Week-end away

Well, I took the very mature, adult route to dealing with our sewer challenges and simply left town.  Yeah!  Our RVing group had an outing planned and we simply left here a day earlier so as to get "outta Dodge" and think of other things.  And we had a marvelous time.  We drove to Tokeland, WA.  This little burg sits on a very large bay off of the Pacific (ocean).  The sounds and smells and fabulous weather all made for a great time.

As is the norm, Friday night is a finger-food potluck.  Saturday morning my friend Jill and I had a little sewing workshop for those who were interested.  I think we had about 20 gals participate.  They we offered kits to make a small "ditty" bag or coasters.  Only one gal got far enough to try the string pieced square.  But it was sure fun.

Saturday night we had a "regular" potluck supper.  The park provided us with a really tasty ham.  And then after dinner, there was a s'mores contest.  There were lots of sugar highs that night.  But it was great to enjoy the sunshine, eagles, pelicans, seagulls and a myriad of other sea birds.  Having missed so many of the summer outings, it was great to play catch up with our RVing friends.

I forgot to say that on our return home today (Monday) they are close to being finished.  The big holes in the front yard and sidewalk and street are filled in.  We have new and functioning water and sewer lines.  Now just to do some dry-walling in the basement where they ran the new shut-off value.  This feels much more manageable.  The next step will be to learn what our home owners insurance will (or will not) cover for all this work.  Keep your fingers crossed.

Oh, I despair

Check out my front yard,

This is after a week.  We still have water but the sewer line has been disconnected for 30+ hours.  Bless the friends and neighbors who have come to our rescue.

From the Stash

Oh it does feel good to use up what you have.  I realize that my tastes in fabric are changing but there are still some things there that I like and so two new baby quilt tops.

The fabrics for the top are from Westfallenstoffe in Germany.  They are such happy fabrics.  Stripes for the back.  This is for a nephew and his wife, first baby due in October (gender unknown).  And,

 My brother and his wife are expecting a granddaughter in November.  Top (same pattern) and striped back.  [am I in a rut?  No, I don't think so, they just seem to go well].

I like this very easy pattern - it goes together so very quickly.  Makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something, even if my sewing room is STILL in full chaos.  Oh, oh, one of these days.

10th Annual

This year was the 10th Camping with the Grandmas Adventure for the 3 (largest) Grands.  And what fun we had!!!!  We chose a new campground (it seemed easier to get to AND we hoped for better weather on the east side of the mountains).  Well, both were true and we will definately go back there next year.

We were at Lake Easton State Park.  And while there is some road noise from I-90, it actually creates white noise and you hardly hear any of the other campers - only an occasional barking dog or the children who come riding past on their bicycles.  For us, bicycles was a huge plus.  The camp sites are arranged around an oval with almost no car traffic, so cycles galore.

And even though the sites were close together, again, you couldn't hear your neighbors in a bothersome way.  A+.

We celebrated three birthdays and the eldest GD made (from scratch) three flavors of cupcakes for all of us (being one of the birthday folks)

My brother and his wife came along, in their camper, for the first time

There is a beach (more gravel than sand, but it works for shovels and pails)

Sewing has been happening since we got home.  Details of that to follow.

Been doin' a bit

So, finished the sashing on the quilt for the newest Grand,

And found a backing in the stash

And will do a red binding.  Should be pretty cute, me thinks.

And then because it was fun to play (and I really haven't been sewing too much over these past weeks, so my fingers were itchy. . . .)

Not sure it's my favorite but it a fun way to use up those boxes full of bits and pieces.  Will keep going for a while.

Had a really great time on Friday morning, we went to a live radio broadcast.  The local NPR station was having a show with Nancy Pearl (the famous Librarian-lady).  Great fun!

