Home is the place to be!

I really enjoy going away solo. Makes me appreciate what I have - a nice home, a loving and caring husband and a wonderful little girl. I called home once I got off the plane and asked Chris to keep Amelia up - I was on my way. I walked in the door and Amelia was so excited to see me. I think she hugged for a full 5 minutes. She just kept saying over and over again - "Mama. I missed you. I'm so happy you're home." I didn't think she would notice my absence since she herself was in New Hampshire while I was gone. Makes my heart swell. I love being a Mama.

My trip to Texas was great and uneventful. It was hot and muggy so all of my time was spent indoors. I had a good time catching up with my BFF. Just like old times. We chatted about our lives and little girls and just laughed and laughed. Her husband felt overwhelmed because another one of Barb's friend made a visit from New Jersey to help celebrate Julia's first birthday! That was a big surprise! We all had fun together but Nate was overruled with all the women around. LOL.

Julia's first birthday was a success! She had a great time. Here are a few photos of the birthday girl... OH! The pinwheel wall hanging and little tote bag were well received! Barb loved them! That made me happy.

Took her a few days to warm up to me but by the time I was ready to leave, she would laugh and smile. We were buddies. I hope that the three of us can go there in the Spring next year. I think Amelia would have a good time with Julia.

Friday before all the chaos of a birthday party was to happen, Barb was willing to take me to the quilt shop of my choice. I chose Cabbage Rose Quilting and Fabric in Fort Worth. The building is very non-descript and once I saw it, I thought we just wasted our time. Was I ever wrong! I guess I should never judge a book by its cover. It was awesome. I was in heaven and if possible, I would still be there! They had every Moda line under the sun! Barb found herself a chair and relaxed while I shopped. LOL. Being 20 weeks pregnant, she just liked the time to veg out. I took my time but I knew she was hungry for lunch so I didn't really want to keep her waiting too long.

I was a bit overwhelmed and I did go in there with a plan of action but that went out the window. So I'll show you what I got.

I got a few packs of charm squares.

And some Cotton Blossom yardage...

To make this with my CB charm squares...

A couple of pillowcase kits for Punkie (I love fun pillowcases)....

Some polka dot yardage for my stash.... They had so many different polka dot fabrics. Every color combination you could think of. I was in polka dot heaven. LOL.

Some FQs for my stash and some for an upcoming project...

And lastly, more random yardage for my stash...

I really could have shopped more but my credit card wouldn't like it so I had some restraint. We're going to upstate New York next week for a few days and I'm going to try to hit one or two shops up there during my visit. Just need to pick out a few!

So. That's it. I'm happy to be home and relaxed. And we're all a happy family again. I guess that's what we needed. Time apart. LOL.

Enjoy your night!

Jen

AAA sure comes in handy!

We had a very nice time on our mini vacation to New Hampshire. We lost a couple of days there due to some unexpected happenings but it happens.

First off... my husband's pickup decided to quit in Vermont on our way to NH. We were about 1.5 hours from our destination. So we hung out on the side of the highway. Chris tried to fix what he thought was the problem. Turned out it was something electrical. BUT I got AAA in February this year! Never had it before in my life. My husband is very mechanically inclined but mentioned to me one day that I should get AAA just in case he's not around to help me. Never spoke about it again. It sure did come in handy to tow the truck! We figured we saved about $200.00 in a towing bill. By the time all was said and done and we got to the house, it was late and we were all tired.

Here we are... sitting on the side of 91 in Vermont.


He's NOT happy.


Amelia is enjoying herself though.



The tow truck is here!


The following day, we were getting a basic phone line installed. We were told the work order window was 8 a.m. to Noon when the appointment was set up. No problem. We just hung around and waited and waited and waited and waited. Had lunch. Waited some more. Put Amelia down for her nap and waited. Finally Chris called at 1:30 to find out what's going on. Oh. The work order window was NOT 8 to noon but 8 to 4:00 p.m.! The guy finally showed up at 2:30. Once that was done, we had to go pick up Chris's truck in Vermont and drop off the rental. Another day.... gone.

Playing frisbee to pass the time...

Taking walks down the driveway...



Watching a movie before breakfast is ready....


And just having a good time... (like father, like daughter)

Thursday and Friday were better. We took Amelia out to Clark's Trading Post and we rode the train. Took her out for ice cream. Took her to the nice park in town. We had fun. Weather was chilly in the mornings and evenings. We wore lots of long sleeves and sweatshirts.

But it's over. Amelia is actually headed back to New Hampshire tomorrow with my in-laws for a few days. I'm headed to TX until Monday. My husband is going to be all by himself. What is he going to do? No wife. No daughter. Just him, the cat, 3 goats and 6 pigs. He's going to be in HEAVEN!

Enjoy your day!

Jen

Giant pin cushion giveaway

Julie from jaybird quilts is having a giveaway to honor her Moda Bakeshop post of her giant pincushions.



Check them out. Aren't they great!

So, go comment and try your luck!

Jen

I'm Still Here

I haven't blog in over a week and I feel like I've been gone for months. I think I got caught up in all my blog reading over the weekend. I've been trying to play catch up with my work email and just work in general. Three days of work this week and I'm leaving again. This time for Texas and all my myself. I can't wait! I love my husband and Punkie dearly but I think we all need a break from each other. LOL. My daughter and I especially. If we bicker now at age of 4, I can't IMAGINE how we are going to be when she's 14!

