Fall Quilt Festival

Park City Girl is hosting a Fall Quilt festival.  So I decided to join the party!

This is Midnight Sun/Polar Night.  I took a Jan Krentz Lone Star class in March 04, in which I made the diamonds.  I then put it away because Jeremy was born two weeks later. When Jeremy was three, I began having about 30 minutes here and there when I could actually *do* something, so I started quilting again.  I decided to start with finishing up a few UFOs, and the lone star was the first quilt I thought of finishing.

I pulled it back out in Jan 08 and got it finished up. The animal patterns were traced, scanned and blown up from the batik print in the outer border. They are hand appliqued.  The piece is machine quilted. Because the animals are all North American, and cold country animals as well, and because the colors are essentially sunlight and midnight, I named it for the endless day and endless night experienced in Alaska and Canada.

Just Add Water

It's a nearly perfect slogan for the boys.  Whether it's a sprinkler, bathtub, hose, or pool, they're happy if there's water.  Even frozen water - the ice that collects around the backyard in the winter - can keep them busy for hours.

But the best is the water at the beach. We spent the weekend in Myrtle Beach, with Ryan's family.  The weather was perfect - low 80s, sunny, no humidity.  We walked on the beach at sunrise, did a lot of wave jumping, played mini golf, went to the water park, and had lunches and dinners out together.  Here are a couple of the 540 pictures I took in the 2-day trip:  Jeremy walking on the beach at sunrise, and Matthew leaping into a rather large wave.

It really was a relaxing weekend. Good thing we did it then, because it looks like summer's last gasp is happening here now.  We'll be into the 50s and 60s next week.

Bikes, Jedi Training, Pampas and Scarecrows

Most schooldays, the boys can't play with their friends because of late school bus times and homework.  But on Wednesdays, the local schools dismiss an hour early, and so the boys get a chance to play with their friends.  Yesterday they had an impromptu bike rodeo.  Here's Matthew mugging for the camera - again!  I can't get this one to give me a nice smile anymore.

 

The rodeo didn't last very long, but they all had a good time.  Then Matthew was off to do his homework, and Jeremy decided to do his Jedi training.  Apparently having an angry face with hard, staring eyes is part of the whole Jedi business.

 

It was a lovely fall day yesterday, temps in the low 70s and dry.  The pampas grasses look really beautiful at this time of year.

And Ribby was - for once - willing to sit still and let me take her picture instead of bouncing around being excited by the attention.  Love this shot of her - those deep, soulful, sad eyes make you forget that she's really a scarecrow (if she only had a brain).