Tis the Season...to take Family Pictures

It's nice to have everybody home...lots of picture moments!

Our House for the Holidays

A lot of activity for the holidays at our house...
Mike and I are having our 32 wedding anniversary. "Didn't know you guys got married on Thanksgiving?" I will not reveal the speaker(s) of that quote in order to protect the future of the speakers.
We also had one less loved one in attendance.

Abbie decided to stay in Pittsburgh to attend the big game(Pitt won the backyard brawl!) on Friday; we missed her very much. She had turkey at a good friend's house. Thanks Jessie's family.


Katie and Billy are home.


The 99th Diamond Run on Thanksgiving Day.



We saw lots of old friends.



Some of us did a little early celebrating...


Thanksgiving dinner at Grandma's and enjoying the time catching up on family.

Friday - hunting for the 2008 Christmas tree.






It's a "tall and skinny" year! Yes! My year!

University of Pittsburgh Homecoming

We spent last weekend in Pittburgh for homecoming. It was great to see Abbie, she is so happy in Pittsburgh!
We spent all day Friday shopping for things that Abbie needed. It was fun to hear stories about her life at Pittsburgh. We ate at Piamonti's and The Spaghetti Warehouse. Went to the best shoe store in Pittsburgh. If you get the chance, it is worth a visit. It is called Little's Shoes.
Then, Saturday was the game. Everybody was tailgating and psyched for the game. It was a disappointment when they lost.
Mike and I saved the day by eating at Jerome Bettis Grill36. The food was really good, well worth the long wait.

We stayed at the Hilton and the views of the city were amazing. The lights at night were even better.

Mike, Abbie and me before the game. It was very windy and cold.

Abbie and some her friends.

Had to get a picture of the Pitt Panther!

The Ultimate Pittsburgh fan!!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Okay, okay!  I know it's been almost 2 months since the last post.  Soooo sorry!  I've been painting, knitting, quilting, falling, applying, teaching, etc.  So much has been going on in the last 2 months, I don't know where to start.  Well... painting. In August,  after 5 months of frustration with our builder, it was finally time for me to paint!  I painted the sun room....  

I painted the family room.... 

I fell off the scaffolding....  I kept painting...

They are still not finished with the family room.  SEVEN months later....they are STILL not finished with the family room.  

Do you hear my frustration!?!  

I went to Women of Faith in Philadelphia with my sister Debbie so I could think better thoughts about my contractors.  I'm praying for them AND Tim and I to see this through!

In the meantime...knitting.   I have been knitting lace shawls.  

Can't get enough of lace.  Brenda and I will be at the New Hope Arts festival this weekend where I hope to sell a few of my shawls.  I am so looking forward to spending two days with Brenda.  So much to catch up on.  

Quilting...I started teaching the Village Quilt at Country Quiltworks.  The women are wonderful!  We are having a great time working on this fabulous quilt by Janet Miller.  We have met 2 times and have 4 more classes to finish these works of art.  Everyone is excited to see their finished product and are working diligently to stay on schedule.  Notice how everyone is working so hard....

Applying...next week may end my time off from work.  I interview for subbing and knowing how much subs are needed, I don't doubt that I will be called and called often.  I'm both excited and nervous about going back to the classroom and.. a bit depressed to be loosing my knitting and quilting time.  

Finally, spending time with the best grandson ever!! 

Unfortunately, due to my fall not as much time as I would have liked in the last 2 months.  Tim and I did get a chance last weekend to spend a couple nights with Taylor, Kristie and Logan.  We went to the Bloomsburg Fair and had all our favorite foods.  My dad and sister Laura made a surprise visit on Saturday so we could all go to the Fair together.  It was great fun and Logan was adorable. We left Sunday and went straight to Millersville to hear Rachael play oboe in the honor recital.  She was wonderful and Tim and I were so proud.  

Until next time....

The 'Perfect' Family Vacation

When Tim said 'let's go to the beach for a week with all the kids,' I thought he had lost his mind! However, I must admit it was one of the best vacations we have had in a long time.  Taylor, Kristie and Logan came for the first part of the week and then had to go home to close on their new home.  Logan LOVED the beach and Nana and Pop Pop loved having him there.

Rachael and her boyfriend Eric were there for the whole week and had a great time playing with Logan.  Kristie and Taylor enjoyed some 'alone' time getting a bit of a belated honeymooning in while we watched Logan.  

We ate at all of our favorite restaurants in OC MD.

              

Ate lots and lots of blue crab! (I wish I had moved that blasted paper towel holder!)

 

After Logan, Kristie, and Taylor left, Tim, Rachael and Eric spent a lot of time in the ocean while I sat under my umbrella and knit, and knit, and knit.  I caught up on my ipod listening (Knit Picks with Kelly) and dreamed of new projects to start when I get home.  It was so relaxing!  

