A Little of This, a Lot of Not Much

 

While I am getting myself into a routine, it just doesn’t seem to include much time online.  And while limiting my time online has long been a goal, I didn’t intend for blogging time to be what was sacrificed.   

 

It was a nice, quiet weekend at Chez Nana.  I made progress on the Storm at Sea and on my hexagons.  We watched the Cardinals pull off two unexpected wins over the Dodgers.  And we had a birthday party for little T#4! 

 

Speaking of T#4, today is her birthday … she turns 4!  One of the benefits of watching the Ts while DD works the early morning shift is that I will get to be the first one to give her a happy birthday hug … the downside will be that it breaks my mama heart to think that DD’s mama heart will be hurting that she didn’t get to be the first one. 

 

Fall has arrived here!  The leaves on our new trees in the backyard have started to turn … the colors are gorgeous … we chose them especially for their fall color, and they’re not disappointing.  And the weather has definitely become fall-like … although it’s bordering on becoming winter-like with lows in the lower 40’s and even upper 30’s in the forecast for the rest of the week.  I’m going to fight turning on the furnace as long as I can … thank goodness for a gas fireplace that I can switch on in the mornings to take the chill off (although DH likes to point out that the cost of running that fireplace is about the same as just turning on the furnace ).  And thank goodness for heated seats and a heated steering wheel on our new van! 

 

It’s time for me to head to DD’s … but I’ll close with a picture taken 4 years ago. 

 

Have a terrific Tuesday!

Tap Tap Tap … Hello? Is Anyone There?

 

I know … it’s been forever since I posted last.    I wish I could report that we just got back from a week in Hilton Head … nope, nothing glamorous or exciting … it’s just been busy here … with good stuff … but exhausting nonetheless. 

 

Today is the first day since early September where there’s absolutely nothing planned (other than watching Cardinal baseball this evening) … and I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to a quiet day at home.  I ought to take advantage of the “day off” and get caught up on housecleaning, bill paying, etc.  But if you guessed that I’ll probably spend the day with needle and thread, you’ll be spot on. 

 

DD is now working a regular schedule, and while she’s scheduled for 3 days/week, she’s been working 4 days the last couple of weeks.  No complaints here … it gives me another morning with my Ts!   

 

My Cardinals came back from being 1 game from elimination to win 2 games straight to advance to the next round … they’ll be facing the Dodgers tonight in St. Louis.  In the first round, most of their games were afternoon games so I was able to get to bed at a fairly reasonable hour (given that I’ve been waking up unassisted at 4:00-4:30 AM) … unfortunately most of the games in this second round will be night games … I suspect there might be afternoon naps in my schedule next week. 

 

DH got a good report from his test last week … thankfully we won’t have to go through that for another 10 years. 

 

T#1 finished 2nd place in 4 events and T#2 finished 3rd place in 1 event at the swim meet Saturday.  Poor T#3 … after swimming shorter events all summer (from one end of the pool to another), he had 1 event Saturday that was a little longer … he needed to swim down, turn and come back to the starting block.  So what did he do when he reached the end of the pool?  Climbed out.  When it became obvious that he was going to climb out, everyone at that end of the pool was trying to tell him to stay in the water and swim back … but it was so noisy that I’m guessing he didn’t hear or understand.  When it became clear that he wasn’t supposed to get out of the water, he jumped back in and still didn’t finish last!  Alas, it was for naught as he was disqualified.    Hopefully that won’t happen again!  Their next meet is a 3-day meet a week from today. 

 

I’ve made a decision on my hexagon project.  Instead of a Grandmother’s Flower Garden:

I’m going to go with a Martha Washington’s Flower Garden:

I drew my inspiration from a quilt shared on the I Have Been Hexed and I Like It Facebook page:

I love the tumbling blocks effect in this setting.  (Note: the hexagons on my blocks above aren’t pieced together … I’ve just got them positioned to see how each block would look in my colors.)  I’m making decent  progress … I have all my 2nd row and all my 3rd row hexies basted … and am basting the red “path” hexies. 

 

I’m also slowly but surely making progress on my Storm at Sea. 

