Back, with Sparse Posting

A souvenir from our vacation was the fabric and pattern for this quilt. I cannot find a link for the pattern but I bought everything here: Common Threads in lovely St. Louis, Michigan....the official center of the mitten. A very cute shop with more creative quilts and ideas floating around than I have seen in a long time. My only complaint was I found it to be very dark inside. Maybe it was just such a bright, sunny day that I was blinded by that but I doubt it. Still, they had a nice selection of fabric and patterns. The quilt is called California Dreamin', a very quick quilt to piece indeed!



The second quilt pieced last month is this Album quilt. Yes, there is a mistake in the picture but it's been corrected. Directions for this quilt are found in Scrap Frenzy, among other places I'm sure as this is actually an old block. I am debating about adding borders to this one to enlarge it. I love the way everything came together with this one.





And lastly, the current work-in-progress. This lovely fabric has warmed the shelves of the china closet for 2 summers now. I just could not figure out what to do with Gracie that would really make me happy. There are still about 4 rows of blocks to finish piecing (I ran out of black!) and borders to add yet. Another instant favorite! I normally steer away from black in quilts as I tend to drift to the brights and pastels which call for whites but this one needed the black to make it work. Planned for the stopper/inner border is a lovely fleshy or salmon color. The outer border is still up in the air but I think something will fall in place once the blocks are finished.


Very little knitting has been happening as my right wrist is very tender. Hopefully, more rest will allow whatever is hurting to heal and knitting can resume. There has been, however, much reading. As a young girl, it drove my mother to distraction the number of times she would have to call me for dinner, chores, whatever because my nose was buried in a book. Didn't matter if I'd read it a hundred times already, I was still lost in my own world. Living miles from the nearest library meant new books were hard to come by so now that we live just a mile from the main branch, we make daily visits most weeks. I need to keep a reading journal so titles aren't lost to me.

Don't expect regular posting anytime soon. I plan to enjoy these last few weeks before school outside, reading, working on quilts and putzing around the garden. 2 tomatoes and 2 peppers have been devoured already with promises of many,many more!

Recovery For Old Folks

Getting old is rough. I am not equipped to deal with multiple events/appointments/excitement in short time spans any more. In the past 2 weeks, Hubster has had a colonoscopy (which revealed nothing new. Back to square one with that), J lost her job and the older girls and I went to our very first concert ever. John Mayer puts on an awesome show. I don't recommend Ben Folds though. Their stuff was nothing but noise and profanity. I can hold my own against any group of sailors but they were a little over the top with the language at times. Blossom Music Center is truly the place to experience great music and friendly people.This concert was J's EARLY Sweet 16 to herself, so she made a sign reading "It's My BDAY, SING ME A SONG"...so many folks came up and asked "what's your sign say?" then wished her a happy day.

The concert was Sunday night. We took the entire day, hit the mall, Tarjay, ate at Swensons, took the scenic route (read: NOT the freeway). I was too tired to swing by KSU Campus but we did cruise through Kent along the way. Along with Hudson, Streetsboro, Suffield, Brimfield and a host of other "bergs". Having strong family ties to that region, it is always like a trip home for us.

Yesterday, I spent the entire day huddled on the couch moaning in agony. My entire body hurt. Fibro will do that to a body, or at least mine once it's been chilled to the shivering point. No bug bites from the open air concert (we had actual seating in the pavillon!) but boy was it chilly. I have a feeling that it will take me the rest of the week to really recover...just in time for that 8 hour drive to that state up North. It's time for a vacation, the girls and I. We need a break from all this caregiving and stuff.

I don't know if I will make it to ThreadBear or not. Is it far from Route 127, does anyone know? Can any Michiganders (is that what y'all are called?) recommend yarn or quilt shops along 127? Maybe something with a great sale section, kid-friendly yet not too overwhelming.