Fun with my girl!

My granddaughter is visiting and we are having such fun!

...so there won't be any quilting done for another week or so....

 

I can't believe how this little one sleeps so well. They just put her to bed at 8pm and without a fuss she goes off to sleep for 12-13 hours.

It's like that at nap time too. She goes down around noon for a two hour nap.

..but she she is awake, it is constant activity. She is keeping Mamaw fit, up and down the steps, over and over and over and over again. Mamaw doesn't mind. There will be plenty of time to rest after she goes home.

 

Friday night lights

There is not much else I'd rather do on a Friday night.....

Upstairs in my quilt room, window open, a little cool air flowing in, along with the sound of the local high school band playing at the ballgame a mile or so away.

Didn't even have to cook tonight. The hubby wanted to eat chili for a fundraiser.

He wanted us to make a selfie to send to baby girl....We send her videos and pictures pretty often.

I said there is not much else I'd rather do on a Friday night....I can think of one thing I'd rather be doing -- playing with my granddaughter.

 

Saturday

Beautiful fall day......

Got in a long run this morning. Cooked chicken, mushroom, wild rice soup and homemade bread for supper...oh yeah, and a chocolate cake too. Even did a little sewing on both quilting projects I've got going. And the best part was facetiming with baby girl Emma. Love to hear her say, Maymaaw.

..those eyes.....be still my heart.

This was last night's supper. It was delicious. Kale, shrimp, sweet potatoes, onions, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. Gluten free, healthy, and yummy.

 

Sneak peek

I finished my bright scrap quilt. I've named it Hashtag Graphics. I won't show it all just in case......some of the magazines are kind of picky about that. I've sent pictures off to McCalls. They have been so very nice and I want to give them first chance at publishing it. If they don't want to, I'll be sending pictures off to a few more. One at a time, with a 30-90 day response time, is a very slow process. It will be worth the wait though if I get a taker.

I'm really, really happy about how this one turned out. Pattern number three in my repertoire.

After church and lunch I got in my Monday three miler. Run and done. I love having Monday's off. I've got errands to do in Knoxville tomorrow, so now I won't have to find time to run.

My kids sent me this today. I had to laugh. They are still in Paris and have attended a few churches trying to find a good English speaking one. It seems not many have nurseries (Or crèche as they call it in Scotland) and Emma is pretty wild. This is how they distracted her today.

 

 

How do you display your quilts?

From this...

To this ....(36 screws later)....

This quilt ladder is made by Briick, a family owned company in Illinois. It is wider than a regular ladder and the rungs are farther apart to allow for more display of each quilt. Mine has seven rungs. It has a couple of hooks on the sides for hanging (what? I'm not sure), and a shelf at the bottom. I probably won't use either. I like having my quilts where I can see them.

And for your viewing pleasure......from Paris....

My favorite thing I saw when I was there years ago... The Arc De Triomphe!

Notra Dame

...my handsome son and daughter-in-love...

..and their tired baby girl, after a day of playing at the Jardin du Luxembourg.

Emma and her "Bier-Bier"

 

Paris

My son, daughter-in-love, and grand baby girl are in Paris for a month. I'm excited for them but I also know how difficult international travel can be. I can only imagine with a baby. However, my sweet DIL sends me pictures and videos almost everyday.

My baby girl seems to be enjoying her new digs. I hope and pray this adventure is just that, an exciting fulfilling adventure for all of them!

 

Happy Father's Day

Here is a picture of my dad and the four of us kids. I'm the little one at the top. I was about three.

My dad was a hard worker, an inventor or sorts, and from what I remember always happy. There were rough times no doubt, but he always had a positive attitude. Some of my favorite memories -- he would lay in the floor and raise an arm, which ever kid was in the floor would push the arm down, and then a leg would go up. We played this game lots. When he got older, and couldn't walk very well, he would get in his scooter and ride down their road singing hymns. Always happy.

And another good daddy.....my son. He loves his little girl.

Did some sewing today. I need a baby girl quilt in a week. Sometimes I put too much pressure on myself about making quilts. I bought some fabric at the quilt show not knowing what I was going to do with it. Receive an invitation to a baby girl shower yesterday. I thought I'd use it but I'm afraid it doesn't look much like a baby quilt.

