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?

Wonderful Weekend...

I was able to take a little vacation over the weekend.  On Thursday morning, I headed to Vermont.  It was a beautiful day for a drive.  I headed north through NJ and NY, up the Merritt through CT, 91 through MA and then into Vermont where I went directly to King Arthur Flour in Norwich.  Spent a little time and a few bucks there, then headed over to the Quechee Dam in Quechee, VT. I wandered through the Simon Pearce Glass Factory, then watched the water fall over the dam...fascinating.

Then I watched these crazy kids swimming at the base of the falls...couldn't figure out how they got down there!

Later in the weekend Andrew and I spent a few hours at the Long Trail Brewery, taking in the scenery (and the beer!)

We drove back through Quechee on our way home and found the Gorge...don't know how I missed it earlier!  We took in the view from the top...

Which was fabulous...

Then somehow he convinced me to hike the half mile to the bottom of the gorge...in flip flops!

And I'm glad he did...it was worth it! (Although the walk back up was a bear!)

Not only was I in Vermont to visit my favorite son...

But I was there for a few events at the Waterwheel House Quilt Shop.  On Friday we made pillowcases for charity.  There were 5 of us and between us we made 25 pillowcases!  It was great fun and I got to meet some wonderful people, especially Beverly from The Magic of Ordinary Days. What a kind and gentle person she is, it was a pleasure getting to know her!

Then on Saturday we had a potluck lunch for all of us who participated in the 9 patch challenge that Shelley had at her store.  There were beautiful quilts, perfect weather, amazing food...

It was a great time!

The ride home wasn't nearly as fun as the ride up...lots of rain and horrendous traffic...but I'm so glad I went!

Here we go again...

I can't believe we did this, but meet Daisy, our new puppy!  Her mom is a Siberian Husky and Dad is an Australian Shepherd.  She's gentle and sweet...but such a PUPPY!  I haven't had a puppy in the house for 17 years, the last few dogs we had were adopted as adults.  She has one blue eye and one brown eye.  Can't wait to see what we're in for!!!

Please Vote!

The voting has begun for the Schnibbles Times Two Contest!  Please visit Kelly's blog and vote for your favorite...hopefully it will be mine, which is #13 - Seasons of Change!  Thanks!

Schnibbles

This week I got my Schnibbles quilt quilted, bound and ready for its photo shoot.  I chose to do Open Season in the small size and used Moda's "Collection for a Cause - Charity" Charm Pack for the fabric, paired with a cream tone on tone that I had in my stash.  The binding is a Jo Morton fabric, which went well with the collection.  I have to admit, I loved making this quilt.  It came together beautifully.  This is the first Schnibble that I've made, and it won't be the last!  So, here are my photos for the contest...

Schnibble in the Garden

A Little Closer

Close up with Quilting

July Goals

The topic this month for the Charming Girls and Guys is self care.  Have to admit, I'm not very good at that!  I decided that my goal for the month would be to spend some time in my sewing room.  With getting the house fixed up and on the market, I hadn't visited it, except to pile stuff on the tables.  I got it so clean that I couldn't wait to go up and work.  I finished my 9 patch blocks and my Schnibbles quilt this weekend, so that goal was accomplished. That brings me to my quilting goals, which we're also supposed to be setting!  So, here are mine...

1. Take these 9 patches, which Miley is helping me organize, and turn them into a quilt.  Last month I joined the 9 patch challenge at  Waterwheelhouse House Quilt Shop in Londonderry, VT. They'll be having a luncheon for all those who participated in late August, so I'll be driving up to visit Andrew and have lunch.

2.  My second goal is to quilt and finish my Schnibbles quilt.  I'm up to date on the quilt along now and my top is finished.  If I have time, once I finish my customer quilts, this little quilt will go on the machine.

I'd also like to get in a little knitting time, but that's not a huge priority.  Of course my biggest goal will be to sell our house...I can't wait for that to happen!  Keep your fingers crossed...

Changes

Thinking about where we've been...

And what we'll leave behind...and miss....

So we've been fixing things up to get ready...

And painting...and reorganizing...

and dreaming of where we might someday be...

Our house is on the market...showings will start this weekend.  It's been a flurry of craziness getting ready, decisions to make, too much to think about! The hardest decision is what to do with this...

Yes, I'm keeping it.  But only to work on my own projects.  Once my last two customer quilts are done, it will be taken down, packed away and Lakeside Quilting will close its doors.  It is time to move on to new ventures.

Have I mentioned how excited I am?

My 15 seconds of fame...

He really did it!  Yesterday was my birthday and we happened to have tickets to the Phillies game as part of our season ticket plan.  I harassed the boss about wanting to have my name in lights for my birthday and he actually did it!  Along with your name in lights you get a few little gifts...including the opportunity to be totally humiliated when a cute guy comes to your section, announces it's your birthday and has your ENTIRE section sing "Happy Birthday" to you, complete with confetti sprinkled all over you! 

To top it all off, it was a Phillies WIN and Raul Ibanez got a hit...just for me, I'm sure!  :o)

What an incredible birthday!

A good week...

Last week I finished this quilt which was sent to a little girl celebrating her 4th birthday.  This is my second quilt for the Wrapped in Hope Program.

I finished this customer quilt...it was the second in the same pattern, but a smaller version.  Very cute!

And I discovered who has been eating all of the plants out in front of my house!  It was a good week...

Schnibbles Times Two Contest

I wasn't going to enter, but my travels today took me past a little quilt shop and a few Moda Charm Packs followed me home. The book arrived in the mail last week.  So here are my book and fabrics...the hard part is deciding which quilt to make!

Still here...

Beautiful flowers from Andrew for Mother's Day...I had a fabulous Mother's Day this year.  Each of my children brought me to tears with their thoughtfulness, I'm blessed to have such wonderful children!

I'm adjusting to the new job...it's going well and I love it.  But there has been little to no fabric therapy going on here and I miss it!  I finally sat down one night this week and made this quilt for a little girl who will be celebrating her fourth birthday in June.  This is the second donation quilt that I'm doing for Margaret's Hope Chest.  I have quilted a few customer quilts...but haven't taken pictures.  I have a feeling that my posts are going to be short for awhile, at least until I figure out how to juggle all that I have going on...but I will be back!

Another Miracle...

We were fortunate enough last week to head to Nashville, TN for a business meeting that the boss had to attend. 

 We stayed at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel from Wednesday until Sunday.  If you've never been in a Gaylord Hotel, it's a real treat!  They are just amazingly beautiful.

  Lee had meetings through Friday, then we were on our own Saturday.  We had planned to head to downtown Nashville, but as you might have heard, they had a little rain in Nashville over the weekend.  We hung out at the hotel and enjoyed ourselves for the day. 

 On Sunday, everything was flooding, so we decided to head to the airport a little early, just in case later in the day we couldn't get there.  It turned out to be a very smart move.  When our car came to pick us up, the driver couldn't come to the main entrance because the water was knee deep out front.  He picked us up elsewhere, and took back roads to the airport because all of the main roads were flooded. 

We sat and watched the bands of rain come through the airport and it was just frightening.  But, we were able to take off only a few minutes late and made it safely home.

Unfortunately, after we left, the flood waters poured into the hotel and it had to be evacuated.  Now this beautiful hotel looks like this and will be closed for months while they clean up.  The newspaper today estimated the damage to be close to $75 million.