Just popping in

to say "hi". Andrew is going through the "and a half" meltdown phase he goes through every year (it being February doesn't really help either), Aaron has decided he doesn't wear diapers during the day anymore (leading to a lot of remembering to putting him on the potty every hour, washing of wet pants and generally chasing a naked toddler around the house), and I have suddenly been consumed with quilt finishing fever.

I have had the other 20 of these blocks burning a hole in the bottom of a drawer in my sewing room while I finished all my Christmas / birthday / post Christmas sewing. Now that I am done, I have started on a mad tare to finish the quilt. Once I get to the point where I am piecing big blocks together, I just get obsessive until the quilt is done. Like as in bring -a -sleeve- of- graham- crackers- and- a- sippy- cup- for- each- child- and- take- no- excuses- to- go- upstairs obsessive.

Hopefully by tomorrow night I should have a photo of the finished top for you. I wanted to have it done already, but due to some daft mis-cutting early on in this project, I don't have enough of one of the fabrics I was going to use for the border, so I've had to rummage through my stash and improvise madly.

I am feeling like the pressure is on (from no one but myself) because I was SO happy with Marie's quilt, I don't see how I can possibly make another one that is quite as awesome as it was. Take deep breath. Say short prayer to the quilting gods. Commence sewing.

Off I go.

Stash Sunday

While I was in Thunder Bay, at my Dad's funeral, I made a last-minute-on-the-way-to-the-airport stop at this fabric store of which I know of. It carries Kaffe Fasset's stripes and shot cottons. SO I snuck in a picked these up.

When I was folding them after I washed them (yep, I'm an obsessive prewasher since the monkey quilt disaster ), when I realized that they remind me of Thunder Bay for another reason.

Ready for a little Canadian history? If not, just look at the lovely fabric and click on through.
My home town, Thunder Bay, is one of the northern most bays in Lake Superior. Lake Superior is the most inland of the great lakes, which join together and feed into the St. Laurence River, which then feeds into the Atlantic Ocean. In the 1700's, when Canada was first settled, its major export was fur, and the major method of transport was canoe. All along the canoe routes there were Forts, where Native American and European trappers would drop off their furs.These forts were set up by trading companies and contained all the basic amenities that might be needed by trappers or voyageurs (the guys that paddled the canoes up and down the rivers and lakes) - doctors, smiths, bars - as well as some representatives of the trading company that set up the fort. Thunder Bay was originally founded at this time, as Fort William, by the North West Trading Company (if I remember correctly). It was at the head of the great lakes, and on the shores of a river that led into a series of smaller rivers and lakes that led into the rest of what is now Northern Ontario and Manitoba.

Still with me? Fast forward to the present day. About 30 or 35 years ago, Thunder Bay was still on a major trade route. Grain from the prairies would come into town by train and go out on big Ocean going Container Ships. But there was an argument between the rail union and the wheat board and wheat started going West out to Vancouver instead. In the midst of this they found / excavated the ruins of Fort William, then reconstructed it a few miles further up the river, and made it into a tourist stop, complete with summer job seeking university students in full costume baking bread, smithing metal, building canoes, and paddling up and down the river.

Okay, back to the connection to the fabric shown above. Those woven stripes totally remind me of all the bright, striped shirts and sashes worn by the French voyageurs at Old Fort William. It brought me back to field trips in elementary school where we would dress like voyageurs and cart water and paddle canoes and learn paddle dances and cook bannock around campfires and learn to find ten kinds of edible root in the forest. The soft, homespun quality of the fabric and the lively yet earthy colours triggered my very tactile memory. And that, friends, is how my mind works.

Anyway, I do love these fabrics. Don't know if I"ll use all the stripes together or as two colourways. Hmm. . . .

Ladybug finally made it across the Atlantic Ocean

In the midst of all the excitement of Christmas, I don't think I showed you all the quilt I made for the fun and funny Katy of I'm a Ginger Monkey . You may remember that the theme was "Out of the Box"-- ie, not square. So I made this silly ladybug. I meant for her to be small, but she ended up growing to close to 12 inches, which is pretty massive.

Even so, she must have stowed away on a ship and then crawled from the coast to Katy's house, because it took her over two months to arrive. Ah well, thats what happens when Canada Post has your town listed as "All Other Places".

