Mini whole cloth quilt

This is a mini whole cloth quilt that I hand quilted a couple of years ago. Sad to say that I just got around to binding the sweet thing. I loved quilting this...I am sooooo ready to make a bed sized one now! =0)

Center Lone Star

This is the center lonestar that I've hand pieced for my Civil War Stars quilt. (wish I'd have held the camera straight. lol) It's 20.5" at this point. It will set center and on point in my quilt. It took ages to piece and match up all those sharp little intersections! lol As you can imagine. Each one of those little diamonds finish off at just three fouth's of an inch! :O Still working on all the little Ohio Stars that will surround it. I've finished 16 of those and they work up to just 4". hehe. The pattern is from a book by Judie Rothermel, "Reproduction Quilts From the Civil War Period". I love her fabrics!!! :D It's another quilt that's going to take forever...but for me it's all about the journey. :)

Laura & Camber

Here's a picture of Laura with one of her best friends Camber from Virginia. The picture is taken just outside of my sister Amy's home and Camber had just come to pick Laura up for a sleepover. =0)

Nutty Bookstore

Check out this crazy bookstore we found in Salem, MA while visiting the area! It was sooo cramped in there! The area you paid for your books was a space between stacks of books about 6 or 7 inches wide through which you would pass your money or credit card. hehe =0)

It's been a while!

Wow! I've not been in to blog about anything in a good long while. (Longer than I thought. oops)

Well, lets see...since mid-July things have gone fast and furious. We took a trip to up to Salem, MA with Rachael's friend Stormy. What a quick trip that was! Just two days. Lots of fun though! And then after Stormy went home we left to go on vacation to visit with family. This whole summer has gone by entirely too fast. While in VA, we took the kids to Busch Gardens and they got to spend some time with a few of their friends from their old schools then went down to Lake Gaston in NC to play around for several days at a campground that my parents have a membership to. That was a lot of fun! :) There was swimming pretty much everyday and fishing and smores! Yummy! and grandma took the kids out on the lake in thier little boat. I wish we'd have had more time to spend with my dad. Poor grandpa, didn't get to spend much time there because he had to work still. :( We also spent some time with Jodi's family. His mom, cousin Heather and Heather's two boys, Colin and Cadin and the kids and I went for a day trip to the beach. Beautiful day! But man! Was the water cold!!! brrrrrr..... Once we were home again it was a mad dash to make sure everyone had their physicals and school supplies ready to start another year.

Rachael is a sophmore this year, Laura's in the 7th grade and Mathew, in the 4th. So we are still dealing with 3 different schools at once. That won't change for another year still. lol Mathew and Laura are playing fall ball. Baseball for Matt and fast pitched softball for Laura. I'm hoping that Rachael will find something that she's interested in and get involved with something soon.

Jodi is on his way home now. :) They've had a loooonnngg summer away. Took a trip down the east coast, through the Panama Canal and up the west coast all the way to Alaska and then back. They should all be home in about a week and a half! Yea! :) Okay, I'll end this here and see if I can get some pictures posted now. Hope everyone is enjoying the fall! =0)

Looking for lunch

Check out the visitor we had just outside off the back deck yesterday. He (or she) was watching and looking for lunch. Nothing from the garden today. lol Guess all the little chipmunks have scurried away. The pole that he's sitting on sits right off a large patch of pachysandra and the chipmunks like to play in it and gather the birdseed that falls into it. =0)

Rachael's 15th birthday

Here a few pictures we snapped on Rachael's birthday. =0)

Stormy's visit

Rachael's best friend Stormy is visiting with us for a couple of weeks. She flew in from Florida. This picture is just after she got off the plane. Rachael and her have been attatched at the hip since her arrival and are having a great time together. I hope they'll both have some wonderful memories from this summer. =0)

Laura

Hey all, just wanted to post this great picture of Laura that I took last week with my new camera. It really is so much fun to play with! This was taken at the Little League end of season picnic. =0)

fledgling :)

