Last minute details

Road trip tomorrow for a week so don't worry if you don't hear from me. I will be taking my daughter half way back to school, leaving her with my parents so she can finish the rest of the trip with her tennis doubles partner in a week or so.

I'm looking forward to visiting with my parents and my brother's family is coming out from So. Cal too so this will be a nice family reunion. We haven't all been together in years, I'm thinking the last time was when my brother got married like 7 or 8 years ago. It will be nice to update the family portrait!

We will also be celebrating my parents 45th wedding anniversary. Wow, that is a long time to be married to someone, even if they are really nice and wonderful :)

So today is panic mode, trying to get everything done before leaving for a trip. Loads and loads of laundry have been done already and there are so many more to do still before I have clean clothes to take on the trip. I could probably take dirty clothes and wash them at my mom's house :) But that would make the car stink :(

This first picture is from the quilt I did yesterday. I took the sunburst pattern I have been doing and turned it into a flower. Simple and pretty and easy to repeat. Definately a keeper.

Plus, I have quilts to finish. I got three done so far today and it is only 10am. I've loaded another long backing piece and hope to get it all quilted today, inbetween washing and folding laundry and getting the kitchen clean (so that it can get dirty again while I am gone--hubby and daughter #2 are staying home--he has to work and she has tennis stuff) and packing and watering the garden and lawn.

I'm trying new quilting ideas. This one came from this book.

I liked the heart shaped look and it was easy to do. When I am quilting a new design, I just repeat the steps to myself. On this one I said, big bump, little bump all the way across the quilt and then back again until the quilt was done. This book is really great because you can trace the patterns onto paper and make your own pantographs. They come in all sizes from 3 inches up to 7 inches. If you have one of the bigger ones you like, you can just decrease it on a copy machine and if you like the smaller one and want to make it bigger, just increase it. Since I don't do pantographs, I just freehanded this one and it turned out pretty good for a first try.

Here is another from the book. It is butterflies. Again, not every butterfly is perfect, but they all look like butterflies so I am happy. I talked to myself again, starting at the top of the butterfly, loop, down, bottom wing, top wing, top wing, bottom wing, up, loop and onto the next butterfly. It was easier to make the butterflies going from left to right on the quilt because I could see what I had already done, but I see potential for these with some flowers and leaves in the future.

Finally, this quilt just asked for simple meander. The quilt is so pretty that I didn't want the quilting to distract from the colors and pattern of the quilt. Since I can only do about 5-6 inches of quilting and the blocks are 10 inches tall, I can't do a whole block pattern in each block, so meander with a neutral thread did the trick.

Well, off this computer and better get to work. The dishes are calling to me next.

I hope to have many stories to share the next time I have access to a computer. My daughter may share her laptop, or I may be having too much fun to care :)

Isa 40:31: but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.