Sunday..... taking it slow

Kathy reminds us it is ok to take breaks from projects.... however I find that if you don't work on things at all.... they don't get done! Imagine that =)

Such is the progress on the baby quilt I am hand quilting. All the inside blocks are hand quilted but I have all the edge blocks to go. Poor baby is already 2 months old and I am still working on her quilt! I think I'll pull it over to the chair today, thread a needle and make some progress on it as I am trying to take it easy. My goal is 3 blocks a day and it should be done in the next 2 weeks.

I'll also grab the crochet hook and yarn and add the crochet tops to the kitchen towels I am working on for Mom. They will have to get shipped up in a bit... with the buttons attached.... as they did not get worked on last week and the plane rides were for reading instead of hand work. I also watched Father of the Bride part 2 on the way home.

I flew home Friday from a business trip to Vermont where I did lots of visiting after my working hours. I arrived at my house around 10:20 PM Friday night and all 3 cats greeted me and smelled all the luggage. Emily got a hug and kiss in her bed and I got a 'Mommy!' and told her to go back to sleep. Yup - she doesn't remember at all! Aidan got a kiss and he didn't budge at all. Both climbed into my bed  Saturday morning 7ish... with the cats. 

It was a go, go, go day yesterday. Took Emily out first - to the Tack Shack sale to try on and get some riding pants, then to the mall to find a birthday gift for a pool party today. I just dropped her off and will pick her up in a couple of hours. We also grabbed some cat food... they were pretty much out when I fed them in the morning. Home for lunch and a visit with Grandpa A. Then a quick inventory of the fridge and I took Aidan to Lowes to get his plants he wanted to put in the front bed and then Aldi to fill up the crisper and get dairy products. He grabbed a salmon on a cedar plank for dinner... and I got out of cooking! I was not hungry and Dad had a headache so the kids enjoyed their salmon on the grill with baby potatoes and I cooked up an acorn squash recipe they wanted to try. Yup - I was exhausted by the end of the day and sleeping by 10. 

The sore throat I have had since Tuesday or Wednesday is not disappearing during the day like it has been and the voice was a bit off this morning. I am hoping a day of rest will make it go away besides the energy level is about nil. A movie/catch up on the recorded programs from the week it will be! Warming up some Progresso Chicken with pearl pasta is my version of chicken and stars from childhood. Hope the energy level is back to normal tomorrow - as I am back to the normal busy week schedule.

Linking up with Kathy and the other slow stitchers.

Reconnecting and memories....

It has been a very busy trip up to Vermont. I have been working 'normal' hours this week unlike my normal 5 hour day's while the kids are in school. I have been able to visit with some longtime friends in the evenings that I have not been able to connect with the last few times I have been up here. 

Monday - a full day at work and a lunch out with a co-worker Laura. After work I drove to Morrisville and had dinner with my friend Kelly from College. It was great to finally connect with her after a couple of years. I also got to have yummy pizza at the House of Pizza... which I didn't get a chance to this summer.... something about 6 days of 90 degree weather and no ac... means you are not hungry at all or for hot food!

Tuesday - another full day of work with more meetings but lots of progress. A nice lunch out with a few co-workers (and my boss!) Rosanne, Laura and Darcy at McKees Pub. A nice walk around the mall - which is eerily empty in spots, a few long sleeve shirts purchased (hey - my old things were 10+ years old and a few landed in the trash before I left!) and then I headed to the bowling alley. I used to bowl on Tuesdays with the ladies when I lived up here. It was so nice to see them and chat with Carolynn and Wanda for a while. Then.... it was nearly 8 and I figured I should find something to eat. Yes, way too much eating out up here. I had a craving for montreal coleslaw (vinegar) so tried a few wings at Chicken Charlies. They have the best coleslaw... I remember going there for lunch when I was pregnant with Aidan and just getting a big container of it for lunch! The mashed potato and gravy was yummy too. 

Wednesday - how is the week half over already? A full day of work with a 30 minute Skype session with the kiddo's... as the wifi at the hotel was not the greatest last night so I promised I'd make it happen today. I was good for lunch and popped out to pick up the photo's of the kids I had printed to hand off to Mom and 2 other siblings tomorrow and picked up a chef salad at the gas station deli I usually ordered from when I was at my company's office. I was a consultant and was usually at clients sites but sometimes I got to be in my office. 

I met my good friend Michelle for dinner tonight at Burger Bar - a neat little place near St. Michaels college. I got soaked getting from the car to the door but it was worth it. You know how you have that one person that no matter how long it has been since you last saw them you just pick up where you left off like it was yesterday? That is Michelle. We were walking buddies living in the same neighborhood where I bought my first house in 2001. We also popped in the knitting group at the library that we went to years ago and saw Rita - Margarita Rita! Awesome to see her - 84 years young and lively as ever! It has been 6 years since I have seen her and it was so great to reconnect. Another walking buddy from that first house with Thursday night Margaritas at her house! We ended up at her place after and she had made her Pumpkin pudding (the one my son loves and loves to make!) and home made whipped cream. Well, her hubby Jim made the whipped cream. So great to see them both and visit for  a few hours tonight. 

