Fun times behind, fun times ahead!

The birthday party Jeff arranged for me was a blast. It was just what I was wanting; a relaxing evening with my friends. We had a few drinks, ate some tasty grilled ribs, and our friends brought yummy side dishes to go with ribs, and we had some nice snacks to tide us over and go with the beers to drink while we were waiting on the grill. The ribs are Jeff's family tradition at large parties and he did a great job with them. Good times, good friends.


I mentioned earlier, I recently have been bitten by the quilting bug (Thanks, Mom!)

Of course, with birthdays comes the opportunity to purchase treats for myself with some birthday money (Thanks Mom Kass!)

Oddly enough, more than half of this is actually going towards making stuff for someone else, but I still get all the fun of making it! Muhahaha!

First up I got three "charm packs" by Moda. The fabric line this comes from is called Bistro, and it has all sorts of coffee and latte themed things. On anyone can quilt she made a lovely table topper quilt using two of these charm packs. I wanted an extra one just in case, although I'll likely make mine the same size or smaller, to go diagonally on my rectangular coffee table that I don't want to cover up so much as protect and decorate. The swirly brown fabric under the 5"squares is going to be the border, and I'll probably use unbleached muslin for the back. While we were at Joanne's, Mom found some beautiful Debbie Mumm fabric in the discount pile, and when we were at the cutting table, when her lady was done with it, I asked her to place that right on top of the pile my gal was working from! There were only 2.5 yards left, and it only came to like $3.50 for the rest of the bolt. No idea whatsoever what I'll do with it, but with that quantity, I can totally use it for a quilt back.

Next up is fabric that's going to be an ABC-123 quilt for my new nephew. More details on that to come :)Now we come to the red batik fabrics. I have a rather ambitious project in mind for these. I've been facinated with fabric folding, which is a marriage of origami and quilting. There is a pattern in the fabric folding book which consists of some 150 folded roses (with their folded centers) appliqued into place to resemble topiaries teeming with roses. And yes. I want to make this. I'll just start collecting red batiks, cutting squares, folding them, and do it whenever. I'm going to work on the background, the pots and the window at the same time, and applique the roses whenever it suits me. One of those ongoing projects that any progress is fun and fulfilling.

So that's all for now. I have an Amazon Giftcard to spend, and I'm looking at a few more very nice quilt books, or maybe a spinning book!

30

Today I turn 30. Wow. Where have the last few years gone?

10 years ago I was still in college.
9 years ago I met my husband and he was with me to celebrate turning 21.
8 years ago I received the Goldwater Scholarship, and got engaged.
7 years ago I graduated from Alma and got married
6 years ago we bought our first house
5 years ago we adopted our first dog
4 years ago we started taking karate at Shaw's
3 years ago we bought our second house and our first new car
2 years ago we bought our second new car

This year a whole lot has happened. We got our blackbelts, saw my parents celebrate their 40th anniversary, welcomed a third grandchild into the family, had a few low points but even more high points.

Really, turning 30 isn't that much more of a milestone than 29 or 28 or 27. . . It's just one of those big round numbers that looks scary in type. I like how my life goes from "I" to "we" after getting married.

I'm greatly looking forward to this evening being surrounded by some of my closest friends, and doing little other than the usual hang out that's just so fulfilling. Drinking wine, eating ribs, telling stories, and just plain living.

Whatever the future holds, it is friends like these and the family I love dearly that will keep us afloat during rough times, and celebrate with us during the good times.

29

Just a few highlights from my 29th birthday.

I got to spend most of the day in my jammies, knitting.

We got all dressed up and went to a very nice Italian restaurant with my in-laws. The food was good, and I got one waiter to make a double-take at my dress. Always a good feeling.


In all, an excellent birthday.