Pin cushion

I made a pin cushion! It's so stinkin' cute. I am not a great photographer but hopefully you get the idea. I am going to use this as one of my Pay It Forward gifts. I had a bit of a hard time with it because I am not used to curve piecing but obviously I got it done. :)

Today is our last day with only one kid. Seth and I haven't done anything supper exciting. We went to the park yesterday and he wanted Hannah. He asks for the kids from time to time. It's pretty adorable how much he loves his older siblings.

Hannah and Simon are having a great time with their grandparents. They spent two days hanging out on the beach and learning how to use a boogie board. Somehow they convinced Gramma they needed hermit crabs! For only once in my life and I hoping that TSA decides something can't be brought on a plane. I truly can see the kids dropping their little cages and spilling the contents all over the inside of the plane! AH!

They also got to spend yesterday at Disney World and they'll be there again today. I haven't gotten a chance to talk to them so I am not sure how their day went yesterday. I assume since the didn't call that they were having way to much fun.

Seth and I will go get them tomorrow. Since I am not anticipating any more hostage situations I think the pick up should be rather smooth, as long as the flight is on time.

Three and a half hours

Ok, so today was supposed to be all about my kids and their big solo flight to see grandma and grandpa in Florida but that turned out to be the mellow uneventful part of my day. You see, after I left the airport, proud to have not shed any tears mind you, I got stuck on a bridge. For 3:30 hours. Why, because of a hostage situation! I shit you not, a hostage situation. Some guy had a woman and a kid in an SUV and after being chased by the NJ cops he finally stopped on the Walt Whitman bridge, halting both directions of traffic. It honestly took me a few minutes to realize something was going on. At first I assumed traffic was just heavy on the bridge and then I realized there were no cars at all on the other side..... and then there were police officers walking on the bridge! Holy crap! I called Dan immediately to find out wtf was going on!!!! Helicopters were circling over head, Homeland security even showed up! As Tiff put it, it's like something out of a movie. Except in movies, they don't have the reality of needing to pee and being hungry!

Nothing but cars in front of me.

And nothing but cars behind me.

The white SUV is what's causing all this mess. I hope he likes jail.

Nosy people and many, many policeman.

After a long, long, long time it was over. The mom and kid were safe and the man was arrested, The best part was we all got to go home! Ok, first I had to hit a Service Center off the Turn Pike and grab a bite to eat and pee.

Unbelievable.

How often does one get to say, "Sorry, I was late, I got held up by a hostage situation."

Well, my wonderful kids made it safe and sound to Florida before I even left the bridge. They were calling me to see if I was ok. :) Here are a couple pictures from the airport.

Waiting for the plane to arrive.

Off they go!

Break time

Well, it's Spring Break this week and I haven't had to much of a break yet. I shouldn't complain, I have been able to sleep in a bit more. Thank you all for the compliments on my purse. I am going to use the No Diamonds in the Sky quilt pattern. (The quilt on the web site isn't all that pretty, sorry.)

So far we've had play dates with friends, a long walk with my mom, and packing to fill up our week. On Monday Hannah and Simon went over the their little friends house for a few hours and the next day after we went to the park in the morning their friends came to our house. While we were at the park some of the grounds keepers were working on a small drainage pipe and boy did that get Seth attention. They had a small tractor so Seth sat down and watched them work. When they shut off the tractor he said, "More." Heck, I even got out the snacks we sat there so long. Why is it that boys are fascinated with tractors?


Any hoo, today mom came over with Paul and after a quick bite to eat we went to explore the Monmouth Battlefield Park. It was so much fun. The kids got to run a muck. We headed for the homestead house and were rather disappointed when we got up close. The windows are all boarded up and the house is in disrepair. Such is life. It was a good walk though especially coming back up that big hill carrying Seth.





This evening has been spent packing up the big kids. They are leaving on an airplane to go meet up with Grandma Stella. They are going to Disney World! I was nervous at first but I am ok now. I am sure tomorrow as I sit there in the airport waiting for their flight to take off, without me, that I will get nervous. I know they will be in good hands once they get to Florida. They will have a fantastic time too. I am not sure how much of a break I'll get while they are gone. Without Sissy here, who will get up early with Seth?

Purse and more fabric

Do you remember when I bought some fabric to make a purse with? Yeah, it was almost a year ago. I finally broke out the cool fabrics and set to work. The pattern wasn't hard to follow. I had to re-read things a few times to make sure I was doing it right but I got it. I started working on it on Thursday and mostly finished it yesterday. I still need to hand stitch the opening closed. Oh, I didn't make the little scarf thing. I don't wear scarves at all so why make one.


Today I got to hang out with my mommy. We went to Starbucks first because what outing is complete without a Chai? Then we went to two different gardening stores for her sake. I felt like I was back in a Tack and Feed Shop in Colorado in one of them. Kinda nice actually. The other one was very nice too. The best part is how close they are to the quilt store! Of course, that was our next stop.

I think I spent about an hour pulling different bolts down, laying them out, tossing half of them aside, and then hunting for more that matched. My mom was very patient and helped a lot. Mostly, she didn't rush me even though I was befuddled and confused. I hate to be picky but the fabrics have to work together whether their for me or for someone else.

What cha think?

Once I was finally done at the quilt store we had a nice lunch close by.

It was a wonderful way to spend part of my day.

Time for a change

I hung up a different quilt in my dining room this week. I felt like I needed to change it to something more spring like. And what could be more spring like than a quilt with butterflies on it? This is an old quilt. I guess you could call it an antique. I never had it appraised or tried to get it dated. I bought it at an antique store while my mom and I were in Kansas for my great uncles funeral. The quilt is machine pieced and hand quilted. It's worn, ripped, and stained. I hope some one loved this quilt a lot. I always hope when I give someone a quilt that they use it and love it. I understand that a quilt can't last forever if it is used daily but then it gets no love just admiration.


