Traveling with Grandma

I have to admit that it's been awhile since I traveled with a baby.  A really long while.  But today, I was fortunate enough to be able to travel with Abby from Salt Lake City to Seattle.  It was - well - an adventure.

We intended to fly Triangle Airlines.  We really did.  Once upon a time, we referred to this airline as "God's airline" because their service was so stellar.  I remember once being late for a flight and having the gate agent drive me to my plane in a station wagon on the ramp.  No such service in Salt Lake today!

We arrived at the airport later than we planned, but surely with enough time to make the 11:30 flight.  Unfortunately, I made the mistake of thinking I could get my boarding pass from one of the ticketing kiosks.  While I was attempting to do that, the agents were going ga-ga over my beautiful granddaughter.  Sadly, the kiosk did not recognize me.  Not realizing the seriousness of this mistake, I spent a few more moments basking in the glow of grandbaby admiration.  The delay meant that I was within some mysterious 30-minute window which meant that the evil desk agent would not give me a boarding pass on the 11:30 flight (notwithstanding the fact that I had been at the kiosk in plenty of time or that it was their employees who delayed us and didn't mention anything about a 30-minute window).   Evil gate agent even went so far as to leave a comment in the computer that I was not to board the 11:30 flight under any circumstances and proceeded to call the gate WHILE I WAS STANDING THERE to tell them so.  Grrrrrrrrrrrrr...

Totally frustrated with the lack of service, not to mention basic civility from our friends at Triangle Airlines, Beautiful Daughter #1 had the idea to check into the noon flight on Southwest.  Not only were there seats available, but the Southwest gate agents and flight attendants bent over backwards to make sure I made the flight and was situated as comfortably as one can be in a middle seat with an infant.  Kudos to  Southwest!!!

Security is an unpleasant fact of flying at any time, but never more so than with an infant.  Baby's milk, medicine and other liquids have to be unpacked and put in the bin, as do Grandma's liquid items.  Then the computer comes out, the shoes and sweater come off, and the baby has to come out of the stroller.  Then, standing barefoot on the dirty floor, and holding baby in one arm, Grandma tries to fold the unfamiliar stroller to place it on the conveyor belt.  Not successful.  Finally, a TSA employee takes pity on me and figures out how to fold the stroller.  Then through the scanner we go.  Oops, Grandma left her phone in her pocket.  Into a bowl it goes, and back through the scanner a second time.  No beeps.  Now we do the whole operation in reverse.  Unfold the stroller and place baby back in.  Find the bins with our stuff.  Put on the shoes and sweater, trying not to think about what the feet might have walked on while the shoes were being scanned.  Try to repack the liquid items (why is it they never fit like they did before???).  Head for the elevator.  Up and out and down the concourse.  Halfway to the gate, Grandma realizes that the computer is still at security.  No wonder the bag was so much lighter.  Back to security, and now you KNOW you're going to miss the flight.  Thankfully, the computer is still in its bin at security right where I left it.  Race back up the elevator, down the concourse and to the gate.  Is there a rule that it must be the furthest gate possible?  Probably.

Play with baby on the flight and try to keep her from kicking the rude young man in the window seat and his rude mother on the aisle.  Try to keep baby happy.  Works pretty well until about an hour into the flight.  The plane finally touches down in Seattle and Abby falls asleep as we taxi to the gate.  Figures...

We pick up the car seat at baggage claim and have lunch at Ivar's.  Yum!!  Abby loves French Fries.  Uncle Sean arrives at 3:00 and Aunt Lynda is there to meet us.  We are home free now!  Vacationnnnnnnn!!

Aunt Lynda has all the appropriate baby items.  She has a pack and play with a changing table and a mobile, a booster seat/high chair for mealtime, and lots of toys.  Life is good, and Abby shows her appreciation with smiles and giggles.  Oh, she is a cutie.

Lanterns Bloom #2 - Finished!

 The "leftover" quilt, Lanterns Bloom #2 is officially finished!

1.  Patches

2.  Cut apart, rotate, and put back together.

3.  Add borders, backing, and batting.  Quilt.  Bind. 

 4.  Done!

5.  Wrap yourself up and enjoy.

Girls Night Out

Tonight my friend Charlotte, who is a Stampin' Up demonstrator, hosted our first workshop since the new catty came out.  Fun!  She had such great ideas that I just had to share.  I honestly haven't stamped since I cleaned up my stamping area when my kids came to visit in April.  Why?  Maybe because my stamping area looked so tidy I just couldn't bear to mess it up?