Threads Together Virtual Quilting Bee

For those of you not well versed in the world on online quilting communities, a virtual quilting bee is a clever, fun adventure started by a few ladies on Flikr. Essentially, what happens is that each person picks out some fabric, and thinks of a kind of quilt they would like to make. Then each member takes a turn sending fabric to all the other quilters, and a month (or so) later, they get 8 or 12 or 16 blocks back to piece into a quilt. Each quilter gets to play with 8 or 12 other people's fabric, and in return gets all the blocks made for their own quilt. Cool, eh?

I first caught wind of this when Betty of bettyninja and Jacquie of Tall Grass Prairie Studio , two of my favorite quilt bloggers, joined Common Threads quilting bee , and I thought it was a pretty cool idea.

Well, when Betty mentioned on her blog that she was looking for another virtual quilting bee to join (I think she's in four or five now), I asked if she could let me know if she found one. Fortunately, she did, and she used her quilting cred to get me a spot in it! So I am excited to let you all know that I am now part of the Threads Together Virtual Quilting Bee! The first pack of fabric should be arriving soon (depending on how grumpy the border guards are feeling and whether the weather is good). I'll keep you posted on my progress, and you can also check out our Flikr group for the virtual quilting bee .

A few of Crafty turtle's favorite things

Now that I have heard that it was received, I can show you what I made for the Favorite Things Swap. Crafty turtle's favorite things included the colour orange, her cat, and cute little creatures. SO, I found a few of my favorite cute novelty fat quarters that I've been secreting away for some time and cut into them, using my scraps to make the little courthouse square borders. This was such a fun quilt to pick fabric for and make. I may have to make a lap sized one with all kinds of things peeking out. I seem to have this thing for creatures peeking out of quilts, don't I?

Oh, the funny things they say and do . . .

First, a classic quote from Andrew:

"Aaron, you have to learn to share. Now, give me all the playdoh." (ah, older brothers)

Things are pretty funny around here these days. Aaron has quite an imagination, and is really verbal, so the boys are starting to play some pretty complex games together. Until Aaron gets bored and trashes them, that is.

For example, the other day, Andrew decided that Rupert the plastic night needed a birthday party. He, and several of his plastic and soft friends built a campfire (of blocks), and made hot dogs (also blocks). Aaron got some "watermelon" (a curved block), and they all ate lunch. Then there had to be party games, so Andrew and Aaron played ring around the rosy about 10 times. Then they had to have a treat, so I gave the boys some gummis I had in the house. Andrew was very particular -- the gummis had to be shared with all the knights and animals before you could take a bite. He was outraged that Aaron only gave Jonathan (the other knight) ONE bite before he gobbled his whole gummi up.

Aaron also likes to try to get in on action figure play. The only thing is, he is too little to make up a story for his guys, so playing action figures with him goes something like this:

Aaron: your guy, mommy. your guy. (I take the proffered guy and hold it up. Aaron takes his Buzz Light Year and begins talking in this funny growly voice) Hello.
Me: Hello Buzz Light Year.
Aaron: Look, my helmet!
Me: yes, that's a very nice helmet you have, Buzz Light Year.
Aaron: Look at my boots!
Me: Yes, you have very nice green boots, Buzz Light Year.
Aaron: Look, I wings!
Me: Oh, are those wings on your back? Fantastic.
(Pause)
Aaron: Look, my helmet!
Wash, rinse, repeat.

The other thing we are newly into around here is GAMES. We have played endless rounds of Hide and Seek in the last few weeks, and we have tried to play Duck, Duck, Goose, but our understanding of who should run and where they should end up is still rather tenative. Still, they love picking who will be the goose.

Andrew is presently hooked on fairy tales and old testament bible stories. I can't decide whether this is a good thing or not. He loves the stories from Judges, followed by first and second Samuel and first and second Kings -- that's right, all the chariot battles and gory killings and fire from heaven and lighting fields on fire by tying torches to foxes, and angelic visitations and evil kings. Ah well, as long as he knows the good guy wins in the end, that is what matters. After all, it is no worse than listening to the 5 o'clock news, is it?

Winners! Winners!

Wasn't that a blast? What fun to visit all those blogs. Thanks, Katy, for setting this up. It was super fun.

All right. I went and visited the Random Number Generator, and it gave me numbers 20 and 38. So . . . Sylvie and Jill, you are my winners! Congratulations! Expect an email from me later today.

Thanks for all the comments. That is the most visitors I've ever had on my blog. Thanks for stopping by, feel free to visit again.

Giveaway -- now with photos!

Good morning / afternoon / good evening and good night! Well, I have got my camera back, and so please excuse the ridiculously extensive descriptions now. Feel free to leave comments and wins some cute fabric, everyone.