The Fruits of Summer

Well, of course, even though we have been out of town, I have to get in a stash of summer jam - those dreary, gray winter mornings deserve it.  So here was my Thursday project,

Marionberries (bosbessen) from Hunter Farms in Olympia.  I made 2 batches, so that means 16 little left-over margarine tubs.  Hunter Farms has a fruit stand nearby and are my favorite.  We have been eating their blueberries and raspberries, but no jam from those yet.  Keeps a girl busy.  Did a bit of sewing last night.  More photos coming.

Easing back in

Well, we have been home now for one week (this evening).  It is so strange as in many ways it feels like we have never been away.  My sewing room was the place chosen to store the personal belongings we were getting out of the way.  Thus it is still quite unavailable for my sewing use.  I think I shall appropriate the puzzle table to work on my blocks for the new grand's quilt.

I'm quite liking this and it works well as sashing - although I'm not sure I'll use the 3 3/4" size suggested.  Seems a bit much, but with red binding it will be cute.

Also have been working on the quilt I bought for friend Caro.  I'm not really informed on dating quilts but I'm guessing it might be 40's or 50's?  Do you have any ideas?

That center star (and all the other stars around it) are hand pieced and hand quilted.  The big star has been set in by machine, but each of the diamond seams are hand pieced.  Interesting.  What I have been doing is removing the pink satin binding that someone (carefully) seamed twice around the edges covering up a sweet (but deteriorating) light blue binding.

All the star points around the edges had been cut off, so now they are all there.  I really don't know anything about this little quilt but am getting quite attached to it.  Should I keep it Caro?

Awe - gust

We are having some delightful weather which makes it so pleasant to be outdoors.  We have had dinner at the picnic table the last two nights.  Mornings tend to be cloudy but by noon the skies have clear and it is wonderful.

We headed over to Shilshole Marina, in order to meet a boat bringing home the two oldest grands.  They have been at the local Camp Fire camp.  Taking a boat to and from camp has been a tradition since at least when I was about 8 or 9, and I attended every year until I was 18.  My daughter and son and their best friends attended and my daughter even worked there for a few years.  So now the tradition continues with the "big ones".  It's a great way to begin the adventure and conclude it.

I have finally found a good sashing fabric for the stitched animal blocks.  It has been washed and ironed.  Photos to follow.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

Weeeeelllll, we made it.  There were a few hours there where my backside wasn't sure that our destination would arrive, but we left Amsterdam about on time, a little late into Reykiavik, left a little late and on to Seattle.  Iceland Airlines doesn't bother to have folks load by the row they are sitting in [like most of the airlines I've ridden on] so it's rather chaotic inside trying to find your row, likely having to climb over someone (as we did on both legs of the flight) all the overhead space is used where you are sitting, etc, etc.  But enough of that - we made it almost exactly on time, despite what the website said.  Our friend who was our transportation believed the website - so we had to wait for a while but it was lovely to be home.

It is such a very strange conundrum to feel like we have been gone so very long (actually 10 weeks plus one day) and yet driving home it all felt so familiar and like we had never been gone.  Have you ever had that sensation?  We managed to stay up until about 9:30pm (local time) and then crashed.  Sadly my body was still on European time and I was wide awake at 2:30am.  Oh well, I see a nap (or 2) in the offing.  Off to meet that new grandbaby later this afternoon.  Woo Hoo.

This morning I did accomplish a couple of things.  With all the handwork I had done, I had a number of things that needed to be soaked to remove the blue dye.  So I did just that,

Let's hear it for sunshine on the back lawn.  It may be a while before I get much further with these, but they will be all ready!  Hurrah!

Sunday Bike Ride

We had a couple of errands to "run" in the morning, but managed to get to Caro and Rob's by about 2pm.  The four of us headed out for a bike ride to and through the Dunes just north of Scheveningen.

The first day in literally weeks when you didn't need a warm jacket to be outdoors.

Lovely countryside, some marvelous homes and views over the treetops to the sea.  It's hard to ask for much more.

This amazing adventure is now coming to an end.  It's Monday afternoon now, and we fly back to the US on Wednesday morning, so I'm not sure if I'll get any more blogging done before we are safe and sound at home.  Thanks for being part of our travels.