The Week in Review

A lot of my spare thinking time has been focused on what comes after my husband retires from the Navy.  We are trusting in the Lord to help us make the right decisions, so I don't try to worry into the future or about the past, but I am dreaming of lots of things we could do and also thinking about the things we won't need to do any more.  Time for another life changing/enhancing adventure for us.

Somehow, we managed to squeeze in a trip to see all five of our grandchildren and of course their parents.  My third grandchild was celebrating his 2 birthday.  What a wild and wonderful weekend!  The bright green frosting was a sight to behold considering that all but the youngest was sporting lots of it as we ate.

Last night we had dinner for nine.  We always try to make it something uncomplicated but fun.  I made two offerings that could be combined to fit each person's taste.  I made pulled pork for sandwiches and I also made lots of baked potatoes in the crockpot and had a baked potato bar with lots of fixings.  Then served rhubarb/strawberry cake and my husband's rum cake.  No one left the table hungry, and the potatoes were excellent!!! (Never tried the crockpot way before.)

That being said, lets talk quilting.

• I have been very busy with the time consuming task of making more kits for HeartStrings so that we will have plenty of kits for our sewing day.  I put together far more than we will use in one day, but I used up all the donated fabrics and fabrics I was willing to sacrifice from my own stash.  Cutting the foundations and centers did seem to go pretty quickly, though, probably because I have had so much experience that I know the best ways for me to get the most from the yardage.  No more of this kind of kitting until I have moved and gotten settled.  Therefore, I found someone else that is willing to take donated fabrics and carry on the efforts in this guild.
• Sharon and I also took some of the other donated fabric and created some fun scrappy kits that will eventually be stitched, quilted and given to those that need special hugs just like all the other HeartStrings quilts.
• I have not touched my star quilt this week because of lots of other things, but I did purchase the backing and the 2" Tangles that I need to finish the sashing. 
• The extra large queen size quilt I am making for a customer is not actually started, but I have almost all the fabrics needed to complete the top.  It will be a beautiful quilt even though there are 90 of the same block.  There are about 20 different prints in what I refer to as garden cottage colors.  It is on the calendar to begin next Friday.
• I have quilted 3 more HeartStrings Quilts of Valor and will be attaching the binding on 2 today, which will give me some hand sewing to do in the car, etc.  The other one's binding is at Sharon's house and she is going to handle that task. 
• Saturday I participated in a Quilts of Valor sewing day sponsored by our guild.  One of our members created kits using EQ to design simple, eye-pleasing quilts.  Another member helped with all the cutting and bagging.  Fun day.
• Today I am going to work on the 4 Seasons quilt.  It is going to be done with simple stitch-in-the-ditch because I want Dad's embroidery and their settings to be the most important part of this quilt.  I don't think it will be finished today, but my goal of getting it completely finished by the end of February is truly attainable.

Better sign off and get crack-a-lacking, or I will never finish what I have set out to do.