Sorry, International Fabric Addicts, but it is still Tuesday night here and my husband seems to have scampered off with my camera, or my toddler has hidden it somewhere, so I don't have any photos of my giveaway fabric. I shall endevour to describe it to you, and you may leave a comment if you think you might like it. Otherwise, come back tomorrow at about 7 am CST (like, just before you go to bed) and I should have photos posted. Due to these technical difficulties, I will leave this open until Thursday morning my time.

I am giving away two bundles of fabric. Let me know if you are just entering for one, or for either.

Bundle one:


Three fat quarters of cute, retro kids and toys from the Look and Learn collection by American Jane. One is a border print with rulers and cute kids playing on a green background. The second is green with retro toys (wagons, blocks, cute dolls, etc) and red and yellow flowers. The third is blue with cute kids playing with retro toys.

Bundle two:


Twelve fat quarters, yep, three whole yards (bought online from the US as part of a fat quaters club) of Christmas Toile from Moda. These range from navy blue down to a light blue toile-y colour.

Eight of them depict scenes of santa riding in sledges, decorated Christmas trees and winter scenes, angels, etc. Four are more blender-y -- swirls or dots with shadowy angels. I am sure you can picture them perfectly.

All right, you can leave your comments here, if you like. Hopefully my camera will show up in the morning. Off to try to win all your free fabric (seriously, are we really destashing here or just having fun fooling ourselves?)

De-Stashing Fun

On Wed, I will be part of a fun stash giveaway. Quilters and other fabric lovers are all getting together to destash some of their fabric on their blogs. Tune in, and go to I'm a Ginger Monkey's blog (the button should lead you there, I think) for more details.

A few of my favorite things

The Dec. theme for the 6 - 12" Mini Quilt Swap was "Favorite Things". Everyone listed five of their favorite things, and their partner made a quilt including at least one of those favorite things.


I my case, the wonderfully creative craftyturtle managed to fit four of my things in: tea, whimsy, colour and children's literature.

How great is all this whimsical, Seussical goodness? There was nothing for it but to hang this one above my kitchen table, inviting me to have "tea" all day long.

Eulogy for my Father

Last Friday, I got a phone call from my Mom that threw me into a strange, dreamlike state. She informed me that my Dad had been taken to the hospital with pneumonia and had quickly passed away. The next few days became a flurry of phone calls with siblings, flight bookings and preparations for travel. Sunday afternoon we drove into Saskatoon. Monday morning I got on a plane, and by Monday evening, I was attending the memorial viewing (just photos, no body) for my Father. Tuesday morning was the funeral, Tuesday afternoon and evening were taken up with visiting and cleaning out parts of the house for Mom, and by Wed. night I was back at home again.

When I landed in Saskatoon, it felt like I had just had a strange dream, like I could just go home to my own little world again as if nothing had happened. Except that there would be no phone calls from my Dad asking about the latest happenings in the Anglican church, or wondering what we were planning to do next (in my family, there is always a next). There would be no reiterating of articles written about the evils of Atheists or the Liberal party of Canada or the Emergent Church. There would be no more tasting of my Dad's latest concoctions -- salsa, tomato drinks laced with habernero peppers, lemonade made with stevia, raspberry jam with so much sugar it crystalizes on the knife, and popcorn with the latest salt and / or butter substitution. No more pancakes and Spanish Bar cake and pumpkin seeds. No more websites and conferences and promotional campaigns and dvds and cds promoting expository preaching and reformed evangelical teaching. No more new gadgets or cool technology. No more crazy stories about my dad's latest adventures. Life would be a little bit flatter and plainer without my Dad here to add his particular brand of incessant curiosity and creativity to the mix.

My father started out as an electrician, working in a mine in Sudbury. While he was working full time he led summer camps, kids club meetings and bible studies as well as doing further studies. Just before I was born he moved to Thunder Bay to teach college. A few years later, he was asked to pastor a church. Instead of giving up his job, he did both. Every week when I was growing up he would work at the college for 40 hrs, run several Bible studies, write and teach his own sunday school curriculum, preach twice on Sunday, and often run conferences and television and radio shows on the side. For a few years, he worked at Hemlo Gold Mines in the summer, becuase he felt like his electrical skills were getting rusty. The day I was married he had a major heart episode, and a few months later heart surgery. That was 15 years ago. It slowed him down, but nothing stopped him. He preached his last sermon Jan. 1, 2009.