As for all those projects I brought with me.... yup, one crocheted towel got made. But... lots of visiting has happened and sometimes that is what a person needs. 

Tomorrow is my conference - the whole reason I wanted to come up here this week. I'll get to see my other brother there and then will pop back to Mom and Dad's to visit tomorrow night before I fly home Friday afternoon. Somehow I got 2 meetings booked on Friday morning at the office... at least the first one is a breakfast one with my boss! I have a great boss  =) Then it will be off to the airport for the flights home to hot and humid Florida.

 

Slow Sunday in Vermont....

I am so happy to be in cooler weather today! The walk yesterday in Vermont in 55 degree temps was so much nicer than the one Friday afternoon while Emily was riding her horse in feels like 100 temps in Florida!

I am in Vermont for a business trip this week and attending a technical conference on Thursday. I'll also be at work in the actual office for a change before I fly home on Friday afternoon. I have plans to see a bunch of friends each evening while I am here since I didn't meet up with anyone this summer with the kids.

I fear I packed a wee too many options for hand work..... but I do like having options!
Some crochet tops need to get added to a bunch of these for Mom.I'll hand off to my brother on Thursday when I see him at the conference.

Some applique - a snowflake and the first save the bees block. The tumbler rows need to get stitched to each other and another set of 2 rows are marked for hand stitching. I finally found my counted cross stitch - the January month out of the Quilts of All seasons book. 

Linking up with Kathy and the other slow stitchers as I know I will be doing some slow stitching in the evenings in hotel room.

While in Vermont I got a lovely walk in on the walking path to the elementary school I went to through the woods. Not much color in the trees yet. The smell of fall in Vermont - pure heaven.

Selfie with Mom 

Today was picking potatoes from the field at Chappelles in Williamstown Vermont. They open up the field one Sunday a year to allow people to come pick potato's as the digger tills them up. There were a good amount of people there when we arrive around 11.

We got a little over 113 pounds for 2 of my siblings and my parents. My brother and sister in law also got a similar amount for them and her sister and Mom. 

They should be set for potato's through the new year. My favorite was coming right home and making some home made french fries! They were so yummy!

Slow Sunday....

Sunday. I'll be resting in my recliner today I think. I might drop Emily off to a birthday party.... or I might have hubby drop her. Depends on how the toast for breakfast sits. I seem to have some sort of stomach bug... which better be gone before I travel next weekend.

I'll prep some more tumblers on the left to their tumbler size and then mark them all for hand stitching.

 These will make up the last 2 rows for the tumbler quilt. The first 8 rows are hand sewn together. The rest are hand sewn in sets of 2. I'm wishing now I had made it more green and less cream.. but that is how things work out sometimes!

I love the advise/recommendation of fellow bloggers. I just need more practice adding those tea towels to the edge to make it fit in the hoop on the edge! I seem to have missed the top of the quilt... I will be working on this heart in the corner today and hopefully a few other blocks along the edge, since those are the ones left for quilting. Linking up with Slow Sunday Stitching and Oh Scrap.

This was my entertainment this morning - Ollie and Peanut were playing on the floor by my recliner. The kids were building with lincoln logs on Friday night and Saturday morning - we did have an Ollie and Peanut tornado demolish the buildings - it was rather amusing watching them jump when they crashed!

Aidan went with us to Emily's group horse lesson on Friday. He was out petting the horses in the fields while she rode. These two were following him along the fence until he stopped and rubbed their noses. I nixed his flip flops so he found Dad's boots to wear around the barn. Hard to believe at age 10 his feet are just one size smaller than his dad and are bigger than mine already!

Saturday....

I had to uncover the table from the kids attempting to make some projects earlier this week. Once I dug it out....and put things away it was time to help Emily make a pillow case for a birthday present tomorrow. Favorite colors were purple, white, black and teal. We went with what we had on hand and Emily made this for her friend Teagan. I did the cutting and helped with lining up one set of the pins. She did the rest!

I cut a few more green 5 inch squares out so I have enough to finish the last 2 rows of the green and cream tumbler quilt. I just need to trim them to the tumbler size and then draw the hand stitching lines on the back. It will probably be a travel project next weekend. 

I was thinking of sewing with some blue after dinner.... but I'm tuckered out and ready for some relaxing and maybe some hand stitching. I hope to get some blue sewing in tomorrow.

Dinner was yummy - Sheet pan lemon parmesan garlic chicken and veggies! 

Sometimes you just need to let something go.....

