5 days down, 175 to go

I made it through the first week of school unscathed. The first week is always good, the kids are nice, the teachers too frazzled to really pay much attention to some of the details that drive me crazy, the principal still on "politician running for office" mode. We will see where it goes from here. I've actually applied for a couple of other positions, not sure whether I really want either of them, but it would be more money. DH has another interview next week, so I'm hoping for the best there too.

On the quilting front, I joined another block of the month group with my girlfriends. So the first Friday or Saturday of the month will have us making the rounds of the two shops to get our blocks. It keeps me sewing any way and it's quite cheap if you can avoid the temptation to buy something each month, something I've gotten really good at. I'll try to post some pictures soon.

TB's football season has gotten off to a good start and they've won their first two games. This last Friday, the game was called for lightning right before the first half and they had to continue on Saturday night. It was the cross town rival, so it was a good win.

That's about all that's new, I'll try to post some quilty pictures soon.

Moving along

Where has the summer gone?? I guess I've kind of lost interest in the whole blogging thing, hence my lack of posts, although I do still keep up with reading my favorites. We spent the last few days helping our two older kids get moved to the apartments they're going to have for this year in college. I told our daughter that it would be nice if she stayed there for the next three years, especially since I plan on taking another load of heavy things up in a few days. Our son is living in the worst house imaginable. I can't believe what it's like for the rent he has to pay! You'd have to pay me that much to stay in that house, so I told him he didn't have to worry about us wanting to stay overnight or anything.
It has been a summer with many transitions relating to our children, aging parents, job and financial situations, and just life in general. Also a summer of highs and (mostly) lows, but I guess that is what life is like. When I was younger I guess I didn't view things as "big picture" as I do now. "Big picture" we're doing great...we have our health, kids doing okay, nice home, etc. Get out the microscope though and things aren't so hot. It's funny how many things come down to finances, especially when you don't have a lot, but it's true. I still have the hope that things will turn around for us though, so I guess you never know. I also know I'm not alone with this, but in our little circle that doesn't help. Okay, I'm starting to ramble, so I'll wind this up with one of the highs of our summer, a new great-nephew. I made him this little quilt.

Sweet Summertime

It feels like summer is really here for me. I worked my last day at the garden center on Friday and had a nice weekend culminating in the first free concert of the summer last night. Today I've been catching up on house things, laundry and such, and next on my list is a visit to my neglected sewing room. I have many projects to complete, so that is on my agenda for the rest of the summer. I probably should be looking for another job, but I think I'll just keep an eye on the postings for the school district to see if there's anything there I'd like to switch too. The nice thing about my school job is that I continue to get paid monthly throughout the summer whether I'm working or not. One of my coworkers retired this spring so that she could spend more time with her grandkids. I hope that will be me someday; retirement won't come a day too soon for me. Unfortunately, I think I'm looking at many more years before that happens. Anyway, I made her this little quilt and had everyone at school sign the back. She seemed to really like it and I thought it was pretty summery and a little retro too.

Bleeding Hearts

I took these pictures of some of the bleeding hearts in my garden on a rainy morning awhile back. I really like how they turned out and I enjoy the many places that the bleeding hearts turn up in my yard. The purple flowers in the background are a variety of lamium, also known as dead nettle. I think dead nettle is a terrible name for a flower, so I prefer lamium. I'm learning the names of lots of flowers here lately since I've started working at a local nursery and garden center. It has been a very busy time. Between that and my job at school, I just worked a 19 day stretch, had yesterday off and now have a 12 day stretch in front of me. It's not seeming like the greatest idea at this point, but I do get paid tomorrow, so we'll see how I feel then. I don't want to get into a long complaint about our financial woes, but suffice it to say that we need the money and then some. ha We got our college kids moved around this weekend, so that is the other reason for my complete exhaustion. CS moved into an apartment so that he can continue working at his internship this summer and CG moved home and will work here. TB keeps busy with baseball, school, taking naps, and mowing lawns. It has been a beautiful day here and I'm really looking forward to more of the same.

I have been sewing!

Despite the title of my blog, I don't sew many days, only some days. I'm known for going in spurts where I sew like crazy and then take a break and not get any sewing done for quite some time. Recently there were a couple of silent auctions that I wanted to donate quilts for, so I was really busy for awhile working on projects. I made this guitar themed quilt for TB's marching band silent auction. One of my good friends, also a quilter, won the bid. I told her I was happy it went to a good home. The other auction was to raise funds for the kid's summer trips at church. I donated a wall quilt, a table runner, and a fleece blanket. I knew all of the people that got those projects also, so that made me feel good. I'm kicking myself for not taking pictures of them before I dropped them off. I really loved the wall quilt I made, it was hard to part with. I'm a sucker for those bags of scraps from the quilt shop I frequent. I really hit the jackpot with one of the bags, it contained a few partially made blocks and lots of additional scraps from the same fabrics. I finished off four blocks for the wall quilt and also got a miniature quilt for myself. It was mostly Kansas Troubles fabric which I have a new appreciation for now. Here's the guitar quilt and I'll take a picture of the mini and get it up another day. Incidentally, the colors didn't photograph especially well, I think it looked a lot better in person.

Happy Easter!

It's finally spring here in Minnesota with a few flowers here and there. ( in all honesty this picture is from last year since we're just at the bud stage) I has been wonderful to see the greening grass, robins hopping around, spring rain, etc. We have a family dinner planned for tomorrow after church with a big ham and all the trimmings. CS can't make it however, he's busy working at his new internship job and had to stay back to catch up on school work. We'll see him tomorrow when we bring CG back up to school. TB has started baseball practice, so that keeps him busy these days. DH still has little business, so it's been a long dry spell for him. Hopefully things will turn around soon. I've had a week off from school for spring break, so that has been a much needed break for me. I will find out Monday, but it looks like I might have a job in a garden center for the spring and summer. I think that will be a nice change from the usual, so I 'm looking forward to finding out more about that. Have a Happy Easter Day and enjoy the fine spring weather!!

Frost and Snow

It's been a cold and snowy winter here in SE Minnesota. It has been nice to see the sun the last couple of days and have the temps get into the mid 20's. Feel like a regular heat wave when the sun is actually melting a little of the snow on the streets. I still haven't felt much like blogging, but I thought it was embarrassing to have a "Merry Christmas" post still up. Enjoy some pictures of the snow and frost seen around my house this week. I'm glad the days are getting longer...at least it's no longer dark when I leave work like it was for awhile. I'll be looking for signs of spring soon, I'm soooo ready!!