A week later we were on our way home and when we hit Virginia it was raining again. I swear Virginia should be called the Rainy State.

By the time we got home the boys had already started school. They are going to a Charter School and will be going all year long.

My son got home from the Alaskan cruise out of Seattle. He’s been staying with us until his place is ready.

My son-in-law wound up in the hospital for severe vertigo and an elevated . blood pressure. Thank God he was only in for one day. He’s doing fine now.

I haven’t been to a guild meeting since i don’t remember when. Haven’t swarm a stitch either. I finally loaded a quilt onto my longarm and got it 3/4 of the way done yesterday. I’ll finish it in the morning. It feels great to be quilting again.

As I mentioned the 12th was my birthday. My husband and kids got me (us) a new tv. It’s a 47 inch flat screen. It’s great to be able to see detail. I love it. I have been blessed with thevmost wonderful family.

The weather has finally changed and we are no longer having so much rain.
I am finally sleeping at night thanks to the new meds from my rheumatologist.
Which brings me to what I’m doing now. I’m in bed ready to go to sleep. Good Night and God Bless.

Tomorrow makes 2 weeks that my good friend Sue has been here with me.  We have been sewing and quilting and just having a lot of fun.  Sue’s newest granddaughter was Christened last Sunday and she is also celebrating  her other three granddaughters birthdays tomorrow with a trip to the ice cream place for a treat and to give them their birthday gifts.  She made all three girls the most beautiful quilts.  With the new baby, everyone made a switch to make room, so gradma Sue made their quilts.  The oldest Adrienne just turned 13.  She has the most beautiful oriental quilt in an Irish Chain pattern.  I am totally jealous.  I have already told Sue that I want one from Santa.  You can imagine what she said…Fat Chance!  Ha ha.  The two younger girls are getting quilts with purple and pint and made out of the same pattern, but with two different focal fabric.  One is bunnies and one is butterflies.  They are just as beautiful!  I did the quilting with my long-arm.  Tomorrow we will be taking pictures of the quilts and I will post them so that ya’ll can see what a very talented friend I have.  Besides making the quilts, we have also done a few other projects and have had a lot of laughs.  Even hubby Gary joins in on our crazy humor.  And he just loves cutting fabric for us and un-sewing the few times it is necessary.  At least he is helpful when he crashes our little sewing parties.

I am entering three small quilts in the Quilters By the Sea Quilt Show and I have them just about finished.  I have two hand quilted and they only need their labels and binding now.  I have the third one almost quilted and have to bind that one too.  I have to turn them in on the 13 of June.

Well I finally had to bite the bullet and see the orthopedic doctor today for another shot in the knee.  I really can’t complain too much as I had the last one October 18 last year.  I got my money’s worth out of that shot wouldn’t you say.  He was hoping I would get 4 months out of it.  So I am hoping this will last me as long.

Tuesday is my guilds Tea.  I am decorating one table and the theme I have chosen is “A Country Tea”.  Mostly because I have a lot of cow things I can use for it.  Even a lot of cow fabric.  Sue and I will work on that when we get back to the house on Saturday and the rest of Sunday during the Pocono Race.  You got it, I am a NASCAR fan.  Specifically a Kasey Kahne fan.  He’s just too cute and usually has great commercials.  He’s a very talented driver and this is one of his favorite tracks and he usually does well.  He won the Cocoa Cola 600 last weekend.  It’s funny Sue isn’t a NASCAR fan, but she knows when she is here she has to suffer through it.  Each time she is hear and she roots for Kasey he wins.  So I fully expect that Kasey will win at Pocono this Sunday.  I can thank my son for getting me into car racing.  I also had a friend who owned a dirt race car in Pennsylvania.  That was fun to watch too.  But when Bud was young Rusty Wallace had his Miller :Lite Dodge at the beer distributor near where my daughter worked and my son became a Rusty Wallace fan. I always supported all the kids activities and that’s what got me into it.  My husband has always been a NASCAR fan and he was a big time Richard Petty fan.  However that took a back seat to other things when we got married.  Needless to say we do spend our Sundays glued to the TV during race season.

