About those fish...

We went to a small aquarium this past month that had a really fascinating touch pool. LB just loved all the sunstars, starfish, crabs, sea cucumbers, scallops and whatever else was in there! We must have spent at least an hour at the touch pool - and as you can see - he pretty much had the place to himself! He also really liked the frog exhibit.

Outside there were 2 huge tanks... here is a photo of him looking into one of them. Oh but wait - what does that sign say?

Can you read it? "Caution! Sharks! Sharp spines and teeth! Please do NOT touch the spiny dogfish!" About those fish - they bite! Once I read the sign to LB - his little hand went right behind his back.

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Not that the picture of a hand had the universally(?) understood red circle with a slash through it. LB thought the hand sign meant that he could touch the fish in there - afterall, we had just come from the touch tank!

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It was actually an interesting exhibit about giving the fish more oxygen to make them grow bigger. Some of the sturgeon (in the 2nd tank) must have been 6 feet long!

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Just a small place, but LB sure had lots of fun!

Hopewell Mud!

I am sure that most visitors to The Hopewell Rocks have photos similar to my little photo collage here... the collage feature does crop some from each photo - for example, the full photo of that amazing cloud does have some rocks in it too! These are still unedited - some time this winter I will probably play around with my favorites in Photoshop. Maybe! I am always soo busy - I just keep taking photos and figure that some day I will get a chance to organize them and play around with them, etc. Kindergarten is right around the corner afterall! Right now I figure the important thing is actually in being out there and doing, doing, doing... I can sort and organize photos later - or who knows, maybe I will just leave that task to my grandchildren, LOL!

So - back to the Hopewell Rocks - my big question is this - how many people have photos of such a muddy Little Boy in their Hopewell Rock photos? Oh - he had a GRAND time smearing mud all over himself turning into a mud monster. I tell you - the Japanese tourists (must have been a tour bus) were lining up to take their photos with him (after politely asking, of course!). And this behaviour would perfectly explain why a full 1/2 of his limited wardrobe usually lives in my car! That mud is well known in the area!

With a little break in my schedule we scooted off for a 3 night getaway. Hopewell Rocks is one of our favorite destinations and once again we weren't disappointed.

Photos like these sure are nice to look at after coming off a long series of double shifts. Was that 2 weeks ago already? I tell you - time flys. Go out, take photos and enjoy... today - because today will be gone tomorrow.

Stack of Quilts

2 ladies asked me yesterday if they could come over today and see my quilts. All of them or one in particular, I wanted to know. All of them. So, here they are - minus 1 still to add to the stack. The ones I've kept anyway - many have been gifted. These are the quilted ones - I have another stack of just tops.

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They gave me a big hug when they left so I guess they had a good time!

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Almost all of these quilts are BIG, bed sized quilts. Just recently I have started to make smaller quilts - they still fit the top of my queen bed but with no overhang. The smaller ones are definately easier to show, but I do love my big quilts!

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Little Boy loves ALL of these quilts, big and small - here he is giving the pile a big hug!

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And just an interesting not on the usage of the word "love" in the English language... unfortunately my memory is only good enough to always let me remember just enough to get things mixed up and into trouble, but I seem to remember that it was maybe the Ancient Greeks who had 3 words for love... eros, agape and something else? So, you could love your new boyfriend, love your Momma, love pizza, etc. and each individual word for love had its own defination/level of love associated with it. How cool is that? English actually does not have as many words in the vocabulary as some other languages.

Blue quilt blocks progress

Well, I managed to sew the 13 main blocks together for my Rainbow Around the World quilt.

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When I start a quilt I often like to start with the most time consuming blocks - once I get those done I know that the rest will go faster. It keeps me motivated to keep going!

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I've moved my sewing area - again. This time it is in the kitchen - which just so happens to be very close to our bedroom. Little Boy likes it when I sew at night while he is going to sleep - he knows I am near. Believe it or not - I was able to get all these blocks together during my evening sewing this week. I am thinking that I really like my sewing area in the kitchen - and the ironing board! It will do for now - in the winter I will probably have to move - again - because the kitchen floor is very cold in the winter. A funny thing is that this past winter my sewing area was in the warmest room of the house - but very far away from the main rooms - and I always felt a bit creepy sewing there at night by myself. Obviously I am going to have to put my thinking cap on for a workable/warm/not creepy sewing area!!!

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Amazing what you can do in bits and pieces. I was thinking maybe I was too tired to sew at night and that maybe I would like to watch a TV program instead - but really, there isn't too much on that interests me anyway. I've switched our cable from a full-blown line-up down to basic - a huge $50 savings a month. There wasn't anything on before and now - even less so, LOL!

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I wonder what I will get done this week? The bigger pieces are up next so it should go faster!

