4th of July happenings

Hi all, I have to get started on my blogging again. This year has gone by so fast hasn't it? With weddings, graduations, b'day parties, whew the summer is flying by. I want to tell you about our 4th of July in the hometown I grew up in. It's only a few miles from where I live now. It was the best day of the summer. My parents lived there till they died, so we went quite a few years. But, anyway, we always went to the big 4th of July parade, then to mom and dad's for donuts and coffee and chit chat. Then we would walk down to the city park that was only a block from my parents. They had a little carnival for the little ones and my boys loved it. They always had a talent show in the afternoon and a big craft show all day long. Oh, how I loved the craft show. There were many good finds. Of course there were the hot dog stands, lemonade stands and my favorite, cotton candy!!! Then we would have a cook out in the afternoon and go to the park again. Then visit some more and then the fireworks at 10 pm which we could see perfectly from my parents house. A lot of friends would come over and we would sit on blankets in the front yard. Now, I'm sad to say my parents are both gone and our kids are grown and moved away, but we still have the memories. Those were the good old days. I can't believe I'm saying that. Well have a great 4th and enjoy your time with family and friends. It's precious!!!!

Things to catch up on

I have been very busy and a little lazy, so I have missed a few months. I was busy making a t-shirt quit for my cousin's son for his graduation. It encompassed a lot of my time. It is finally done and turned out pretty good. We have a a lot of travel week-ends for graduations, family reunions and commisioning of my nephew into the Air Force. We have had to power wash our deck and stain and get a new pool installed, we had our other one for 20 yrs. so I guess we got our use out of it. Other than the quilt, I haven't done much sewing. I will get back into it though. I hope these pictures come out OK.

I forgot to show you my quilt

I forgot to show you the first step of my t-shirt quilt. It's really no big deal, but for me it's just a start to making more difficult quilts.

A Potpouri of things

I know it's been a long time since I have posted a blog, no real excuses just lazy and worrying that I won't remember how to do it and just putting it off. We have been away, the last week in Feb. we went on a cruise to the Mexican Rivera. We first visited with my husband's mother who is almost 97. She is doing great. She walks 2 miles a day and volunteers at the hospital, and still drives!!! On our cruise we went on an excursion at Porta viarta, it was zip lining and rapelling. If I knew what it would entail, I don't think I would have been up to it. We ziplined 9 times and rapelled 2 times and rode a mule for about 20 minutes up the hill. It was something I NEVER thought I could do. Looking back it was kinda fun but scary too.

So, I'm also working on a t-shirt quilt for my cousin's sons graduation. I'm getting a little help from my neighbor who is an avid quilter. She is almost as good as Thimbleanna!!!! Here are a few pictures of what's been going on.

Making my first real quilt

My sister with her grandaughter and my adopted grandaughter!!

A part of the family at Christmas

I know I haven't blogged in a while. We have had a hectic January so far. I think I'm done with my surgeries. My sister and brother-in-law went on a cruise a few weeks ago and they were scuba diving which they have done before. My bro-in-law blacked out in the water and they pulled him up and he wasn't breathing, so they started pounding on his chest. He has had 4 heart attacks and surgeries and had a pacemaker/defibrillator put in this past year. They transferred him to a "hospital" in Mexico, it had one bed and a paramedic, so they had to pay $20,000 then and there to air lift him to Ft. Lauderdale. There they did tests and said it wasn't a heart attack, it was some kind of respiratory problem. He had to stay there a few days , then they flew home and believe me when I picked them up, he looked half dead, just clutching his chest where they broke some ribs doing CPR. He was in terrible pain. Well, I don't know why I told you all this except this is the kind of thing I have been dealing with this year so far. I don't have pictures of my quilt but I will when I finish it. It's very simple, but hey you gotta start somewhere, and my kind neighbor Amy helped me out with the backing. After our cruise in February I will be getting in more sewing and quilting. Thanks for hanging out with me.

The Craig Family at Christmas

Well, Christmas and New Year is behind us and we are beginning to return to "normal". We had 17 family over for Christmas dinner and, although it seemed like there were people everywhere, it was a great time to get (most of) our family together! This picture shows my husband's side of the family with ages from 7 (my dog) to 96 (my MIL)!

My MIL is very sharp and talks a LOT about her past. I just try to listen politely even though I've heard the same stories for over 30 years! Oh, well, she is a wonderful MIL.

I'm not really one for making resolutions but I would like to make some changes in my lifestyle. I need to make some health issues and need to work on those. And of course, the old "lose the weight" thing. We are going on a cruise the end of February and I would like to look and feel half way decent. I'm very excited about this. It's our second cruise and a duplicate of our first (which we enjoyed soooo much, we wanted to repeat).

I was looking at the Fat Quarter web site and ohhhh the goodies they have on there. It's getting me excited to start up my quilting again. They have some adorable fabric.

Hope you all have a great new year.

I'm Finally Back

A day at the Cider Mill with my sis and bro - law Go State

One last Hurrah

Fall Dressings

One of the last days of summer

The ducks had a hay day in our pool

There has been alot going on since I last wrote. I had major surgery 9 weeks ago, and am recovering nicely except for the pain in my knee which I have to have surgery on Nov. 24th to clean out the arthritis and torn ligaments. I've also gone through the loss of a very good friend moving to Arizona, You may know her as Homespun Quilts. Yes, it's Susie. She has lived only one block over from me for over 20 years. She's going to be using that Bed and Breakfast for me many a time. I have worked on some small projects, but mostly just used the pool this summer with my sister. I absolutely love this weather we're having, cool and crisp and full of color. I love the fall and I took a few pictures to show you. I have really missed looking at blogs and seeing what everyone's doing. Let's get reacquainted shall we. Talk to you soon.