I almost forgot my new guest room curtains are hanging and they look great.  Sue did a wonderful job!

I spent yesterday at my daughter Samantha’s for a picnic.  My friend Sue was with us.  We stopped at JoAnn’s on the way into town first.  They had one of those 1.00 dollar sales for patterns.   I got some clothes patterns for myself and some doll clothes patterns too.  Gotta keep Alannah in doll clothes. 🙂

Today Sue and I sewed.  She’s spending a couple of weeks here with us.  I just love when Sue comes to visit. We just have the best time laughing and sewing.  We make all kinds of things.  This trip she’s going to help me make new curtains for the guest room.  And she’s making new quilts for her granddaughters.  Then we’re making clothes.  I need some new things.  I got a pattern for a summer dress I can’t wait to make.  Good times for sure.

I can’t wait for the kids to move down here.  This is the last holiday I’ll have to spend without my grandchildren.  I am so very excited.  It will be so much fun to have them here and be able to do things with them all the time.  I feel so bad for my son-in-law’s grandparents who will really feel the loss of not having them around any more, but I am so very happy for me.

Well since I went to the retreat I have gotten nothing done.  I was exhausted after staying up late the whole time.  Then, I developed a reaction to my blood pressure medication.  I have been on it for 6 months, but I still got a reaction.  I have been going crazy with a terrible generalized itching, nausea, and other GI symptoms.  I have already completed one course of steroids and have just started my second.  Needless to say I never got my quilts turned in for the quilt show this weekend.  I am not even sure I will be able to attend the show.  Gary is vending this year and I don’t even think I can help him.  Unbelievable.  Anyway, I thought I should just pop on here and let the whole world know what a mess I’m in.  🙂

My oldest grandson Andrew sent me an invitation to join him in playing the Facebook game Car Town.  Well I put it off as long as I could, but I finally gave in and have started playing it with him.  It’s something we can do together while he is still 600 miles away from me.  While he was here in April, he introduced Gary to the game. Well, needless to say we have both become addicted to it.  It’s a cute game.  But clearly I need to set limits.  Before I know it an hour has passed and as much fun as playing the game is, I’m not getting much accomplished  here at the house.  Of course it does give me the opportunity to sit here and listen to the birds outside the window.  And if you add this game time to my blog hop time I could be sitting here at the computer for the entire day.  Right?  But you gotta love the blog hops.  Especially when they are giving something away.  I never win anything, but the idea that I may keeps me hopping along.  Right now I am doing Pat Sloan’s Focus On The Center Book Tour blog hop.  I guess I’m a sucker for anything quilty!  Join me why don’t you?

I got home Sunday late afternoon.  What a wonderful time I had quilting with my friends.  Got a lot accomplished too.  Our condo was right on the ocean and it was beautiful.  We could walk the beach, take a dip in any of 7 pools or unwind in one of the hot tubs.  Wednesday night we just had cheese, crackers, bread and wine for dinner.  Thursday night Gary made us a delicious meat loaf and we made baked sweet potatoes and steamed broccoli and Jan made a delicious fruit salad for desert.  There wasn’t much left of that meal.  Friday night the girls in the other condo cooked.  We had Italian pot roast, brown rice and salad.  No one was hungry after that meal.  And it was topped off with key lime pie.   We went out for dinner Saturday night to Joe’s Crab Shack.  Yummy is all I can say about the dinner.  The margaritas were not bad either.  🙂  I am still recovering from being up late each night sewing.  We did a little fabric shopping too.  We went to two quilt shops, Sewing At The Beach and North Beach Fabric.  I picked up some civil war fabrics at Sewing At The Beach  

and a perfect green fabric for a border for my ‘Sue’s Bags” quilt at North Beach Fabric.  

Hopefully I’ll get that top done today so I can get it quilted.   I have a quilt on the frame to be done first.   

