Monday, March 25, 2013

Baby Lily

One does forget just how small a package they come in -




7 pounds, 20 inches.

And look at what happened today,
Sure hope it comes close on our vacation.  (too much to hope?)

"Sunshine on my shoulder makes me happy"

It was our first week-end out in the motorhome and Friday morning began with snow!  Yes, we could hardly believe it, but by noon time it was seriously clearing and we were headed to Port Townsend for our first women's RV group outing.
As we had registered a bit late, we were put in a site a bit away from the rest of the group.  Now who could complain about this outlook?  It was just lovely.


We basically were facing east but with views further west and north.  Fabulous (but cold)

Saturday sunrise,

You might say we are sun-starved.  We just loved it!  In between photo taking we had a tour of a local artisan cheese factory, our book group met to discuss our book this month, "Lost in Shangri-La" by Zuckoff.  [It was OK - non-fiction, WWII, New Guinea] and had a workshop on Reflexology.  Interesting.  Saturday night was a potluck supper and afterwards, many card and board games.  Sunday most of the folks left for home, but we enjoyed another day.
Lunch in town, wandering the shops, delightful!

And then this morning, we cleaned up and headed home on another glorious, sunny morning.  Ah the northwest is a pretty place, for sure,





And to make the day complete, our newest granddaughter was born this morning, Lillian Marya, "Lily".  Off to meet her tonight. It doesn't get much better than this.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Week-end report

Mighty busy week-end with the 3 older grands:  Games, stories, local hospital opening celebration, CD release party - keep you on your toes.  [Just highlights why younger folks have younger children]

In between, I have been working on some knitting projects.  I enjoy them and it's easy to pick up if one is in-front of the TV.

Hats (2) made for the Downtown Service Center - serving homeless men,

And a prayer shawl (not entirely sure how these will be utilized.  Part of a new ministry at the church.)
[This is about 2/3's finished.]  Working on this one tonight.

[That quilt in the background is the first one I have ever made. ]

A busy few weeks coming up.  I will keep you posted.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

It's the Little Things

Well, unfortunately our sunshine has gone away.  Probably not for good, but the TV weather man it will be several days of gray and cloudy, at least.

But small things do make me happy (some days) and today it was new bowls.  I have wanted a set of these for some time.  A few months ago they had them at our local warehouse store and then before we got back to buy them, they were sold out.  At last, today, we found some more-


They have rubber on the bottom, so they don't slip.  And each one has a plastic lid.  The red one is actually too big to fit in the cupboard above the stove, where bowls are kept, but the other three will fit and the red one will have to go elsewhere.  Happy kitchen girl!

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Saturday in the sunshine

Oh heaven - blue skies and even a teensy bit warm - it is about 55`.  (yes, Laura, I know, but this is the Pacific Northwest in March)




It won't last, but for today - fabulous.  Shining on the dining room table:
One little project completed: some new placemats for our friends' new motorhome.  A girl must have placemats that go with her new dishes, doesn't she?


A really pretty easy project:  stack 'em up, cut 'em, shuffle the order and you're off.  Pleasant day to one and all!

Friday, March 1, 2013

Sewing and Stitchery Expo

Here is one of the blogs about the Sewing and Stitchery Expo.  This might give some flavor of what goes on.  This is said to be the "largest sewing party in America".  I don't know if that's exactly true, but I do know it is huge.  Over the course of 4 days there are about 15,000 attendees.  There are classes from easy to quite challenging, there are 45 minute "infomercials", there are lots and lots of free style shows, sewing and quilting, machines and almost every tool you can think of.  You are, of course, also tempted with lots and lots of fabric for sale, as well as yarns.   I had a most interesting and fun day.

[Only a few photos, so check out the link above.]  I don't know how long Expo has been going on (how many years) but I think it is something like more than 30 years?  It is a very long-standing event in the pacific northwest.  One always should begin their day with a stop at the Scone wagon.  Fisher Flour Mills has been baking and selling scones at the Expo (and other events) for years, so it is quite a traditional way to begin one's day.

I do think they are getting smaller, but they are still tasty, warm from the ovens and topped with raspberry jam.

Quilt friend Ronda and I spent the morning wandering around the various exhibitions and booths selling everything you could imagine and a few things more.  I cannot show you everything I bought (gifts, you know) but I did find a clover rotary blade - which I needed, and they gave away a free measuring tape.


We brought a brown-bag lunch and then took 3 classes.  The first was a class on tips for binding, by Marci Baker.  This is a u-tube about her technique. www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VGNcDoI-R8 .

 I cannot seem to get Italics to turn OFF.
She was able to produce bindings as narrow as 1/16 inch.  Then we went to a class by Marti Michell about all the rulers and tools she has for making scrap quilts.  It was really a great quilt show.  We didn't really learn anything about technique but saw some marvelous quilts.  I love her work.  Lastly we headed to a class by a Canadia named Cindy Rowell.  It was called Quick Gifts from your Scrap Stash.  She was delightful, but I'm not sure I would make any of the things she showed us.  Again, not much technique but lots of show and tell.  So that was fun.
Here we are lining up to get in the door.  All three of these classrooms seemed to be full.  It was a fun day, but now I'm really tired.

Oh yes, anyone know about E6000 glue?  I heard it mentioned today and don't know about it.