Check out this little fledgling hairy woodpecker that Rachael saved from drowning when it decided to fledge the nest and landed in the pool. Poor little thing. Rachael fished it out with a strainer and then let it sit for a minute on the deck. We weren't sure if it had really injured itself as it wasn't moving much. Just blinking it's little beady eyes. So after a few minutes she went to carefully gather it into a small towel and it tried to fly again, not far...just a foot or so. Finding the edge of the house it clung to it. Anyway it was still so exposed she did finally get it in the towel and we went to let it out up in a small dogwood tree in the back yard, close to where it came from and up off the ground yet not too high that if it fell again that it would be hurt. But just as she was ready to release it to the side of the tree it flew off! With a great deal of effort, but up it flew in to the woods, across the yard. It was wonderful to see it take it's first real flight! They are such cute little things! =0)

Last game

Hello all, here's a couple of pictures of Laura durring her game yesterday evening. I am really having fun learning all the cool things this camera can do. :) I hope to sneak up on the kids playing Resident Evil on the Playstation...and get a good picture of someone getting caught off guard by a zombie! lol (Probably Rachael! She spooks easier! hehehe) =0)

Stars & Stripes

Here's my newest "almost finished" quilt project. Just the top right now...but hopefully tomorrow I'll make it over to the quilt shop and pick up the batting and backing for it. I was inspired by a quilt I saw on line and loved it and needed one for myself. This will make the perfect 4th of July quilt to pic-nic with!

Still working on my Dear Jane and my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilts as well. I need to take some time and pick up my Civil War Stars and put a few stitches in that too. lol

Tomorrow is Laura's and Matt's last day of school! Yea! Rachael's was last Friday. Laura is getting an art award tomorrow morning so I'll be going to that and Mathew is going to an end of the year party at the bowling alley with a friend of his. That should be great fun for him...I know he's been bugging to go bowling for weeks now! hehehe

I hope to start getting lots of great pictures of the kids. Our camera arrived yesterday and today the memory card arrived! So now I just need to work out what all the neat bells and whistles do. =0)

New camera!

I'm sooo excited! We are getting a new camera! It's a Cannon EO S Digital Rebel XTi 10.1 megapixle Digital SLR. I ordered it just yesterday and it should be here by the 26th. I can't wait for it to get here so I can start playing with it! I ordered a few extra things for it so we would be able to use it right away...stuff like an extra battery, memory card and carrying case. (And insurance...incase I turn into a clutz and drop it. God forbid!) :O The extra lenses and the large flash will have to come at a later date. Maybe Christmas! But for now...I just need to learn how to use it! HA! =0)

WOW! Red!

Here's a picture of Rachael just after we colored her hair red. (Can you tell that it was a rediculously bright day?!) It's faded a bit now and she's already bugging to fix it. lol Right now she's over at a friends house for a sleep over. The had been to the mall today and she bought herself a new pair of shoes and a scarf of some sort and also picked up a gift for her cousins birthday. I hope the girls are having a great time!

School will be out for the summer in a little less than a week. They just have exam week left. I know they are ALL ready for it to be summer vacation. Can't say I blame them....I'm ready for it too! It's hard to believe she's a rising sophomore. =0)

Laura's softball picture

Well, we finally got Laura's pictures. She looks ready to smack the ball, eh?! The kids each only have a few games left to play, Laura wants to try out for the All Stars team. If she makes it...it's a big commitment. They have practice every day and lots of games. Not to mention...that mom would be driving all over the state of Connecticut for their games. The All Star teams for each age bracket really travel around.

They both had games today and goofy mom....I don't know where my mind was today, had everything mixed up. Laura ended up being almost an hour late. Some of that was that I didn't know where I was going...New field, to me anyway. I know now! hehehe. They both have games again tomorrow afternoon. At the same complex at least. One draw back...it's going to be over 90* tomorrow. So we'll have to be sure to take a LOT of water to drink. I hope I remember to bring my beach umbrella. (something for shade. *snicker*) =0)

GFG Progress

I just thought I'd post my progress on my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt. It's not a very quick moving project but it's a lot of fun to see coming together. I really love all the cheerful 30's reproduction prints. They are so sweet. I found a web site this afternoon that has authentic depression era feedsack prints that you can purchase. I think I might have to order some to sprinkle in with the repro's that I already have. =0)

Mathew's Baseball Picture

Check out this good looking kid! Mathew is having a fun time with baseball this year and has been making great improvement in his fielding and hitting skills. (no, he's not in teeball like what is on the bat. It's just a bat he had in his bag from a few years ago.) lol

Hopefully we'll get Laura's picture in this week too! I think the coach will be bringing them to their next game. =0)

Update on my Dear Jane

Just thought I'd quick post a picture of my progress on my Baby Jane. It's made from the first blocks I made from the Dear Jane book. Just to see if I liked working with blocks that small. They all finsh out at 4". Btw...I love working with little blocks! I've hand pieced the quilt and am now working on the hand quilting. It's taking a very long time to complete as it's very heavily hand quilted. But I'm going to soooo love it when it's done! If you get a chance and are curious about the original Dear Jane quilt. You should check out their web site. Lots of neat info and great pictures of other quilter's "Baby Janes". http://dearjane.com/

Now to get some pictures of the my other quilty projects! =0)

Time to update!