 

And speaking of … it’s time for me to pick up my needle and thread and get busy!

 

Have a fabulous Friday!

Friday’s Musings

 

I certainly thought that this week would be a quieter, more relaxing week … wrong!  It’s been another busy, busy, busy week … at least this week’s busy-ness has been of the enjoyable variety! 

 

DD worked 4 days this week, so I got to spend 4 mornings at her house, with 4 of my favorite people!    She’s no longer “in training”, so she’s now working the early morning shift … which means I’m up early (that’s not a problem) and functioning (ah, there’s the problem!) … at least it’s the same shift each day.  And I still have plenty of the day left to do the things I enjoy … sticking around DD’s for more fun or heading home to spend some time with needle and thread.

 

Speaking of, I did get some quilting done this week.  It’s slow going … I’m quilting a little more extensively than I normally do … double echo stitching, which means that there is a good bit of stopping and starting.  I run my needle through the layers as often as possible, but sometimes I just have to make a knot and start over.

 

I also have done a bit of working on my hexagon project.  My original intention was for it to be a portable project, but it’s so mindless, that I find myself turning to it when I need to be able to focus … like when I watched NCIS (oh. my. goodness … was that an emotional episode or what? ) or the Cardinals’ first game of the playoffs.  I’m still undecided whether to make a Grandmother’s Flower Garden or a Diamond Hexagon (I’m not sure that’s the name of the pattern) … the DH takes more hexies per block, so part of my decision-making process will include seeing if I have enough hexies in the fabrics I’m using. 

 

I’m really enjoying English Paper Piecing.  I learned to do handwork early on … as a teen I enjoyed embroidery, as a young adult I enjoyed crewel work, as a middle-aged woman I enjoyed counted cross stitch, and now I’m enjoying hand quilting … obviously I’m drawn to working with a needle and thread.  I’m  not sure why I resisted EPP so long … but I’m certainly intending to make up for lost time.    I am already planning my next project and am searching for EPP papers for a few other projects that would seem to be perfect for EPP.

 

The busy-ness continues … today I’ll be taking DH to the hospital for some routine testing and tomorrow the 3 older Ts have their first swim meet of the 2013-14 YMCA swim season. 

 

Maybe next week will slow down and be a more relaxing week … or maybe this busy-ness is just a fact of life during this season of my life.    

 

Have a fabulous Friday!

The Weekend Wrap-Up

It was a long but busy weekend.  And while it was a good one, I’m also glad to be back to my normal routine. 

My sister, her S.O., her grandson, her ex-husband and her youngest son came for the weekend.  My sister, her S.O. and her grandson came in from northern Illinois … they got in mid Friday morning, so we all met up for a visit at my Dad’s.  By mid-afternoon it was time to head to my house to get ready to go to the baseball game that evening.  My sister’s ex and her son arrived here a few minutes after we got in.  We got to the ballpark plenty early … we like watching batting practice and soaking in the whole experience.  And since this game could determine if our Cardinals were going to clinch the division title (and have home field advantage in the post season), there was a lot of excitement in the air.  Playing against our traditional rivals, the Chicago Cubs, didn’t hurt either. 

Our Cardinals didn’t disappoint … they clinched the title in an exciting game.  There was a lot of celebrating going on, but my iPhone camera just couldn’t zoom in adequately to get a nice photo … so I’ve borrowed my ex-BIL’s photo that he posted on Facebook. 


Saturday morning we all met up with DD, DSIL and the Ts at the St. Louis Zoo.  I had my iPhone with me, but I didn’t even think to try to get any photos. 

We spent the rest of Saturday here, watching the game, grilling brats and burgers, and relaxing.  Sunday morning we headed back to my Dad’s before everyone headed back home … including us.

It was nice to get back to our normal routine, even if the rest of our Sunday was spent tidying up and doing laundry.  It also included watching Sunday’s game … and of course, getting in a little quilting!  It feels like it’s been months since I was able to spend any time with my storm at sea, what with our trip and then the busy week/weekend. 

It’s hard to believe that today is the last day of September – where in the world has this month gone?  Although I do love the month of October … cooler temperatures, lovely fall foliage … what’s not to love?    And I’m certainly hoping to be able to get more quilting done in October than I did in September. 