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And just in case you forget what I am working on - here is a photo from the pattern - Rainbow Around the World.*

Oh - and go on over to Ohio Quilter's Journey blog (http://ohioquilter.blogspot.com/2008/07/summer-gone-need-inspiration.html) for a post about inspiration and all the interesting comments!

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Some photos from our foggy week. While the tourists don't really like fog, Little Boy is very happy with a fog because his allergies aren't too bad! All that moisture keeps the pollen in check.

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By the way - it isn't lobster season in the summer -which is why everywhere we go we see piles and piles of lobster traps. The whole lobster people are eating right now were caught in the spring... the things haven't eaten in a long time so that is why there is so little meat in the shells - they are starving! Much better to buy whole lobster when it is in season and the shell is full of meat. Don't ask me why people always seem to want to eat lobster in the summer!!!

And that was July

What ever did happen to July anyway! Well, LB and I made that trip to Cape Cod - so minus 1 week out of the month right off the bat! We went shopping 2X (mind you - it takes 3 hours each way to go shopping). We aren't huge shoppers so I really had thought 1X would be enough, but well... you see... the 1st trip seems like my sewing thread was "accidentally thrown" out of the shopping cart and I never noticed and then somehow my new sneakers were switched to a color that LB liked better (without me noticing and then when I got them home - they weren't even the correct size - I haven't had new sneakers since he was born so you can imagine how much I really wanted new sneakers that FIT!). So - another trip was in order, but I was able to combine it with some business errands. Actually, the 2nd trip I had thought we would spend the night, but I've done such a good job teaching my son to shop with a list that as soon as we got everything checked off - he wanted to high tail it right back home. To tell you the truth, I was just as happy to return home. I had thought we would go do something else, but it was raining so might as well return home and save outside activities for another day (which is why I never really tell him the schedule in the 1st place because - things change). The 2 of us also made 1 of our weekly meat runs, maybe 2 - and that takes about 4 1/2 hours round trip. It just seems like we spent a fair bit of time on the road. LB doesn't mind being on the road, he straps in and is perfectly content to tag along with Momma. It is a bit amazing really because when he isn't strapped into a seat belt he is constant motion and you would really think that he never sat still.

My work schedule has been very busy but I really try hard to schedule in some fun time too. We kicked off July with a lovely community party for Canada Day especially for the kids. LB really had fun at that - it even included a bike parade that he managed to keep up with! My quilting group had a very successful show and then we had a lovely potluck at one of the members houses a few days later. Here is a photo collage of some of the quilts - these were all hand-quilted! And yes, some of those quilts are cross-stitched! We also had lots of other needlecrafts and I just loved the knit doll - she is so sweet! Some of the members made up flower arrangements as decorations from flowers in bloom and this is one of them that I liked in particular.

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LB and I enjoyed a trip to a pool on a warm day and we often go down to the beach around 4 o'clock in the afternoon to walk, splash and look for seaglass. 1 Saturday I actually remembered to walk down to the Farmer's Market before it was over and that was nice. We've made brownies and cakes and some craft projects along the way too. Oh, and I had to SEW the couch cover back together, plus a pair of LB's pants when they met with a pair of scissors in little hands. Always seems to be a bit of mischief underfoot. I tell you - that craft supply bucket needs constant supervision!

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The flowers that we worked so hard on this spring are in full bloom and don't need much tending to at all. Now - if we could just get 1 tomato ripe! We also went to visit someone else's garden to gather ideas for our garden for next year. One of our neighbors has offered us lily of the valley, irises and something else from her garden for next year!

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These flowers amuse me because late in the afternoon they fold their petals down flat - see?

*I can't really think of anything extra exciting - the days just seem to roll by on a breath of summer wind.

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Sewing wise - I did up 12 crazy stitched blocks, pieced my dresden blades into circles and have been working on that Rainbow Trip Around the World I posted about last time. Again, nothing extra exciting, just continuing onward and making small bits and pieces of progress. It is times like this (when it seems like nothing is getting done) that I especially like getting quilted quilts back from the longarm quilter(s)!. I already showed you my scrappy pinwheel, and here are 4 more (I think I have 2 more left to photo) - all these need binding so I guess binding should go on the schedule at some point in time for August/September. You've seen photos of these along the way, but now they are quilted. A few close-ups of the quilting too - the back would be for Shakespear in the Park.

All around a fairly nice month with fairly nice weather - nothing extra special but still nice. The days just seem to meld one into another right now. And there really isn't anything wrong with that - no one is sick and all is well.... And on that nice note - here is a photo of an unexpected treat a neighbor dropped off for me - freshly baked scones with homemade jelly. I was so happy that I sat right down and had one - then I came to my senses and went looking for my camera to take a photo before they were all gone!