It's been a few weeks since I've been in here to post. Mostly just because life is busy. lol Mathew and Laura are really busy with their baseball and softball. Rachael has been very busy with school. They are already starting to get ready for end of the year exams. And when she's not busy with that, she's busy helping me out by staying with either her brother or sister when they both have games on the same day at the same time at different fields. lol Mathew's team is undefeated! Yea!! Orioles!!! And Laura's team is having a great time together. The girls call themselves the Goofy Goobers...(SpongeBob anyone?!) lol They had an awesome game yesterday. They beat their opponent 17-9. Way to work together girls!

I've been busy on several quilty projects. Still plugging away at my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt...I'll have to post a picture of my progress later on. I'm also still working on my Baby Jane. I would say that I'm 3/4 of the way done with the hand quilting. I can't wait to have that finished! I've got a few other projects going as well. A Civil War Stars quilt...30's Stars quilt...Patriotic Strings quilt...and a basket wall hanging! Whew! That's a lot of stitching! But seeewwwww much fun! I'll be sure to post pictures of hints of what those are all about too!

Well, I need to get busy before the kids get home. Hope you are all well! =0)

P.S. Here's a couple of great pictures that Jodi sent me while he's been underweigh. He says hello from the Pacific!

Progress on GFG

Here's what I have completed sofar on my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt. The top edge (which is actually the side of the quilt) is all connected together and a few flowers on the second row are connected. It's slow, but a lot of fun! I'm taking it with me to every game and practice the kids have so I get plenty of time to work on it. =0)

Quick update

Just a quick update on the things that have been going on here at home. Mathew and Laura are very busy with baseball and softball. Between the two of them, it's been non-stop GO! GO! GO! lol Yesterday and today are rain outs...(yea!) lol Sorry, mom needs an evening home. Rachael is busy with school, as you can imagine the last month and a half of school are nutty. Won't be long and she will be getting ready for end of year exams. She's taking a trip to NY near the end of May. I know she's excited about it and I can imagine that she and the other kids will have a fun time!
The Eagle is through the Panama Canal and they are now on the Pacific side of it. Jodi said that there isn't any wind right now so they are having to use engine power to push north. He also said it's ridiculously hot. lol Something like 115 degrees. I wish it were warmer here...but I don't want it to be that warm. :0
I am still keeping busy with my many quilting projects. Can't get enough of it. lol Not to mention being chauffeur for the ball players in the house. Really, it's fun though! I love watching them play. :) I wish Jodi could be here too though. I know he is really missing the kids and wishes he could be a part of their summer.
Well, my time for blogging today is up! Busy day today! =0)

Opening Day!

Well, yesterday was opening day for Little League here in Norwich, CT. We could not have asked for a more beautiful day! It was a whirlwind of rushing around from the time we woke up until after dinner was finally over that evening. lol It's usually pretty cool in the mornings so the kids wore some long sleeved shirts under their jerseys, but by the time we had been there 20 minutes it really was too warm for them.

Opening Day ceremonies found all of the Norwich league at Dodd Stadium early in the morning. Each team took thier place in a line-up that marched it's way all the way around the ball field. It was fun! Shortly after that Laura, Matt and I quickly ran back home and picked Rachael up to head out for some lunch. But wouldn't you know it...the place we wanted to go to wasn't open yet. So we settled for Burger King and had our lunch on the back deck at home. lol Laura had a game (she plays girls fast pitched softball) early that afternoon and Matt had a scrimmage that was just 2 hours after Laura's started. Which meant for a bit of an overlap. But thankfully they were at the same complex. They each ended up with an RBI! Yea! And by the time we went home, everyone was pretty well worn out. What a great day! We have busy season ahead and hope to have a lot more fun memories to come! =0)

