Pile of Grandbabies

These little guys were all over here yesterday: (Some were easier to photograph than others)

Sydnee, Brian & Beckham

Here's little Brian in the middle, with his little "lip":

He smiles easy too: (These are the more cooperative ones)

We sure love these guys, but we sure miss our "big" grandbabies in Missouri!

Puttering Around the Studio...

Not a whole lot going on over here. I have been working on a Christmas project:

This is made with a "Tumbler" Ruler:

It was easy to cut out, just using Charm Packs (My one weakness). BUT, it's been kind of a challenge to put together, I think it has to do with geometry or some such nonsense. You'd think cutting out one hundred identical shapes, then sewing them together, two by two, they would all be the same little section and go together however you wanted, but NO, that's not what happened. My friend, Amber warned me, but it still happened - rats. They ended up being 2 distinct little sections and would not play well together! I had to do some unpicking. I did get the top done, but will probably not quilt it until (much) closer to Christmas:

And, yes, I know it's not symmetrical, it turned out way taller than wide and I didn't want to mess with more of those little sections, so I just added a border on two sides - so it's a great size AND fun to look at. (Just go with it)

Off tomorrow to see that sweet baby Sydnee (and her parents), then down to sunny southern Utah for a nice little vacation for Mr. Handsome's B-day.

Another Perfect Grandchild!

Jeremy and Amanda had their sweet baby girl today! Not quite decided on a name, but she is beautiful!

Here is the proud Papa:

She is a petite little thing: 6 lbs. 12 oz. (Not me, the baby):

Grandpa is excited too!

It was a long, long night and day, she was finally delivered by C-Section around 3:30 p.m. We are so excited to have 6 grandbabies now!

Valentine's Day: Fantasy vs Reality

With it being February and all, I am thinking about Valentine's Day coming up next week. If you watch TV or read the paper, you see all the ads hawking the romantic gifts and ideas for the big day - you know, jewelry, fabulous vacations, wonderful restaurants, lingerie, flowers, luscious chocolates, etc. This, to me, is the "Fantasy" part of V-day. Reality is that you can't get a seat in a restaurant on Valentine's day, unless you're willing to settle for Burger King. Usually at this time of the year, I am still squeezing into my clothes from the over- indulgences of the Christmas holidays and am not too keen on stuffing myself with chocolate. I am not a big jewelry wearer, I only like rings on my ring fingers and I only have two of those and they are 'full'. I can't afford a 'fabulous vacation' and lingerie? I am not even going to go there - let's just say that those advertisements are not for grannies like me. I do enjoy flowers, but Mr. Handsome actually met me at the airport last week with some of those, so I'm satisfied for awhile yet.
We have this idea that romance should be a certain way, perpetuated by commercial establishments and those popular girls in high school. It started for me while I was still in school (many years ago) and on Valentine's Day, you could pay a dollar and have a flower or balloon delivered to your "sweetheart" during class period - you know - in FRONT OF EVERYONE in your English class - so exciting. Well, all 4 years of high school, I would get a little hopeful each February when the delivery students would come in with the gifts. But, alas, none were ever for me. Some girls got multiple flowers! I would console myself that my boyfriend went to another school, or he would have gotten me one, etc. Just another popularity contest that I failed, sigh. Come to find out, some girls would make a pact and send them to each other, so they would look "more popular"! I guess I missed out on that one.
Now that I've been married for nearly 31 years, I still enjoy a little romance, but I realize that we are all different and that romance looks different for each of us, as a couple. Mr. Handsome fills my car up with gas and gets it washed each week - maybe not a 'commercial worthy' romantic gesture, but I love it and he's been doing it for years and years, consistently. I love to garden and when I have a big hole to dig, he uses those handy muscles and digs me a great big hole, no complaining. He leaves me the occasional note and always takes out the trash, and takes me on fun dates, that he's thought out and planned. He is faithful and kind and I could go on and on, but I don't want anyone to feel left out if that's not what their romance looks like - I think we all need to be grateful for the wonderful people in our lives and not compare them and make ourselves feel bad. So - Happy V-Day to you and yours!

Finished!

I finished this (huge) quilt! It's from "Pie Plate Patterns" and the pattern name is "Skip to My Lou". I'm sorry I can't remember the book it's from - I borrowed it from the guild and have since returned it. It measures about 84" x 104".

It's called "Irish Sunshine" because it has a little bit of an Irish Chain going and the colors are so gorgeous and sunshine-y. I love it! I had to run it outside to try to get the colors to show better:

It has nice, cozy flannel on the back, except for this random corner with a few scraps, since I did not buy quite enough backing.

I got it done right before I hopped down to California for a great, quick, visit. I have no pictures of said visit because I am a slacker and did not bring my camera. Although, I must admit, that even though I think my trips are great - you all might think they are kinda boring/same thing. Visiting my sisters, my parents, my son and his girlfriend. Going to the movies, manicure/pedicure, good food, going to church, reading, relaxing, helping my parents with a little organizing, etc. So, maybe it's not so bad that I didn't bring my camera and make you all sit through the family pics...

Oh, Bother...

I am getting a new favorite quilt quilted on the frame in the studio, but as you can see, I've run into a little problem:

The batting, that seemed quite big/wide enough, Just. Isn't. This is a piece of leftover batting that someone must have taken the scissors to while I wasn't looking (I'm SURE that was what happened). I have just a little bit left to go, so I guess tomorrow, I will be hunched over it, whip-stitching a bit more batting onto it - bleck!

And, while I'm on the subject of complaining - why is it when I go to work every afternoon, I look at the family room and with that sunshine coming in it looks so inviting!!! I just want to lay down on that sun-warmed couch and take a little snooze! But, alas, it's off to work with me!

And, yes, as you can see, we finally got some snow - hooray!

Ruminations

Hopped down to Hurricane for a relaxing weekend, we hadn't been there since before the holidays, so it was great to head down. The weather was beautiful. We took a 7 mile hike (low, rolling hills - or I wouldn't have made it!), the only one more tired than me was our dog! We got back to the condo and treated ourselves to this:

Yep, 4 each, we don't mess around! We went out to a nice (big) Mexican lunch, then back for a much needed NAP! I have recently gone back to the gym and started a little weight-lifting again and had done a "lower body" workout, so even before the hike, I was pretty sore. When we got to the restaurant, I was moving VERY slowly, because whenever I moved, I hurt. Then, I had this amazing light-bulb moment! I'll bet this is what it feels like to be (really) OLD! We have a few older gentlemen at our church and they move like I was moving all the time! I am trying not to be nervous about this discovery - I figure I've got 20-30 years before I feel like that all the time! (Maybe if I don't think about it, it won't happen?).

Anyway, we had a great weekend - visited a fun quilting store and even though I had already spent my paycheck, I took my sugar-daddy with me (Mr. Handsome), so I came home with some delicious fabric! I did manage to get this quilt all bound while we were watching movies:

The name of it is: "Perfectly Square, An Oxymoron", if you really look at it, you can see what a brilliant name that is - I'll wait.

Hope your January is going great! I am super excited to be working on fun quilting projects - "just for fun" - no holiday deadlines! Toodles!