Here is the first card we made.  Very easy.  It used  the new Greehouse Gala DSP and the Big Shot Square Lattice embossing folder.  (The Big Shot sure makes embossing easy - how did we ever manage with a brass plate and a stylus?  That probably explains why I didn't do much of it!)  The card is very simple, but nice.  Obviously, I need to cut the ribbon, but overall, I think, a lovely card.  I was using glue, which I almost never do, but I forgot to take my tape runner, and so beggars can't be choosers, you know?  Anyway, I didn't really realize how fast the glue would dry when the two layers were put together, so I wasn't able to adjust the top flower when I realized it was a little off.  Oh well.  Something to remember for next time.

My second card didn't turn out as well as I would have liked.  It was a fussy, vintage card, and Charlotte's sample was beautiful.  Mine suffered from inexpertly applied 2-way glue and an attempt to compensate with too much glitter, which meant it didn't photograph well at all.  Probably just as well.

The third card was adorable and elegant at the same time.  How does that happen?  I loved the stamp set, and the inside sentiment, "If you are what you eat, eat something cute," was fun.  The card used another Big Shot texture folder called Elegant Lines and the scallop punch.  Lots of fun.  I love the SU! rhinestones.  They are the best ones I have used, and really jazz up your card.  Love the way they add sparkle.  We also tried out the new Smooch pearlized accent ink.  This product is new, and adds just a touch of spice and interest.

I hadn't realized until I decided to do this how difficult it is to photograph these cards.  The detail just doesn't come through very well in the photo.  I actually did these with the camera, and not with my phone, and I still took multiple shots, of which these are the best.  The difficulty may be in my technique, of course.  My photography has never been my most expert hobby.

The last card we made also used some of the new SU!  Elegant Soiree DSP and the adorable owl punch.  The owl was cute, but wasn't on my "must have" list until I did a Halloween blog hop on Stampin' Addicts recently and saw all the ways it was used - everything from flower vases to witch's cauldrons.  I really think I NEED this punch.

DSP makes putting a card together so easy. Add a little ribbon and some kind of focal point, and you have a card.  It can be as simple or as elaborate as you like.

I really need to get back into stamping again.  It is always a lot of fun to meet with other ladies and create something fun and attractive.



And when I got home, guess what???  A Stampin' Addicts blog hop using some great new products from the Holiday mini.  Tonight was Stamping Heaven!

Charlotte had a ton of samples on her kitchen counter when we arrived.  At snack time, I took a moment to take some photos of them.  Great ideas for my next stamping adventure.  (These were photographed with my phone off her kitchen counter, but they do show the main elements of the cards.) 

Love the daisy embossing!

Maybe just a little monochromatic, but cute!

I'm sure I have a stamp like this around somewhere.  Love the oval punch!

Love the flowers.  Pink and green is always classy!

More DSP!  An idea I will use, I think!

This one was truly wonderful in person.  The photo doesn't do it justice at all.

Funny how 3 little images can really make a card!.

And these cards were paper pieced.  Too fun!  Check out Bob the Builder and the guitar!  Who thinks of these things???

Diamond in the Rough

You wouldn't think so to look at it, but the funnest fabric store in Pensacola has got to be the fabric store with an identity crisis.

First of all, it is, in fact, a compounding pharmacy.  When you walk in, it looks like an old fashioned dime store, with just about anything you can imagine.  A visit to the back of the store finds all of your pharmacy needs, I'm sure.  Their selection of Little Golden Books takes me back to my own childhood. It was the first place I went to buy little Abby-frog those classics  she MUST have, like The Poky Little Puppy, The Saggy, Baggy Elephant, and The Tawny, Scrawny Lion.

But take a left, and then a right, and fabric junkies, Enter Paradise!!  Who would suspect that the back of the store has bolts and bolts and bolts of fabrics from all our favorite designers?  Moda and Michael Miller are two of my favorites so far, but I can't wait to try some of the rest.   It is the only place in Pensacola I have found Moda charm squares, jelly rolls, and fat quarters.  OK, I'm new to these things, but now that I KNOW about them, I have to have them, right?

When my children were little, there used to be nearly a dozen fabric stores in Pensacola.  I have often joked and said that when I went back to work full-time, I stopped sewing, and they all went out of business.  Too sad, but true?  Maybe?  No, I couldn't have kept them all in business by myself....  Could I?

