Aug 26, 2010

Not so Wonderous

Remember her?




Nothing was too much for her, she could make anything right. She did it all...and then some.
Surprise! I'm not close to being Wonder Woman....
Maybe next week I'll done my WW costume, maybe not. But for now- I'll settle on being ordinary. Out of time, ordinary. Too much to do ordinary. Deciding to procrastinate ordinary.
Yup- sometimes ordinary is good. I'll let Wonder Woman solve the problems of the world at large.

Karen

Aug 22, 2010

Not Much Stitchin'

Not much stitchin' was done over the weekend, but that was fine. Just fine, mind you, because we partied on Saturday and I relaxed quite a bit on Sunday (wow, who knew how nice lazy can feel on occasion!).



Saturday, my sister and I threw a "post birthday" luncheon for my mom, who found herself another year older on August 17th. She claims she never thought she'd make it to 85! I had no doubt she'd get there and she will no doubt greet a few more.

Family and friends gathered to celebrate (otherwise known as "eat"),catch up with each other,and just spend a few fun hours with the b'day girl. We descended upon a local Italian eatery that opens by noon (a must when Mom is involved), serves family style, would give us a private room and whose food is generally quite good, considering. The room was dark- with strange lighting so photographing was interesting to say the least, but we have lots of fond memories in shades of orange/red tint(even after photo editing!).
The party wasn't technically a surprise, but since Mom suffers from dementia, to her it was a complete surprise- and she loved being the b'day girl....she was having a good day. I have proof positive (see below). Happy Birthday, Mom (even if it is a bit belated):




(waiting on Grandma: The Husband, The Youngest, The Son and The Little Man)



(Arrival of the Birthday Girl- notice the delight as she waves to her adoring fans!)




( Birthday Girl and her Sisters-smiling pretty for the camera)




(Great grandma gets a very big hug from a very important Little Man)




(Applause for a rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday to You!")

A good day was had by all!
Happy Stitchin (and look for a sneak preview come Wednesday)
Karen

Aug 20, 2010

To Russia With Love



My first born traveled to Finland to participate in a history conference being held in Helsinki this week. Since she was "so close", she and Travel Companion decided they would take a three day side trip to Russia. It meant the girls needed special visas, but when she sends me a photo like this....well all I can say is "I die!".
This has to be one of the most beautiful Russian Orthodox Churches I have ever seen!
Having grown up in the Orthodox Church myself, I'm sure First Born knew how much I'd love this photo.
The interior shot she sent was equally amazing (I neglected to download the interior photo- something I should do immediately!).
Such adventure!
-Karen

What ever happened to...

What ever happened to the Lazy Hazy Crazy days of summer??
Mine have just been crazy of late. No time for much blogging.
I'm hoping to put aside time to sit and download some photos from the camera, and just take a bit of a personal breather. But not just yet- the crazies are continuing!
Stay tuned, I just know things are going to slow down! Right??
I hope your end of summer days will be nothing but Lazy....
Karen

Aug 12, 2010

My Workspace

Once again, it is not technically Wednesday, thus the omission of that word from today's post title! You know the old adage: A day late/A dollar short? I'm one up as I'm not a dollar short for a change, and I think any one reading this blog can forgive my being a day late. Life happens, you know!
So without much more fanfare here are two of the current projects on my work table (and the ironing board- which accounts for the weird angle of the quilted piece).

These little (5" finished) blocks are a group challenge from Kathy Tracy's yahoo group. She had collected floral FQs and decided to do some "Romantic Stars". They will be quite lovely. I don't often do lovely, and had a charm pack of Miss Jump's Scrapbag I had forgotten about. I pulled some of my favorite pieces and set to work making Miss Jump's Stars:



I'm not 100% sure how I'm going to set them yet, but I do know the piece of fabric they are lying on will NOT be used *smile*! Stay tuned.

Next up is a little quilt- frankly just a cute square in a square. I had a small piece of a bucolic farm toile and wanted to do something with it other than just sit and pet it. Since I've spent the summer playing at city farming. and being somewhat unsuccessful- darn squirrels. I thought I'd just throw it into the center piece of a little quilt. I love playing in my sizable stash. It's about time I did so. Collecting fabric for years is great- but if it never sees the light of day,it becomes a waste. I get that now!! Won't stop me from collecting, but I've promised myself I will use it not just love it from afar. This little goodie needs only to have the binding finished; I think it needs some defined quilting in the outer border as well. I'm not sure what just yet. It can live in it's present form for awhile, don't you think??



And there you have it! Workspace "Wednesday" on a Thursday no less! But I'm sharing...yes indeed, at least I am sharing.

Karen

Aug 8, 2010

How We Spent a Lovely Saturday, or What Not To Do On A Weekend

Bright and early Saturday morning the call came through, followed by a text message. "IT" was on its way. "IT" (almost as scary as the same titled book by Stephen King) was a very large, very full POD containing Youngest Child's belongings that were packed up and shipped from Kentucky and stored here in the area short term. "IT" is very expensive to maintain. So The Father cleared the garage to made it storage ready, and we arranged to have "IT" brought to the house and deposited in our driveway- just like this:



Looks good,no? Well it would be, IF that was OUR driveway "IT" is sitting on! However, the POD arrived on the truck bed and the drama began.
The neighbor next door immediately had a problem with "IT" being plopped in the driveway and began a long and heated conversation with The Father as well as the truck driver. Said truck driver just keep looking and shaking his head "no". Didn't look like we were going to be getting Youngest's things no matter what. First, he paced off the 16' I guess is needed (we were never given delivery specifications and "IT" fit just fine in Youngest's small driveway at her Kentucky house. Seems the way the houses at our end of the world are situated, 16' put us onto the city sidewalk, so we would be against code. Code or no code, Neighbor was not letting "IT" be put down overlapping her grass. We had another problem. "It" would overlap our small landscaped area at the driveway. What to do? We couldn't put "IT" in the street in front of the house; we need a city permit to do that and it is Saturday AM, mind you.
Youngest is now freaking out, The Father is less than happy, The neighbor is miffed, Truck Driver is looking annoyed. My solution? Call the Good Neighbor! So we did and she generously said "of course!"... she even came out and moved her car into the street so we could get "IT" into her drive.

So there "IT" sits. We unpacked "IT" right away- walking the furniture and boxes (and everything else) around the block onto our driveway. Good Neighbor ran out with a heavy and very well received hand cart for our use (God Bless you, Good Neighbor, God Bless). By the time the afternoon hit its peak, the women in the house were bearing this label, and probably more than earned it:



But we managed to pack, cover and protect the large furniture in the garage, bring the "in-house boxes" up to the second floor to determine what goes into the attic and what stays in the main house. The hallway outside the bedrooms still contains lots of these in need of unpacking:




But the priority of the day was to take down the little (uncomfortable) twin bed that occupied the former guest room and put up Youngest's real, honest to goodness, sleep like a baby, comfort to the max bed. Looks good!



In fact, the honest to goodness, comfort to the max bed is so comfy, Spoiled Doggie gave up this favorite sunny spot in the room



To claim this new one as his own. Awww....now how can one argue with this much happiness?



And thus as the no good, infuriating, exhausting, happy-it's-over day drew to a close, and the moving bruises started to pop, the women of the house sat down to one of these (hand made by Youngest)



And several of these:




and life was good.
The End (for now at least!)
Related Posts with Thumbnails