Anyway, this quilt won't be up for to long. For one it clashes with the green on the walls and for another pink isn't one of my favorite colors. I just like it though. It makes me smile.

I am hoping this weekend to get a trip to the quilt store. I have to get some fabric. No, really. I don't just want some I need some. How else will I make a king size. Here is my inspiration to begin the search for fabric in the burgundy and forest green family... I hope she likes it...


Since dinner is almost done I better go. To leave on a good note I give you an adorable little boy.

Top done

I got another top pieced. Ah, the satisfaction of another quilt being completed. I still need to get the backing pieced though. That always feels like a chore. Tops are much more satisfying. I really don't think I should be called a quilter though. Maybe a piecer or a binder but I don't actually do much "quilting". I like hand quilting but it takes lots of time and I am impatient. I should do some hand quilting sometime soon.

My next project will be the pay it forward ones. I am not sure what I want to make. I could make table runners, wall hangings, or even cooking aprons. I am at a loss and waiting for inspiration to happen. Once I complete those I want to get crackin' on a long over due wedding quilt for one of my aunts. I am also hoping to get a lap size kid quilt done for a wonderful new blogger who participates in making blankets for Project Linus. How could you go wrong making quilts for sick kids in hospitals!?

All last week

Oops, it's been almost a week since I last posted. Sorry 'bout that. Sometimes life gets in the way of blogging.

Let's see, what have we been up too.

Monday was a normal crazy day. Gymboree and Art for Seth. Tae Kwon Do and Gymnastics for Hannah. My brother went back to the city by himself. He was probably able to see a lot more doing it alone than with me in tow. He loved the city. What's not to love if your young in NY?

Tuesday we had our Meet and Greet for the MOMS Club. After school we picked up the Girl Scout Cookies. Hannah didn't sell too much this year. It still has to get sorted and distributed though. It is one of the few fund raisers that I like helping with. Who can resist adorable little girls with yummy cookies anyway? We ended the day dinner with at my moms for my birthday. Which btw was very yummy. I got a few books, one a quilt book (one can never have too many) and the other is the sequel to Pillars of the Earth (which I really enjoyed), and a CD of my brothers.

Weds we took Karl out to the beach. It was cool and windy but it's still great to see the ocean.

Oh how I'd love to live by the water. What is it about water that is so soothing a calming? We ate lunch at a little coffee shop and then browsed in an antique store. Fun, fun, fun.

(I have to take a moment to rant about activities. You know those after school events that kids always want to do. So, Hannah told me she wants to do chorus but it is after school on Weds and she already has girl scouts every other week on Weds and Simon has TKD too. I said, "No way." Well, it turns out that all the girls in GS want to do chorus so the troop leader proposed pushing back the start of GS from 3:30 to 4 for the girls and she'll take them from the school to the meeting place. Great. But Simon gets out of TKD at 5. I can't be two places at once no matter how hard I try. So now, Simon will go to TKD on Thursday instead of Weds! AHHH!!) Ok, back to your regularly scheduled programming...

Where was I? Weds, that's right. Once we got Hannah from GS we decided to go out to dinner so I didn't have to cook. Sounds great to me! Oh, I can't forget to share what I got for my bday. I got a small tv with a dvd player in it for my office. Hurray for me! Now I can watch movies and work on projects at the same time. Sweet!

Thurs I went to get our taxes done. I hate taxes. There is always something I forgot or something that needs tweaking. They already take so much of what we make. Ah. Tax time sucks. Lastly, don't forget TKD is on Thursdays now.

Friday, I didn't have a lot I had to do so I did 6 loads of laundry. I should have cleaned the bathrooms too but hey, I was already doing a ton of laundry anyway, right? It's nice to have a down day. We still delivered GS cookies and I made dinner but I didn't have events or activities. I did put my new tv to use last night and watched Lady in the Water while working on this project.

Well, I think that sums up my week. Karl went home yesterday and it was wonderful to have my little brother here for a week.

New York, New York

I have seen this bridge in movies. Haven't you?

We are probably the craziest people alive but we drove into the city today to meet up with my mom and brothers. My brother flew in from Denver yesterday for my birthday, hurray! The drive wasn't bad actually. We went in early enough that most people are either asleep or at church. Leaving was a bit more chaotic since the traffic was heavier but I managed to not get mangled by any taxi drivers or take out any pedestrians. Although it was close a few times. :)

We started at the Natural History Museum. It is huge! We didn't go see all the exhibits or any of the Imax shows either. When we were buying our tickets the gentleman told us the suggested entrance price was 55.50. I said, "Suggested? Does that mean the price is negotiable? I'd like it to be $50 please." He smiled and swiped Dan's credit card. Dan checked his receipt while we were sitting at lunch and we had only been charged $50 after all. If I had known my little comment would have been taken seriously I would have suggested a much lower number!

After we'd all had enough of wandering the museum we headed across the street to Central Park. You know, THE Central Park. There was a playground right there when we walked in. Too perfect. I am such a tourist when it comes to the city seeing as I've only had a chance to explore there once before. It's kind of overwhelming but so cool at the same time. Dan commented that he could live in New York. I don't know if I could handle the stress. I am more laid back than New Yorkers.

Anyway, we had a good time. We left a bit early so Seth wouldn't melt down. Hopefully mom had fun walking around with Karl and Paul after we left. Here a some pictures. Most of the ones inside the museum didn't come out all that well. Low lighting and a bright direct flash don't go well together.

Seth and I in the dinosaur area.

And one more because I liked it.