It's been a long time...

since I basted a quilt by hand.  I kind of miss having my longarm handy!

The road much travelled...

We spent Friday and Saturday running up to Vermont so we could move Andrew back home.  I have to admit, it was a little sad to move him out of his apartment.  But, Vermont put on a show for us, so I felt much better about it!  The color in the Ludlow area was beautiful, although not quite at peak.  Here is the bridge, which gave Bridge Street its name.

Behind the apartment...



Saying goodbye to "The Hole"...

One last look at Okemo... 

Back at home I've finished two of my September/October Projects. The banner for church is completed and just needs to be dropped off tomorrow.

I also finished my socks...finally!

On the drive to Vermont I also knitted a dishcloth and a half...finished them when we got home!

Next up will be basting and quilting the 9 patch quilt.  I'll have some quiet time to quilt in the next week or so, since I'm headed to the hospital on Friday for a little surgery.  Nothing major, it's an outpatient procedure, but there will still be a few weeks of recovery time.  Now to get that quilt basted so I'm ready!!!



Michael's Wedding...

On Saturday, my nephew Michael married a beautiful Bulgarian girl named Bistra.  They make a wonderful couple and I wish them every happiness!

Michael and Bistra with my parents

Love this picture of my Dad!

My family...Grace, Me, The Boss, Andrew and Ellen

Andrew and his beautiful Dayna

Ellen and her handsome Jake...who really is smiling here!

My gorgeous girls

And the love of my life

Congratulations to Michael and Bistra! I'm so very happy for you!

September/October Goals

Kelly has asked us Charming Girls to share our goals for September and October.  Mine are pretty simple.  Quilt the 9 patch quilt and finish the banner in the previous post, and finish these socks which have been languishing on the needles for close to a year.  I do knit slowly.

Our topic this month is "Quilting the Quilt".  Kelly's asked for ideas...as a longarm quilter, I'm often asked for my opinion on quilting.  Although there is beautiful, elaborate machine quilting out there, I've always liked a simpler treatment for quilts.  I try to let the quilt "speak to me" and design the quilting around what it says.  If the quilt has a particular period, 30's for example, I usually use motifs you would have found on quilts of that time.  I've never been one to quilt things to death, although I do admire quilts that are quilted this way.  Kind of like art quilts...I admire them but wouldn't make one.

All in all, it really depends on the quilt.  There are some that just call for more detailed quilting and others that the piecing is so beautiful that busy quilting would diminish the piecing.  Just go with what your heart says...it will always be right!

September!

I love September...it's like the start of a new year!  I have a new planner, just waiting to be filled in.  Grace will be going back to school tomorrow...she's looking forward to starting at her new high school.  We've had a lot of good news lately...I think the best being that Andrew is moving home from Vermont.  He interviewed on Friday at the company my husband works for in Philadelphia and they offered him the job.  He will be the 3rd generation in our family to work for this company.  In addition, he also stopped at a local snowboard shop and they hired him part time, so he'll be coming home with not one job, but two!  The plan is to have him home by the end of September.

We spent our Labor Day weekend working on our shed.  Every agent that has seen our house has commented that it's an eyesore...and they were all right!  Here's the before picture....

After spending the weekend removing the old, rotten trim, replacing it, removing the doors and repairing them, priming and painting, it now looks like this.  I think it's a bit of an improvement!

I've done a little sewing...I'm repairing and refinishing one of the old banners from our church.  I've removed the old border fabric and replaced it, after washing the central counted cross stitch piece.  There was a patch in the center which I will replace, then I'll put it all back together with a little bit of machine quilting before I return it to the church.

I also finally got the borders on my 9 patch challenge quilt.  I'm planning to hand quilt this since my quilting machine is packed away in my garage, waiting to be moved to its new home, once its old home is sold.  I really wish that would happen soon!  I think it's time to bury St. Joseph.  Our last house was on the market for a year and didn't sell until we buried St. Joseph...yeah, it's definitely time!

Daisy is growing bigger by the minute.  She's mostly trained, as long as we remember to take her out!  With all the dry weather we've had, the leaves are starting to fall.  When we take her outside, she picks up a leaf and carries it around in her mouth until she finds a better leaf.  Then she'll drop the first one and pick up the new one.  She's quite amusing!

With Andrew moving back, Max will be moving home too.  They met this weekend and after an uneasy start (Daisy did NOT like Max sniffing around her food!) they came to a truce and spent a great deal of time ignoring each other.  I guess eventually they'll get used to each other!

So, that's what's been going on in my corner of the world, what's new in  yours?