A Day in the life of Lenny

I am certainly getting my Lenny fix while I am down here.  This baby is just too too cute and he loves having his picture taken!

Enjoy the show!

Welcome to Baltimore!

Well, actually Glen Burnie…

I am having a great time with Adrienne, Joe, Leonard and Steve.  They tell me the weather is gorgeous-but of course, for me it is a little warm.  The ride down was good; it rained in Pennsylvania, but then it always rains in PA!

Thursday, Adrienne and I went shopping in Catonsville.  The strip mall we went to had this:

this:

AND this:

all next door to each other!

Adrienne did a little damage at the yarn shop (that is my purse and yarn on the counter ):

And I had a great time at the quilt shop.  Everyone in there was so nice (but the manager did  inform me that New York is TOO cold for her!)

Pictures of my purchases to come later!

It’s Here!

My Hello Kitty machine arrived and it is too cute!  I only played with it for a few minutes.  I ordered a quarter-inch foot and metal bobbins for it so when I get back from Baltimore (going to see Adrienne and her family) I will try some sewing. 

This actually works out well.  I brought my Bernina in for a tune up-it has been 3 years!-so I can play with the Janome for a few days.

And in other news, our guild hosted a purse making workshop with the Gypsy Quilter.  I made the Lily design from Lazy Gals. I used fat quarters from the Giddy line at the shop. I really like the way it turned out.

So tomorrow I am off to Baltimore and you know what that means: quilt and yarn shops and LOTS of pictures of Lenny!

See you soon!

It’s Raining…Again

Life is Good

I hope you all have many days like this.  Katie and Dave came over for pizza and and the weather was beautiful and we all ended up outside.

And these are the times when I say life is good and I have been blessed.  My family is healthy and happy  and I hope these things never change.  I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I will.

And of course Buddy was on patrol!

You have to love these faces!

Spring Flowers

Today Katie came over and planted my little garden around the lamp post.  This year we decided to go with orange and yellow.

It looks a little sparse right now but in a few weeks it will be perfect.

Thanks Katie!

Hello Kitty!

Have you seen this?  I have wanted a Hello Kitty sewing machine for the longest time!  The machine is made by Janome and is a 3/4 machine and weighs about 11 pounds.  Almost every review I have read has been positive; metal bobbins are suggested for better sewing.

So I finally ordered one from Target.  I can’t wait for it to get here!  I am hoping that it will work out as a travel machine; my Bernina and Viking are just too heavy to lug around. I will let you all know how it runs after I give it a good workout!

Can you see my teeth?

Birthday Month

April is over and with it another month of birthdays has passed.  Adrienne celebrated her 30th birthday on the 23rd; Michael turned 10 on the 28th and Lauren and Dylan celebrated their birthdays on the 30th.  Lauren (my youngest!) is 25 and Dylan is

(shown with his handsome big brother Michael)

Katie made a Handy Manny birthday cake:

The fondant and decorations were made from confectioner’s sugar and marshmallow.  I love the tape measure!  She also made the cookies.

Michael had his friends over for a football party.  Katie found out how much food 11 ten year old boys eat! For his birthday I made Michael a Yankees quilt.  Since cotton Yankee fabric is difficult to find I did some improvising.

The Yankee logos were appliqued.  The grey Yankee square and the blue fabric were a shirt and pajama pants from Walmart.

I found the badges on E-bay.

2001 is the year that Michael was born.

Dylan said that HE wants a baseball quilt now!!

Mimi’s Quilt

My very best friend Mimi took a beginning quilt class last year and completed a wall hanging.  (She finally realized that I could not teach her all she needed to know!) She chose red hat colors (red and purple) and left the quilt for me to quilt and bind for her.  And now almost a year later it is completed and back in Virginia!

I did a stipple in the background and then added straight line quilting to the blocks and border.  I also sent Mimi some buttons if she wanted to add them to the flowers (She does)

Here is a close-up of the quilting.

I think she did a great job.  Enjoy your quilt Mimi!

More Pictures!

Oh, I love my handsome boys!

Teaching Again

I will be teaching a class at Mission Rose this spring!

I have fallen in love with this book and I will be teaching the technique in May.

I have made these two samples and I want to make a third using the bigger sized block:

Above is a table runner and below is a wall hanging.

I have always enjoyed teaching and I am looking forward to the class!

Finally- A Post!

Yes-I have been woefully negligent in my blogging duties.  Everyday that I plan to post, something comes up.  For example today it is this:

Our house is bi-level; the kitchen, which is the first floor, is below ground level by about 40”.  This causes a LOT of plumbing problems because the drain run more horizontally than vertically. It also means that much of our plumbing is between walls instead of being exposed in a basement. (We don’t have a basement) What I thought was a slow running kitchen drain has become a leak somewhere in the pipes.  The plumber has gone in search of a camera so he can see what is going on. We are not pleased.
In happier news, Adrienne and Joe baptized Lenny and had their marriage blessed earlier this month.  We drove down to Maryland for the weekend. 
Can I just say?  Lenny is a healthy baby! He is 8 months old and is over 20 pounds! His christening outfit just fit him (although the hat was TOO small!)
 
He looks just like Adrienne did a that age.  And he is a very happy baby:

And finally, I have been knitting a sweater.  It is a neck down pattern with a V-neck:

It is actually a denim blue heather from Cascade 220 yarn.
Last night I babysat Michael and Dylan. Dylan was helping me by unwinding the yarn as I knit:



He is an excellent helper!
More to come!

UPDATE:  The plumber(s) were here from here from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm tonight.  They replaced several feet of pipe, snaked for hours and put a few holes in my lower cabinets (inside).  My sink is still plugged up.

The verdict-we have a collapsed pipe under the cement floor in the hallway.  It will require pulling the carpet, jack hammering the floor, replacing the pipe and then making all the repairs.  We are looking at a second (and possibly third) opinion-and estimates. But as my husband has reminded me, it is not an earthquake or tsunami.