Tuesday at home

reports of snow in the PNW (Pacific Northwest) here in our corner of Portland Oregon have been interesting to track-it snowed yesterday-after I arrived at work and before I left at the end of my day. Fun to watch from the window at work-but-no big deal to me. I told my boss I was taking work home, in case today was too nasty to drive in-not that I can't drive in snow-it's all those other drivers that *think* they can that bother me. In truth, I can work much faster and easier at home at this stage I am currently in - no need for the work environment-the hustle and bustle, the non-stop chatting, phones ringing, and someone being loud about something. They are a large group of women I work with-many "youngsters" the loud vocal type that have no patience with customers and not finding what they want instantly-and boy can they express some nasty things.
I am good at turning a deaf ear to it all and just keeping my nose buried in my paperwork. It's such a blessing to be working at home today-the quiet is so delightful. I put Zoe's bed in here with me and she is great company. I have my own music playing and wearing warm play clothes is comfy! I made an early start too-without the time wasted in driving to work, you feel you can see much greater progress. And, I can make a second pot of coffee whenever I want.
Yes, it's a real treat to be home working today. I will take time out later in the afternoon for a scheduled downtown appointment. The roads are fine and it should be a snap to drive. I want to go into the office tomorrow and make the most of the computer time I will need by then. Thursday it is sounding like we will be hit hard with freezing ice and such-but who knows?

On the quilting front: my nephew was thrilled with his quilt and now all quilts he sees, he says Aunt Cher made that! LOL...too cute. I am in the middle of making Christmas socks for my granddaughter, my son (an extra one as he is away from home) and one for his girlfriend. I need trim that I don't have-otherwise they are sewn and ready to give. I still need to finish cutting for my scrap project, plus have a few other quilts clamoring to be made. Isn't that how it always is? the next few quilts are always waiting their turn...never a dull quilty moment here!

If I can squeeze time into my day, I hope to pick up that trim - once they are done, I promise photos. In the meanwhile, I am slowly catching up on blog reading during my breaks :-), another bonus of working at home-my own computer and unlimited access to the internet.

Anthony's Quilt

I finished the binding tonight and wanted to share this finish before it's mailed off to Georgia.
It was a panel I bought and had set aside. Later I came across the go with fabric I used for the border and backing. Oops! none for binding-until I came across the blue with dots that I felt worked quite nicely. I am happy to be home, but I have to admit I sure miss my time with Anthony-he is a very engaging little boy!
That is my sister (his grandma) sitting with him...he was so busy this was the only time I really got him not moving enough to snap a photo. He has the most wonderful dimples, did you notice? and the twinkle in his eyes goes with his usual grin.

49er wall hanging delivered

I thought I would share at least one photo of my brother with his wall hanging-his expression alone will tell you what he thought.
As there is a previous post with the full wall hanging displayed-this seems a better photo for showing his feelings. His son got quite a kick out of it as well-and so did his wife. I was happy that he was happy-you know? We went upstairs and it fits perfectly on the wall that is empty. How they hang it up will be their challenge-though I showed them the sleeve and made some suggestions. Did I mention how much fun we had with my brother and his family? They are the best fun.
I have dived into another new project-my intention coming home is to sew my way to a neater sewing room. It's very bad in here-and the only way to really clean it up is to stitch up the piles of fabrics - I really am out of other storage space. I had such a pile of donated fabrics I had saved that all went together-and with LindaJ's help, I came up with a pattern to show them off. I have no idea how large I am going to make it -but I cut all the fabric up! What was too small for what I wanted was cut into other size strips for the strip bins and the strings are going in the string bin. It took hours to cut all those strips and now I have to subcut the squares from those strips. I cut and stitched one block to be sure the triangles were the right size-and was happy to see they worked perfectly.
I am hand stitching down Anthony's quilt in the evenings too. So far, two corners worth are done. Once that quilt is done, I will post a photo of it plus him. I already stitched the label on it.
Folded into this stack of fabric I found a top! I may enlarge it and I may not...it's going to be tackled another time, and I am not so sure how happy I was to find it either :-) It will add to the charity quilt stack once I do finish it up.
I keep reading about the issues with Beta blogger...so I continue to hold off switching-I have enough current issues with my computer as it is. Time to take it in and have it tweaked I think.
I did go around stash ring and read all the posts I missed over the last week plus-so feeling caught up with at least those blogs. I noticed I clicked to one blog, but, they no longer had the stash logo on their site...I had to backtrack on that one to continue on with the ring. Everyone was fun to read. I suppose with the holidays looming things may slow down-that shouldn't be the case with me however. Work is more likely to be the culprit - a deadline is looming and my vacation time did not help.