My Dad was an innovator. He didn't ask "Has anyone else done this before?", but "Why hasn't anyone done this yet?". When he first discovered public television, he started a tv show at our local cable company. When he found a printing press for sale, he bought it and printed his articles, church bulletins, and whatever else he could think of on it. When computers came out, he got a Rainbow100 to see what they could do. When digital video editing technology started up, he got a hold of a system, learned how to operate it, and did a second cable tv show. His college was one of the first to use interactive computer software (guess who designed it?) for promotional purposes at career fairs. His church had a website in 1995. One of his friends was saying that he used to get tired just talking to him on the phone, he was so full of ideas and plans and dreams.

My Dad hated pretention. He didn't want a viewing at his funeral, because he hated it when people said things like "Oh, he looks so good"(considering he's dead?) and he didn't want a bunch of flowers (so he could prove how many friends he had?). If he asked you how you were, he didn't want to hear "Fine.", he wanted to know how you were. If he didn't want to know how you were, he didn't ask. He was a self-taught theologian, and he and his fellow officially uneducated Renaissance men would call themselves "the Nurses" when they went to conferences and were surrounded by Dr's of Philosophy. He had no time for sentimentality or niceties.

He had great love for his friends and family, his dogs and cats, his food and his books, but little patience anything he considered to be foolishness. He could be bitingly satirical and caustic to those he thought were foolish, hypocritical or cowardly. Those who "got" him and gained his respect, gained a devoted friend. He had no time for the rest, unless he felt the need to set them straight.

Dad was fascinated by everything. He would describe a bug he had found in the garden, or a new idea he had heard about, or an ancient battle that turned on a brilliant general, or a newly discovered science fiction authour, with equal enthusiasm. He had this amazing, biting sense of humour, and a personality and laugh that would fill all the space around him. He lived with an intensity, passion and energy that left most people breathless in his wake.

One of the amazing things about his funeral was hearing about and understanding this heritage. He had five children and so far, 17 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren. He planted his determination, love of life, creativity and anti-establishment leanings, in all of us. Our lives are, in some ways, variations on this theme.

This summer, he said that he had done everything he could in life. In other words, everything that he thought he could do, he did. He said he wished that instead, he had done everything he should have done. I think he meant that he wished he had stretched himself less and focused more on his family and his own personal faith and growth. If he had focused all of his tremendous energy on a few areas, instead of spreading himself into everything that took his fancy, he could have done those few things with greater wisdom and incredible success. That was his parting wisdom after 71 years of living and 15 years, while sick with heart problems, of reflecting back on his past.

I just hope I can remember this when my head is spinning in a million different directions. I hope I can take the best of his example, and leave the rest behind. I hope I can learn to do what I should do, not what I could do, in my life.

Bye, Dad. It was a fun ride. See you later, when we will have left behind the childish things of this life, and be able to shine forth as God intended us to be. Hope I can make you proud until then.

Super Stash Sunday

How much do I love these fabrics? So much that I had to order them immediately, even though I was on holidays when they came out. My favorite is the orange octopus / seahorse one, although I almost equally love the purple / yellow octopus one above. I have great plans for these . . . if only I could settle on one set of great plans, it would be all good. I have some thoughts of English Paper Piecing stars with mermaids and fish spiralling out of them. Or then again of undulating pieced waves of fish and sea creatures . . . haven't made up my mind quite yet.

Arg, arg, arg!

So, I finally get around to posting something, and Blogger erases my post! And it had so many links in it that I don't have time to redo it right now.

Sorry for the week of no posts. Its been a bit crazy around here, between birthday parties and lost keys and urgent, surprise flights home to Thunder Bay. More about all that later. In the meantime, just look at the happy fabric this post is sandwiched between and smile.

Super Stash Sunday

I know, its not Sunday yet. But tomorrow is Aaron's little birthday party, so I imagine I'll be busy and then tired afterwords. So here it is, all nice and early:

Got the Blue Olive Rose as an extra blender that I don't need in a quilt I've been hired to do. Got the Yellow Katie Jump Rope on sale!

I think mugs might be my new obsession. I've been coveting the bottom print for a long time.

Doing a Few Things Well.

I have decided that this is going to be the year of doing a few things well. You see, there are all kinds of things I would like to try doing: opening and etsy store, staring a parenting blog, getting a table at a flea market or craft fair to sell my wares, training for a triathalon, to name a few.

