2022 in Review

 

Here are my finishes and some of the projects I worked on in 2022.  So many things not pictured though, that are in process.  Had to include my two babies as well.  So proud of what they have accomplished in 2022 and continue working on for 2023!

Ringing in the New Year with a nice, quiet, day at home with the love of my life!  We will hit 28 years married later this year.  And of course, I will squeeze in some sewing as well!

Best Wishes to all  in 2023!

Where has summer gone?

 I saw this on a blog the other day (withstringsattached.blogspot.com)

 and asked if I could share.  

It was posted at the ALA conference.  Its a great quote!  I have moved away from my days as a librarian, for now, but libraries are still my most favorite places!

I feel like my summer is just getting started as most people are making plans to return to school, as early as one and a half weeks from now...

I feel very blessed to not be looking at returning this year.  

My family has all suffered through Covid, my poor daughter had it twice since March.  We are all pretty much healthy now with some lingering coughs that seem to, maybe, be dwindling... finally.  Prayers to any one who is experiencing it.  It was not fun and lasted much longer than the regular flu would, though that is pretty much how all of us felt, like a really bad flue with a great deal more tiredness.  

I have finally felt good enough to return to church and that includes providing the arranging of the altar flowers every week.  Such lovely, bright colors made me want to share...

These lovelies were at the zoo, this past weekend, where my husband and I spent our 27th anniversary.  It is one of our most favorite places and an incredible zoo for our small city.  

There is a new baby orangutan which if you look very closely at the next picture, you can glimpse, attached to mom's right side...

Our zoo is currently under a lot of construction.  Seems like it will be double the size when they are done and we already have an incredible zoo, so it is exciting!  

I have done some sewing.  My UFOs are about to take over the house.  Pulled this one out instead of organizing the sewing room a couple of days ago.  All cut and ready to go but I made no notes about what I meant to do with it so I made it up as I went along.  

It is now this...

and the back is done as well.  

So, as soon as I get some quilting time, it will battle with the others in line for some attention.  It will be a great little baby quilt when I get it done.  

Unfortunately, there was no noticeable dent made in the UFO mess.  

Today, I made a beach bag out of some outdoor fabric I have had for a few years and a pineapple embroidery design from Urban Threads.  Pictured here is the front side before I sewed it together.  I am happy with it but will be trying a different pattern for the flamingo fabric I have waiting.  

My husband and I will be going on a long, beach vacation in the near future- kinda like a 3rd honeymoon/looking for a retirement beach to dream of...So, we will need these big bags!

The first honeymoon was Disney World- 27 years ago.  Second was Hawaii- 14 years ago.  This year will be Florida again, hitting many beaches, Harry Potter World (yes, we will do 2 of the Universal Studios parks but HP is why we are going there at all), and the oldest city in the US!  

Now that the kids are back in the nest, we have built in house/pet sitters!  

I visited a friend a few days ago who pulled out her mom's old sewing machine.  She said it was from the 50's or 60's so when she revealed this 1910 patented machine, I just about fell out of my chair.  Once I gushed about it, she wouldn't let me bring it home with me.  Guess I should have played it cool...

The paint was almost immaculate and the cord was in pristine shape.  I hope I get to sew on it one day...She was gonna take it for service.  

I have been doing a lot of sewing but nothing much more to show yet.  I have also been trying to do some cleaning and organizing but not much progress made there either.  So, I will leave you with the picture of the happily married couple at the zoo- in front of the flamingos that did not photograph well.  We wore our 25th anniversary shirts.  Across our backs it says "together since 1995".  

I love this man more every day and realize I would never have made it through raising kids and putting up with work for all these years without him!  I hope you are all as blessed to have a best friend you can count on for any and everything!  

Long Weekend progress

Still no finished projects to show but my fifteen minutes to stitch is adding up.

I have one quilt loaded onto the machine in hopes of being quilted tomorrow, 3 more waiting in line, one upstairs that just needs a backing put together and many more that are just blocks or rows to be sewn together.

This turquoise scrap quilt, started years ago, will maybe see a finish sometime soon.  Half of the blocks are ready, another half are ready to sew into the half square triangles.

I have spent the last few hours working on a quilt with my Gone with the Wind fabric from years ago.

Here are some of the blocks in their beginning stages.  I am embroidering quotes from the movie to use as well.  I am kinda making it up as I go along since the blocks are not all the same size.  It may end up being a basic row-by-row quilt.  It is making me want to watch the movie again.  It has always been one of my favorites but it has been many years since I watched it.

On another front, my daughter just had her Junior Year Recital on Friday night.  She is studying Opera Voice Performance.  She did an amazing job!  So proud of all her hard work!  Love to hear her sing!

Already disappointed with how fast the three day weekend is going.  Still have way too much to do to pack it into one day tomorrow.  The fairies must be busy too because they have not cleaned my house yet...

Family Tea Time

So, one of the gifts I bought my family at Christmas was a Mary Poppins themed tea at the local Tea House, St. James Tea Room.  We went yesterday as part of our last hurrah before the kids start back to University tomorrow. 

We had a lot of fun!  My daughter studies Opera Voice Performance but she has always loved musicals as well and Mary Poppins is one of her dream characters.  

I thought the men looked cute with the chimney sweep tools!

And here Lilly is seeing how she measures up...

Here are my men with their matching cars.  The boy got the hand me down after his accident and is happy to be looking at lower gas costs.   My husband bought himself an identical one.  We now own three Priuses...Prii?  We do love them. 

I finally found a good shawl pin for my crochet garments.  It is actually big enough to work.  I am currently a little obsessed with bees so...

Here I am, resting up with a favorite quilt after all the family fun.  After a short nap, we jumped up and headed off to FlixBrewhouse to see Aquaman.  It was about as good as expected but we had fun.  Jason Momoa...enough said.  

Today I slept in and it is snowing so the running is not going to happen, though if I was a die hard, it would.  That means I should go to the gym instead since my husband headed off to climb.  However, the sewing room is definitely calling my name...