home on Saturday

I will be home on Saturday and probably post a few photos from being on vacation. We got lucky and my great nephew came to stay with my sister, his grandma while we were visiting-so I have some photos of him now and ....his quilt will be finished up and mailed to grandma for him before the weekend is done. Gosh, I came so close to bringing it with me too. He is 2 1/2 - not really a baby, but a delightful little guy. We have hit it off (ok, as my sweetie would comment, never have met a baby/toddler/child that doesn't melt my heart) and are best buds. I have done a little fabric shopping but nothing too wild. Tomorrow might prove differently, as we will visit my favorite shop-.
A play tonight, shopping tomorrow, game night with friends that evening, and flying home on Saturday-it's been a fast week. I have read two books and we are about a third through a thousand piece jigsaw puzzle. I have to say, having a 2 1/2 helper has slowed us down a bit LOL.
I have not had any time really for blog reading-hope to squeeze a bit in tomorrow morning-for now, it's back to "work" on the puzzle etc.

leaving on a jet plane

I don't know about you-but I tend to race around trying to cram in all sorts of last minute chores to have done before leaving home. In this case, we are both leaving-with a stay at our house dog sitter coming to care for Zoe. Which means, leaving the house looking tidy-not so much lived in looking! Clean sheets on the bed, laundry caught up, you know...those chores you fit in on your day offs...or as we have done today, up early and jumping on these chores. I finally untangled, sorted and put all my jewlery away-one less heap sitting on the dresser...those sorts of small chores that you get around to doing...whenever. Zoe knows something is afoot...just not sure what yet. The gal coming is a long time friend-so we know Zoe will be well cared for and spoiled rotten.
She was given her bath an hour ago...oh, nice clean smelling doggy! I decided to load up a few cds for my ipod...though I have decided not to take it..and found a library cd in the computer! oops! I returned its case the other day- clearly now, empty. M will run that over in about an hour when they open. I still need to run to the bank for cash and pick up a few small items. We are packed and organized however. We are being picked up in plenty of time to arrive at the airport and get on board. I already have our boarding passes printed.
As Pam mentioned- we are visiting Georgia where my sister and her family and my brother and his live. On Monday we are taking a road trip over to see LindaJ and another friend Joy-hit a tea room for lunch and a quilt shop for some shopping. It gives all of us a chance to visit and enjoy each other's company-introducing my sweetie to my friends whom I met through an online quilting list and flew out years ago to quilt with. You really have to have an open mind when you meet online friends in person. Most of the time, I have been pretty lucky in enjoying a lasting (to this current time) relationship-a few times we didn't really click-which happens.
My sister has scouted a few new quilt shops for us to perhaps explore...just depends on our mood. I decided to not bring my knitting nor any hand sewing. Instead, I have brought a few books to read and plan on just hanging out. My sister has a partial jigsaw puzzle waiting for my help in finishing-and another few for us to do. We mostly will sit around and visit. She has a lab, so we will have doggie company to enjoy as well. I am taking my ditigal camera and hope to take lots of photos. I know the week will fly by...but it is always worth it to be with family!
I may check in...I may not. I know how much fun we are going to have...but I always seem to find time for being on the computer...it's that morning coffee habit I have :-)
see you around the blog.....

challenge quilt revealed

here it is...one of three turned in..I will try posting the other two photos next time..blogger seems to be iffy on photos tonight.

Had a great time and ready to switch gears and do other things next. My quilting is not the best on this..but I will just keep free motion quilt practicing until it improves!

The butterfly fabric was the challenge fabric...by the way.

first Halloween

Here is Alice Wonderful as a frog for her first Halloween-she stayed home and helped hand out candy-her mom said she could grab all the yellow colored ones from the bowl-apparently she has a fondness for yellow! She is four months old now and almost 13 pounds. She is a sweet wonderful baby!
I unearthed her daddy's first quilt I made and gave it to them for her-it was a big hit but I forgot to take a photo of it! Next week ....I babysit on Wednesday nights and left work early to get in play time-she is now going to bed an hour earlier. There is something so heart melting about having a baby fall asleep in your arms..and she does that for me every time. Of course I hold her for as long as possible ....too bad her parents came home early and I had to put her in her crib. As she was out for the night-I went on home, after a short visit with my son and dil.