Hope you all have a marvelous Monday!

Wednesday Hodgepodge

 

 

Welcome to Wednesday, and that can mean only one thing:  Hodgepodge!  After missing last week’s Hodgepodge, I’m excited to get back into the Hodgepodge groove.  After you’re done here, why not check out what others have to say … just click on the button above.

 

1. What's one thing that's still the same about you as when you were young?

I love Cardinals baseball.  I remember being in 2nd or 3rd grade, keeping score as we listened along to a Cardinals radio broadcast.  I used leftover sheets of notebook paper from school, so I only had to draw in half the lines necessary to create my own “score card”.

2. What's more important-history or science? Why?

While they’re equally important, I have to give a slight nod to history … if only because if we do not learn from our mistakes in the past, we’re destined to keep making those same mistakes.

3. Lima, kidney, string, garbanzo, black or pinto-your favorite bean?

I do love baby limas, with plenty of butter, salt and pepper.  But my favorite would probably be a string (aka green) bean.

4. What's something people come to your town to do?

People come here to have babies, surgeries, medical procedures, etc.  While my little town is very small and has almost zero business establishments, we do have the hospital.  Even the larger town nearby, with 4x as many residents, doesn’t have a hospital. 

5. When was the last time you were in a meeting? Sum it up for us in five words or less.

Last fall, as a member of the Financial Oversight at church, I attended the annual budget preparation meeting.  My summation would be:  Why bother? 

6. What special event would you like a VIP pass to attend?

The American Quilters Society annual quilt show in Paducah, KY. 

7. What's one piece of advice you'd give a writer?

Grammar and spelling can be your friends … use them.

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

I’m “working” the night shift tonight … DD’s schedule for today got moved to the evening shift.  Kind of nice to be able to get a lazy start to my day … even though I get up bright and early, I’m not usually ready to really start my day for a few hours. 

 

We watched the baseball game last night (it was a good one … the Cardinals rookie pitcher was one out away from a no-hitter … and the Cardinals reduced their magic number to 3), so I recorded the NCIS season premier.  My plan was to (finally!) get back to hand quilting my storm at sea, but perhaps I’ll work on some hexagons instead since that work is more mindless, so I can focus on NCIS.

 

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Getting Caught Up–A Trip Report

 

 

I promised pictures, but I’m afraid that I’m going to disappoint you all.  I took a few pictures – but nothing particularly exciting.  You see, when you’ve been to same destination as many times as DH and I have been to Hilton Head Island, there’s not a whole lot of anything new to take photos of … nor is there much of anything new that we did to share … not that we had plans of doing anything terribly exciting … our idea of a perfect Hilton Head trip is one where the majority of our time is spent relaxing on the beach … and indulging in the fresh seafood.  And this was as close to a perfect Hilton Head trip as we’ve had.  So without further ado, I give you a bit of a recap. 

 

We left Thursday morning, as soon as I was done at DD’s … well, as soon as we said goodbyes (thankfully I was able to hold it together until I drove off … then the tears flowed!).  We took our time on the road and made it to Lexington, KY – the middle of horse country.  Of course I had to take a picture of a horse farm for T#2 who is a huge horse lover. 

 

I was tempted to stay in Lexington a little longer as there was a table of women at Panera who had gathered for breakfast and stitching … several brought their knitting and a couple brought some quilting.  I would have loved to join them!  But the beach called me … and I did get to do a little stitching … not with that group of women, but in the car, with DH.  I finally decided to get myself a portable project for our trips … and decided to see if I couldn’t do a little stitching in the car.  And I could!    I did have to look up fairly frequently, and I did have to put the stitching down when we drove through the Smokies (lest I get car sick on all those twists and turns).  Yay!

 

We stopped Friday evening in Spartanburg, SC … just a little over 4 hours from Hilton Head.  Our plan was to get to the Island just in time for lunch Saturday … and we made it. After lunch, we were afraid that it would be too early to check into our hotel, but we thought we’d go ahead and park at the hotel and go on out to the beach.  This sand sculpture greeted us as we entered the lobby.