But the reality is that I am pretty overwhelmed with just trying to care for my kids and my husband, do my youth leader job, do some fun sewing and swaps, keep my house up, and take care of myself. I am not really getting all those things done well. I still haven't sewn curtains or hung up my new shelf and bulletin board in my kitchen. My own son still does no have his mamma made quilt on his bed. I still don't consistently get a newsletter out every month for youth group. And I have not been keeping up with exercise now that I can't just drag the kids around in a wagon for 30 min - 1 hr a few times a week.

What I really need to do is do a few things well. I need to remember that I am at an inward stage of life. For now I need to focus most of my energy on my family. There will be time later, when my boys are less needy and my husband is not new at his job when I can pursue more time consuming pursuits of my own.

So, for this year I have decided that I am not going to start any new major ventures. I will instead try to do the things that I am doing well, and see what comes of it. I will focus on nurturing myself and my family, and enjoying sewing for myself and the swaps that I love to participate in. And that is enough. It is going to be a year of just being. Being content. Being creative. Being healthy. Being a good wife and mom. Being just who I am, right now.

Making, making, making . . .

I was a busy little bee between Christmas and New Years (when we left of our vacation). I even managed to make something while we were gone.

I hand stitched this little doll quilt for my niece, to go with a doll that I forgot to photograph. I cut and sewed the strips, then I actually quilted the strips to the batting and backing as I attached them together on the front. Fun, easy little project, and Kaylee loved it.

Last Minute Fabric And Patchwork coasters for my Sister in Law:

And this was another one of my "Hey, you know what I really need to sew before I go on vacation?"moments, like the picnic quilt this summer . I decided that Aaron needed a carry on bag to match Andrew's, so ON THE DAY WE WERE LEAVING, I stitched one up for him. I tell you, I used every shortcut I could think of on this bag.
Next time, I must remember to sew the straps closer together. I may take them off and re-sew them. The idea was that each boy would have his own bag with his own stuff for the plane ride that he would carry on his own back. The reality was that we had two extra little bags to lug around the airport full of things that were not nearly as interesting as the in flight tv service, or as pulling your brother's headphones out of the plug, or staring at the passengers behind you, or walking up and down the aisle of the plane . . . still cute. And Aaron insisted on wearing it to and from playgroup on Wednesday.

And I also whipped up this quilt. Actually, I hired a babysitter for four hours while I stitched the rows together and quilted it. The great thing about this monkey fabric is that it is hard to go wrong with it, becuase it is so cute. And Andrew had a fit when he found out I was giving someone else the spaceship fabric. In his head it was his, I guess.

I found with this quilt that quilting on the diagonal through the squares can hide the fact that you didn't quite line all the rows up properly. It gives it the illusion of symmetry. Oh well, Seth is only 3 months old, so I don't think he'll notice.

I just noticed that my vacation photos ended up posted on the day I first uploaded them, instead of today, when I actually published them. Silly blogger. Scroll down if you want the vacation report.

Still here

Hi. No worries, I made it safely back from Ontario. Just feeling really unmotivated to post about my trip or about anything else. I'm sure I"ll get back to it in a few days. Just going through the post-holiday blahs. Dave had to fly back to do a funeral in the middle of our holiday, then he did another one last Saturday (yeah, we got back late Wed. night), then he's doing another one this Friday . . . it seems endless. I'm back to the reality of "oh yeah, I have to entertain my kids all day with no car and no other kids or adults around again today and keep the house sane and myself somewhat sane at the same time. Hooray.".

This is the thing: I'm kind of bored. I am not the sort of person who handles boredom well -- I either make up things to be upset about because it gives me something to do, or I come up with some crazy unrealistic plan that swings me from boredom to frantic activity. Its the routine that kills me. The making-three-meals-a-day and exercising-four-times-a-week and sweeping-the-floor-for-the-tenth-time-today and breaking-up-the-fifth-fight-about-the-coveted-object-of-the-day just doesn't really stimulate my mind. Yet all the ideas I come up with for things I would like to do just frustrate me later when I realize I don't have the time or resources to do them. But all the things I should be doing are things I've been doing for a long time now, so they have lost their interest for me. So instead I mope around on the computer and read too many magazines looking for something to brighten my day, instead of playing with the kids, or working on some sewing or reading a real book or getting outside -- all of which would, in actual fact brighten my day.

One of the things my parents used to say to me all the time when I was growing up was "Boredom and routine are a part of life. Get used to them and do things even when they are boring." So I guess I'm off to drudge away. Time to get some good parenting books to inspire me (like the ones on the list Mia provided me in my last funk) and get my exercise, sleep and eating back on track so I'm feeling like I have the energy and mindfulness to do things well again. And remind myself tomorrow, when I play "Hide and Seek"for the five hundredth time, that this is building something important later on in my children's lives. Can't seem to think what right now, but something.