Yesterday was my bag class at BQ.  I didn’t get mine finished, but I think it’s really going to be cute.  Most of the girls left with more done than me.  I guess I did too much talking and not enough sewing.  🙂  It’s always nice to visit with the girls at the meetings.  Anyway, I will finish it on my retreat that starts today.  I am so excited about going away for a few days with good friends and just sewing till my hearts content.  I just love going on retreats.  BQ used to have one yearly and it was a lot of fun.  Unfortunately where we had the retreat there are no elevators and since most of the membership have trouble with stairs we have had to stop having it.  I am looking for a place that has a large community room where we can sew and rooms with elevator access.  Where I am going today might fill the bill.  Well I got my paperwork turned in for the quilts I am entering in the quilt show in May.  I am teaching a class for Christmas In July this year.  A cute candle mat.  I will make the sample at retreat.  It should be perfect for a half day class.  Our program should be really good this year.  Well I am off to the quilting room to finish a couple of quilts before I leave for my retreat.  “Quilting with friends will keep you in stitches.”

Bud left for Miami and Kelly arrived from PA with my grand-babies last Sunday. Oh what a wonderful week it was. The kids are getting so big. We had Legos and dolls all over the house. I always forget how noisy the house gets with them here. They went back to PA on Friday afternoon. The house is so quiet now. I can’t wait until mid June when they move down here close to me. I’ll get to spoil them more often then. :). They did wear me out though, I had to bail on my Hawaiian Appliqué Class yesterday. I get so frustrated sometimes. The Fibromyalgia isn’t fatal, but it can surely play havoc with your life.

Brunswick Quilters guild’s quilt show is May 19th and 20th so I am working on the quilts I want to enter. Two need to be quilted and my small whole cloth piece needs to be bound. Have to get the paperwork turned in by Tuesday.

Tomorrow is Quilters By The Sea’s meeting. Not sure what the program is. Then Tuesday is Brunswick Quilters meeting. We’re having a class to make a charm square bag. Have to get my prep work done. I have several quilts to get done before the meeting. They are baby quilts and shouldn’t take too long to do. Then off to Retreat with my dear friend Sue. Busy week ahead of me for sure.

Yesterday was Guild Day.  It was our business meeting.  I took this doll quilt for show & tell.  It was the March Challenge in Kathleen Tracy’s smallquilttalk yahoo group.  I loved making this one.  I even appliqued all of the handles without using a sewing machine!  I am getting better.  I am in the middle of hand quilting it.  We also had the Guild Challenge vote too.  Here’s what I made.

Had to run to Fran’s Sewing Circle today.  Picked up fabric to make a baby quilt for my daughter-in-law.  One of the girls in the wedding last year is expecting a baby.  I went by the pattern when I bought the fabric, but the amount it called for the backing was wrong.  I needed more fabric.  So, of course they were out of what I had, but I got the same fabric I used for the small border and binding to piece the backing.  Phew!  Dodged another bullet.

I still have my son here until sometime on Sunday.  He then flies to Miami to meet his wife at conference for work and then they both will go to Toronto to visit with Renee’s family.  He spent today golfing.  Came home and he and his dad dug into the baseball cards.  The Phillies game is coming on now.  Go Phillies.  

What a weekend I had.  Saturday I spent the day with my dear friend Sue in Cary.  She met me at the Fair Grounds in Raleigh and she took me to a fabulous new quilt shop, Lone Star Mercantile.  Oh my what a wonderful place it is.  Her fabrics are beautiful.  After drooling over bolt after bolt I did take a few little treasures home with me. 🙂  Then we treated ourselves to a delicious Mexican lunch.  My husband and son were spending the day at a Baseball Card Show so Sue and I got to spend lots of time catching up.  She cleaned out one of her fabric closets and I brought home some lovely scraps to use in my guild’s baby quilt program.  Sue’s vertically challenged so I helped her reach those high shelves.  We just had a great time together.  I’ll see her at the end of the month at our little retreat at the beach.  Gary and Bud picked me up at Sue’s and we headed back to Wilmington where we met Sam (my youngest daughter) for a late supper at Olive Garden.  Then Bud and Sam headed to her place and Gary and I came home.  We had a quiet Easter just the two of us.  I worked on my challenge for guild on Tuesday.  Heard from Kelly and the kids.  Called my sister-in-law to wish her a happy birthday and we called Gary’s mother.  All in all a great weekend.