Quilt Blocks

About 5 weeks ago, I saw a facebook ad for a Block of the Week quilting challenge ~ that would last 9 weeks.  Since this is a craft I want to get better at, I signed up for it, not realizing it started the next day.  Yikes!  Now to find some fabric to use...I went shopping in my craft room and found some pretty coordinating pinks, grays, and whites (this was from a JoAnns sale years ago where the calico fabrics were .99, I bought several sets of coordinating fabrics).  I printed out the 1 pattern and got to work cutting and piecing, and seam ripping, and resewing and teeth gnashing, etc.  This challenge has a facebook page that you can join and with 10,000 members you get lots of helpful advice and a load of inspiration and fabric choices that others are using.  Since they published a picture of the finished quilt, some have even gone ahead and done the whole thing....without a pattern or specific instructions~ this had actually caused quite a bit of ugliness with the do one a week crowd and the lets get it done crowd.  Personally, I am quite impressed with the fact that some can do this and figure it out on their own ~ I am not one of those folks.  Anyway, here are the 5 blocks so far.

After I finished this one and put the pic on fb, Amy came in and told me one of the blocks was wrong.  She had spotted the top right block turned the wrong way...out came the seam ripper and it got fixed.

I had to pull in another fabric from the gray/pink/white collection for the outside corners, since I was running out of one. 5 blocks down 4 to go.

One of the awesome tips I heard from many people was to iron the seams open instead of the traditional ironing the seam to the darker fabric.  This has made it much easier for me to match up all those corners and feel somewhat successful in this endeavor.  Its fun to post the picture each week when the block is finished and to see what others have done. 

It is amazing to me each week how different the block looks done in different fabrics.  I love to see everyones creativity.  I made a comment under last weeks block about being thankful that not every square contained a 1/2 sq triangle and ended up in a great conversation with the gal leading the challenge and contributing the blocks for the challenge. 

These blocks end up being 16 inches square ~ now I have to figure out what I am going to do with them when finished....they would make a cute baby girl quilt ~ if only I had a granddaughter! 

There is talk of another challenge and several have posted challenges from different sites.  So I am checking them out too~  time to use all that fabric and practice some new techniques!

Thankful for ~

helpful hints
encouragement
inspiration
sweet comments
a fabric stash
fun interaction

Wedding Stuffs

Months ago, Amy came up with the brilliant idea of having a food truck cater the wedding.....as a joke we told Greg.  He thought it was a good idea!  She picked the one she wanted ~ The Varsity in Atlanta ~ an icon in Atlanta.  We looked it up, we checked out the available menus, we found out we could book it 6 months out.  So we have been twiddling our reception thumbs waiting for 6 months.  I contacted them last week (a week over 6 months, but I was ready to have this task checked off).  I filled out the info and they typed up and emailed a contract............gasp, over $600 more than we thought it would be.  They added mileage, a service charge, an extra fee for over an hour of service, and then tax on all of that.  OK, we are not paying upwards of $20 a plate per guest for hot dogs (albeit awesome chili dogs), fries and onion rings.

Now onto plan B......well there wasn't one.

But there is now!

Plan B is us catering our daughters wedding.....this will be the 4th child we have catered for.  We are doing a Taco Bar, Nacho table, and Ice Cream Sundae Bar....plus cake and cupcakes.  Of course, there are tons of ideas on pinterest that we have found.  The downfall is my awesome Miss. friends are in Miss. and the wedding is in GA.  So we will most likely find some Ga friends to hire for reception help.

Here are some of our ideas ~







Thankful for ~

a Plan B
a husband that likes to cook
a non Bridezilla daughter
6 more months to plan, figure, and create
flexibility

RV Adventure

Greg and I haven't used our RV in a long time ~ mainly because it was where one of our sons lived for a year and a half after we moved to GA.  But he moved and it was time.

Greg made us reservations at the state park where Amy is getting married in the fall.  Its a beautiful park and we wanted to explore it some. 

He got off work early on Friday and we set out (just the 2 of us) on our grand adventure.  We had food, bottled water, drinks, snacks, movies for the dvd player, etc.  We stopped on the way to fill up the propane tank for heat since it was supposed to get cold on Saturday night.....and it did.

We got to the park and set up camp.....this is where the adventure part begins.....

We didn't have the plug for the hot water heater ~ so no hot water

The water line for the running water was split ~ so it spewed water whenever turned on ~ so no running water

The lights dimmed when we turned on the tv ~ we ran a cord from the power source outside to the tv for our 2 movies we watched

We couldn't lite the oven ~ don't know why. Stovetop worked fine.

Got up Saturday morning to 2 flat tires ~ argh

Mom came and rescued us and we went home to get the air compressor for the tires. The park is an hour from our house.

Greg pumped up the tires and it seemed to work good.

We ended up with hot dogs and chili for supper cause it was fast, warm, and easy. And no oven required.

Finished watching Sound of Music and then watched Gregs new Jason Bourne movie.

Went to bed....and got so cold!  That full tank of propane and our heater blew out cold air all night long.  We had an electric blanket but there wasn't enough power to heat it ~ and no, I did not jump out of the cold bed into the colder air and run the electric cord through a crack in the window into the rv for the blanket....for the record, Greg did "ask'!

Greg repumped the tires, we explored the park and then drove home ~ thankfully, a safe and uneventful drive.

The weekend wasn't a complete disaster (just seems like it), we went on our first RV trip with no kids, we did enjoy most of our time together ~ nothing like freezing with your best friend, we found a couple of great picture spots and rehersal dinner spots for the wedding.

We are not giving up on RV trips ~ I did tell Greg I was willing for us to drive it to Hilton Head (after its fixed of course) and camp on the island! 

We are very thankful for ~

safety
blankets
distractions (the movies)
a long, extension cord
finding a nearby shop to take it too this weekend
time away

What we learned ~

to check everything, no matter what
that laughing is better than complaining
that we are not cut out for "off grid", not w/out a lot of preparation~!!
that Ma & Pa Ingalls and Mama & Daddy Walton were tough!  Not sissies like us!
Have some easy food to prepare for "just in case".

lovely little waterfall in the park

ceremony venue

the ceremony will be in here!

beautiful craftsmanship

can't wait to see "long and white" draped over these stone steps!