You'll be glad to know I have photos of my vacation, and all the crazy things I made the week between Christmas and going on holidays, and if anyone's interested I might do a tutorial for those capes I made for the boys, since I'm making some more later this week. Or I might just do a tutorial even if no one's interested, just because I'm interested.

Have a good day, all. Stay tuned -- I promise I'll get my blogging mojo back soon.

Okay, so our vacation.

Here is the promised vacation round up. This trip was less perilous than the typical Chapman adventures. No outdoor music festivals in the pouring rain. No driving for 6 hours solo with two children under three. No getting stuck by the side of the road in the middle of winter. We simply flew to Toronto, stayed with Dave's brother in Cambridge for two weeks, and flew back.

As you can tell, Andrew took to flying right away. Just give me my headphones and let me watch three hours of treehouse when I should be sleeping. What's that -- you want to give me juice and cookies, too? Okay.
This was the new years dinner we had the day we got there. We look a bit bedraggled becuase our luggage did not make the exchange in Edmonton when we did, so we went a day without clean clothes.

Andrew was a big hit with his little cousin, Seth. He loved to listen to Andrew's stories, the more shooting and flying sound effects, the better. It was really sweet to see Andrew enjoying his little cousin.

Aaron and Kaylee spent two weeks being partners in crime. Kay is a few months older than Aaron, and they played and fought together non-stop. They loved to grab a random object and start yelling "Mine!" "Mine!" back and forth at each other. My favorite moment was when we were driving in the van and Kaylee was a full row back from Aaron and she called out, "Aaron hit me!"

We went to Chuck E Cheese. We visit the little cars in our little mall, but I never put money in them. The multitude of arcade games and motorized cars was a really fun treat for the boys.



Uncle Steve was also a big hit. Not only is he a police officer, but he plows several parking lots in his spare time. They had to rent a skid steer and clear snow at the church while we were there. Aaron got a ride, and Andrew got to drive.



Trampolines are still fun on a mild winter day. We enjoyed the warmer winter temperatures while we were there. It was just cold enough to be snowy and fun.

Why is it that you can only get fries like this East of Sudbury? Does there need to be a certain Francophone influence for people to get chips just right? Anyway, this is Poutine, which is even better. Chips with gravy and cheese curd. Yum.

We were only in Toronto for three hours, unfortunately. But we did get to see dinosoars and armour while we were there. And, of course, the CN Tower from afar.



All in all, it was a pretty fun trip. The boys had a blast with their cousins and grandparents and aunt and uncle. And we had fun too.

Super Stash Sunday

I've joined this little thing called "Super Stash Sunday" where you show off some of your stash for other fabric lovers every week. Sorry to sign up and then go on holidays, but I'm back now. It was started by 1/4 of an inch . I saw the photos popping up on Flikr and after drooling over katy's photos I had to join. I shall see how long I can maintain it for.



These are some Tina Givens lovelies that I have vague plans to make into something rich and strange. I love browns and oranges right now, and I'm probably one of the few people in the universe who is happy to see them back in style. The one on the far right is one of my favorite Garden Party prints.

Hi, from Starbucks

Yep, we have no internet at our host's house, and a very small baby and two active two year olds who are best frenemies and a four year old who is absolutely idolizing his Uncle Steve. So times are busy, but its been a nice chance. I haven't got half the things I wanted to get done, done. And believe it or not I haven't visited a single fabric shop this trip (I do have a bunch of fabric waiting for me at the post office, however), so I'm feeling partially virtuous and partially sensorily deprived after two weeks with no fabric to sift through.

Just thought I'd pop in and say hi, and share this funny experience. So, I'm at Starbucks. I have an hour and a half to myself before I have to get back so Dave can go out somewhere. I check my email, I check my Flikr, then I go to check my Bloglines. Usually I check it every evening and read the eight or ten new posts I find. Today, almost every blog on there has at least one, if not six or eight, new posts. I love so many of the blogs I read that I couldn't choose just one or two to read. So I just laughed, and decided to say hi to all of you who read MY blog instead. So hi. Missing you all out in the blogosphere. I have lots of great photos to share soon. And hopefully, if I can get there before they sell out, a really fantastic pair of shoes. Off to see if they still have the most fantastic suede Mary Janes in my size. TTFN!