 

We were pleasantly surprised to be able to check in and get to our room right away.  Unfortunately our room didn’t have an ocean view … if we had chosen to pay half again as much for our room, we could have had a view like this:

It would have been wonderful to have been able to sit out on the balcony and watch the sun rise … but paying that much for the room would have meant a shorter stay.  We decided that we could just walk on down to the beach if we wanted to see the sun rise … and have more time on the Island. 

 

The first thing we did was reserve a couple of beach chairs and umbrellas … so we could spend our days reading or stitching.

 

We saw our very first star fish ever on one of our walks … it was still alive, so we left it where we saw it.

 

We went down to the beach every morning in hopes of seeing the sun rise.  It was so cloudy every morning that I was worried that we wouldn’t get to see the sun rise … thankfully the skies weren’t too cloudy on our next to last day on the Island, and I was able to get a nice shot of the sun rising.

I would have liked to have gotten a shot of the harvest moon rising, but it was cloudy that evening. 

 

We also saw fishing boats that weren’t very far out to sea – another first.  One boat went by and must have turned around as we saw it coming back from the other direction … with a “companion”. 

 

I wondered if they were catching our dinner?  As I mentioned, when we’re not on the beach, we’re indulging in the fresh seafood available in Hilton Head.  When we’re that close to the source, why not? 

 

I discovered a little quilt shop on the Island and persuaded DH to stop by on our way to dinner one evening.  There weren’t a lot of fabrics that caught my eye, but I did find a couple of pretty blues.

Of course, the colors aren’t true <sigh> – they’re both darker and more of a true blue.  I suspect I might use these when I made quilts for T#1 and T#3 (coming up on my list).

 

I had to take a picture of these license plates to share with you all!

Too bad Illinois doesn’t allow numbers in the middle of letters on their plates, or I’d be ordering these for our car!

 

I was pretty productive with my hand stitching … I’m stitching up hexagons to make a Grandmother’s Flower Garden, and I have made good progress.  Here’s one of the flowers (not sewn together yet), with little patches of the outer ring (the red).

I’ve stitched up quite a few of the darker and lighter rings … I have more of them to stitch as well as most of the centers and all of the red ring hexagons (aka the “path”).  This will be a secondary, portable project – to take when I expect to have “waiting time” (for appointments, when traveling, etc.). 

 

We made it back home late Monday afternoon … with enough time to unpack, do a couple of loads of laundry, and take it easy.  It’s wonderful to be back home, and I’m certainly looking forward to seeing my Ts in a couple of hours.  But there’s a piece of my heart that remains back on Hilton Head Island.

Wednesday Hodgepodge

 

 

It’s Wednesday again, and it’s crunch time for our trip.  I have to admit that I was tempted to just pass on this week’s Hodgepodge, but when I remembered that I’ll be missing next week’s, I had to jump in this week.  Why don’t you join me – just click on the button above.

 

1. What's the best thing about growing older?

Grandchildren, without a doubt! 

2. When did you first feel like a grown up?

When I became a mama.  Suddenly I had someone else relying on me for her very existence … huge wake up call to adulthood.

3. Chocolate cake with white icing or white cake with chocolate icing?

White cake … and don’t be surprised if I scrape off the icing and just eat the cake. 

4. What's the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you?

When I was a single mom and a full-time student, finishing up my degree, someone brought us a box of food.  It was just what we needed.

5.  What's something you learned from your grandparents?

I can’t think of anything.  I spent a good bit of time with my maternal grandmother, but I can’t think of anything in particular that I learned from her. 

6. Wednesday marks a sad day in the history of planet earth-9/11...what's something you do (or can do) to bring peace to your little corner of the world?

Be kind, be courteous, be patient, be loving.

7.  Share a favorite quote, scripture, or song containing the word peace. 

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. ~ John 14:27

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

We are now just a little over 24 hours from leaving.  We’ll hit the road as soon as I get home from DD’s tomorrow morning.  I’m not taking my laptop, so I won’t be blogging while we’re gone … I’m hoping to have a few pictures to share when we get back.  See ya on the flipside!

 

Have a wonderful Wednesday!