Two Happy Grandmas

Madeleine and Diane with their G'ma and Grammy.

Jeanie has come and gone. It was much too fast. She spent several days here helping Debra with the girls. Luckily she'll be back in a few weeks for Randy's senior piano recital, and Diane's baby blessing. I can't wait to have her here again!

Out of the Mouth of Babes...

Tuesday night I was making soup for dinner. I had chopped the onions, and was cutting up the potatoes. As I scooped some potatoes into the pot, Austin asked, "G'ma, why are you cutting up food and cooking in Pa'a's pot?"

Hmm, good question. We all laughed. My grandchildren's impression is that Ray does all the cooking (he does a lot of it, that's for sure).

I used to cook dinner for my family. Once upon a time. Truly.

Ray's treasured, and well-used, le creuset 13+ quart dutch oven

(his cutting board also).

The one cup measuring cup is there for size reference.

Thursday Workday

It's fun to see so much progress being made so quickly on this quilt. Today we finished section 8, then put the sections together with sashing between the rows.

Section 8

The rows put together

The picture of the assembled quilt is not great - I didn't want to mess with trying to get a picture aligned better. I'll save that for the finished product. You can get an idea of what it looks like with this picture, bad as it is. Already the quilt measures 72 inches wide, and we still have three more borders to attach. It will be a very large, cozy quilt!

We are adjourned for a couple of weeks. I'm heading to the land of the sun (aka Hawaii) next week, and Trish is heading to Italy! for a couple of weeks.

It's a tough life, isn't it?

In search of a book for the beach

We leave for Hawaii next week. I will take my Kindle along, but I wanted to grab a couple of paperbacks to take along for reading on the beach.

In my bedroom I have three shelves of books that I have not yet read. Their priority changes depending on what I'm in the mood for or what I need to read (book group, library books) by a deadline.

Sometimes I focus on a book immediately, and choose it. Sometimes I glance over all the books, and my eyes wander for awhile until a particular book sticks out. Like choosing a pastry in a well-stocked bakery. Today as I started to browse for a beach book or two, my eyes glazed over. Those books were out of control. So in an effort to organize the books (read: in an effort to procrastinate other jobs I don't want to do today), I took them all down to figure the best way to establish some order.

Two of the shelves are more serious books: some church books, some biographies, some collections, some newer novels I have purchased. Lots of them are hardback, or I paid full price for them, which makes them not great beach books. I didn't mess with those books too much - I put one shelf alphabetically by author, and left the other shelf alone.

The third shelf (actually the middle shelf) was out of control. They are all used books I've picked up for a song here and there, or books my sister has handed down to me. In the past I've taken them when I travel, and just leave them behind as I go. Now that I have my Kindle, I don't have to take a big pile of books to see me through a vacation. But now and again, I need to take a couple along. Like next week. For the beach.

There are 50 books on that shelf (stacked double deep). Six books are regular fiction. Forty-four are mysteries. I had to laugh. Guess what kind of book I think makes a good travel book? Mysteries are easy to put down and pick up. Mysteries abound in used book stores. My sister likes mysteries too, and we trade them back and forth.

I arranged the books alphabetically by author. This makes it very clear which authors I enjoy; I have a lot of their books. Some are light, funny mysteries. Some are more serious. None are truly scary. I don't do scary. I do suspenseful, but not scary.

Now the shelves are all neat and orderly. I chose a couple of beach books, and I'm ready to go. I should have taken a before and after picture of the shelves. But, like I said, I don't do scary. I'll just let you imagine three orderly shelves chock full of books. Please don't even try to imagine the other nine shelves on that book case. Those are a job for another day.

Eggsecutive Orders by Julie Hyzy

This is the third in the series of White House Chef mysteries. Just as fun as the first two.

The mystery of the quilted bag

I have quilt bag amnesia.

I remember buying the fabric (at Gathering Fabrics in Woodinville). I fell in love with these fabrics, and bought them - not knowing how I would use them. It was during my "quilted bag" stage. I made lots of bags. Then I finally learned how to make them where they keep their shape, empty or full. I really liked how they looked once I figured that all out.

I decided on this bag to showcase those fabrics. I spent a lot of time figuring out where each fabric should go, then on the stitching (you can't see it very well in this picture).

I made these three bags, and maybe one more like them. They are all exactly alike except for fabric placement. The fancy stitches are alike because it required too much imagination to figure out something different for each bag. I have the one with brown handles. I think Debby has the one with red handles. I know I gave away the green one, but I don't remember to whom. It is still my favorite bag I've ever made. I take it to church every week.

Yesterday I got a call from Debby. "Mom, do you have your red bag?" (I knew which one she was talking about.) She saw an identical bag at church and called me while she was looking at it. I was looking at my bag at home as we spoke. Then I wondered if I gave it to one of my sisters-in-law, and they left it there. I don't think I did give it to one of them. But I told Debby, "just look inside, and see if anyone's name is on anything in the bag." Just then the owner came up and claimed her bag. She said, "Oh, our bags are the same!" and walked away with the bag.

The woman is in Debby's ward at church. Debby is new in the ward, and doesn't really know the woman. She was too flustered at being caught looking in the bag (on the phone with me at the same time) to ask where she'd gotten her bag. This happened here in Utah. I made and gave away the bag in Washington.

We have come to the conclusion that I made that bag. I bought all the fabrics separately, and made the quilts with the exact same stitching on each bag. It was not a kit. I can not for the life of me remember the recipient of that bag. (I used to keep a quilt journal, and had a picture of the bags, but none of the details written in.) I made the bag five or six years ago. I'm dying to know who gave it away, and how this woman got the bag. It doesn't bother me in the least that it has made its way to a new owner. I'm just wishing I could figure out the connection. I guess it's a little like family history that way. It is fun to discover a cousin, and find out how the relationship works.

Debby is going to ask the woman about the bag the next time she sees her. I hope she got the bag from someone she knows that I also know. Then I'll have a new connection, and might remember more about the bag in the process.

Let this be a lesson to quilters everywhere, but especially to me: label your work!

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

As I was browsing at Barnes and Noble a couple of weeks ago, I happened upon this book in the Juvenile Fiction area. It looked intriguing (I am often caught by a cover). I picked it up glanced through it, and was all set to buy it. Then I decided I would check it out of the library instead, just in case (that whole don't judge a book by its cover adage).

It would have been a safe purchase. I really liked it. A lot. It caught and kept my interest for all 485 pages.

Four children are recruited to help in a dangerous mission that might save the world from possible ruin. Only children can do it, and these four have unusual talents that will help them along the way.

I understand there are two more books that follow this one. This one felt complete all by itself (thank you Mr. Stewart), and I think I will read the other two one of these days.

Double Dipping

My cute Rachel just can't get enough of her binkies!