I started a crochet mystery back in 2015. I learned a few tricks and got a little better with some crochet stitches. It was my first try at a granny square and it was pretty easy and mine actually turned out well! I did not like the size (too small) or where the project was going so stopped at step 4. And there it sits with a couple blocks at step 5 which was adding that cream middle part.

I could take apart the steps I don't like and do something with them, since it is based on a granny square.... or..... I could dump them into the waste basket and call it done. I think I will do that.... they are now in the trash and I have the remaining yarn to do something with. I feel better already!

I am debating on creating a continuous granny square in the colors of yarn I have - light blue, dark blue, grey and cream  - which I think will make a throw in colors I enjoy. I was looking at other patterns last night... this circular sunburst granny square caught my eye as well. Decisions, decisions. I could do knitting and do that ripple stitch pattern you taught me Mom. I still have your index card with the hand written pattern hanging around in my knitting bag. I have time to figure it out.... as this will be a travel project in a few weeks.

I had started a center part in cream a few months ago.... I think I'll pull it out and play with a different size crochet hook in a different color.  We will see where this one ends up......

Monday....

 Don't ask me where the weekend went!

Saturday the boy needed some boy/Mom time... so after a trip to Aldi's to stock the crispers with fruits and veggies it was time for lunch. He was hungry so decided on Southern Pig and Cattle... which Dad and Emily had selected for their date. We decided to go together. Then we split up and Aidan and I went looking for desks for his room (that needs cleaning and a place to put it first!). He was searching for things to do on my phone and found a marion county museum of history and archaeology. We got there about 45 minutes before they closed and he had so much fun looking around. The 2 people working there came and asked if he had seen a few things... and pointed them out and was sharing the history. Aidan loved it and they gave him a few books to take home! He pointed out all the sewing type things to me!

They let me touch the quilt - big baptist fan quilting with a thin batting. He mentioned there are more quilts in storage! We need to go back!

We went to the main library after since it was across the street. He got a bunch of books then wanted to find the geocache. All our libraries have one that they change yearly. After a bunch of searching, and a little help from our librarian we finally found it. 

A stop at a chocolate shop with a coupon in the kids school coupon book and then it was home to cook up some fajitas for dinner (that was planned for Friday but I didn't have time to cook up before horses and I put the men in charge of dinner - yes, they ordered pizza).

Sunday.... once the kids finally left for Grandma's after 10AM... I read a little on the internet then took a shower and logged into work for the day....until the thunderstorm dropped my connection around 4:30. 

I did manage to finish sewing row 13+14 together after work Sunday. I think I have lots of cream and not much variety of greens left for the last two rows. I'll have to pull the greens out and make some more tumblers to finish this one off.

Slow Sunday..... on a holiday weekend.

We are celebrating Labor Day here in the USA. That means Monday is a holiday!

Today.. the kids finally just left for Grandma's house around 10AM. I get a couple of hours of peace and quiet with no one in the house! I think I will pop out and attempt to reclaim a little bit of the garden area this morning before the feels like is over 100 degrees. I have ignored it since April when it got hot. Yup - I excel at growing weeds and grass! Time to tame it and attempt a fall crop of cooler weather things.... or you know, what I used to grow up in Vermont in the summer!

Saturday was spent tackling the front yard in the morning. I finished weeding some beds that I started a few weeks ago and got out the hedge trimmer and let Aidan play with it. All the front shrubs got a buzz cut and it looks much better now. I just need to go get some flowers to put into the front beds for the fall and winter months...  probably tomorrow with the kids. After 3 hours in the heat working..... I was pretty much done for. I did also hit a grocery store, played a family game of Pictionary and then made some Korean Chicken wings -recipe from America's Test Kitchen. I did a double batch... so over an hour working in the dutch oven deep fryer for all the chicken wings and legs in batches. Boy were they yummy and crunchy! I opted out of the drive in last night like I was thinking.... I was tired. I'll try tonight with the kids and will go see Hotel Transylvania 3. They saw it in the theater with Grandma.... the other option on the other screen is Christopher Robin.. which they also saw with Grandma.  A late night for them as it doesn't start until 8:20 when it gets dark. Good thing they can sleep in tomorrow.

I got a heart hand quilted this morning while sitting in my recliner. 30 blocks of 63 done. I got the blue one done on the left and moved it to the sunny yellow one for this afternoon. I noticed a heart that needs a little 'fixing' as the applique thread must have been cut somehow.  I'll also need to figure out how to do the blocks around the edge.... any ideas? I might just go hoopless on those....?

I also did a pink one in the car line waiting on the kids at school this week. I push the driver seat way back so I can quilt!

Linking up with the other Slow Sunday Stitchers today. Time to throw on some clothes and head out into the heat. Hopefully the bear that had a feast on our garbage last night is long gone... he found the wing tips we cut off for his midnight snack followed up by some girl scout cookies that had gone stale and were in the trash.