End of July - End of Vacation

This past weekend was great fun. We took a quick trip to Mobile to be with Meghan and Justin for Taplin's baptism. The brothers are a treat for Grandma and Grandpa! After the service, Meghan put together a little reception in the parlor after the service with cake and punch. Great photo opportunity! Taplin has on his daddy's christening outfit. He'll be too big to wear it next week. Bridger liked the cake part!
Oh well, back to Huntsville and then back to school for me. Some people say that teachers going back to school in July is ridiculous. I don't have any strong feelings about that because I enjoy having vacation begin at the end of May when the weather is so wonderful in Huntsville. Now, it is just hot and humid, and I may as well be inside. Louie stealing a back scratcher and then holding it up, well, that really is ridiculous.


This is the downhill half of the train ride that we took in LaVeta in July. I should have posted it several weeks ago, but I didn't. However, at the end of vacation (can't say end of summer when it is still July) it is bitter sweet to look back and relive some great moments.

Wrapping up some projects

This has been a wonderfully stress free, schedule free week. I puttered around the house, and I worked a wee bit, a very wee bit, on school prep, but mostly I played on the computer and spent time in my sewing room. I actually finished a few projects, or at least I am close. This is the batik quilt that I worked on during our two week Colorado time. I hand pieced the squares, a first for me, and then I found the sashing green batik at the Great American Quilt Factory in Denver with help from one very kind woman who works there. I really enjoyed the hand piecing, which I never thought I would even try. This wasn't a complicated pattern or one with points that had to match, but I might try another one.
Now I'm working on machine quilting it. I see all of my own mistakes when I quilt like this, and I get frustrated with my lack of skill in machine quilting. However, I know that once it is finished, the little problems will fade and I will like it much better than I do right this minute. I am using my walking foot, not, I repeat not, doing free motion quilting. Maybe a smaller piece after lots of practice. The red and yellow quilt hasn't progressed this week except to be moved out of the way for the moment.This was a fun pincushion project that I played with one morning. How come I find stuffing so difficult? It seems like it would be child's play. The yellow button, by the way, has been floating around in my button jar forever. It came from something my mother made at some point. Who knows. Buttons are fun.
I used the new pincushion while I put the binding on the Green Mountain Stars quilt. Last weekend, my machine quilter Lin Hayden called to say that my quilt was ready to be picked up. I took it to her last October or November, and I was so excited to finally see it quilted. I can't imagine doing one this size myself. I spent several evenings on the binding, and Louie loved pressing up against me while I worked.
It's finished! I don't have any place big enough to spread it out. It's for our bed when the weather turns cooler. Like the other bed size quilts I've done, it is a very warm quilt. Cozy. I won't be too excited to let Louie on it. This quilt took more thinking, especially the border. I am pretty proud of it. I had no idea that this quilting thing would be so addictive.

Louie's Weekend

Louie had a great weekend because we were mostly home with him.
Good boy, Louie! That's your own rawhide, not something that belongs to people. Louie loves to sleep on the red couch when someone works on the computer. He was keeping an eye on us Sunday afternoon while we hung the new quilt that I finished.It looks good, I think. I like how whole rooms look different when you change one little thing. I am getting ready for school to start, and that means I'll be in this room even more. I am pretty excited about my new Shannon Miller Creative designed school web site. Thank you, Shannon!
Oh, Louie, you love helping Allen write important email, don't you. The funny thing is that he wants to sit on our lap or on the couch or on the bed, but he can only jump up on the red one upstairs by himself. He needs a lift for anything higher, so although he asks to get up, the minute we go to help him, he evades our touch. I do, but I don't. Kind of like Bridger's two-year-old thinking. He enjoyed reading the Sunday morning paper with us, and he spent the evening on the couch helping me do some hand sewing.
Too bad the weekend is over. What???? Where are you Louie? Are you helping with Monday laundry? Is the underwear load your favorite?