On Friday, something strange occured.  There were thousands of grasshoppers in the ocean and on the beach!!  We googled the event and supposedly they blew in from Bermuda (or so they say).  No one had ever heard about that happening before.  We have been going to OC for years and years and never seen anything like it.  Still and all, they didn't prevent us from enjoying our last day on the beach:-)

I can't wait for next summer!!!!!!

1976 - 2008

For the past 31 years, we have been getting together once a year to catch up, eat, and reminisce the "good old days". We all met in our freshman year at Lock Haven State College (that's what it was called in 1972) and have remained very good friends ever snce. Our friendship is a treasure that we cherish. The reunions started out childless, survived pregnancies, endured toddlers and teenagers and now we are childless again. We have come full circle and don't look too bad.(You can judge for yourself) This year we were in the Garden State and our hosts were Kathy and Wayne. They were very calm and collected despite the fact that their oldest child (Matt) is getting married July 26th. (That is 1 week away!) We had a wonderful time and ate lots of good food. The only low point of this year's reunion is that Karla did not make it. She somehow got the days mixed up, so we were not a complete group. She was missed.
Roll the pictures!

The Knot is Tied!

It was a wonderful day for a wedding!  The weather was hot and sunny (but not humid!). 

The flowers were beautiful.

 

The bride and groom, Kristie and Taylor(my son) looked cool, calm, happy, and thankful that the day was finally here.

And Logan was just plain cute!!!

I'm so happy for them.  And me.  I got to see many friends and family that I haven't seen in a while.  Sharing such a grand day with them all, made me sad that I would have to return to Hatfield.  However, in Hatfield I can get back to some serious knitting.

I'm working on the Lilies of the Valley shawl from Lace Style.  

I love it.  It looks very intricate but was so easy to memorize the pattern.  This will definitely be one of my favorite shawls to knit. 

Rachael has already asked for it for Christmas:-)

Wedding and Babies and Crafting, Oh My!!

It's been a busy week and it just seemed to fly by.

Saturday was the wedding:


with two of the cutest babies ever:



and some stitching from the Alabama Stitch Book



I love this book and am itching to make something else from it. In case you can't tell, that is my version of the headband in the book. I just love the look of everything in the book.

Next week I am taking a class so I won't get to do any of the things I like to do, I am so bummed. I am sure I will survive.

"I'm so excited and I just can't hide it!"

Yes, yes, yes! I have a new sewing machine after 36 years. Thanks to all of the advice and reviews, I purchased a Bernina 240. I haven't even had it for 24 hours, but I love it already.

To try it out, I decided to make a "sweater" for a pillow as an anniversary gift for our friends Kim and Scott.

The way it sewed on the wool was amazing, I don't know how I lived without it all these years. I even tried out some of the "fancy" stitches. They may not be fancy to most people, but considering all I've ever had was a straight stitch, I feel like a kid in a candy store.
Can't wait to make something else!

Summer time and the living is easy?

School has been out since June 9th and I am finally getting to a post. It seems that my life hasn't really been on summer vacation.
We had our Big Graduation Bash (a week to get ready and a week to get back to normal) and went on a 3 day college orientation. Now, July is just around the corner and I don't know where the time has gone.
My June accomplishments include: getting my Etsy shop (see link on side of blog) up and running, (I did not realize how much there is to getting a shop ready)had lunch with the lunch bunch (missed them so much), made a pair of baby socks from the book - 2-at-a-time Socks by Melissa Morgan-Oakes. (I really like the technique after you get passed the first 1/2 inch. I have started one of the patterns in the book, Coquette.)
and I learned how to use the mosaic maker:

And... Janet and I registered for Stitches East 2008. We are so excited! We signed up for 3 classes and the fashion show! It is such a good time.

A new week ahead - hope to get something accomplished.

Nani Pua

Nani pua, the Hawaiian words for beautiful flower.  Once again, teaching at Country Quiltworks was so rewarding and SO MUCH FUN!!.  I love quilters!  (I love knitters too!)  We spent the day laughing and telling stories and of course learning the method of making a Hawaiian Quilt. Here, everyone is diligently working on tracing the pattern onto the foreground fabric.  So serious...

I was amazed by the beautiful color combinations everyone chose.  The finished squares will be fabulous:-) Take a look.....

Lorraine and Gail chose Breadfruit:

Mary Joe and Debbie both made the Pineapple pattern:

Laura worked on the Hoya:

and last but certainly not least, Beth chose the Calla Lily:

I was so happy to see Debbie return.  She had also joined me for Grandmothers Handkerchief.

My sister Laura drove 2 hours from New Jersey to take the class.  I was so happy to have her there.  Luckily I had neglected to tell her it was an intermediate class or she may not have come. She made me proud by keeping up with the experts:-) 

Now I must concentrate on finishing the Baltimore Album quilt for the class I hope to teach in the Fall....:-)