That's the thing about quilting...you put so much time, effort, and money into making a quilt but sometimes it just doesn't turn out as nice as you'd like. Sometimes all your hard effort isn't appreciated. Not sure if I'll give this one for the baby girl or save it for a donation at another time.

One more of my Daddy. Guess I got my wild hair from him...lol

And just because I think the porch looks nice on this first day of summer.......

 

 

Adventure Day

When we retired we had planned on having an adventure day each week. That was a little ambitious. Maybe every two weeks or maybe once a month would be doable. Anyway, today (after about four months of retirement) we took our first adventure day.

We went to the Crossville quilt and tractor show. Had a great time!

Jim was a good sport while I walked around looking at the beautiful quilts.

This was a favorite. Made of 1 1/2" squares. Isn't it neat how she used squares around the outside of the wreath to be like real greenery? And the darker red to give depth to the ribbon. Just beautiful.

We walked through the antique tractors and equipment. Took a ride in a Kabota four wheeler through a display of old trucks, and enjoyed a nice conversation with a local farmer and his son. Bought some homemade fried pies and kettle corn. Stopped at the outlet shops for a little shopping before we headed home. A fun day.

I told him we needed to make a bucket list of Tennessee "must see" places and events and do a bit better about planning our adventure days. Life goes by fast. We need to be making memories.

 

 

Friday

Today was a long run day. Perfect weather for it.

Really wanted to run over this bridge, but chickened out.

Received some new pictures and videos of my baby girl....

She is growing up so much! 15 1/2 months old already!

Her daddy is awfully happy, but obviously she is not.

After running and getting cleaned up, decided to do a 'What I Wore' pic.

The top is great. It is from Dress Barn. The jeans are Loft jewelled ankle jeans, and I'm wearing my five year old Chacos. I've worn these every summer for five years and they still look great. I really like them but my Teva sandals are more comfortable. Too bad the Teva straps aren't nearly as durable. This is only the second year with them and the straps are fraying. :(

 

Old friends get together

Last Thursday night several of my old work buddies gathered together for a meal. It is always fun to be around some of the old folks.....ha. We are all old now, although there were a few that are still working.I've recently gone back to work part time. I think it will be perfect for me. As much as I love my hobbies, I really missed the work and decided full time retirement just wasn't for me....yet.

Also wanted to post this precious Mother's Day photo of my beautiful daughter-in-law and my grand baby Emma. Love these two.

 

 

Retirement quilt!

Finally got started on my retirement quilt, with many thanks to Bear Creek Quilting for supplying me with the beautiful solid Kona cottons for the stars.

This is just half of it if I stay with my original plan for it. However, I'm thinking of staggering the stars and putting them in a more random pattern. What is your opinion? Keep them in rows of four and three? Or randomly place them?
And Happy Easter!! I love Easter. Happy Easter to my loved ones in Scotland too!

Home again, home again

it is so good to be home! Like last visit I caught a terrible cold while I was in Edinburgh. However, this time it was much worse. I am always one of those folks who say to wait out a cold, 7-10 days. Today is day seven and I was miserable. I won't gross you out with the green details. It was time to go to a physician. Amazing what one dose of a Z pack can do!
I tend to stay a bit dehydrated and flying always makes that worse. On top of the cold yuck, last night's sleep evaded me with horrible foot cramps. I've read it is due to a magnesium dificiency. I got up and took a magnesium pill. Ate some salty crackers and drank water. Still horrible. I was desperate.

This works. At 2:30 this morning I ended up putting about a half to 3/4 cup of Epsom salts in a bucket of warm water and soaked my feet in it for about five minutes. No more cramps the rest of the night.
My daughter in law is a great cook. I came home with a few more of her recipes. I made British scones today. I decided to add some dried blueberries to mine, but I think the original recipe served with clotted cream and jam is the best.

It should say bake at 430 degrees.

...so good to be home.

Craigmillar Castle

We braved the strong winds today and ventured out to see the Craigmillar castle ruins. It was built around the 15th century and owned by the Preston family.

When the bus let us off, we hiked to the ruins via this field.

Emma was such a little trooper riding on Daddy's or Momma's back all day.

 

 

Below is the P shaped original pond (Preston).

 

It is a great castle ruin to see. Electricity illuminates the various areas and there are signs that let you know which rooms were used for what activities.