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.