Spring break

Well, it's day 3 into the kids spring break and wouldn't you know it...they're already bored. lol So we spent part of this afternoon at the mall where each of the kids found something fun for themselves. Matt and Laura each picked out a game for the gamecube and Rachael found a cute jacket. I finally found a map so we can plot the ships course this summer. Yea! I was beginning to wonder if I was ever going to find one. We've recieved a couple of emails from Jodi. He's very busy with work, but sends his love along to everyone. I've been busy with a new swap I'm hosting on line. It's a fun patriotic string swap. The first batch of blocks from one of the girls arrived today and they look soooo nice! I can't wait to see what comes of this swap. Looks like we should all be able to put together some nice quilts before the 4th of July! =0)

Summer Cruise

Well...the summer cruise on the Eagle has begun in earnest. The kids and I are back and home and Jodi is on the boat. We left the house just after 6 this morning and spent a few minutes saying goodbye on the dock. It's such a sad feeling knowing that we will be apart for almost 6 months. I will do what I usually do...keep myself and the kids busy to fill our days as much as possible to make the time seem to go by faster. I know Jodi will be busy. He doesn't have much down time on the boat. We are happy and grateful that we at least have email. So we aren't completely cut off from one another. Also, when they pull into port here and there...he can call home. Mathew is planning on marking off everyday on the calendar that goes by so he can see that his dad will be home that much sooner and we are planning on plotting the ships course on a map with some push pins that I picked up last week. You can get the updated info on the Coast Guard Academy's web page. http://www.uscga.edu/display.aspx?id=1390 if you'd like to check it out.
We wish them all fair weather and following seas! We'll miss you! =0)

Finished! With just 3 days to spare. lol

Mystic Aquarium

I have got to get a new camera! These couple of pictures were taken from my phone and as you can tell...the lighting really played havoc with them. The aquarium was fun but what a chilly day we had. So we ran through the outdoor activities as quickly as possible and then beat feet for the indoors. We all had a good time watching all the sea creatures swim and play. I think everyone's favorite part was the sea lion show. They have a new pup that they are training for the show. I think they said he was just a year old. What a cutie! Looked really tiny next to his adult male counterpart, who weighed in at over 920 lbs!

For anyone who might not know the young lady in the plaid coat; she's Emma, Jodi's cousin. Her and Rachael are the same age and are great friends! She had stayed the night prior to going to the aquarium. =0)

USCG Barque Eagle

Just thought I'd post a quick picture of the amazing vessel that Jodi is attatched to. Isn't it beautiful?!

Grandother's Flower Garden

This is one of my newest projects. I started making a Grandmother's Flower Garden a few years ago and didn't like how it was turning out...so I frog stitched the thing apart...(ripit..ripit...lol) and started over with parts of it. Still didn't look the way I wanted so I started completely over with this one. Love it! These are fun to make and I love having some little things to play around with. I'm using the english paper piecing method for this quilt. They go together pretty quickly. Maybe one flower a day or so...that's if I don't get too interupted. lol At this rate I should have the top finished sometime this year. *snicker* Oh well, I'm in no rush. I just love the process of working with my hands. =0)

On a different note. Mathew and Laura have started their baseball and softball practices and are having fun with that. Imho... it's still WAY too cold for practice. Matt's practice yesterday evening was a brisk 38 degrees....and windy. But things should be warming up soon. Rachael is busy with all the fun things that go along with high school. She went to a dance last week and said that the room shook because the bass was up so high. But I know she and her friends had fun. Jodi is getting ready to head out into the ocean again. We are all sad to see him go and for our family to be separated again. But thank goodness we at least have email now! :) On some of his other afloat units, we didn't. We have plans to go to the aquarium together on Sunday. I'll be sure to get a few pictures to post then! =0)

Jodi's quilt

I started this quilt in February of this year for my husband. He will be taking it with him underweigh. I am in the process of machine quilting it. (not my favorite method of quilting) I'm not very good at it. But I'm on a tight schedual to finish it so I am quilting just what I can with the walking foot. If I'd have had time I would have hand quilted it or would have sent it to a friend who does some wonderful quilting with her long arm machine. The pattern is from a Jo Morton book. The minute I saw it I knew it was perfect for my husband. =0)

Sorry the colors a little off...shifted to the blue a bit. I took the picture with my phone.