Bubba

Greetings one and all, and especially my Bubba! This name might bring up visions of a big ol' good ol' boy, but it couldn't be further from the truth in this case. Danny dubbed this name on Brita when he was just learning to talk, and it stuck! She is our little bitty bubba and I miss her bunches. She now resides in San Francisco within sight of the Golden Gate, and she literally left her heart there so had to move there to experience and enjoy life with Ben. Can you just feel from this picture how much they enjoy each other? It is wonderful to see. Nothing I like more than seeing my kids happy and loving life. Brita works at Stanford University Medical Center, she is an RN on a tele unit. Since that hospital is known for their transplant services, that is a big part of what she works with along with so many other cardio-pulmonary diagnoses. How exciting! Ben works right downtown SF as an insurance underwriter, and he tries to interpret that for us very patiently! They have lots of friends and fun out there, always involved in some sort of event. Pretty soon a road race! Brita is training for a half-marathon, her first. Wish we could be there to cheer you both on, we will have to do it long distance. We love you guys!

TomTom

OK, this one's for you, Marilee! You wanted to know about my Tom Tom on my Blog Blog so here goes--

I was introduced to Tom Tom last August when I had the great pleasure of touring New Hampshire and Maine with 3 longtime friends, Maggie, Leisl, and Nancy. We spent a week visiting quilt shops, yarn shops, bead shops, antique shops, along with the usual points of historical and scenic and gastronomic interest. Our rental vehicle was accesorized by the Tom Tom Leisl brought along. This very handy GPS system proved invaluable. Plus kept the driver (Maggie) and the tour guide (Leisl) from strangling each other! Let me explain--these two were both very good at what they were doing, but neither is accustomed to taking orders from others. So having the disembodied directions coming from Tom Tom was a lifesaver, and we could yell at him (we had the proper English gentleman's voice) whenever we felt like it and he never lost his temper.

So when Bob and I decided to drive to Tahoe in December, Bob bought us our own Tom Tom for the trip. Maybe he thought it would spare him from my occasional outbursts when the map is questionable and we are in the midst of intertwining interstates and rush hour in some strange metropolitan area. Sadly not, because I still had the map in front of me while learning to operate Tom Tom. But the thing we learned to make the most of was the access to upcoming hotels while crossing some slimly populated areas, and we had the phone numbers to call to hold a room for us. The picture above was a shot of Tom Tom as we crossed the Great Salt Lake desert. So all in all, it was a benefit for our trip.

A big Happy Birthday goes out to Marilee! Dinner at Ursala's tonight in White Bear Lake was wonderful, I would highly recommend it! Let's have another birthday soon!

Sew-in!

I'm shortly off to church with my machine in tow and a basket of fabric! What more could a girl ask for? Well, maybe a glass of wine a bit later! Anyway, I am going to get in some quality time with my dear sewing machine and hopefully complete some blocks for the Carry Nation quilt that I am making for a future class at the store. It is a lot of pieces, but not technically difficult, so I should be able to carry on a conversation with others from my quilt group at the sew-in. The Ham Lake Piecemakers are my gang, my girls, my homies, my buds, and just good people. We have the church reserved for 2 days so will make the most of it. I am including a photo in today's post showing a great view of the mountains from the peak at Mammoth Mountain at the end of the gondola. It was windy and cold that day. You can see the ice formation blown sideways from the posts on the snow fence. But I do love those mountaintops!

My guy

Bob is out tonight so I will take a break from quilting to dedicate this post to him. He is the kind of guy who helps me out whenever he can, I know he must occasionally hesitate when he hears me call "Baaaahb, can you help me figure out what I've done wrong on the computer?" or "Baaaahb, my machine doesn't feel right, can you check it?". But he doesn't even pretend not to hear! And that would be so easy because that truly is possible for him. He is a steadfast guy, a wonderful father to our children and a hard worker. Come May we will celebrate 33 years of wedded bliss (or nearly bliss)! Love you!

Links

I have added a link to a site that I visit often because there are videos of my amazing son, Dan! He is a Snow Reporter so is seen in some of the show report videos. Also there is a great photo in their Picture of the Day collection, it is titled Friday Freshies and makes Dan appear to be a celebrity skier! We are so happy that he is doing a job he loves.

Vines and leaves and flowers, oh my!

Greetings! I only wish I could post here whenever I think of it, since I often think during the day of things to add but don't get to the keyboard. I have had a good time the last 2 days on my long arm machine. I have a quilt to work on for my friend, Deb. L., but thought I could really use some practice using some of the techniques I wanted to put on it. So I mounted up one of my own quilts that has been languishing in the "ready for quilting" category. And I worked on it Saturday evening and most of Sunday, finding some more confidence with continuous curves and vines with leaves and I even learned a flower to throw in there! So today I have started on Deb's very nice quilt with Bear Paw blocks, and so far so good! Did end up taking a break to go to the eye dr., I had called this AM to make my annual appt. and they had a cancellation that I could get in on so that is done. Very little change in my usual prescription, but I have noticed some changes in my vision with reading and the computer screen, having to use the lower part of the lens which means I have to hold my head back a bit and that makes my neck sore. So I am going to try a different lens that is made for office type work, we'll see how that goes. Will take some time tonight to prep for some product demos I am doing at the quilt shop on Wednesday, things like EQ6, Quiltsmart, and Triangulations. I just need to organize what I need to cover and get samples ready. So I am off to my sewing room!

Catch-up

Does absence make the heart grow fonder? If so, you must be really fond of me by now! I am trying hard to manage my time to allow for more quilting on the longarm, so that means I have to limit my time at the keyboard which sucks up many minutes without realizing it. Last Friday I had such a nice day off from work and good hours on the machine and Leisl here to keep me company! And since I was working on her quilt, I could get her impressions as I moved along. This quilt is looking good, my freehand feathers are better all the time. I'm disappointed in the fact that I have a wrinkle in the back, need to find out if it is caused by something I did as I mounted it or quilted it. I did finish hand-stitching the binding on a lap quilt for the store which I can take with me today and put on display. It is a pattern by Valori Wells, big blocks and borders and I used a variety of fabrics, some brocade, velour, woven and regular quilting cottons by Moda in brown, red, turquoise. Looks kind of like something from Pottery Barn. Finished 1 sock last Thursday and cast on the second and got through the ribbing last night while watching Ratatouille. I like my Netflix subscription, I wouldn't take the time to stop and pick out a movie otherwise. Bob and I went to see the National Treasure sequel Saturday, we had re-watched the first one last week and I think this was just as good and had more humor in it. Worked in ICU yesterday, it was only an 8 hour shift and I had a lot to do so it went fast, barely had time for a quick lunch. I'm getting stressed by the fact that I don't have my 2 samples ready for new classes at the shop so tomorrow will be dedicated to that. I have posted a picture of my all-time favorite quilt. Need to go pack my lunch and head for White Bear--Happy Monday!