Current Project and Concert

 This is a group project among several of us in the quilt ministry.  It will be an altar cloth that we use on the Sundays that the church dedicates the prayer quilts.  So far all I've managed to do is outline the figures in gold.....Never enough time for all I need to do!

This past weekend Sweet Teen and I got to spend some fun time together, but of course, I forgot to take pictures.
I did take pictures of her concert in the gazebo at the Plaza in Old Town Albuquerque, but they're not very good pictures.  And of course, we forgot to take other pictures.

We had beautiful autumn weather this weekend, and it was a great time for a concert.  However, we're expecting a 25 degree drop in temperature later this week--so I'll soon be regretting that I didn't manage the time to get clothes out of storage last Saturday or Sunday.  This is also the week for Parent Teacher Conferences.
Sweet Teen is doing a report on family history in one of her classes, so we also got to look through a box of old family pictures this past weekend.  We got in touch with a couple of my Kansas aunts to fill in some blank spots in our family tree and family history, and then learned there's a lady in Albuquerque researching our family tree because she's interested in some early New Mexico history that includes links to two of my uncles (brothers who married two of my aunts).  She's even spent a day with one of my Kansas cousins and his wife gathering family history.  (I had no idea.)
My maternal grandpa had 8 siblings, and my mom had 9 sisters and 5 brothers, so I have cousins I've never met.  In fact, in their entire lives, the 14 kids in my mom's family were together in the same place at the same time only three times that I know of.  There were 22 years between the birth of the youngest and oldest; all survived to adulthood; ten are still alive.
So nice to reconnect.  Sweet Teen and I are hoping to attend the next family reunion in Kansas in early June.
I feel remiss in not doing a better job of blogging.  I do love to blog--even enjoy taking pictures when I remember to do so--but life has been so intense since August that I've not been doing a very good job of it. It's so much fun, usually, to look back through my blog and remember what we were doing. However, while not blogging, fortunately, I've been doing a good job of driving and so have most of the drivers I encounter each day--but not such a good job of blogging.  Alas.......

Goodies - Yarn, Etc. & A Question

We awoke this morning to snow on the mountains around us.  Most of it was gone by early afternoon.  However, coupled with the low temperatures and cloudy skies the last couple of days, it's a reminder that winter is on its way--as was the fact that it was just so cold in the house that I had to turn on the furnace.  I'm dreading the winter utility bills!
So......
here are the goodies to which I succumbed!

 Plymouth Happy Feet sock yarn in watery colors.
Below, a magazine splurge.  Two romantic decor magazines and two quilting magazines.

Who knows if I'll ever make any of the quilts in the magazines, but they'll inspire my quilts anyway.

And the beautiful photos in Romantic Country and Romantic Homes will warm my senses and my heart as we head into winter.  Yes, it's obvious I'm not a winter person--although I might be if I could play in it and not have to drive so many miles in it each day.

Are you aware Wal-mart no longer discounts magazines (and the prices have gone up on almost everything else they carry)?  Okay, now I won't have to feel guilty when I splurge on a magazine at Smith's/Kroger's because at least I'll be earning points toward lower prices on gas.

The double nine-patch quilt in the above photos is one I made in the late 80's and early 90's before I started machine quilting.  Although I pieced it in Tennessee, the quilt brings back a lot of happy memories of an old house on Hill Street in Gallup with wonderful big windows.  I quilted in the dining room, where we still had room for a dining table.  The house had beautiful light maple floors;  I'd love to have light maple floors again!

I'm curious......Do you choose the quilts you're using according to the season?  Do you change to darker colors in the fall and/or winter?  Do  you stick with light colors in the winter to ward off the darkness of shorter daylight?  Do you stick to your favorite colors year round regardless of the season?

I quilted for a few minutes on a prayer quilt this morning--just a few minutes.

Happy quilting to all who manage time to quilt!.....

Sweet Teen & Homecoming

Homecoming was this past weekend.
This evening she was reminding me that in the "old days", i.e., grade school, when she earned C's and D's, I didn't get angry with her, but I'd say things like, "Your value as a human being has nothing to do with your grades.  Are those the grades you want?"
Now as a junior in high school, she has mostly A+'s, an A or two, and is very upset by her B in math.  She's not sure I'm happy enough with all her A's.  I figure they're her grades.  I'm happy for her, but they're her grades, not mine.  And apparently I'm not happy enough. She also remarked that in her psych class they've been discussing that most of the parents of the other kids put a lot more pressure on them to get high grades and get a lot more upset if they get bad grades.
I can't help thinking back to those couple of years I worked on her adoption.  What I was thinking then was that I wanted to raise a child who would be happy, a good human being, and capable of maintaining long-term intimate relationships.  That's pretty much what I still want for her--and that's pretty much who she is.  In seven days, she'll have been legally and officially my daughter for 14 years.  We've faced a lot of challenges.  I'm very happy that she is who she is.  I love that she's smart, introspective, reflective, and seldom acts without thinking.  In view of the fact that we are so alike in so many ways and so different in so many other ways, she wonders what is genetic and what is the result of nurturing.  It might be interesting to know, but I'm just glad she's who she is.

Fireworks

Because our little town has multiple fireworks factories, the homecoming game includes some pretty spectacular fireworks displays.

My little camera managed some interesting photographs--and a couple captured some things that my eyes missed.

I do love fireworks, despite the fact that our residents buy so many that the 4th of July fireworks last for hours and hours.

As I was leaving the house to get Sweet Teen after the game, across the sky, above the fireworks, streaked a meteor.  The meteor took my breath away.

The fireworks are like all the prayers we lift up for friends and the friends of our friends.  We're blessed by them. What really takes our breath away is the recognition that we have a Lord whose love streaks across the cosmos blessing us, confirming his love and presence.