Seeing Red

The Etheridge car history: Our first car was a 1970 red VW bug that we had when we first moved to St. Louis in 1976. It had standard transmission that was about to die, and Allen was afraid to let me learn to drive standard on it because it was so temperamental. Next, we had a new, white VW Rabbit, again with standard transmission, but I did learn to drive that one. I remember the payments were $99, and the car cost $3999. When I was about eight months pregnant with Meghan, someone drove into the passenger door. We added a 1980 brown Toyota Corolla and had two cars for a while, but then I worked down the street at Cross Keys Middle School, and Allen did accounting for McDonnell Douglas and moved to an office within walking distance. We thought it was silly to own two cars, so we sold the Rabbit, but immediately, I was transferred to a school twenty minutes away. It was a pain to have two kids, two jobs, and one car, but we lived.
Eventually we added a 1984 white Toyota Forerunner for Allen, and he drove it for a long time until he traded it for his 1990 Toyota truck. He drives a 2003 grey Corolla now, but he misses his truck. If it weren't for the fact that his office is forty something miles from here, he'd still have a truck, I imagine. What else have we owned? My red Corolla, my maroon Maxima (never did like that car much), a leased white Camry (loved it, but leasing was a bad idea), and then the white Chevy Lumina. It was okay for a while, but then we went to the North Carolina mountains, and the engine was never right after that. We let Shannon have it when she first started to drive, but the repairs ate us up. Back to trusty Toyotas.
Other cars we've bought -- Meghan's first blue Mazda when she was sixteen (no airbags, standard transmission), and the her green Corolla which still is her car, and then Shannon's Corolla that she currently drives. For me, after the Lumina, it was back to a white 2002 Camry which I drove 96,000 miles. We traded it Saturday for this pretty RED, not white, 2009 Camry. Unfortunately, my car payments are not $99 this time, but I imagine we'll have enjoy this car for miles and miles. I didn't want leather seats because of Louie, but I think I'll cover the cloth seats anyway for a while. No Louie, I don't want hair everywhere yet. The car is not yours, it is mine.
Red is the color of the day. Here is the wall quilt I designed that I finished this week. I started it the day Taplin was born. By the way, Meghan says he rolls over now, tummy to back. He's sleeping all night, and he makes lots of talking noises. His baptism will be July 27. We will be there -- in my new red car. No Louie, you aren't going.

She'll be coming 'round the mountain

It's going to take me a while to post our pictures on my Flickr account. Allen took this little video was at the top of the mountain in Fir. A diesel engine took us up the mountain, and then when this train met ours, they switched engines and we took this one back down.

Here she comes!

Louie 's Glad We Are Home!

What a fun two weeks in Colorado! Of course, one of the most important parts of the trip was being able to see Joan and Frank. We visited at their home, and we also got to see Jonie for dinner too. We took a day trip and enjoyed the scenery as we drove up through Boulder to Estes Park for lunch. Allen and I drove to downtown Denver the first Sunday morning. You really can't safely take Allen anywhere, you know. We walked down the Sixteenth Street Mall and had lunch at Wynkoop Brewery before we headed back to the Denver Art Museum. The outdoor museum art was fun, especially Allen in the dustpan. This is one of the Gees Bend Quilts made from work clothes. We checked on the museum site, and it said photography was permitted unless posted, and we didn't see anything saying we couldn't take pictures in this gallery. Apparently, we were wrong. Oops! I got in trouble with the museum security. The display was fascinating and included a large number of the Gees Bend quilts, but the quilts upstairs only involved a handful of Amish pieces which are part of the museum's permanent collection. The contrast between the two kinds of work was very distinct - one bold and primitive, the other controlled and detailed.Aren't these lobelia beautiful? They are on the porch of the Mountain Man Gallery in Como. We bought some handmade aspen bowls made by an older gentleman who lives in Woodland Park. We bought some of his work last summer when he first started doing woodwork. We understand he was not well this winter and made bowls to pass the time.We headed over Boreas Pass which runs from Como to Breckenridge. Last year, we saw fields and fields of flowers, but we were a bit too early in the season. Lots of snow this winter and a pretty warm June makes for high water in the creeks and rivers.We drove over Loveland Pass. It was extremely windy and cold. I can't figure out how in the world the bicyclists pedal up there to the top!I had lots of time to play while Allen worked, so I visited as many quilt stores as I could and worked diligently on building my stash. I have been to the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum in Golden several times now, and I will surely go again the next time I have the opportunity. This time they had an exhibit of quilts by contemporary African American women and an exhibit of reproduction quilts from before 1840.This picture is for you, Shannon! I spent a wonderful day with Dad's bosses' wife (also a talented quilter) in Castle Rock. She took me to this sweet bakery for lunch. Look at the cake stands and drool.The highlight of the two weeks was the three day weekend in LeVeta. I belong to The Quilt Show, an internet show and blog produced by quilt gurus Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims. This is where they film the show and where Ricky Tims holds seminars and workshops.We road the train up the mountain and back down, diesel engine up, and this engine down. Riding in the dome car provided spectacular views and opportunities for oodles of pictures.

We got back after midnight Tuesday after a wonderful two weeks -- planes, trains, automobile road trips, snow, summer flowers, time with Allen, time with Joan and Frank, lots of good food, and quilt stores along the way! The only thing missing was Louie.