I wasn't there, but it was a glorious day! At the right is one of the only newborn picture we have of Sarah, taken 30 years ago with her Daddy-O, my hubby Greyhair.
Here she is on her first birthday in all her cuteness. She had a six-week old baby brother by then....(no comment, Greyhair).
Not much else to say, except that I'm very happy and lucky to have you in my life.
HAPPY 30th SARAH!
I love you,
We'll be leaving shortly for the time-share in San Francisco where we will meet up with the girls to celebrate their 30th birthdays (Kate, last Tuesday and Sarah, next Tuesday).
I'd leave you with a few snaps of our girls at the various ages and stages, but Blogger is not cooperating and I must hurry to get this party on the road.
Greyhair and I are still trying to figure out where the last 12 years went, let alone 30.....
Until Sunday,
That Kate Aileen Gibson was here to stay....
A glorious 30th birthday to my daughter Kate, whose birth changed my life and hers forever. We were both extreme novices at the mother and daughter thing, but we muddled through it together and here we are.
Kate arrived two weeks before her scheduled due date, but given that this was in the pre-ultrasound dark ages, and all we had was the old-fashioned calendar for estimating arrivals, who knows?
Her grandmother spent a few nights and early mornings trying to console her so I could sleep.
She was a less than happy infant and spent quite a bit of her first 4 months doing this when she wasn't nursing. (See left)
Fortunately, baby-wearing was in it's first reincarnation and we spent a lot of time like this:
Thank heaven for the Snugli~!
In any case, the last 30 years have flown by and I just want to wish my darling daughter a
VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Even if he does park his truck in front of my house for his daily nap, because today he brought me some wonderful and partly unexpected things.
First, as I was expecting, he brought me round 3 of the Spring Fling Round Robin, started by Luisa in Lisbon, Portugal and continued on by Liz in Brighton, UK. This baby has been all over, and if I could remember offhand where I'm sending it I wouldn't tell you b
ecause we're not supposed to, so there. Liz included a lovely FQ (metre) of this lovely fabric as a present for me which was very, very sweet.
As if all that wasn't enough, Sharon also known as The Quiltgranny
sent me a couple of fabrics from her recent sojourn to San Luis Obispo county because she knows how much I love "The Day of the Dead," so she sent me these lovelies. I've been lusting for the black calaveras fabric for ages and I've never even seen the other one, so BONUS!!! Thanks Sharon!
Finally, after exhibiting an enormous amount of self-control and ironing Greyhair's (my spousal unit) shirts, I started work on the first of my Sew-A-Rows. I chose the 1930's project (duh) with Linda's propellers and Sandi's butterflies. I decided to add these guys, which you may remember from Alex's quilt last year.
Angie at Timberhill Threads suggested an alternative to my fusible thread applique, so I'm going to try it and will report on my success.
What with my trip to Pennsylvania, coming home to do the guild's newsletter and then going to Fresno to hang out with Kate and the boys while her hubby was camping, I've not done a lick of sewing in weeks. That does not make Ms.Jan a happy girl.
I currently have 4 (yes, four) Sew-A-Rows to work on. Luckily, they are not due until June. My next installment of the Mini Round Robin also arrived plus a couple of lotto blocks for Nancy, NP.
Guess I'm going to be sewing my heart out over the next week or so. Darn. I do have the Sew-A-Rows planned out and will post pictures and EQ designs tomorrow.
Before I left for Pennsylvania, I was cutting some celery from the Urban Garden on my deck and I was totally shocked to find a bird's nest with 3 eggs hiding in the plants. While I was gone, Momma bird (a robin) lay another egg and after my weekend in Fresno, all were hatched. I'm trying my darndest to keep my mitts (and camera) off of the family, but it is hard!
Happy First Birthday to the youngest member of our family, Alexander who is also known (by his brother) as Blondie and Baby. During his short life, he has suffered more than one indignity at the hands of his warped Mommy and Auntie Sarah, but he will survive, I'm sure.
He is a very sweet boy and I can't wait to celebrate with him this weekend!
I love you Blondie,
NOTE: You can see official first birthday pictures from his Mommy here.
To this, Lancaster County Pennsylvania where some folks look like this:
I'm hopping on Chicken Hawk Airlines (Alaska/Horizon) tonight and connecting in Los Angeles for a red-eye flight to Pittsburgh, PA.
In LA, I'll meet up with my Sistah Becky and in Pittsburgh we will be picked up by our Sistah Kat from Ohio who will already have picked up our Sistah Kathy whose flight arrived a bit earlier from Sacramento. We will then motor to Strasburg (Almost Near Philadelphia), for a four night stay at the White Oak Bed and Breakfast. During our stay, we plan to visit The Old Country Store, The Lancaster Quilt & Textile Museum, Sauders, Miller's, and who knows where else.
I can't wait to see my pals again and as a special bonus, Nancy, Near Philadelphia is going to come out and join us on Tuesday! Other than missing my Sweetie, which always happens after the first 48 hours or so, this is gonna be one fun trip!