I used to work in Warrington - oh, 25 years ago now - and I shopped at AandE frequently.  But after we moved away, and moved back, I kind of forgot they had such neat stuff.  Then, in 2009, when Beautiful Daughter #2 was looking for some special trims for her prom dress that the ordinary fabric store didn't have, a lady at the cutting counter suggested we try AandE.  And I had one of those, "You Dummy!" moments.  Of course!  I knew about it all along, and just forgot.  And so we drove across town and they had exactly what she wanted.  And it was on sale, even.  And I was hooked.

But I really didn't appreciate just what a treasure it was until Beautiful Daughter #1 turned me on to how much fun designer fabric can be.  And so I have to wander by once or twice a week on my lunch hour or on the way home from work.  I browse.  I touch.  I imagine.  Too often, I succumb to the subtle charms of these beautiful fabrics.  Like I need more fabric.  But I need to feed my addiction.  Still, it is an innocent enough habit, I suppose.

And the ladies there are so nice.  And (I'm not sure this is a good thing) they remember me.  The other day, a lady and her daughter were buying some of the Michael Miller Lanterns Bloom collection, and when the lady at the counter saw me, she said, "Here's a lady that has already made that quilt," and so I stopped and chatted, and gave them the benefit of my experience (and told them that the pattern is on Michael Miller's website and they don't need to reinvent the wheel, like I did).  Then, when I was in there today after work, the manager of the fabric department told me I should have been there earlier - that they had some quilters come in with "show and tell", and I would have loved it.

And I would have, too.

I plan to spend the weekend finishing projects.  Maybe I'll have some time Monday to do some "show and tell" of my own!

Scraps

I thought I would get more done this weekend.  I have 6 quilts in various stages of completion and a ton of clothing I would like to sit down and sew, but this summer bug has been a drain on my energy.  Friday, I stayed home, but accomplished nothing creative, although I did sleep a lot.  Yesterday, I sewed the S's and Z's for my Avignon Picnic blocks from Moda Bake Shop (you can link to it here).  I ended up with 18 squares, which really isn't enough, so Beautiful Daughter #1 said she would bring me another pack of charm squares when we see each other in Seattle in September.  (Sounds like a song, doesn't it?)  The sample quilt actually has 64 squares, but I think 36 will make a nice small quilt.  Maybe a baby quilt or a cuddling up in front of the TV quilt.  We'll see.

Oh - and I left the house long enough yesterday to go to the ordinary fabric store (aka JoAnn's) because they had the batting I like on sale and thread 50% off.  I have been running out of thread like crazy.  I bought a ton of thread when I was sewing a lot (before I went back to work full-time), but there is not much of that left.   It's the little things that often drive us crazy, like running out of the right color of thread in the middle of a project.  Coats and Clarks at 50% off is a pretty sweet deal, I think.

The only other thing I did this weekend was sort my scraps.  I was looking for replacement pieces for the double-sided duvet cover that is about to become 2 quilts (see my post on un-serging) so I removed the squares with the buttonholes, hence their need to be replaced..  It was a great opportunity to sort my scraps.  Wow!  Did that bring back memories.  It seems, though, that this scrap bag is just the scraps from the last couple of years.  Wonder where the older ones are?  Think of the memories I will have when I find THOSE!

Happy quilting!

Major Surgery

Well, it's done.  At least the squares are dissected and put back together.  The hardest part was making the first incision.  I felt like I was doing major surgery - cutting into vital organs or something!  (And to think I thought I could be a doctor!)

The second hardest part was arranging the completed squares.  Do I want a square quilt or a twin?  Do I want the aqua squares all in a row or spread around?  Do I like the brown at all?  All this angst!!  But amid the coughing (I guess it's a summer bug) and the company (Handsome Son is visiting from Down South) it is done.  I hope to add the borders and backing and get it quilted this weekend, but for now, I have most of a quilt top.

I think I like it!  Maybe.

Miracle of Miracles!

I cleaned the sewing room yesterday.  This may not seem like a major accomplishment, but it is sad to say I was ashamed that it had gotten so messy.  And messy is not a good thing in such a small space. 

My room is always a challenge.  It is 8 ft. by 8 ft.  It has 4 doorways.  Wonderful Husband put in cupboards for me several years ago, but they are full of fabrics (imagine that!), patterns, other craft supplies, and books.  My stash was encroaching on what little floor space there is as well as the top of my only real work surface.  It was simply intolerable.  I didn't take a before picture.  Too embarrassing!

And, we were having company for dinner.  Always a great motivator for me.

Anyway, the fabric is all neatly stashed (laundry baskets are SO useful), the thread is all on its little thread keeper posts, and the notions are tucked neatly in their drawers. And it still looks messy.  Don't try to imagine what it looked like before.  Sadly, it doesn't get any better than this.

I think that's a good thing!