We had a nice time on vacation in New Hampshire and for those of you who read Facebook know we started our trip with a little adventure. I will go into that more when I get the pictures off my camera. But overall, we had a good time. Weather was nice. Chilly mornings and evenings. Definitely NOT mid-July weather. We didn't get to the beach (lake front beach) like I wanted too because it was just too cold. Maybe next time.

Enjoy your night!
Jen

Done!

Just in time! I leave for Texas on the 23rd for my BFF's daughter's 1st birthday and I finished up the wall hanging. Are you ready to see???

Here it is... I did no fancy quilting on it. Just followed the pattern. I really didn't want to practice my stippling on it. If I screwed it up, I would have cried. It's bad enough there are many mistakes in it already!

And the back....

And the label that I created today. I need to figure out this whole stabilizer business. I thought I was okay and the darn thing still puckered and pulled. And with all that, my image shifted and the black outlining is off a bit. But I think if I ignore it and not point it out to anybody, they will ignore it too!

I also made a little tote bag that I'm going to put three board books in. Amelia loves her different totes and bags to take with her and I think, or should I say hope, Julia will feel the same way when she gets a little older.

I had intentions of embroidering Tigger and Pooh (theme of party) onto a t-shirt for Julia too but that project was a complete failure. Again, the stabilizers! I need to take a course or at least read a REALLY good tutorial. But I will try again. I have a few embroidery projects in mind that I would like to do.

Done. I'm happy. I can relax on my vacation next week and not worry that I have work to do when I get home before I get on a plane. I'm going to take Punkie's quilt with me to New Hampshire so that I can get started on hand sewing the binding down. I machined it onto the front while she was away. Now I can focus on that AND my SIL's quilt.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Jen

New Furniture and Some Picnic Pals

My new furniture is here. WOOHOO! I even shampooed the area rug. Can't have brand spanking new furniture with a stained carpet! Looks all nice and fresh now. Except for the constant clutter. You don't realize how cluttered your house is until you take a picture of it. Art supplies tucked under the end table, basket FULL of books, coffee table littered with Amelia drawings and little trinkets, bookcase full of Daddy's collectibles AND more of Amelia's trinkets and toys. I need to do some serious DE-cluttering. Notice I didn't mention any of my stuff. LOL. I have plenty in there too. You just don't see it. ;)

Here is Chris's favorite new spot, the club chair recliner...

We had a big purple chair and a half in this spot which I loved but it was just too big. It is now in Amelia's new bedroom (our old Master bedroom) and she will be able to curl up in it and read or do whatever.

New couch...

Not really the color I was going for. Our old couch, which will be going to New Hampshire next week if it doesn't rain, was green. I was hoping for something else but there really isn't anything out there. I really liked this one. The back cushions are a bit too poofy yet. Couple months of Amelia hanging out on it and it will be nicely broken in.

And some picnic pals. Amelia and I went to a family picnic on Sunday and her pals Jake and Lucas were there. They had a great time together and Amelia requested that they get invited to her birthday party next month.

Jake just turned 4 so he and Amelia are the same age. Lucas is now 2. Lucas and Jake are brothers and they are the sons of my cousin's cousin... other side of family. When Jake and Amelia get together, they are just so cute! They give hugs and kisses to each other and hold hands. ♥

Enjoy your day!

Jen

(Somewhat) Instant Gratification

My vacation is over. Punkie is home. And I'm very happy because I was missing her terribly and getting a little bored with my free time. I will say that every mom friend that I talked to over the week who asked me where Punkie was were a bit jealous that I got that free time. And that Amelia was willing to spend all that time away from home with Grandma and Grandpa. I'm glad I started farming her out to spend nights at the grandparents' homes when she was 3 months old - and that they were willing to take her. She's very well adjusted like that. LOVES to go on vacation. But she was VERY happy to be home and back with her Mama and Daddy.

I got some work done on my various projects while she was gone. I'm half way through with sewing the binding on the pinwheels, I cut some of the Clementine FQs for my SIL's quilt, I did some machine embroidery - which was a COMPLETE disaster. I'm so sad. But I did some more machine embroidery practice and came up with another project for myself. I'll talk about that in the next couple of days.

I did start and finish a project yesterday and I LOVE it! I bumped into the bag on Gudrun's blog... after all, it is her pattern. It's called the Strip to the Beach tote and it's HUGE! Wide and deep. I love it and I can't wait to use it. I went and ordered the pattern book from the Fat Quarter Shop, along with my Oh-Cherry-Oh jelly roll and got started yesterday.

Here's the bag...

And the inside...

I'm glad I did the red polka dot fabric on the inside. Breaks up the cherry look. The bag IS a bit obnoxious looking with all busy cherry fabrics and colors but for the summer... I don't care! I will make this bag again with a calmer look. Now that I know what the yardage is, I can go and buy some fabric and make my own 2.5 strips. I have the fabric in mind too. :) And I will make the handles a big longer for myself. Personal preference.

The bag is very easy to make. I started at 1:00 p.m. and finished at 9:45 p.m. with a 5 hour break when Amelia got home.

Well, I need to get my pasta salad made for a picnic we're going to in a bit. Enjoy your day!

Jen