Designing, quilting and swapping these mini-quilts has become addicting it seems as I'm now involved in the Mini Round Robin, The Spring Fling Round Robin and now this.
Go check out Mrs. Goodneedle's Blog and read her post from NPR's Morning Edition. It amazes me that this man could swallow his fear and turn a dangerous situation into a learning opportunity.
Why can't we all just get along?
Several weeks ago, I received a center block for the Spring Fling Round Robin from Kate in the UK. I loved it instantly and set to work designing a border in EQ6, but dismissed it as too fussy. Back to the old computer drawing board, and this was the result.
Well, not exactly. I envisioned the brown strips continuing on from her basket bottoms as if they had passed under her small black outer border, and they'd have been the same thickness as the basket bottoms. It would have been a whole different look and I didn't realize it until I was done, but as we all know......done is done!
I just finished an addition to Carolle's Sew-A-Row and I even used a new technique I'd only read about.
I've been a Wonder Under user for over 20 years when I made decorated sweat shirts and T shirts for my kids. Heck, I even blew out the transmission in my beloved Husquvarna sewing machine trying to stitch over Heat-n-Bond heavy (note to self: read the instructions). That said, I often don't like the stiffness that using a fusible web gives the finished product.
Several weeks ago, I saw a post somewhere out there on the internet about using a fusible thread to prepare for machine applique so that a web was not needed. I was all over that!
The product is "Charlotte's Fusible Web" developed by Charlotte Warr Anderson for Superior Threads, and when used in the bobbin
with Superior's "Monopoly" (not to be confused with the board game) permits the user to fuse shapes temporarily to a background for machine applique.
The tutorial for using the thread was very helpful and using this technique, I was able to machine applique my pieces easily.
Color me happy because I LOVE learning something new!!
PS: My row is the "Love" with vintage valentines.
doing wishing you all a Happy St. Patrick's Day?
Well, we're all Irish on St. Paddy's Day, aren't we?
In loving memory of my parents, my father the first generation Italian who always wore red on St. Paddy's Day to annoy my mother and her half ounce of Irish blood.
Wearing red and eating corned beef and cabbage tonight...
Su tagged me last week while I was visiting in Fresno to show what I'm ironing with, so here it is.
Let me start by saying that until recently I was an advocate of buying cheap irons and replacing as necessary. Being a klutz by nature and having teens at home abusing the iron, I always went cheap. In fact, I used to buy them at Montgomery Wards and get the extended warranty. If the iron croaked during the first 3 years, I simply took it into the store and traded it for a new one. Is it any wonder they went out of business?
Fast forward a few years and I figured that I was ready for a quality iron since it would be set up in a location where it wouldn't be bumped into on a daily basis. Naturally, I bought a Rownenta and use the big boy when I'm ironing yardage or, heaven forbid, clothes on the ironing board. When I bought the big iron, I opted for a model from Macy's that was not the bottom-of-the-line model sold by JoAnn's. I'd heard horror stories about the JoAnn's models spitting and such, so I thought I had that problem licked. I have to 
say that while it doesn't spit, I'm less than happy with the performance of this beast because the auto shut-off clicks off at the drop of a hat and it doesn't' seem to get all that hot.
The little Rowenta travel iron is from JoAnn's because I was made aware of how much juice a full-sized iron takes when left on. I keep the little guy on my cutting table and have it plugged into a timer just in case I forget to turn it off when I head downstairs. It works well enough. I guess I'm just never satisfied, but cheap irons really do a fine job all in all.
Finally, the Mary Ellen's Best Press starch alternative. I love this stuff! The Caribbean Beach reminds me of a sachet or something from the neighbor's cedar closet when I was a kid and I just love it. It reminds me of playing dress-up with the neighbor girls way back when.
On the stitching front, I've been a busy girl. I started late, but am working on Bea's Quilter's Blessings BOM and finished the Owl and the Pussycat block for my Halloween BOM.
UPDATE: Mystery of the undersized Pampered Pooch charm pack is solved. Kathy and I were at Quilted Vine on Sunday and Lynda, the owner gave us each a couple of charm packs for free because they were "off" and she contacted Moda to no avail and didn't feel she could sell them. I laughed myself silly and told her about my blocks that didn't match. She wondered why I didn't bring it back, but I had 3 different packs, all purchased in different locations, so who knew? With the 2 charm packs she gave me, I have plenty to cut out the rest of my four patch quilt. Alls well that ends well~
I've been working away on the last block from my Verna Mosquera BOM, Happy Hauntings--the Owl and the Pussycat and wondering what they would send me this month. The applique has been so pleasurable and I was hoping for something to keep me busy.
Well, I got it. The skeleton and cauldron blocks came yesterday and the skeleton alone has over 100 pieces to applique, some the size of a pencil eraser! I love this block and when I'm done, the quilt will be 2/3 complete! I'm thinking this block will keep me busy for a few days. I've traced off all the skeleton pieces, and I put the pattern up on the design wall. The skeleton has got to be as big as my grandson Benjamin!
Not much quilting will take place this weekend, but stay tuned.
